Corporate Federation - Updates

[Kurt (OP)]

June 11, 2143, Houston
The two Home Fleet support ships arrive in the Houston system with their new missile pods in tow.  They set out for Forward Base, where they will leave the pods and their missile supply. 

June 12, 2143, Lunar Colony
Joseph Foster, former Federation Admiral and Consul, is elected to the Republic’s Senate by the population of the Moon, in an almost overwhelming vote. 

Houston System…
While the Home Fleet was playing tag with a fugitive Dregluk survey ship, Admiral Wallace had been preparing for an assault on what she increasingly believed was the Dregluk home system.  Now that the first two anti-small unit pods had arrived, she was ready.  The bulk of her fleet was assembled on the jump point, and it was time.  She gave the order, and Republican ships began plunging into the jump point. 

Seventeen ships and seven pods jumped into the Austin system.  Almost immediately they detected a Mammoth class BB in the inner system, still accompanying those four large ships they had observed the last time they were in the system.  Nothing was detected close to the jump point, though.  Admiral Wallace ordered the pods to release their tractors, and then ordered the three Essex class assault ships to jump back to the Houston system and replace their jump point assault missiles with long range ASM’s, then settled in to wait, confident that the Dregluk would come to her. 

June 15, 2143, Austin system
At 1833 hours, the 1st Fleet’s EM sensors picked up two active sensors approaching.  They were located 216 mkm’s away in the direction of the inner system, and they were consistent with the sensors carried by the Dregluk small units encountered before.  Those units had since been designated the Ant class.  Admiral Wallace ordered her fleet to alert status then settled in to watch them approach.  They were coming in on an oblique course, not directly headed towards the jump point, at a speed of 10,525 km/s. 

Two hours later, when the Ant’s had closed to 140 mkm’s, the scout’s thermal sensors were able to detect a grand total of 49 of them approaching in formation.  The fleet would have to allow them to close to 50 mkm’s before the active sensors on the new pods would be able to acquire them. 

Two hours and thirty minutes later the Ants had closed to within range of the ASU pod’s new sensors, and for the first time they were acquired by Republican sensors.  The pods were able to determine that the Ant class was only 950 tons, confirming the reason why they had been so difficult to detect. 

The two Anti-Small Unit pods each launched twelve ASUM missiles, two each at a total of twelve Ants.  Five seconds later the two pods launched a total of twenty-four more missiles, aimed at twelve different Ants.  The missiles raced away at their stupendous speed, and closed on their targets in seven minutes.  Out of the first twelve Ants targeted by the ASUM missiles, five were destroyed outright, while the other seven appeared heavily damaged.  Two of the small units were blown apart by massive internal power plant explosions.  Four more Ants fell to the second barrage, and this time three of them were consumed by massive internal power plant explosions.  Every single ASUM missile hit its target.  With that the new pods had exhausted their missiles.  Admiral Wallace ordered the pods to link to her ships and for the fleet to jump out.  The exercise was completed. 

As the human ships prepared to jump out, twenty-seven Ants continued on towards the jump point.  Eight were left behind, dead in space, their engines apparently knocked out by the damage they had suffered. 

Once back in the Houston system, the two ASUM Pods released their tractors and were taken aboard the waiting Fleet Dock Adela Sachs.  One hour later the pod’s box launchers had been reloaded and they were free of the docks.  Admiral Wallace decided to be patient, though, so the fleet would wait for a day before returning to the Austin system. 

June 17, 2143, Houston
Admiral Wallace gave the order, and her battle squadron plunged into the jump point, the pods in tow.  Shortly after entering the system they detected the eight damaged Ants, but the rest of the Dregluk fleet was nowhere to be seen.  Admiral Wallace ordered three of her frigates to close on the crippled Ants and finish them off.  Thirty-two minutes later, while the frigates were closing, they detected two waves of missiles approaching.  The first was composed of forty-five missiles, while the second was composed of thirty-two.  Aegis VI AMM’s raced away from the two anti-missile frigates in the small squadron as the missiles closed.  Unfortunately, the missiles appeared too close to the small squadron for all of the incoming targets to be destroyed.  The Nairobi was hit by nine Dregluk ASM’s, but her armor absorbed the damage.  The Lima was only hit by five, but she suffered some shock damage to her crew quarters.     

The Lima began damage control while the squadron continued to close on the small Dregluk ships.  Ten minutes later a third salvo appeared on their screens.  This one was composed of forty ASM’s.  This time all of the Dregluk missiles were stopped before they could close to attack range.  The squadron continued on towards the crippled Ant class ships.  Finally, they reached a range of one million kilometers of the Ants without the Nairobi being able to acquire the Ants with her ASM fire control systems.  Her anti-missile sensors and fire controls had acquired the small units just fine, but not her primary sensors or fire control systems.  Commander Miles, the senior officer of the task group, ordered his ships to close to 500,000 kilometers.  Even at that range the Nairobi’s ASM fire controls were unable to acquire the Dregluk small units.  At that point Commander Miles ordered the Nairobi to engage the Ant’s using her anti-missile sensors and fire controls.  He didn’t want to come any closer than this, in case they were equipped with an energy weapon of some sort. 

The Nairobi began launching Thunderbolt IV’s, two at a time, against the Dregluk Ant class ships.  About halfway through the Nairobi switched to single missile salvoes against each Ant class ship, as it has only taken a single missile to destroy each of the Ants targeted so far.   

By the time the squadron had returned to the jump point the Lima had repaired all internal damage.  Admiral Wallace ordered the Lima and the Nairobi to return to Houston for repairs, and they jumped out immediately.  On the far side of the jump point they entered the Fleet Dock positioned there and work began on repairing their armor.   

June 18, 2143, 0248 hours, Austin
Twenty-seven Ants appear on the Fleet Scout’s thermal sensors, 130 mkm’s out and approaching.  At approximately the same time the Lima completes her repairs and jumps back into the system to rejoin the fleet.  At 0542 hours the Ants had closed to 47 mkm’s and were acquired by the ASU pods sensors.  Twenty seconds later twenty-four missiles roared away from the two pods, followed five seconds later by another twenty-four, exhausting their box launchers.  Five of the twelve Ants targeted with the first salvo were destroyed, but only two from the second group of targets were destroyed. 

Only three Ants had been left untargeted by ASUM’s, and of the survivors, only five of the targeted Ants appeared to be still mobile.  The eight remaining Ants continued to close on the jump point and the Republican ships.  Admiral Wallace decided to remain on the jump point, but ordered to ASM frigates to return to Houston with the two ASUM pods to rearm.  She had a plan. 

Even as the two frigates jumped out with the pods in tow, the Nairobi returned, fresh from the mobile docks in the Houston system.  Several minutes later her two Essex r2 class assault ships reported that they were ready.  Of all of the ships in her fleet, they were the only ones equipped with capital anti-missile sensors.  These large anti-missile sensors were capable of detecting large missiles, in theory, out to forty-one million kilometers, and while most missiles were much smaller, and could only be detected closer, the Ants were much larger.  The large anti-missile sensors, coupled with the large anti-missile fire controls on the two refitted Essex class ships, were more than capable of engaging the tiny Dregluk ships out to 40 mkm’s.  Each ship launched a single Bludgeon IV ASM at an Ant, then shifted targeting and did it again, and again, until there was a very large ASM targeted on each of the incoming Ants.  Only two of the Ants survived their encounters with the massive Bludgeon ASM’s, which, after all, had been designed to destroy the huge Dregluk battleships that had attacked the solar system.   They survived because the big missiles, which had been designed to engage much larger targets, missed.  The Bismarck and the Warspite each launched another Bludgeon at the retreating Ants in the hopes of catching them before they got out of range. 

By then, Dregluk ASM’s had been detected closing with the Fleet.   Just one salvo of thirty-two Dregluk ASM’s was headed in.  Even as the last two Bludgeon ASM’s raced away from the fleet, Aegis VI’s began launching from the frigates.  The defensive missiles stopped the incoming missiles cold, and one of the two Bludgeon’s wiped out its target.  Inexplicably, one of the two Ants had turned and fled, leaving the other behind.  That Ant managed to escape.  While the Bludgeon attempted to reacquire it with its internal sensors, its sensors were no more capable of acquiring the tiny warship than the sensors of the frigates and battlecruisers. 

One hour later the two frigates return to the Austin system with the two ASUM pods.  Shortly after entering, the two pods begin launching against the crippled Ants sitting off of the jump point.  Soon all of the Ants were destroyed, except for one lone Ant running for home.  In the aftermath of that, Admiral Wallace orders the frigates Lima and Nairobi to top off the other frigate’s fuel and missiles, then dispatches the two frigates back to Houston to refuel and rearm.   The two ASU pods will remain in-system, in spite of the fact that they have expended approximately 25-30% of their missile stocks, as the Fleet Docks on the far side of the jump point have no remaining ASUM missiles.  One of the Docks is returning to Forward Operating Base to refuel and load new stocks of missiles, but won’t return for several days.  Until then the ASUM pods will make do with the missiles they have. 

With the decisive defeat of the Dregluk small attack craft accomplished, Admiral Wallace’s attention has turned to a Dregluk force that has been steadily closing on the jump point for some time from the inner system, albeit slowly.   The Dregluk force that had been spotted in the inner system by the first forces to enter the Austin system was coming out to fight.   This force was composed of a Mammoth class BB, a Demon class CA, and the five very large unknown ships, all steadily closing on the human force at 4,607 km/s.  The very large ships had a thermal signature 66% larger than that of a standard Dregluk BB, and Admiral Wallace was very interested in seeing exactly what they were.  As a precaution, she ordered her two LR Missile Groups, that had been sitting on the far side of the jump point in the Houston system, to jump through to reinforce her ships in the Austin system.  Aside from that she was content to wait for the Dregluk to come to them. 

[Kurt (OP)]

June 19, 2143, Austin     
At 0626 hours the five unknown ships finally moved to within active sensor range of the ships on the jump point, and were confirmed to be much larger than standard Dregluk BB’s, which weighed in at 28,650 tons.  This new class, tentatively ID’s as the Dreadnought class, massed 47,750 tons, nearly twice the size of the Republic’s new Star class BB’s.  One hour later, Admiral Wallace ordered her ships to open fire. 

The two known ships, the Mammoth class BB and the Demon class CA, were in the lead, ahead of the new Dreadnoughts, and both were dedicated ASM ships with little in the way of active missile defense.  The new Dreadnoughts were an unknown factor, of course.  The resulting missile salvo was composed of one hundred and fifty-two Bludgeon ASM’s, targeted on the CA, the BB, and three of the DN’s.  Included in that number were ten older Bludgeon III’s launched from the single Missile Pod towed into the system, and this marked the first time the offensive missile pods had been used.  The older Bludgeon III’s lagged behind, of course, but would be able to finish off anything that survived the weapons targeted on it in the leading wave. 

The first ship to come under attack was the leading Mammoth class BB.  It managed to shoot down two of the incoming missiles with its CIWS, and then absorbed the remaining ten.  Although there were no internal explosions or armor breaches, it apparently suffered shock damage because it slowed down to 3,909 km/s.  The next ship to face the fire was the Demon class CA following behind the BB.  The CA managed to destroy four of the Bludgeons targeted on it, but could only take five hits before it was destroyed by a spectacular internal explosion.  Unfortunately, the remaining Bludgeons that had been targeted on it were out of their internal sensor range of the BB, so couldn’t acquire it as a target. 

Next came the Dreadnoughts.  Everyone in the Republican fleet was watching as the missiles closed on the huge ships.  The Dregluk ships showed no sign of knowing that the missiles were approaching, and didn’t engage them as they closed until they reached point blank range.  The DN’s shot down two incoming missiles with some sort of weapon, but then the missiles were in amongst them.  DN-03 took four hits from the big missiles before its armor was breached, and then another eight hits before exploding under the onslaught.  DN-01 took ten hits before it began streaming atmosphere, and then another four destroyed it.   DN-03 took fourteen hits before it too exploded.  The three DN’s suffered from multiple internal magazine explosions, indicating that they carried some sort of ranged weapons.  The remaining Bludgeon missiles came about and acquired new targets with their onboard sensors, and attacked again.  This time the two remaining DN’s destroyed five of the missiles with their last second energy weapons fire, but it wasn’t enough to save them.  DN-05 took eight hits to die, while DN-04 took twelve hits before it exploded.  The two DN’s suffered from three massive internal magazine explosions between the two of them.  Forty Bludgeon IV missiles were left circling in space, looking for targets.  The lone remaining ship of the attack group, the damaged Mammoth class BB, was still approaching the jump point, but it had ten Bludgeon III ASM’s closing on it, launching by the lone missile pod. 

Thirty minutes later the ten Bludgeon III’s arrived and smashed into the lone BB.  Incredibly, the lone BB survived the attack.  It stopped two with its CIWS, and suffered through the remaining eight.  Its engines, though, which it had managed to start repairing, were further damaged, reducing it to 3,350 km/s.  Still, it doggedly plodded forward, towards its doom. 

Admiral Wallace transferred her flag to the BC Jupiter, then dispatched the missile boats and assault ships, now out of missiles, back to the Houston system to rearm along with the missile pod.  Then, with detail taken care of, she settled in to wait for the last BB to close to Thunderbolt range.   

On the far side of the jump point the pod was released to enter one of the Fleet Docks, but the missile boats continued on to the Forward Operating Base to pick up replacement missiles, and from there they would continue on to the newly established maintenance base to have their missile boxes refurbished.  Unfortunately, the new Maintenance Base wasn’t capable of dealing with ships larger than a frigate yet, so the assault ships would have to return to Bastion to rearm. 

Eight hours and thirty minutes later the BB had finally limped to within Thunderbolt range of the forces on the jump point.  The three Planet class BC’s launched a single salvo from their launchers, totaling twenty-six Thunderbolt IV ASM’s.  Meanwhile the Brooklyn class frigates and the AM pods prepared for missile attack, just in case the last BB managed to get some missiles off before the human missiles reached her. 

The Dregluk battleship survived the salvo, although it was clear she was grievously damaged as her speed had dropped to a pitiful 558 km/s.  A second salvo was launched, this time just consisting of sixteen Thunderbolts.  And still the dogged Dregluk BB came on.  This last salvo did the determined Dregluk ship in.  Space was now clear.  The three BC’s jumped back to Houston to reload their magazines from the Fleet Docks waiting there. 

[Kurt (OP)]

June 20, 2143, Los Angeles, 1238 hours
The monitor Waterloo, standing guard at the jump point to the Solar system, detected a small Dregluk ship just 8.6 mkm’s away.  This ship’s emission profile matched that of the ship recently detected and destroyed in the Solar system, indicating that this was probably a survey ship.  The monitor launched two Bludgeon III missiles to stop the annoying little ship from continuing on with its mission.  The two missiles killed the small ship, leaving space around the jump point clear again. 
 
3327 hours, Austin system…
The last Ant class attack ship appeared on the scout’s thermal sensors, inbound, 217 mkm’s out.  Admiral Wallace ordered the two ASUM pods to prepare for action.  Two and a half hours later one of the pods launched three anti-small unit missiles at the incoming Ant.  The three missiles more than sufficed to remove the last known Ant in the Austin system.  Admiral Wallace dispatched two frigates with the ASUM pods in tow back to the Houston system to reload. 

June 23, 2143, Sol
Three more ASUM pods are launched from the orbital yards over Mars.  Under the direction of Consul Young, the three Star class battleships are transferred to the 1st Fleet, along with the newly constructed pods.  They will be sent to the Houston system immediately, and upon arrival will participate in the operation to subdue the Dregluk population in the Austin system, suspected to be the Dregluk home world. 

In addition, the first two gravitic survey ships built by the Republic are launched.  They are immediately paired with a jump survey scout and sent to the Houston system to begin surveying that system for additional jump points. 

July 6, 2143, Austin
At 1055 hours a new contact is detected by the Fleet Scout stationed on the jump point.  The contact is located in orbit over the very large population in the inner system, and has a thermal signature consistent with a Dregluk BB.  Just over two days later the contact is close enough to the jump point to be picked up by active sensors.  It is a new class of BB, designated the Massif class.  Five missile boats launch their Bludgeon IV’s at the incoming ship.  The new BB managed to destroy two of the incoming missiles with its CIWS, but the rest overwhelmed it. 

July 18, 2143, Austin
A new unit of the Dregluk Massif class is detected leaving orbit in the inner system.  Later in the day, the three Star class BB’s, with their attached pods, arrive in the Houston system.  They immediately set out for the jump point to the Austin system to join the fleet assembled on the far side.  Admiral Wallace also orders the frigates in orbit over the Forward Operating Base to join her as well.  Before leaving orbit, the frigates take nine ASM pods under tow.  On Admiral Wallace’s orders, five of the pods have off-loaded their Bludgeon ASM and replaced them with special bombardment munitions. 

At 1650 hours, on the 20th, three ASM pods on the jump point opened fire at the Massif class BB approaching from the inner system.  The three pods launched a total of thirty Bludgeon III ASM’s at the incoming BB.  Three hours later the BB managed to shoot down five of the older ASM’s before they hit, and absorbed the rest of the missiles in an impressive display of armored resistance.  Its speed reduced, the big Dregluk ship continued to limp towards the jump point.  Admiral Wallace ordered a second launch, and soon ten more Bludgeon III’s were on their way towards the Dregluk ship from a fourth pod. 

The ten ASM’s of the second attack were approaching the Dregluk BB just as it managed to repair at least one of its engines.  Unfortunately for the Dregluk crew, their industriousness didn’t save them.  The BB managed to shoot down two of the incoming missiles, but the other eight completely destroyed the BB, leaving a scattering of life pods floating in space.  Admiral Wallace ordered several frigates to convey the expended ASM pods back to the Houston system to rearm, along with several other fleet units that needed to restock their magazines. 

Three hours later the pods and the fleet units assigned to tow them returned to the Austin system, rearmed with the latest Bludgeon IV ASM’s from the Fleet Docks.  The fleet was assembled and ready to sortie.  The 1st Fleet set out for the suspected home planet of the Dregluk with the following force:

3xStar class BB: Pride of Sol, Vega, Procyon
3xPlanet class BC’s: Mars, Jupiter, Venus
3xEnterprise class HuK’s: Assistance, Endeavor, Intrepid
6xBrooklyn class AM Frigates: Cairo, Chongqing, Delhi, Lima, Shanghai, Tokyo
7xLake class ASM frigates: Eire, Huron, Ladoga, Ontario, Singapore, Tanganyika, Vladivostok
5xAnti-Small Unit Pod
10xASM Pod (five equipped with bombardment missiles)
4xAMM Pod
1xFleet Scout: Jim Bridger
20xLR Missile Boat
2xLR Missile Boat Leader

The Fleet’s target was a way-point approximately 400 mkm’s from the suspected Dregluk Home Planet.  Their ETA was in two days and nineteen hours.  Admiral Wallace leaves a small force of three frigates behind to guard the jump point. 

July 23, 2143, Austin system
The Fleet is 700 mkm’s from the Dregluk Home Planet.  As the fleet approaches, the Scout Jim Bridger detects two thermal contacts in orbit over the planet, both identified as freighters.  In addition, the scout has detected a second population on another moon of the same gas giant that the primary Dregluk population resides in.  Finally, the scout has detected a very large shipyard in orbit over the main Dregluk population, further bolstering the theory that this is the Dregluk home world.  The fleet continues to approach. 

Eighteen and a half hours later, as the fleet reached 425 mkm’s range from the population, the fleet’s active sensors picked up a plethora of ships in orbit over the planet.  None of these ships or bases have never been seen before. 

List of contacts:
1x18,850 tons
10x18,950 tons
3x18,550 tons
3x18,900 tons
1x18,850 tons

Admiral Wallace and her staff tentatively ID these units, which have a very low thermal signature, as orbital battle stations.  Admiral Wallace orders the fleet to close to Bludgeon ASM range and engage the battle stations.  Three hours later the massive wave of 224 ASM and planetary bombardment missiles is away from the fleet and speeding towards the planet.  The ASM’s are targeted on most of the orbital bases, although three of the big fortresses were left untargeted for various reasons.   In addition, she ordered the pods to launch their planetary bombardment missiles in the salvo as well.  This would be one last, massive, salvo that Admiral Wallace hoped would end the war. 

Dregluk defensive missiles began intercepting the human missile wave 2.75 mkm’s from their targets.  Between their armor, ECM, and their speed the Bludgeon IV ASM’s and their planetary bombardment variant were very resistant to interception, but the Dregluk defenses apparently had a lot of AMM’s.  By the time that the third wave of interceptors had hit the incoming missile wave it had been reduced to fifty Bludgeon ASM’s and twenty-three bombardment missiles.  By that point the incoming missile wave was 423,000 kilometers from the target, and there was only time for one more interception attempt.  A few more missiles were hit by AMM’s by the last interception attempt and then the remaining ASM’s plunged towards their targets.  They were met by a massive wave of defensive fire which took out all of the incoming missiles except two ASM’s that then hit one of the large orbital bases, to very little result. 

Admiral Wallace ordered the missile boats to take the ASM pods under tow and to return to Houston to rearm.  The remainder of her fleet continued to close on the target.  They would engage with Thunderbolt missiles.  However, the Thunderbolt ASM’s were less resistant to defensive fire, and while the fleet could launch more of them, Admiral Wallace didn’t think that they would be able to launch enough more to make a difference.  They had to try, though.   

Seven hours later, as the fleet approached its next launch point, it detected ten very large Dregluk ships at 425 mkm’s range, 146 mkm’s beyond the Dregluk home world.  These contacts were of an unknown class, but they were the same size as all known Dregluk BB’s, 28,850 tons.  There were ten of them, and they were moving at just 865 km/s away from the Dregluk home world.  For now, Admiral Wallace decides to ignore them and concentrate on the fortifications around Dregluk Prime, as it has become known.   

Finally, the fleet settles into position and Admiral Wallace orders a massive strike by the Fleet’s Thunderbolt missiles.  Seconds later two hundred and forty-six Thunderbolt IV ASM’s raced away from the fleet, headed towards their targets over Dregluk Prime.  Admiral Wallace orders her capital ships to cease fire to await damage evaluation from the first strike.  If any. 

The smaller and faster Thunderbolt ASM’s were able to get much closer to the target before the Dregluk started launching AMM’s.  The interceptions started at 1.49 mkm’s.  There was only time for two launches against the incoming missiles and then they plunged into the point-blank fire of the defenses.  One hundred and ninety Thunderbolt IV’s survived to reach point-blank range, and all of them fell to the incredible defenses around Dregluk Prime.  Not one reached its target.  Admiral Wallace ordered her fleet to return to the jump point.  She was already planning the next attack. 

Admiral Wallace had already sent a request back to Sol for more Bludgeon IV and Thunderbolt IV ASM’s, and she had recalled the LR Missile Boat Group that had been watching the jump point between the Houston system and the Baton Rouge system.  The next attack would be an all-out effort. 

Unfortunately, her intentions and plans ran into the reality of the limitations imposed on her by support operations.  The Forward Operating Base did not have enough of the latest missiles to reload her ships.  The ships could be reloaded with older missiles, but if they were used against Dregluk Prime, they would have a lower chance of succeeding.  Therefore, Admiral Wallace delayed the next attack until after the missile shipment could arrive. 

The after-action report sent by Admiral Wallace to the Admiralty identified the weapons used by the Dregluk orbital defenses as gauss cannons, based on observed energy and performance profiles.  Admiral Wallace identifies two possible strategies for future attacks, based on the forces currently available to her.  The first attack plan involves a coordinated strike, with missile salvoes composed of Thunderbolt and Bludgeon ASM’s timed to arrive at the target simultaneously.  This is a relatively low-risk strategy, although Admiral Wallace admits that the necessary timing will be difficult to achieve.  The higher risk strategy is put her attack force into a close-attack position, out of range of any energy and/or gauss weapons over Dregluk Prime, but too close for their missiles to be intercepted by defensive AMM’s effectively.  This strategy would involve putting the fleet into a position where the Dregluk could attack it with AMM’s used offensively, and would entail a much higher risk.  A third option, that of continued long-range bombardment designed to wear down the defenses by attrition, is dismissed out of hand by Admiral Wallace and her staff, as they are very aware of the limitations forced upon them by the Republic’s problematic economy, largely as a result of the continuing effects of the Bombardment. 
Admiral Wallace and her staff will continue to develop their plans while they await the arrival of their missile resupply. 

[Kurt (OP)]

July 27, 2143, Austin
The retreating fleet scout detects a Dregluk Mammoth class BB leaving orbit over the Dregluk home world.  The ship was not there during the recent attack; therefore, it is likely that it was just launched from the orbital shipyards.  Fortunately, the fleet is closing in on the jump point and the 3rd LR Missile Group has already arrived at the jump point and will be ready to protect it while the fleet returns to the Houston system to rearm. 

July 29, 2143, Austin
A Sheathbill class DD is detected accompanying the Mammoth class BB headed towards the jump point. 

July 30, 2143, Austin
The two approaching Dregluk ships were now within range of the jump point.  Seven missile boats launched their Bludgeon IV’s at the two incoming ships.  Three hours later the missiles closed on the two Dregluk ships.  It took only two hits on the Mammoth before it was ripped apart by a massive internal explosion.  The destroyer did better, managing to absorb five Bludgeon’s before exploding. 

August 6, 2143, Houston
The Maintenance Base on the moon of the fifth planet is finally ready to begin servicing most of the 1st Fleet’s ships.  While the base cannot yet service the fleet’s largest ships, it can perform maintenance on all of the smaller ships, and, with its population now over five million, can now serve as an R&R facility for the fleet’s crews.  This solves many of Admiral Wallace’s impending problems with maintaining her fleet so far away from Bastion. 

Admiral Wallace begins rotating her ships through the new Maintenance Base for R&R and overhauls.  This will delay her next attack on Dregluk Prime, but is necessary if her ships and crews are to continue operating at peak efficiency. 

August 19, 2143, Sol
The first two Defender class DDE’s are launched from the orbital yards.  They join the Home Fleet immediately after their maiden voyages. 

Late in the day word arrives from the Philadelphia system.  The Xenology team deployed there has made a momentous discovery.  The Consul’s Office immediately classifies all information related to the alien city found in that system and all work done on it since it was discovered.  Troop transports are deployed to begin transferring construction brigades from Bastion to Philadelphia.  No information is made public, and indeed, the entire operation in the Philadelphia system is swept under the rug. 

August 30, 2143, Sol
The first Brooklyn(F) Fast Anti-Missile Frigate is launched.  This frigate is a variant of the Brooklyn AM Frigate designed to be fast enough to keep up with the fleet’s HuK’s and protect them from enemy missile fire.  The new ship, the Santa Barbara, sets out for Houston to join the 1st Fleet. 

September 7, 2143, Los Angeles
The monitor Waterloo detects three Dregluk survey craft headed towards the jump point it is guarding.  Its large anti-missile sensor was able to detect them nearly 40 mkm’s from the jump point.  Captain Johnson, the monitor’s commander, ordered a missile strike to be launched immediately, and sent the picket ship back to the Solar System to ask for a monitor to be dispatched to replace his ship. 

The monitor launched six Bludgeon III ASM’s at the small survey ships.  Sixteen minutes later the three Dregluk ships were wiped out by the missile salvo. 

September 12, 2143, Sol
The two Home Fleet scouts deployed to the outer system to probe for the Dregluk ships feared to be lurking in the outer reaches of the Solar System are quietly recalled to Mars for R&R and overhaul.  During the months they had been cruising the outer system they had detected nothing aside from the numerous system bodies that resided there. 

The Navy has completed its investigation of the series of events that led to a Dregluk survey ship being detected and destroyed in the Solar system.  The investigation, which has been classified and limited to Naval Intelligence and the upper reaches of the Admiralty, determined that the fault lay with the captain of the Monitor Waterloo.  Captain Johnson had allowed his command to become lax, and to reduce wear and tear on his sensor systems, he and his XO had decided to deactivate their active sensors on the theory that the fleet scout deployed to the system would be enough to detect any ships headed to the jump point.  It was just barely possible for a small Dregluk ship to slip through the blindspot thus produced, as the fleet scout was deployed far away from the jump point, and the Dregluk survey ship had a small thermal profile.   

Admiral Gilbert decided to keep this information very close, and limited her reaction to ensuring that all monitors posted to jump point protection duties have their sensors active at all times, and a verbal reprimand to Captain Johnson.  She wanted to come down on the captain harder, but he was a decorated officer, and his command was responsible for destroying almost one hundred thousand tons of Dregluk ships.  Worse, he was politically connected.  As long as his reprimand was limited and verbal, he would have no reason to go to his political patrons as it would be exposing his own error.  Admiral Gilbert’s overriding interest was in protecting the Navy, and the new Consul had already proven to be somewhat reactionary when surprised or angry.  She had no desire to make the Navy the focus of the Consul’s ire, especially when it appeared that she had forgotten the entire incident. 

In the end the incident was successfully swept under the rug.  The Consul’s office didn’t protest at the recall of the scouts as no further Dregluk ships had been detected in the Solar system and the monitors were intercepting enemy survey ships trying to get into the Solar System.   

September 27, 2143, Austin
A Dregluk BB, Colossus class, leaves orbit of Dregluk Prime and sets out for the jump point to Houston.  The 1st Fleet awaits its arrival. 

September 28, 2143, Austin
The fleet scout’s thermal sensor detects a cruiser sized contact accompanying the BB on its way to the outer system.  The contact is a new class of cruiser, now designated the Incubus class. 

September 30,2 143, Austin system
The 1st LR Missile Group launched thirty Bludgeon III ASM’s at the incoming ships.  The 1st is the only missile group in the Austin system at this time, as the other two LR Missile Group assigned to the Forward Operating Base are in Houston in overhaul status at the Maintenance Base. 

Three hours later the missiles had closed on their targets.  It took three hits to destroy the cruiser, but the battleship shot down five of the incoming missiles with its CIWs and survived the remaining salvo of missiles, albeit its speed had dropped.  The battleship’s crack CIWs crews then shot down the last of the missiles that had been targeted on the DD as well.  The missile boats on the jump point launched twelve more Bludgeon III’s in response. 

The Colossus shot down two of the missies in the second wave and absorbed the rest, losing its active sensor in the process.   The missile boats were forced to launch for a third time.  The Colossus destroyed four of the incoming missiles and survived the other eight, although it seemed that all of the eight remaining missiles scored penetrating hits, and in the aftermath of the attack the BB was limping at greatly reduced speed. 

The 1st LR Missile Group launched its last eight Bludgeon III ASM’s at the limping BB.  The stubborn battleship shot down two of the missiles and absorbed the remaining six.  It was apparent that most of the missiles breached the ship’s armor belt, but it stubbornly refused to die. 

The 1st LR Missile Group was now out of missiles and Admiral Wallace dispatched it back to the Houston system to rearm.  Admiral Wallace ordered the Pride of Sol to destroy the stubborn BB.  The big battleship’s launchers spat out ten Thunderbolt IV ASM’s, which sped away towards the approaching Dregluk BB.  It took six of the ten missiles to destroy the battleship, ending the threat. 

There is a grudging respect for the Dregluk that is growing throughout the fleet.  Their dogged determination and apparent bravery in defense of their home system is forcing the fleet’s crews to give them respect, no matter how much they may have hated the Dregluk prior to this point. 

October 2, 2143, Austin
A new Colossus class BB is detected leaving Dregluk Prime.  All of the missile boats are in the Houston system for overhauls, so the fleet on the jump point will have to deal with this attack on its own. 

October 5, 2143, Austin
The Pride of Sol, Vega, and Procyon open fire, launching forty-five Thunderbolt IV ASM’s at the incoming battleship.  The three battleships launch two more salvoes, sending a total of one hundred and thirty-five missiles towards the enemy ship. 

The first wave of missiles reached the battleship just over one hour and eleven minutes later.  The Dregluk BB intercepted three of the missiles with its CIWS, and the rest hit the big ship.  There was no evidence of armor breaches, but the Dregluk ship did slow, indicating possible shock damage to its engines.  The second wave hit twenty-five seconds later.  This time the BB’s CIWs did better, intercepting nine of the missiles, and the rest hit.  This time there was evidence of armor penetrations, but there were no secondary explosions.  The BB’s CIWS managed to take out nine missiles from the third wave as well, and there were many armor breaches from the remaining missiles.  In the aftermath of the attack, the BB’s thermal signature and speed dropped precipitously, and its active sensor died.  In spite of this apparent damage, the battleship continued its dogged approach to the human forces on the jump point. 

The Pride of Sol launched another salvo of fifteen Thunderbolt IV’s to finish the target off.  This last salvo did indeed finish off the Dregluk ship.  Admiral Wallace sent a message back to the Forward Operating Base requesting a munitions ship to resupply her battleships. 

October 8, 2143, Houston
The Republic’s first, and only, gravitic survey group completes its survey of the Houston system.  One additional jump point, with an associated gate, has been found.  The jump point is nearly 5.2 billion kilometers from the system primary, far outside the orbit of the furthest planet and far from the other two jump points. 

Admiral Wallace orders her HuK’s and their escorting fast frigate to probe the newly discovered jump point, along with the fleet scout Kit Carson, which is fresh from overhaul at the Maintenance Base.  Admiral Wallace intends to order the gravitic survey group to survey the new system beyond this jump point, but for now she orders them to gather at the Maintenance Base for refueling and R&R for their crews. 

October 18, 2143
The Fleet Scout Kit Carson jumps out of the Houston system through the newly discovered jump gate.  It finds itself 919 mkm’s from a small M6-V star orbited by four planets, two dwarf planets and two terrestrial type planets.  The innermost terrestrial type planet is Venus-like, and none of them seem particularly interesting at first glance.  The HuK’s and their escorts jump in and wait at the jump point while the scout probes the inner system. 

The probe would discover no populations or outposts in the system.  The new system is designated as the Dallas system.  Admiral Wallace orders the survey group to begin surveying the Baton Rouge system next, once their crews are rested. 

[Kurt (OP)]

December 4, 2143, Austin
Two incubus class cruisers ships are detected headed towards the forces on the jump point.  The two cruisers approach to approximately 744 mkm’s from the jump point and then turn back.  The forces at the jump point ready for missile attack, however, nothing appears. 
 
December 25, 2143, Austin
For days a trio of Incubus class CA’s had been maneuvering about in the inner system.  A day ago the three cruisers had been joined by two Fiend class CA’s and a Colossus class BB, and the combined force set out for the jump point.  Admiral Wallace ordered the fleet to allow them to approach to Thunderbolt ASM range as her supply of Bludgeon IV’s was limited.  She was frustrated by the attack force of Dregluk ships.  She had been forced to wait for months while new missiles were brought forward, and her fleet was resupplied and overhauled at the new Maintenance Base.  Now, finally, the fleet was almost ready and the Dregluk had the temerity to attack just as she was getting the fleet ready to head in-system!

At 1341 hours the Dregluk force had finally closed to Thunderbolt ASM range and Admiral Wallace ordered her battleships, battlecruisers, and frigates to engage the Dregluk force.  Shortly thereafter, two hundred and twenty-one Thunderbolt IV ASM’s sped away from the fleet.  The fleet’s launchers fall silent after the first salvo.  The frigates, of course, are unable to continue firing as their box launchers have to be refurbished before firing again, but the larger ships will wait to see the effects of this first salvo before firing again. 

The Dregluk force began intercepting the incoming missiles with AMM’s when the wave was 960,000 kilometers away, and managed to destroy seventy-nine Thunderbolts before they closed to point blank range.  The Dregluk force also managed to destroy seventy-nine more ASM’s with their point defense and CIWS fire, leaving just seventy-three to hit their targets.  The big battleship at the center of the formation was the target for most of the remaining missiles, with the rest being targeted on one of the cruisers.  The other four cruisers escaped damage almost completely.  Both the BB and the CA were slowed as a result of the barrage, but showed no other effects.  Admiral Wallace ordered a second strike against the force. 

The second strike was composed of one hundred and forty-six Thunderbolt ASM’s.  This time the BB’s and BC’s continued firing, putting another one hundred and forty-two missiles into space in two more waves.  Once again, the Dregluk began intercepting the incoming missiles about one million kilometers away from their fleet.  Eighty-five of the Thunderbolts fell to AMM fire, and then another sixty-one were destroyed by close in defensive fire by gauss cannons.  That left only ten to hit their targets.  Two of the cruisers absorbed the hits with no observable effect. 

The first wave pushed back the Dregluk defensive envelope, though, so the second wave wasn’t engaged until it was 350,000 kilometers from the Dregluk ships.  Twenty-seven were intercepted short of the Dregluk fleet, and the rest were stopped by point blank fire.  That left the last wave.  It didn’t fare any better, with the last missiles in the wave being stopped short of the Dregluk ships. 

The failure of the second strike left Admiral Wallace no choice.  She ordered a third strike, this time with the Bludgeon ASM’s that she had held in reserve.  Admiral Wallace, her staff, and her captains tried to come up with a firing plan that would penetrate the enemy’s defenses without wasting their limited supply of the big ASM’s.  In the end they had a firing plan, but she worried that that amount might be overkill.  She was caught in an unfamiliar situation.  Dregluk forces had only rarely used active anti-missile defenses in the past, and she and her staff had little experience planning strikes against such targets.  If she launched too few to penetrate their defenses, the strike might do little or even no damage to the targets, meaning a larger strike would have to be launched, wasting even more of the precious missiles.  So, in the end she opted for an amount that she feared would be overkill. 

One hundred and ninety-two Bludgeon IV ASM’s roared away from the fleet.  Unfortunately, a glitch in one of the missile boat squadron’s fire controls delayed their launch, meaning that the Bludgeon ASM’s were launched in two waves, which would certainly reduce their effectiveness against the defenses.  Admiral Wallace was furious. 

The first interceptions started 3.6 mkm’s out.  The Dregluk defensive missiles took a huge toll of the incoming heavy missiles, and Admiral Wallace was forced to watch with a sinking heart as her alpha strike was winnowed away by a seemingly endless stream of defensive missile fire.   The first wave of Bludgeon ASM’s was reduced to just five missiles by the time it reached point blank range, and the only reason those five survived was that it was taking the defensive anti-missile missiles multiple hits to kill each of the armored ASM’s.  Those five were wiped out by point blank defensive fire.  The smaller second wave was whittled down in exactly the same way, and its last few missiles died in the storm of point-blank fire that the Dregluk squadron threw out. 

Admiral Wallace was livid, but her anger was directly mostly at herself.  Her staff had wanted to launch a larger strike, but she had been the most active voice in limiting its size, as she wanted to save most of her best missiles for a strike against the Dregluk Home Planet.  It was her mistake.  Now she had to correct it.  A quick check showed that the salvo her remaining launchers could send towards the Dregluk would be smaller than the one that had just died without inflicting any damage, so that left one option.  She hit the all-ships channel.

“The fleet will withdraw to the Houston system.  We will engage them on the far side of the jump point, when they come through.  All units will begin a phased withdrawal.  Admiral Wallace out.”

One by one the Human fleet jumped out, ceding the space around the jump point in the Austin system back to the Dregluk, at least temporarily.  This included the salvage ship that was working on the large group of Ant class ships that had been destroyed close to the jump point.  Salvage efforts had discovered that the Ant class units were equipped with missile box launchers, as suspected. 

Once on the far side of the jump point the fleet split up.  The support ships retreated to a point just over one million kilometers from the jump point, while the rest of the fleet set up at a point 500,000 kilometers from the jump point.  The HuK’s and their fast frigate escort set up on the jump point to await the arrival of the Dregluk ships.  While the fleet waited for the Dregluk, the Fleet Docks began rearming missile boats that had expended their ordnance. 

There were five salvage ships, with their attendant freighters, working on wrecks close to the jump point.  Admiral Wallace made the decision to let them continue their work.  Her publicly stated reason was that their work was too important to interrupt, but privately she told her chief of staff that if the Dregluk chose to target the civilian ships instead of her fleet that that would be just fine with her.   

December 26, 2143, Houston
Eleven hours after retreating from the Austin system the fleet has reloaded and rearmed its launchers, and Admiral Wallace was starting to develop a plan for their return.  She had expected the Dregluk to jump into the Houston system an hour ago, if they were going to come at all, so it seemed they were going to have to assault the jump point. 

Even as she gathered her staff together the six Dregluk ships jumped into the Houston system.  At that point she became an observer as the fleet’s carefully developed attack plan went into action.  The three HuK’s on the jump point immediately began bringing their engines up, and began targeting the three Incubus class cruisers that fleet Intel theorized were carrying the turreted gauss cannons used to intercept their missiles.  One of the missile boat groups had been rearmed with older Bludgeon III ASM’s, and that group began targeting the six Dregluk ships and would launch as soon as possible.  The battleships and battlecruisers of the fleet, assembled 500,000 kilometers from the jump point, also began targeting the Dregluk ships and would launch their Thunderbolt IV’s as soon as possible.  The plan held the frigates and the rest of the missile boats in reserve. 

The three HuK’s fired almost immediately, and their lasers punched holes in the three Incubus class cruiser’s armor.  In reply, the Dregluk battleship opened fire with its particle beams on one of the freighters assisting the salvage ships working on salvaging wrecks close to the jump point.   The Dregluk focused their fire on one of the freighters, destroying it.

Fifteen seconds later the three HuK’s had their smaller lasers recharged and fired again, but the Dregluk ships were moving away from the jump point and they suffered less damage this time.  Five seconds after that the BB’s and BC’s finally got their launchers online and launched their missiles.  The three HuK’s each fired their spinal lasers as well, scoring hits on two of the Incubus class CA’s. 

The next round went to the Dregluk ships, which this time focused their beam fire on one of the salvage ships, seriously damaging it.   As the Thunderbolt ASM’s closed in, the HuK’s got off another shot with their smaller lasers, and by this time they had gotten underway and were closing on the Dregluk force.  Their lasers struck at the Dregluk ship’s armor, scoring it deeply and causing one breach.

The bulk of the Thunderbolts were shot down by point blank defensive fire, but eight got through to hit the Colossus class BB’s armor, causing several breaches.  The Bludgeon III’s had been launched from further away, and were still on their way.   

The Dregluk force split into two groups, with a lone Incubus class cruiser speeding away from the jump point, while the other five ships turned back towards the Republic’s salvage groups working close to the jump point.  The HuK’s heavy spinal lasers slashed out again, scoring hits against all three Incubus class CA’s, but the lone Incubus class running from the jump point was getting too far away to be effectively targeted, so the Intrepid shifted its targeting to the Colossus class BB at the center of the Dregluk formation. 

The human battleships and battlecruisers launched a second salvo of Thunderbolts even as the HuK’s struck out at the Dregluk cruisers and battleship with their smaller lasers, scoring multiple hits and causing armor breaches on one of the cruisers. 

At that point there was a pause, as the HuK’s recharged their lasers and the missiles were streaking towards their targets.  It was at this point that the Dregluk BB fired its particle beams at the Santa Barbara, the fast anti-missile frigate attached to the HuK’s.  Twenty-one of the particle beams struck the frigate, carving through her armor and penetrating deeply into the ship.  The small ship shuddered under the heavy fire, until finally one of her magazines was struck, causing a small but devastating internal explosion that destroyed the ship’s bridge and gutted the ship.  Fifty-eight crewers were killed, but seventy-nine managed to get to their life pods. 

As the HuK’s and the Dregluk BB recharged their weapons, the second Thunderbolt salvo streaked in.  The Dregluk formation had broken into three groups at this point, as several ships had suffered engine damage.  The two Fiend class AMM cruisers were still sticking with the Colossus class BB, but had not yet managed to launch any AMM’s.  The two Incubus class CA’s that had been close to the BB had moved away.  The lone Incubus class that had been running from the jump point was still moving away.  The pair of Incubus class CA’s managed to destroy all of the missiles targeted on them with point blank gauss cannon fire, but by moving away they exposed the Fiend class CA’s and the BB to the missiles.  One Fiend was destroyed by the Thunderbolts, while the other was damaged.  The Colossus managed to stop twelve of the fifteen missiles targeted on it, and none of the three that hit penetrated its armor.  Even as the missiles hit, the last Fiend class AMM cruiser got its sensors up, meaning that it might finally begin launching anti-missiles into the fray.  The HuK’s got in their laser strikes as well, although the Incubus cruisers were getting too far away for the lasers to do much damage.  Seeing this, the captains of the Assistance and the Endeavor retargeted on the remaining Fiend class CA and the Colossus. 

The Bludgeon III ASM’s launched by the missile boats chose this moment to intercede, finally.  The first to reach their targets were the ones targeted on the Fiend class CA and the Colossus.  The cruiser shot down eight of the big missiles, but was then overwhelmed by the remainder and destroyed.  The Colossus shot down six and was hit by nine, staggering it and causing it to slow even more.  At this point, sensing the Dregluk force was on its last legs, Admiral Wallace ordered her BB’s and BC’s to cease fire, just as they were readying to launch their third salvo. 

The two-ship Incubus CA group was the next to face the Bludgeon’s.  The two cruisers proved more than capable of dealing with the missiles and shot them all down before they could hit.  A group of Bludgeon’s that had been targeted on the Fiend class cruiser destroyed earlier in the battle acquired the Colossus with their internal sensors and attacked, with three penetrating the BB’s last second fire and causing multiple hull breaches.  The last ship to come under attack from the Bludgeon wave was the fleeing Incubus class cruiser, which easily destroyed the six ASM’s targeted on it.  By this time Admiral Wallace had ordered all three HuK’s to focus their fire on the Colossus, which, with its particle beams, was the primary remaining threat.  It was limping along at half of its previous speed and would be easy prey for the HuK’s.  All six of the HuK’s smaller lasers hit, and all caused armor breaches in the big battleship. 

By that time all three remaining Incubus class cruisers had turned and were racing towards the limping battleship.  Their attempt to aid the beleaguered battleship came to an end when the three HuK’s speared the big Dregluk ship with their spinal lasers and carved it into two separate pieces.  The three HuK’s turned from the wreck of the battleship and split up, each taking a Dregluk cruiser under fire.  The Incubus class cruisers had proven to be immune to missile fire, or at least to the salvoes that Admiral Wallace was willing to launch, so she ordered the HuK’s to close and destroy the troublesome ships.   

All three remaining Dregluk CA’s turned away and began running, but the HuK’s were far faster than the Dregluk ships.  For a time, the Dregluk CA’s tried to avoid the HuK’s, but their effort was futile and finally they seemed to accept their fate and plunged towards their pursuers.  The HuK’s raced towards their targets, their lasers striking out again and again, but then came under concentrated fire from the Incubus’ gauss cannons.  Each hit did only a tiny bit of damage, but between the two cruisers that had closed with their pursuers they were able to manage one hundred and twenty-eight hits on their pursuers.  The HuK’s had heavy shields, but they couldn’t withstand this kind of damage for long.  Seeing this, Admiral Wallace ordered her battleships to launch another salvo of Thunderbolts to assist the HuK’s.  The enemy cruisers would be forced to choose between defending themselves from the missiles or targeting the HuK’s. 

The HuK’s struck out again and again with their lasers, but the Dregluk ships were able to fire every five seconds, while the HuK’s had a fifteen second recharge time on their smaller lasers and a twenty second recharge time on their larger lasers.  The Intrepid was the first to lose her shields, and the gauss rounds began scouring her armor.   She suffered only minor damage, but that would change, rapidly. 

Five seconds later the sustained gauss cannon fire gutted the Intrepid, causing heavy internal damage.  She wasn’t destroyed, but she was crippled.  The Assistance, too, had her shields knocked down.  She hadn’t suffered any internal damage, yet, but her armor was being scoured away.  Five seconds after that, the Intrepid exploded under the sustained barrage from the Dregluk gauss cannon cruiser.  Admiral Wallace ordered the remaining two HuK’s to open the range.  The Assistance had lost her shields, and the Endeavor was down to 70% shield strength.  Although they were faster, it would take time for the HuK’s to extricate themselves, time that they might not have.   

Fortunately, even as the two HuK’s tried to come about and open the range, the enemy cruisers were also slow to react, and they moved out of their own range.  The two HuK’s continued to pelt their targets with laser fire, continuing to cause internal damage, but the Dregluk ships were big and tough.  By the time the first salvo of Thunderbolts from the battleships arrived, the HuK’s were no longer within range of the Dregluk gauss cannons, which was good for them but also meant that the Dregluk ships could focus on their own defense.  None of the missiles got through to their targets.  Admiral Wallace ordered her BB’s to focus their fire on one of the cruisers, instead of spreading their fire, in the hopes that this would make the difference. 

As the second concentrated salvo of Thunderbolts raced towards its target, the two remaining HuK’s continued to pound their targeted Incubus class CA’s from 100,000 kilometers, outside their gauss cannon range.  This ensured the safety of the HuK’s, but also attenuated their laser fire, making the process of destroying the Dregluk ships more drawn out.  The Thunderbolt ASM’s finally arrived at their targeted Incubus, which managed to destroy thirty of the ASM’s, but the remaining fifteen hit the cruiser, causing multiple hull breaches.  The cruiser was staggered, slowed, and lost its active sensor.  Admiral Wallace ordered her BB’s to shift fire to one of the other cruisers. 

The second salvo of Thunderbolts raced in, targeted on the Dregluk CA closest to the salvage ships by the jump point.  This Incubus was only able to destroy fifteen of the forty-five Thunderbolts, and the remaining thirty smashed the cruiser.  Admiral Wallace shifted fire to the third Incubus, while the HuK’s continued to pound the cruisers mercilessly. 

The two HuK’s continued their merciless pursuit of the Incubus class CA’s while the last salvo of Thunderbolts closed on the least damaged of the two remaining Dregluk cruisers.  The Incubus managed to destroy fifteen of the forty-five ASM’s, but then was overwhelmed by the remaining thirty, leaving just one Dregluk cruiser in the Austin system.  The two HuK’s closed on this last cruiser, which had no active sensors and thus was at their mercy.  Together the two HuK’s closed to point blank range and pounded the remaining cruiser into submission, leaving little but wreckage floating in their wake. 

The battle was over, but the Republic’s forces had paid a price to eliminate the Dregluk attack force.   They had been forced back to the Houston system, and two warships had been destroyed, the fast frigate Santa Barbara and the Hunter-Killer Intrepid.  In addition, an older freighter had been lost to enemy fire.  A salvage ship and the Hunter-Killer Assistance were damaged, although the Assistance could be repaired in the Fleet Docks in a matter of hours.  The missile boats that had expended their ordnance entered the Docks as well, while one of the munitions ships that had been emptied refilling the fleet’s magazines moved out to begin rescuing the Republic’s spacers that were drifting in life pods.  Once the pods had been recovered the munitions ship would return to the Forward Operating Base where the crews would be dropped off.  The fleet would have to wait to go on the offensive again until munitions ships returned from the Forward Operating Base, where they were loading more Thunderbolt ASM’s. 

The damaged salvage ship was more of a problem.  The ship had suffered serious internal damage, including several of its salvage modules, and only had a small engineering department capable of dealing with the most limited repairs.  After some consideration it was decided to let it finish its current salvage effort and then it would return to the Solar System for either repairs or scrapping.  A tug was requested from the Solar System to tow the salvage ship back, as it would take the best part of a year for it to return in its current condition. 

Within six hours of the end of the battle the Assistance was back in the battle line in the Austin system, awaiting the munitions ships before advancing into the system. 

December 28, 2143, Austin system
The fleet has finally been assembled, fueled, and rearmed.  While there weren’t enough Thunderbolt IV ASM’s to completely refill the BB and the BC’s magazines, there were enough for each to be able to launch several salvoes of the IV’s before having to fall back on the older III’s.  Admiral Wallace’s entire force consisted of 3 BB’s, 3 BC’s, 4 Assault Ships, 2 HuK’s, 7 anti-missile frigates, 9 ASM frigates, 63 missile boats, 4 anti-small-craft pods, 3 AMM pods, and 16 ASM pods.  The entire force set out for Dregluk Prime at 1240 hours.  Admiral Wallace divided her force into two groups, based on the type of missiles that they carried.  Her intent was to launch a strike timed so that the two different types of missiles would arrive at the target as close as possible so as to overwhelm the enemy’s defenses.  It would be difficult to organize, but the only other choice was to come so close to the defenses that the enemy wouldn’t be able to intercept the incoming missiles before they hit their targets, and that would mean they would have to endure AMM barrages fired in offensive mode.  It would take around seven days for both of the forces to arrive on station. 

December 29, 2143, Austin
On their way into the inner system, the 1st Fleet detects a Dregluk ground military force on one of the moons of the fifth planet.  This brings to three the known outposts or populations in the system.  Dregluk Prime and Dregluk Secundus are both located on moons of the innermost gas giant.  For now, Admiral Wallace is concentrating on Dregluk Prime, as that is the location of the shipyards and likely the prime threat.   

[Kurt (OP)]

The United Republic of Earth
December 30, 2143

Earth:
Population: 2.498 Billion (-13.4%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 4/13
Industrial Facilities (All): 10,187 (-3%)
R&D Labs: 210
Environment: Average Temp -4 degrees from normal averages.  Radiation currently causing 17% drop in industrial efficiency.  (Note: The efficiency drop from lack of workers has actually exceeded the efficiency drop related to radiation)
Estimated annual population decrease rate is -2.72%.

The Earth’s economy is suffering under a massive shortfall of workers, which this year exceeded 100 million.  This is in spite of the continuing transfer of shipyards and industrial facilities to the colonies, the conversion of mines to automation, and the complete shutdown of the fuel refining industry on Earth.  The Republic’s leadership is actually considering increasing the transfers of industry, which would cause shortages of workers on the colonies, but at a lower level than that of Earth. 

The amelioration of the dust and radiation from the bombardment has actually begun causing problems on Earth.  As the dust has settled, the average temperature has risen, which wouldn’t have been a problem except that shortly after the bombardment the terraforming fleet pumped greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in an attempt to stabilize the temperature before it could fall too far.  Now that the dust levels are much lower temperatures have risen, and the average temperature has actually exceeded the safe zone for human life.  Fortunately, the effect is slight, at least so far, and there is more than enough infrastructure stored on Earth to counteract this temperature rise.  In any case, the terraforming effort on Ganymede is expected to be completed in the first half of 2144, at which time the terraforming fleet will be transferred to Earth to reverse the effects of the temperature increase.   

The new administration under Consul Young was appalled at what they discovered about the state of the Republic’s economy once they took over from the Foster Administration.  While most of the information relating to the economy is public, no one outside of the government had put all the facts together, a situation that the Foster government seems to have encouraged or influenced.  At the current time projections are that at the current rate of expenditure, the Republic will run low on both resources and fuel in the next several years.  Even more shocking is the carefully concealed fact that the Earth’s deposits of TN resources will be completely depleted within the next ten years.  While that can be dealt with, fleet operations and construction will almost certainly have to be curtailed for some time, and efforts will have to be redirected from moving population away from the radiated environment on Earth to establishing a more viable economy.     

Luna:
Population: 348.57 million (260% increase)
Mines: 317 (no change)
Automated Mines: 155 (no change)
Financial Centers: 310
Construction Factories: 145 (241% increase)

The rate of the Lunar Colony’s population increase has actually begun to concern the Senate, which has taken action to reduce the flow of people for the next year, as this population transfer has significantly affected Earth’s economy. 

With the end of the terraforming effort on Ganymede in sight, the Lunar Colony has begun campaigning to be the next location to be terraformed.  Luna currently has the third largest population in the Republic, and with the election of Joseph Foster to the Senate it has gained a persuasive voice to argue its position.  The Senate and the Young administration have not yet made a decision on this issue, although it has been announced that the terraforming fleet will be diverted to Earth for several months to correct the previous terraforming efforts.  There are persistent rumors that the Young administration is eyeing locations outside of the Solar System for the next terraforming effort. 

Mars:
Population: 668.42 million (+11%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 15/59 (+3 slipways)
Maintenance Facilities: 140
Construction Factories: 253 (+23 change)
Ordnance Factories: 343 (+64 change this year)
Financial Centers: 160

The largest single employer on Mars continues to be the Republic Naval Yards, employing over one hundred and one million Martian residents.  The Martians are fervent supporters of the Republic’s war effort, and almost twenty percent of the Martian population is directly employed by the military or the military-industrial complex.  The bulk of the rest of the population is indirectly involved in the war effort as well. 

All of the Republic’s naval shipyards orbit Mars, and Mars has become the primary fleet anchorage for the Home Fleet as all maintenance facilities were transferred off of Earth over the past year in an attempt to ameliorate the ongoing worker shortage.  While the orbital yards only added three slipways this past year, all of the yards added tonnage capacity to their slipways over the year, as part of a long-standing plan to increase the size of the Navy’s ships to match the ships deployed by the Dregluk.  These efforts have been curtailed as of late, as the expansion of the yard’s capacity has overrun the Mars Colony’s available workers by a significant margin, reducing production efficiency. 

Ganymede:
Population: 148.13 million (+274%)
Construction Factories: 233 (no change)
Mines: 108 (no change)
Automated Mines: 168 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 54
Shipyards/Slipways: 5/19

The terraforming fleet has reduced the colony cost associated with the Ganymede colony to 0.529 on the standard BuReLoc scale, and is projected to complete its efforts in the first half of the upcoming year.   

Five of the Republic’s ten civilian shipyards have been transferred to Ganymede, and this process will continue throughout 2144.   

Solar Outposts and Mining Facilities:
Venus:
Automated Mines: 741 (no change)

Wolf-Harrington (Comet):
Automated Mines: 111 (no change)
This mining outpost is slated to be shut down in two years when the last of the resources present on the comet have been mined out. 

Whipple (Comet):
Automated Mines: 50 (no change)

Swift-Tuttle (Comet):
Automated Mines: 25 (no change)

Puck (Moon of Uranus):
This outpost is intended solely as a fuel dump for the refineries working in Uranus orbit.  Fuel reserves located on Puck, and in the tanks of the thirty-two Exxon-Mobile fuel refineries in orbit over Uranus are currently 26,170,000 liters, enough to fill one Fleet UNREP ship to capacity. 

Bastion (Washington System):
Population: 10.21 million (+229%)
Construction Factories: 86 (48 transferred this year)
Maintenance Facilities: 138 (no change)

Bastion is no longer considered the leading edge of the Republic now that the Forward Operating Base and the Maintenance Base have been established in the Houston system, but it is still Humanity’s largest extra-solar colony and the home of the 1st Fleet. 

The entire population is devoted to supporting the fortress complex that protects the planet and the fleet base that is the colony’s reason for existence.   

The Navy has been campaigning heavily within the Senate for the reassignment of the Terraforming ships to Bastion when they complete their efforts at Ganymede, as Bastion already has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and temperate climate.  The atmosphere is too thin to breathe without technological assistance, though.  Terraforming Bastion would make it much easier to increase the colony’s size and ability to support the 1st Fleet, and would not take too long, however, the Washington system has little in the way of exploitable resources to justify a further expansion.  The debate in the Senate continues. 

Houston System (Forward Operating Area, 1st Fleet)

Maintenance Base (5th moon of the 5th planet)
Population: 9.68 million (All transferred in this year)
Maintenance Facilities: 140 (all transferred in this year)
The Maintenance Base is a vital support facility for the 1st Fleet, allowing Admiral Wallace to overhaul her ships very close to the front lines instead of having to send them back to Bastion for maintenance.  The maintenance facility is currently undermanned, and population transfers from Earth will continue for several more months to bring it up to full staffing. 

Forward Operating Base (2nd Moon of Dregluk Bravo (Planet #4)
Population: 0 (this planetoid is too small for colonization)
Deep Space Tracking Station: 20
The Forward Operating Base was established by the 1st Fleet to support its operations in the Houston system primarily by providing long-range detection capabilities.  In addition, the Forward Operating Base supports a fuel dump and is used as a troop transfer and staging point.  Finally, ten construction brigades have been transferred in to begin assembling pre-fabbed PDC’s on this location. 

Dregluk Alpha (3rd Planet)
Population: 52 million (net decrease of 53% over pre-conquest population)
The 1st Fleet bombarded this planet to force a surrender, rather than risking a ground invasion.  Publicly, the government has announced that the damage to the planet’s environment and the colony’s infrastructure is due to fanatical Dregluk resistance, both before and after the conquest.  In reality, the 1st Fleet, at the direction of the office of the Consul, used enhanced radiation weapons against the colony, and then, at Admiral Wallace’s order, the infrastructure supporting the Dregluk colony was relocated to the Forward Operating Base and the Maintenance Facility.  The bombardment and the loss of the infrastructure has caused the Dregluk population to decline dramatically, and it isn’t clear how much longer the colony will exist.  Neither the 1st Fleet, nor the Republic’s government, has taken any action to remedy the situation on Dregluk Alpha. 

Although the Republic has been hiding the details of the way that the Dregluk colony was undermined, and has shifted the blame for the collapse of the colony to the Dregluk colonists, it isn’t clear that that was necessary.  The Republic’s citizens are firmly behind the bombardment of this colony and every other Dregluk population, and this sentiment is particularly strong on Earth, which despite its population decrease since the Bombardment, is still the Republic’s largest population.  This sentiment has been firmly reinforced by the fact that the troops occupying the colony have suffered no casualties from dealing with the Dregluk, a result that the public firmly believes is due to the craven cowardice of the Dregluk and the overwhelming valor of the Marines and regular troopers that form the occupation forces. 

Dregluk Bravo (4th Planet)
Population: 0
Civilian Mines: 24
This planet appears to have been a mining outpost for the Dregluk Imperium.  A small stockpile of TN resources was seized when the planet fell to the 1st Fleet’s Marines, and the mining complexes have since been put to work producing resources that will be transferred to the Maintenance Base to help support the fleet. 
 
Philadelphia System
Xeno Research Project (Planet #1):
The research project ended this year abruptly, and the research team has been transferred back to Earth under the utmost secrecy.  The entire project has been classified at the highest level, and nothing as to the results of the team’s findings have been made public or leaked out. 

The older troop transports that remain in the Solar System have been steadily transferring construction brigades from Bastion to this planet, but no announcement has been made as to the intent behind their transfer.  Speculation is rampant that a great discovery was made by the research team, or that the planet is being prepared to become a fortress complex to be used as a bulwark against the mysterious Symsonian’s, but very little is available in the way of actual facts. 

Currently, the 2nd Infantry Brigade is stationed on this planet, and four construction brigades have been transferred as well.   

This planet is considered a prime target for colonization by the Republic as it has vast deposits of TN resources, and is considered to be easy to terraform, as it already has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a temperate climate.  All that would need to be done to adjust it for colonization would be to reduce the overall oxygen content of the atmosphere, as currently it is too high to be breathable by a human without technological assistance.  When coupled with the presence of alien ruins on the planet, it would seem to be a prime target for future operations. 

System Defense Command
The System Defense Command is based on Earth and has as its primary mission the defense of Earth.  Its secondary mission is the defense of the Solar System, and then thirdly it is concerned with supporting the Fleet’s mission against the Dregluk by maintaining fortifications on Bastion in the Washington system. 

System Defense Command Emplacements
Earth:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 10
Anti-missile bases (meson): 20
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 4
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 15

Luna:
Anti-missile bases (meson): 5 (66% increase)

Mars:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 5
Anti-missile bases (meson): 10
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 2
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 5

Ganymede:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 2
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 4
Anti-Missile Bases (Meson): 8 (266% increase)

Bastion (Washington System):
Sensor Bases: 2
Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 3
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 9
Anti-missile bases (Meson): 29 (+1 (3.5%) increase)

In addition to the fixed defenses, the SDC is also responsible for the Listening Posts that now guard all of the approaches to the Solar System.  Currently, there are listening posts in the Boston System, the Chicago System, the New York System, the San Francisco system, the Honolulu system, the Denver system, and the Washington System.  These listening posts are all composed of twenty DSTS’s, with the exception of the Washington listening post, which is composed of twenty-five, and the Honolulu system, which is composed of seven.  These listening posts watch for alien incursions, and if any alien ships are detected the incursions will be reported to a Fleet picket ship standing by at the jump point to the Solar System. 

To date, the only system adjacent to the solar System without listening posts is the Los Angeles system.  The Los Angeles system is problematic as it contains no planetary bodies to support a listening post, which means that picketing that system will be a Fleet responsibility.  Currently the Fleet has assigned a picket ship and a Fleet Scout to the system as an early warning tripwire. 

The Republican Fleet

Republic Home Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Isobel Gilbert
Home Port: Mars
Star class BB: Antares
Planet class BCC: Mercury, Saturn
Essex Class Assault Ships: Essex, Potemkin, Yamato
Defender class Destroyer Escorts: Defender, Buckler, Shield
Brooklyn class AMM Frigates: Birmingham, Karachi, Mumbai
Lake class ASM Frigates: Balkhash, Victoria, Vostok, Winnipeg
20xLR Missile Boat
2xLR Missile Boat Leader
10xMissile Boat

Home Fleet Support Group
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-005
Hero class Fleet Dock: Sergio Ortega-Cortez, Surayya Medved

Home Fleet Pod Reserve (Earth)
50xMissile Pod
19xAMM Pod
7xSensor Pod

Home Fleet, Scout Group
Far Seer class Scout: Beckwourth, Chapman, Tobin

1st Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Freya Wallace
Home Port: Bastion, Washington System
Star class BB: Pride of Sol, Procyon, Vega
Planet class BC: Mars, Jupiter, Venus
Essex class Assault Ship: Ark Royal, Prince of Wales, Bismarck, Warspite
Enterprise class Hunter-Killer: Assistance, Endeavor
Brooklyn class AMM Frigate: Lima, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Boston, Cairo, Chongqing, Delhi, Lagos
Lake class ASM Frigate: Sacramento, Singapore, Tanganyika, Vladivostok, Baikai, Eire, Huron, Ladoga, Michigan, Nairobi, Ontario, Malawi
57xLR Missile Boat
6xLR Missile Boat Leader
19xMissile Boat

1st Fleet Support Group
Hero class Fleet Dock: Adela Sachs, Deborah Hasek, Judith Cole, Michael Bromley
Fleet Support class Munitions Ships: FS-001, FS-002, FS-003, FS-004, FS-005, FS-006
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-004

1st Fleet, Pod Group
21xASM Pod
12xAMM Pod
5xASU Pod
4xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, Scout Group
Far Seer class Scout: Kit Carson, Jim Bridger

Survey Command (Administratively under Home Fleet)
Home Port: Mars

1st Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGeo Survey Ship

2nd Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGeo Survey Ship

3rd Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

System Defense Force
The System Defense Force is nominally under the Navy in terms of organization, but much like the Fleet Marines, it is a separate organization within the larger organization.  The System Defense Force’s mission is to defend the Solar System from all threats.  To this end it has the following forces:

Sol System (stationed at Mars, or defending various jump points into Sol):
Saratoga R1 Monitor: Saratoga, Waterloo, Stalingrad, Tours, Hastings, Metaurus, Cajamarca

Washington System (stationed at Bastion or defending various jump points):
Saratoga r1 Monitor: Masada, Antietam, Huai Hai, Marathon

System Defense Force (Mars):
Interceptor Group #1: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #2: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #3: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #4: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc

 Ships currently under construction (Mars):
4xStar class BB
3xPlanet r2 class battlecruisers
1xNimitz class DD
4xDefender class Destroyer Escorts
4xBrooklyn(F) Fast Frigates
10xMB r3(LR)
4xMB r3 (LR) Leader

5xPod (AMM)
7xASU Pod
5xASM Pod

3xGravitic Survey Ships
3xFar Seer r2 class Scout

1xRefit Essex to Essex r2 Assault Ship
3xRefit Brooklyn r5 AMM frigate to Brooklyn r6LR

[Kurt (OP)]

January 1, 2144, 0834 hours, Austin system
Admiral Wallace looked around the flag deck.  This was it, her last chance to defeat the Dregluk.  Her gaze turned towards the plot tank in the center of the deck.  It was currently set to show the inner system, centered on Dregluk Prime.  Dregluk Prime showed up in the tank as a small red icon glowing bright red, its burning intensity mirroring the massive thermal and EM signature the planet was giving off.  Her lips were bared in a predatory grin as she watched a scattering of large and slow icons representing Dregluk civilian ships leave orbit over Dregluk Prime and flee the approach of her fleet.  They were unimportant, for now, and her gaze returned to Dregluk Prime as it had so many times before. 
 
Her hand, acting as if it had a mind of its own, slipped into her pocket and wrapped around the small pic flat she kept there.  This was to be her last chance to defeat the Dregluk Imperium, she knew.  She had stripped the supply dumps and magazines of the solar system to supply her fleet, and missile production was falling back home.  Although older missiles were available, stocks of modern missiles were critical, and she feared that the Admiralty, and behind them the Senate and the Consul, would not authorize a third attack if this one failed.  The munitions industry on Earth was failing due to lingering radiation and lack of workers, and was slated to be relocated, but until that happened missiles would be in short supply.  No, she thought, if this attack failed it was a sure thing that the Admiralty would order her fleet to assume a permanent defensive blockade over Dregluk Prime, to await the construction of a new beam-armed fleet capable of penetrating the orbital defenses of Dregluk Prime.  She grimaced.  It would take years to build that fleet, and would mean years of waiting for her.  Worse, that fleet would form up under the command of some other admiral, while she sat here and watched Dregluk Prime.  Her thoughts were interrupted by the approach of her aide. 

“Ma’am, the bridge confirms that we have arrived at our launch point.”

“Very well.  What is the ETA of the Bludgeon force?”

“Approximately four days, ma’am.  I can have Captain Arguellos update you on the exact time, if you want.”

Admiral Wallace smiled.  Lt. Enriquez knew she didn’t need or want the exact ETA, but he through that last part in anyway, just because he was a stickler.  Which was exactly what she needed.  “No need, Lieutenant.  Let the commanders know I want the next four days filled with drills, particular firing drills.  And I want a command staff meeting tomorrow morning, to go over our plan.”

“Very well.”  Lt. Enriquez saluted and walked away, leaving Admiral Wallace to stare at the glowing red icon at the center of the plot.  Every once in a while, her hand would slip into her pocket, as if of its own accord. 

January 5, 2144, 1512 hours, Austin system
“Fire!”  With that, Admiral Wallace settled back into her chair and watched the plot, waiting for her fleet to respond to her orders.  It had taken months of effort and coordination to reach this point.  She had stripped the Washington system of nearly every mobile unit assigned to her fleet, and begged and borrowed every ship she could from the Home Fleet for this operation.  She, her captains and subordinate admirals, and her staff had done excellent work developing the plan they were about to implement.  Her fleet was divided into two groups, the Bludgeon group and the Thunderbolt group, depending on the ASM that the ships were equipped with.  The two groups were stationed at distances from Dregluk Prime that corresponded to the time it would take their missiles to reach their targets over Dregluk Prime in one hour.  Now, aboard all of the missile-firing ships of the fleet, crews were racing to launch the single largest missile salvo ever launched by a human fleet.  The question was, could they coordinate the firing of the two groups closely enough to ensure that the missiles arrived over Dregluk Prime simultaneously?  If they weren’t able to coordinate their firing that closely, the attack would likely fail as the Dregluk defenses would be able to deal with each attack separately, and those defenses had already proved to be frighteningly effective. 

“Launch!  We have missile launch.  Awaiting confirmation of launch from the Bludgeon group.”  The comm officer bent over his station. 

Admiral Wallace watched intently as a massive wave of Thunderbolt IV’s raced away from her group.  She watched the plot intently, waiting for confirmation of launch from the Bludgeon group.  Everything depended on a simultaneous launch.  Her last attack had shown that the Dregluk defenses were able to overwhelm missile waves composed of either Bludgeon or Thunderbolt ASM’s.  Her only real alternative now was to try to coordinate launches from her two groups, so that the missiles that they launched would arrive over Dregluk Prime simultaneously.  If the Dregluk defenses could stop a simultaneous launch, then it was a wonder that she had managed to push them back this far in the first place. 

Admiral Wallace glanced at the time code on her display.  It would take just over two and a half minutes for the confirmation signal to arrive from the Bludgeon group, which was stationed 46.6 mkm’s closer to Dregluk Prime.  In the meantime, Admiral Wallace’s hand slipped into her pocket to cradle the small picture she kept there as she watched the massive missile wave race away from her ships. 

Two and a half minutes later the confirmation came in and cheers broke out across the flag deck.  The Bludgeon group’s ships launched simultaneously with the Thunderbolt ships!  In just under an hour 296 Thunderbolt IV ASM’s would be joined by 546 Bludgeon IV ASM’s in what she hoped was an overwhelming attack on the defenses over Dregluk Prime.  While the missiles were targeted exclusively on the orbital defenses, given the internal sensors of the Bludgeon ASM’s, almost any enemy target close to Dregluk Prime would be attacked if there was overkill, including the population and the orbital shipyards.  The Admiralty had ordered her to limit the bombardment of surface targets to special munitions, to leave Dregluk industrial facilities intact for humanity’s use, and had specifically precluded her from targeting the orbital shipyards without Consular approval, but if enough Bludgeon ASM’s survived the destruction of their original target, nothing close to Dregluk Prime would be safe.  And she was fine with that.  Just fine. 

The missiles raced away from the two groups, towards the targets.  It was a long, tense hour for the fleet and Admiral Wallace as they watched their missile wave crawl towards Dregluk Prime.   This was it, their alpha strike.  If it didn’t work then the fleet would have to turn to an alternative strategy, either blockade or a potentially costly direct attack at close range.  Finally, fifty-seven minutes after the launch, the Bludgeon ASM wave, which was in the lead as the two groups of missiles approached the planet, began taking AMM fire at 4.8 mkm’s out.  It would take approximately 120 seconds for the missiles to cross the intervening space to their targets, and the first round of interceptions was heave, taking a large toll of the incoming missiles.  As the seconds crawled by it became apparent that the Dregluk had had kept AMM launch capability in reserve during the last attack as the interceptions continued to mount.  The interceptions continued to wither away the attack group, but after fifteen seconds the number of interceptions by AMM’s fell off, and then stopped completely.  Then, ten seconds later, Dregluk AMM’s began intercepting Thunderbolt ASM’s coming up behind the Bludgeon ASM’s.  The Dregluk focused their fire on the Thunderbolts for ten seconds, and then shifted again. 

Admiral Wallace’s attitude had shifted from cautious confidence to near despair as she watched her alpha strike whittled down.  But then the Dregluk defenses fell silent for forty-five seconds.  It appeared that the Dregluk had launched a large salvo of AMM’s at each missile group and then waited for that salvo to hit to evaluate its effectiveness.  That was allowing the human missile wave to approach while the Dregluk were forced to launch more AMM’s and then wait for them to reach the human missiles.   Admiral Wallace’s hopes began to rise as the human missiles raced towards the planet without further interceptions. 

The interceptions began again when the Bludgeon ASM wave was 2.5 mkm’s from the planet.   There were two rounds of attacks on each missile wave, five seconds apart.  By the end of the second set of interceptions, the Bludgeon wave had been reduced to one hundred and fifty-nine missiles, and the Thunderbolt wave had been gutted, reduced to only twenty-nine missiles.   It was at this point that Admiral Wallace realized the strike wasn’t going to work. 

The third round of interceptions whittled the force down even more, nearly eliminating the Thunderbolt ASM group.  There was time for one more interception by AMM’s an then the remaining attack missiles closed to point blank range.  There were only twenty-six missiles left at that point.  All twenty-six died under the orbital fort’s gauss cannons.  The attack had failed. 

Admiral Wallace ordered her fleet to return to Houston, and began working on her after-action report.   Much to her relief, the Admiralty decided to give Admiral Wallace a third chance to eliminate the Dregluk defenses.  As a result of this battle, the Admiralty began development of missiles designed to penetrate the Dregluk defenses.  One of the new designs relied on speed to get through the interception envelope as fast as possible, while the other was heavily armored.  It would take time to finalize the designs and even more to produce the missiles, though.     

 

[Kurt (OP)]

January 2, 2144, Earth
The Republic’s R&D establishment completes development work on fire control systems for the new 3rd generation meson cannon turrets intended for planetary defense.  These new turrets are equipped with four rapid-firing 150 mm meson cannons with a range of 180,000 kilometers, meaning that they can be used both for missile defense and defense against enemy ships that approach too close.  Work will begin on converting the existing Shield r1 class PDC’s to the Shield r2 standard almost immediately. 

January 14, 2144, Baton Rouge system
The 3rd Survey Group completes its gravitational survey of the system.  One additional jump point is found, approximately one billion kilometers from the two other jump points.  The new jump point has a Dregluk built gate.  The survey commander decides to probe the new system before continuing back up the chain towards the solar system. 

January 17, 2144
The 3rd Survey Group jumps out of the Baton Rouge system into a new system with a G1-V star 1.7 billion kilometers from their entry point.  The system contains six terrestrial planets and three gas giants, and is designated as the Oklahoma system.  One of the terrestrial planets has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and is rated at a colony cost of 2.85 on the BuReLoc scale.  Lt. Commander Campbell, the senior officer commanding the 3rd, orders her group to separate and begin surveying the system.  The jump scout is dispatched to probe the fifth planet to determine if there is a Dregluk base there. 

January 18, 2144, 0512 hours, Austin system
1st Fleet scout Kit Carson detects nine Ant class small units 137 mkm’s out and closing on the jump point to Houston.  Fortunately, ASU missiles are the one thing the fleet has a relative abundance of, unlike Bludgeon and Thunderbolt missiles.  The five ASUM pods stationed at the jump point go to a higher alert level and begin preparing for action. 

Two and a half hours later the Dregluk units had closed and were within range of the Republican forces on the jump point.  Two ASUM Pods launched a total of twenty-seven missiles at the Dregluk units.  The missiles took just over seven minutes to reach their targets, and they obliterated seven of the nine, leaving one dead in space the other still apparently functional.  A second launch of four missiles sufficed to destroy the two remaining ships, leaving space around the jump point clear again. 

January 25, 2144, Solar System
The Admiralty’s R&D teams complete development work on three different types of Planetary Assault Missiles.  All three are variations of the basic Bludgeon and Thunderbolt designs, and use off-the-shelf parts, to minimize development time and cost. 

Planetary Attack Missile (Fast)
Size: 16
Speed: 78,100 km/s
Range: 152.6 mkm’s
WH: 26
Active Sensor and ECM (no armor)

Planetary Attack Missile, Light (Fast)
Size: 5
Speed: 100,000 km/s
Range: 86.1 mkm’s
WH: 4

Planetary Attack Missile, Armored
Size: 16
Speed: 39,100 km/s
Range: 152.6 mkm’s
WH: 26
Armor: 5
Active Sensor and ECM

After some consideration, the Admiralty decides to create a new attack plan based on the two “Fast” planetary attack missile designs.  They hope that the speed of the new missiles will be enough to bypass the Dregluk AMM defenses, and at the very least degrade their gauss cannon defense as well.  Certainly, a missile travelling at a third of light speed will be difficult to stop, and the Admiralty has high hopes.  It will take months for the munitions industry in the Solar System to construct enough missiles to fill the 1st Fleet’s magazines, so in the mean time Admiral Wallace is ordered to blockade Dregluk Prime and prevent any Dregluk ships from escaping the system. 

February 7, 2144, Houston system
Ammunition transports had arrived from the Solar System to replenish the fleet’s magazines, and finally most of the fleet’s ships were rearmed and ready for action.  Instead of another pointless attack on Dregluk Prime, or merely waiting until the new planetary assault missiles were ready, Admiral Wallace decided to begin eliminating or conquering known Dregluk infestations outside of their home system.  To this end, she dispatched a heavy task group, with Fleet Docks, munitions ships, and troop transports, back up the chain of stars to the Portland system.  From there they would divert to the El Paso system, where several Dregluk outposts or settlements had been detected.  The task group consisted of two assault Ships, two destroyer escorts, three fast frigates, six ASM frigates, eleven missile boats, and two ASUM pods, along with various support craft and transports. 

February 30, 2144, Salt Lake System
The task group is finally assembled and refueled.  Captain Harper gives the order and her two Essex class assault ships jump out, accompanied by two destroyer escorts.  They materialize in the Dregluk-occupied El Paso system and immediately determine that the area around the jump point is clear.  After the rest of the fleet transits in, Captain Harper orders the fleet and its troop transports to advance on the system primary.  She leaves her support ships at the jump point, covered by the 2nd LR Missile Group.  The voyage in-system will take over seven days, as the jump point is positioned mid-way between the system’s primary and secondary stars. 

March 9, 2144, El Paso System
Captain Harper’s force is approaching the smaller of the two known Dregluk outposts in the system when it detects twelve Dregluk freighters fleeing across the system.  After considering it for a short time, he detaches two ASM frigates and a destroyer escort to shadow the freighters, while his main group continues towards the Dregluk outpost.   The fleet’s scans from the last time they were in this system indicated that the two known outposts were composed of numerous automated industrial sites, almost certainly mines, with ground force protection.  If the Dregluk had emplaced populations since then his orders were to eliminate them, but, if not, then Captain Harper’s force was to overwhelm the defenders and secure the mining sites for the Republic, thus depriving the Dregluk Imperium of their use. 

March 12, 2144, El Paso System
The 1st Marine Raider Brigade is landed on the smaller Dregluk outpost in the system.  Operations begin immediately against the Dregluk forces dug in around their mining facilities. 

March 18, 2144, El Paso System
The marines come up against numerous and determined Dregluk defensive ground units, and make little headway.  In space, the Dregluk freighters originally moved away from the invading human force, but then turned back towards the human ships.  By this time, the squadron Captain Harper assigned to follow them is low on fuel, and it doesn’t appear that they are going to lead the fleet anywhere useful, so Captain Harper orders his Lake class ASM frigates to engage and destroy the Dregluk ships.  In the meantime, he calls his support ships forward to join his force, leaving the LR missile boats at the jump point. 

Soon, thirty-six Thunderbolt IV ASM’s were speeding towards the oblivious Dregluk freighters.  Twenty minutes later the missile attack was over and two of the freighters were drifting hulks.  Captain Harper ordered a second attack on the freighters to finish them off.   

April 5, 2144, Ganymede
BuReLoc certifies that Ganymede’s environment is now completely Earth-compatible, meaning that all restrictions on transfers to Ganymede and local births have been lifted.  The terraformers in orbit will return to Earth to rebalance its environment before moving on to their next assignment.   

April 12, 2144, El Paso
Reinforcements finally arrive for the beleaguered marines on Dregluk Outpost #2.  An infantry brigade and an assortment of replacements and garrison battalions are landed today, and the new infantry brigade immediately joins the attack.  Two additional infantry brigades are on their way from Earth. 

[Kurt (OP)]

April 13, 2144, Austin
For hours a Dregluk Colossus class BB has been hovering at the extreme range limit of the Republic’s fleet on the jump point to Houston, but now it has finally ventured too close and Admiral Wallace orders her missile boats to open fire.  The missile strike was composed of older Bludgeon III’s, but Colossus class ships had proved to be susceptible to shock damage in the past, and Admiral Wallace had very few modern missiles to spare.  Indeed, the entire Republic was running short of modern missiles, as the 1st Fleet had expended hundreds in the two attacks on Dregluk Prime, and because all production on Earth had been shifted to building the new fast planetary attack missiles for the next attack. 

Three hours later the missiles closed on the big Dregluk ship.  Close-in defense fire killed three, and the other twenty-seven slammed home.  The Dregluk BB sailed out of the fireballs, battered and slowed but still closing on the jump point.  A few seconds later twelve more Bludgeon III’s raced away from the missile boats on the jump point.  This sufficed to finish off the crippled BB. 

April 21, 2144
Exploring a newly discovered jump point in the Oklahoma system, the 3rd Survey Group discovers a trinary system composed of two F5-V stars and a G4-V star.  The secondary and tertiary stars are very distant, and effectively out of reach.  The system contains the usual assortment of planets, moons, and asteroids, with none being particularly interesting at first look.  The 3rd will retire to Houston for refueling and overhauls. 

May 1, 2144, Austin
Two Dregluk Colossus class BB’s have been observed approaching the jump point for the last two and a half days.  Admiral Wallace had wanted to wait for the BB’s to get within Thunderbolt range before engaging, as she had more Thunderbolt ASM’s in reserve than the bigger Bludgeon ASM’s, but for the last four hours the Dregluk BB’s have been running about, just within range of the human ship’s Bludgeon ASM’s, but far out of range of the smaller Thunderbolts, and they were declining to get any closer.  Finally, Admiral Wallace tired of the game and ordered a strike with her remaining Bludgeon ASM’s. 

The attack was composed of thirty-six Bludgeon IV ASM’s targeted on each of the Colossus class BB’s, and, three hours later, the missiles wiped out the Dregluk ships.  The threat was gone, but a little bit more of Admiral Wallace’s long-range offensive strength had been expended. 

May 21, 2144, El Paso
Two additional infantry brigades arrive to bolster the forces fighting on the second, smaller, Dregluk outpost in the system.  The fighting is still heavy, and the Dregluk defenders are entrenched and stubborn. 

May 26, 2144, El Paso
Fighting continues to be heavy on Dregluk #2, the smaller of the two Dregluk mining outposts in the system, but Republican forces are beginning to wear away the defenders.  The addition of the two infantry brigades allows the Republican Army command to isolate one of the stubborn defense battalions, completely destroying it.  Finally, significant advances are being made on the ground. 

June 16, 2144, Detroit
The monitor Stalingrad detected a Dregluk survey ship approaching the jump point to the Washington system late in the day.  At 2255 hours the monitor launched four Bludgeon III ASM’s at the small ship, completely destroying it. 

[Kurt (OP)]

July 10, 2144, Mars
The first three Siege Breaker class Battleships are laid down in the orbital yards.  This class was developed in response to the defenses encountered over Dregluk Prime, but it also is a prime example of a paradigm shift at the Admiralty.  The two massive missile attacks on Dregluk Prime, launched in 2143 and early 2144 by Admiral Wallace’s 1st Fleet, have revealed a massive weakness in the Republic’s war effort.  The Republic’s fleet, since the founding of the Republic in the aftermath of the Dregluk Bombardment of Earth, has been almost completely missile based.  This was largely a result of the fact that first Admiral, then Consul Foster saw the quickest way to defeat the Dregluk attackers was by deploying long-range missiles capable of damaging or destroying Dregluk ships from beyond their own range.  This strategy worked brilliantly, and served to push the Dregluk back to their home system.  The failure of the two attacks by Admiral Wallace resulting in the Admiralty developing two alternatives to penetrate the Dregluk Home World’s defenses.  The first was a strategy based on a variation of the existing missiles, while the second was an assault by beam-equipped ships of several different classes.  The Admiralty opted for the missile-based attack option, as the easiest and quickest to implement. 

Even as that decision was made, however, several separate events made both the Senate and the Admiralty question the wisdom of their course of action.  First, the effectiveness of the Dregluk gauss-cannon defenses over their home world, and the demonstrated effectiveness of the Dregluk Incubus class gauss cannon cruisers, began causing several groups within the Admiralty to re-examine the fleet’s dependence on missiles as their primary, and really only, offensive weaponry.  The second, and most telling blow to the dominance of the missile ships in the fleet was the fact that missiles are expensive, and take time to construct.  The Republic’s primary missile production factories are on Earth, which, as of this writing, is suffering from a massive worker shortage that has reduced the efficiency of the Earth’s industries by a whopping 38.76%.  As a result, industries on the Earth have been struggling to produce enough missiles to equip newly built missile-equipped units, much less replace the missiles expended against the Dregluk home planet.  This situation was exacerbated by the Admiralty’s decision to focus construction on the new Fast Planetary Assault missiles requested by Admiral Wallace for her third attack on Dregluk Prime, as production of these new missiles supplanted production of the standard missiles completely, and made it totally impossible for the munitions industry to both replace expended missiles and supply newly built ships.  This situation rapidly escalated to a major emergency as the 1st Fleet found itself unable to supply all of its units with missiles of any type, and the Home Fleet found its magazines being stripped to provide missiles for the ships on the front line.  Had the Dregluk been able to launch a major push any time in the four months after the second attack on Dregluk Prime, it might had resulted in disaster for the 1st Fleet, which was in a precarious position.  While the situation would be somewhat ameliorated when production was shifted back to standard missiles once the special production run was completed, the shortages had revealed the underlying issues to both the Admiralty and the Senate, and it was clear that the situation was dire. 

Fortunately, a solution was at hand.  There had long been a faction within the Admiralty that pushed for a greater deployment of beam-equipped ships, and while this faction was small, they were quite influential.  Their position was assisted greatly by the exploits of the three Hunter-Killer ships Endeavor, Assistance, and Intrepid, which had caught the attention of the public in ways that the massive missile ships had not.  The destruction of the Intrepid in battle with the Dregluk cruisers in the Houston system caused a public outcry and mourning, and a call for replacement ships to be built.  R&D resources had long been focused on improving beam weaponry and targeting systems, but for years these improvements had not been implemented within the fleet as beam weapons were considered old-fashioned.  As a result of this, when the Admiralty began casting about for an alternative to missile-based combatants, the beam faction had an answer at hand.  The R&D work was largely completed, and in addition, advances had been made in other systems, such as improved shields, which would greatly benefit any new beam combatants.  The beam faction seized the moment and pushed for not only an upgrade for the Hunter-Killers, but a massive new construction program that would replace all construction of missile-based units with beam-based units.  With the missile situation becoming dire, the Admiralty agreed to this plan, and shipyard conversions began, led by the Siege Breaker class BB’s, the biggest warships built by the Republic.  In addition to the BB’s there were to be the improved Hunter-Killers, and a new frigate-sized Attack Craft.  Production of new missile-based units was stopped across the board, with only refits being authorized for several classes to deal with problems identified in action.  For example, the venerable Long-Range Missile Boat was the answer to nearly all of the Republic’s issues when it was launched, as it had the endurance to remain on station for months, and the range to strike at targets several systems away from its base without refueling.  However, ongoing operations by the 1st Fleet have revealed a flaw in the original design.  The standard LR missile boat does not have enough maintenance supplies on board to service its massive capital ship fire control system, therefore, if the fire control system suffers a maintenance failure, the ship is forced to return to the shipyards for repair, putting it out of service for several months.  The Senate authorized a refit for the missile boat squadrons to alleviate this problem.  In addition, a refit was authorized for the Fast AMM Frigate class, which was discovered to have a mere five months endurance for its crew.  This level of endurance was standard for the older frigate classes, but had been discovered to be a big problem during fleet deployments away from the Solar System, and so later refits for the frigates had extended their endurance greatly.  Somehow, this flaw was carried forward into the Fast Frigate class, and the new refit is intended to eliminate it. 

[Kurt (OP)]

July 13, 2144, Austin
A lone Dregluk Colossus class BB approaches the jump point to Houston and is destroyed by a wave of Bludgeon III ASM’s.   
   
August 26, 2144, El Paso
The Dregluk defenses on Dregluk #2 collapse, and marine and army units seize the mining facilities on the planet.  One hundred and thirty-three automated mines, a tracking station, and a mass driver are seized and repurposed to support the Republic.  In addition, over two thousand standard units of raw TN resources are seized.  The troops will be given time to reorganize and recover from the fighting, as the troop transports that brought them have been recalled for other duties or to be refitted.  As soon as a transport returns, the ground units will be shifted to Dregluk #1, the larger mining outpost. 

September 4, 2144, Houston
The last shipment of Fast Planetary Attack missiles arrives at the Maintenance Base in the Houston system.  The planned attack will have to wait for some time as a large percentage of the 1st Fleet is either being overhauled in the Houston system or refitted in the Solar System. 

September 6, 2144, Oklahoma system
Lt. Commander Parkes, senior officer commanding the 2nd Survey Group (Resource), declares the survey of the Oklahoma system complete.  The Oklahoma system is adjacent to the Baton Rouge system, which is the gateway to the Houston system.  While not all bodies within the Oklahoma system have been surveyed, the 2nd is low on fuel and its crews are exhausted after the long survey effort in the system.  The few system bodies that haven’t been surveyed are all remote, and Lt. Commander Parkes has decided that it would be counterproductive to return to the system after refueling just to survey those few bodies.  Instead, the group will set out for the Maintenance Base in the Houston system for refueling and R&R for the crews, before setting out to survey the Dallas system, which was recently discovered through the third jump point in the Houston system.  The Oklahoma system contains several very promising sites for mining TN resources, including Oklahoma-A V, a terrestrial planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.  The planet has a BuReLoc colony cost of 2.85, which is relatively high, due to its average temperature of -86 degrees.  The atmosphere is too thin, as well, and has too little oxygen, but it has vast deposits of TN resources.  It is a mystery to the survey group why the Dregluk have not colonized this planet, given its proximity to their home world, but the Dregluk are very mysterious. 

October 5, 2144, El Paso
The resource survey of the El Paso system is complete.  There are numerous deposits of TN resources scattered throughout the system, with the two best for mining purposes being Dregluk #1 & #2.  The resource survey group sets out for the Maintenance Base in the Houston system to refuel and overhaul its ships. 

October 7, 2144, Miami system
The 3rd Survey Group (Gravitic), has completed its survey of the Miami system and discovered two additional jump points, both with Dregluk jump gates.  The Group’s survey scout probes one of the new jump points and finds a planet-less binary system.  The system primary is a small red dwarf orbited by an even dimmer T2-VII companion.  The survey scout jumps back out and sets out for the second unexplored jump point. 

Seven hours later the survey scout jumps into a known system, the Detroit system.  This explains why Dregluk ships had been known to jump into the Washington system from Detroit occasionally.   This is convenient, because the group’s next survey target was the Detroit system in any case. 

October 13, 2144, El Paso
An assault transport arrives in the El Paso system with a second Marine Brigade and several replacement battalions.  The replacements are delivered to Dregluk #2 to help replenish the battalions that took losses during the fighting, while the new Marine Raider Brigade is delivered to Dregluk #1 to form a beach-head on that planet.  Soon, the transport is ferrying troops from Dregluk #2 to Dregluk #1.  The offensive there won’t start until all forces are marshalled on that planet. 

[Kurt (OP)]

October 15, 2144, Austin System
Admiral Wallace is ready to make her third attack on Dregluk Prime.  This attack will be conducted with Fast Planetary Attack Missiles of two sizes, matching Bludgeon and Thunderbolt launchers.  Admiral Wallace has again broken her fleet into two separate forces, one equipped with the larger Bludgeon launchers and the other with the smaller Thunderbolt launchers.  The two groups will move to positions relative to Dregluk Prime that will allow their missiles to reach the planet simultaneously. 

1st Fleet CO, Vice Admiral Freya Wallace (Flag: BC Jupiter)

Task Group 1.1, CO Rear Admiral Alfie Roberts
3xStar class BB
2xPlanet r2 Class BCC
2xPlanet r2 class BC
1xNimitz class DD
3xLake class ASM Frigate
4xLake r1(LR) ASM Frigate
4xBrooklyn r6(LR) AMM Frigate
2xASUM Pod

Task Group 1.2, CO Rear Admiral George Franklin
4xEssex r2 Assault Jump Ships
2xDefender ASM DE’s
3xBrooklyn(F-ER) AMM Frigates
3xBrooklyn r6LR AMM Frigates
66xMissile Boat
2xASUM Pods
16xASM Pods
2xHero class Fleet Docks
5xFleet Support r2 Ammunition Ships

The two Task Groups each had enough Fast Planetary Attack Missiles to launch one salvo at the orbiting defenses.  After that they would have to fall back on standard missile types.  The two groups would take just over four days to reach their target. 

October 19, 2144, Austin
With Task Group 1.1 positioned 80 mkm’s from the planet, and Task Group 1.2 positioned 62.48 mkm’s, the fleet was finally ready.  Admiral Wallace gave the orders for a simultaneous launch, and, at 1428 hours, the two groups launched.  Three hundred and sixteen Fast Planetary Attack Missiles (Light), and five hundred and ninety-two Fast Planetary Attack Missiles were on their way.  The light missiles had an incredible speed of 100,000 kilometers a second, a third of the speed of light.  The larger missiles had a respectable speed of 78,100 km/s as well.  The strategists at the Admiralty thought that the missiles would be too fast for the Dregluk to intercept, and their speed reduced the time they would be subject to interception in any case.  Now they would find out if reality matched theory. 

Admiral Wallace settled back into her command station as she watched the missiles race away from her fleet.  If this didn’t work the Admiralty would change her fleet’s mission to one of blockade, with the goal of bottling up the Dregluk until a heavy, beam armed fleet could be built to go in and root them out. 

The Dregluk interceptors began hitting the incoming missile wave eight minutes later, when it reached 3.5 mkm’s from the planet.  It took fifty seconds for the human missiles to race through the Dregluk interception envelope.  Dregluk AMM’s did their best to stop the missiles, but they were completely outmatched, and most of the incoming missile wave survived the AMM’s.  Dregluk gauss cannons destroyed fifty-six of the large missiles, leaving the rest to wreak devastation upon the Dregluk orbital defenses.  Ten out of eighteen orbital bases were destroyed outright.  Then the remaining missiles acquired new targets and the situation became chaotic.  When the explosions cleared six of the remaining eight bases were destroyed, and the last two were heavily damaged.  The strike was a near complete success.

Admiral Wallace ordered her fleet to rearm at the Fleet Docks with Task force 1.2, while her capital ships began launching against the remaining targets.  A few seconds later forty-five Thunderbolt IV’s raced away from Task Group 1.1, headed towards the two remaining bases and a lone freighter over Dregluk Prime.   Unfortunately, the defenses proved to still be capable enough to stop that attack.  AMM’s whittled away the attack wave until the single remaining missile was blown away by a CIWs installation.  Admiral Wallace decided to wait while her ships rearmed, and develop a new plan of attack. 

Six hours later four ships, a destroyer and three frigates, launched eighty-four Fast Planetary Attack Missiles (light) at the two remaining bases.  This was the last of the planetary attack missiles.  The Dregluk defenders only managed one interception on the incoming missiles, and then the rest slammed into the two remaining bases.  One survived, while the other was wiped out.  Admiral Wallace ordered her battleships to finish off the base.  Seconds later two BB’s launched against the last base.  This time the missiles met no defenses as they raced towards their target, which was completely destroyed when the missiles detonated. 

Now, with the defenses wiped away, it was time for the final phase to begin.  Admiral Wallace issued the necessary orders, and soon a squadron of missile boats was prepped and ready.  The fleet moved out, closing on Dregluk Prime.  When the fleet reached ten mkm’s, the 1st LR Missile Group launched sixty SM-1’s.  These were older versions of the enhanced radiation missiles used against Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system, but while they were older, they were still effective.  They were targeted on the ground forces defending Dregluk Prime, and with the defenses having been stripped away there was no opposition as the missiles raced in towards the planet.  A small group of Thunderbolt missiles were launched from a battlecruiser at the same time, targeted on a freighter orbiting a Dregluk colony on one of the other moons of the inner Gas Giant. 

The freighter was the first to go, wiped out by the Thunderbolt IV ASM’s from the BC.  Then the SM-1’s raced in.  The big planetary bombardment missiles streaked in, were through the atmosphere in less than a second, and hit their targets, wiping out several ground units.  The secondary effect of the missiles was a massive radiation poisoning of the Dregluk environment.  Scans by the scout that accompanied the fleet indicated that the population of Dregluk Prime was approximately 5.2 billion.  Very few died from direct effects of the bombardment, but the missiles threw enough dust up into the atmosphere to cause a three-degree temperature drop.  The real killer was the radiation, though.  The bombs released more radiation than all of the Dregluk bombardments of Earth combined.  Far more.  Admiral Wallace’s staff was working on an analysis, but preliminary calculations indicated that the radiation released by the missiles would cause at least a sixty percent drop in industrial efficiency, and a negative population growth rate in excess of fifteen percent. 

By then, the Admiral’s staff had an intelligence estimate of the second colony’s makeup ready.  Dregluk Prime was the innermost moon of the system’s innermost gas giant.  The fleet’s sensors had detected another Dregluk colony on the eleventh moon of the gas giant during the first incursion into the system, and now they were close enough to make a detailed study of the smaller population.  The report was clear, while there was a significant population on the planet, there were no industrial facilities at all.  This was good news to Admiral Wallace, as the Consul had ordered her to limit damage to industrial facilities that might be repurposed for the Republic’s use, but had given her a free hand to deal with populations where there were no such installations. 

With the defenses gone, Admiral Wallace ordered her capital ships to open fire on the second colony.  The three BB’s and four BC’s of Task Group 1.1 launched a total of one hundred and sixty-two Thunderbolt III ASM’s at the second colony, in two waves.   The bombardment was decisive, and the population in the smaller colony surrendered immediately after the second wave of missiles hit. 

Three hours later the two Task Groups were in orbit over the surrendered population, and six missile boats were launching from the Fleet Docks that had accompanied the groups, freshly rearmed.  Admiral Wallace gave the order, and the six boats launched on Dregluk Prime.  Thirty SM-1 planetary bombardment missiles raced away from the missile boats.  This comprised the last of the special munitions that had been shipped to the 1st Fleet.  The missiles slammed home across the surface of Dregluk Prime, destroying multiple ground units and poisoning the environment even further.  The analysists were sure that the radiation spewed across the planet by the two attacks would cripple the Dregluk economy and completely wipe out their ability to produce ships and missiles.  With that, the assault was over.  The 1st Fleet had complete control of space in the Austin system. 

Admiral Wallace began issuing orders, and her two Task Groups began splitting up.  A new task group was formed around the DD Nimitz, consisting of the Nimitz and two ASM Frigates, accompanied by three AMM Frigates, and sent after the group of Dregluk freighters or colony ships fleeing towards the outer system.  The Fleet Docks were busy rearming missile boats and frigates, while a group of ships, led by Task Group 1.1’s four assault cruisers, set out for the Maintenance Base in Houston to rearm. 

October 21, 2144, Austin
The Nimitz Task Group was in position, and began launching against the fleeing freighter/colony ship group.  The DD and two frigates launched five Thunderbolt ASM’s at each of the fleeing ships, for a total of fifty ASM’s. 

The Dregluk ships, whatever they are, prove to possess at least some defenses as point-blank fire kills some of the missiles before they reach their targets.  The first strike damages most of the ships, but kills only one of the Dregluk ships. 

The second strike killed five of the nine remaining ships, and the third strike, which was composed of all of the remaining Thunderbolt ASM’s in the Nimitz’ launchers, killed three more, leaving one crippled ship left.  Out of offensive missiles, but reluctant to leave even a single Dregluk ship alive, Captain Palmer orders her task group to close to Aegis AMM range.  The tiny missiles took just one minute and forty seconds to catch up to the fleeing ship, and with that the last known Dregluk ship blew up.  The task group turned towards the jump point to the Houston system and set out for the Maintenance Base. 

[Kurt (OP)]

November 13, 2144, Solar System
The newly formed Republic Environmental Corps, the governmental organization that controls the terraforming fleet, announces that Earth’s environment has been re-balanced and that the terraforming fleet will be dispatched to the planet of Eden in the Philadelphia system.  The fleet will take the best part of a year to arrive at its destination. 

Citizens across the Lunar colony erupt in protest at the announcement.  The Lunar colony is the only major population in the Solar System that remains un-terraformed.  Both Ganymede and Mars are now habitable due to the terraforming fleet’s efforts, and the Lunar colony’s citizens had assumed that they would be next.  This announcement is a blow to their expectations for their colony, and they largely disregard the Republic Environmental Corps explanations that the radiation on the Moon continues to be too high to justify terraforming.  The unrest is limited to the Lunar settlements, and most of the Republic’s citizens on Mars and Ganymede feel that the Environmental Corps’ justifications are perfectly reasonable. 

December 13, 2144, Detroit
The 3rd Survey Group (Gravitic) has almost completed their survey of the Detroit system.  So far, they have found one additional jump point.  While the gravitic survey ships finish their surveys, their scout leader jumps through the newly discovered jump point.  The jump-scout finds itself in a quaternary system with a G7-V central star orbited by two stars, a G-8V and a G9-V, one of which is in a close orbit while the other is very distant.  The distant star is orbited by the fourth star, a small L7-VII dwarf.  The jump point is located approximately three billion kilometers from the system primary, and is almost exactly between the primary and its close companion. 

The primary star is orbited by a scattering of asteroids, while the near companion is orbited by three planets, one of which has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and is rated at a colony cost of 1.8 on the BuReLoc scale, primarily because there isn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere, and because the planet is too cold.  In addition, the jump-scout detects an oddity close to the primary, a stable wormhole of some sort.  After observing for a short time, the jump-scout jumps back to the Detroit system.  Once there the scout dispatches a message to the picket on the jump point to the Washington system requesting a squadron of military ships to probe the system.  Given the presence of a semi-habitable planet and the wormhole, a probe is certainly called for.  The new system is named the St. Louis system. 

December 13, 2144, Austin
A resource survey ship in the Austin system detects a Dregluk outpost on a moon of the sixth planet in the system.  The location is noted for future action. 

December 14, 2144. Sol
The Admiralty dispatches a task group from the Home Fleet composed of two Star class BB’s, an assault cruiser, the newly constructed Enterprise r6 class Hunter-Killer Intrepid II, two DDE’s, two ASM frigates, two AMM frigates, and a fleet scout to the St. Louis system.

December 25, 2144, St. Louis system
The Home Fleet task group built around the battleships Antares and Polaris jumps into the St. Louis system at 1329 hours.  Immediately after jumping into the system the scout assigned to the group detects seven alien ships on its thermal sensors.  The ships are located close to the system primary and six of them possess thermal signatures twice that of the human battleships.  Or Dregluk battleships, for that matter.  If they are warships then they are monsters, but their thermal signature is roughly two thirds that of the latest human freighters.   The seventh has a thermal signature 50% larger than the other six.   

Admiral Morgan Bradshaw, aboard the Antares, knows he really only has one viable choice.  His orders are to engage any Dregluk he finds, but to avoid contact with ships of any other race.  If he encounters ships of any other race he is to monitor and observe, without coming into contact.  Given those constraints he detaches his fleet scout, the Jim Baker, and jumps back to the Detroit system.  Once there he sends word back to the Admiralty via the picket ship network. 

December 28, 2144, St. Louis system
The scout Jim Baker observes one of the alien ships move towards the system primary.  Alarmingly, the alien ship is moving at 8098 km/s, much faster than the standard Republican fleet speed.  The scout jumps out to report, then jumps back to continue its observations. 

[Kurt (OP)]

The United Republic of Earth
December 30, 2144

Earth:
Population: 1.742 Billion (-31%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 2/6
Industrial Facilities (All): 8,150 (-20%)
R&D Labs: 210
Environment: Average Temp -1.47 degrees from normal averages.  Radiation currently causing 16% drop in industrial efficiency.  (Note: The efficiency drop from lack of workers has actually exceeded the efficiency drop related to radiation)
Estimated annual population decrease rate is -2.28%.

The Earth’s economy is suffering under a massive shortfall of workers, which this year exceeded 154 million.  This is in spite of the continuing transfer of shipyards and industrial facilities to the colonies, the conversion of mines to automation, and the complete shutdown of the fuel refining industry on Earth.   

TN resource depletion on Earth is a major concern to the Republic’s leaders.  Two of the resources, Boronide and Mercassium, have been completely exhausted, and the remainder will be exhausted within the next three to fifteen years at the current rates of use.  The resource Gallicite is of particular concern, as it is used in most naval designs in large quantities, and stocks are running low.  To alleviate this situation the Consul and the Senate have been focused on converting mines to automation and moving them to untapped sites outside the Solar System, such as those in the San Francisco system. 

Luna:
Population: 346.25 million (marginal decrease)
Mines: 317 (no change)
Automated Mines: 155 (no change)
Financial Centers: 310 (no change)
Construction Factories: 167 (15% increase)

The Young administration’s decision to move the Ecological Corps fleet to Eden in the Philadelphia system was devastating to the Lunarians (As they call themselves) (Never Lunies!).  The administration’s excuse, relating to the lingering radiation from the Dregluk bombardment, is seen as just that, an excuse to discriminate against the Lunar Colony and Lunarians.  The rest of the Solar settlements sees this as nothing more or less than a reasonable, logical, decision, but not the Lunarians.  In the aftermath of the decision the Lunarians approved diverting their industrial capacity to building ground based terraforming stations to alter their environment.  Eighty percent of their construction capacity is devoted to terraforming stations, while the other twenty percent is dedicated to building more construction factories. 

Mars:
Population: 1369.66 million (+200%)
Shipyards/Slipways: 15/60 (+1 slipways)
Maintenance Facilities: 140
Construction Factories: 253 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 2082 (+600% change this year)
Financial Centers: 260 (+162% change)

Mars continues to be the center of the war effort, particularly now that the bulk of the Republic’s ordinance production has been relocated from Earth to Mars.  In addition, plans are on the drawing board to begin shifting a significant amount of Earth’s construction capacity to Mars now that Mars has a large surplus worker population. 

The population growth on Mars over the last year is largely due to the completion of the colonization project in the Houston system, and the resulting reassignment of colony transports to the Earth-Mars run.  BuReLoc is planning on shifting some of the existing colony transports to two different projects next year, so the Martian population growth isn’t expected to continue at the current rate. 

The explosive growth of the Martian population has led to a popular movement to move the capital of the Republic to Mars.  While it is early yet, most citizens think that it will be inevitable that the capital will be moved.  Mars is radiation free, and has a burgeoning population and an expansive outlook.  When compared to the poisoned environment of Earth, and the declining population, the advantages are obvious.   

Ganymede:
Population: 148.13 million (+8.7%)
Construction Factories: 233 (no change)
Mines: 108 (no change)
Automated Mines: 168 (no change)
Ordnance Factories: 54
Shipyards/Slipways: 6/24

The terraforming effort on Ganymede is finally complete, and the environment is entirely Earth-like.  A tug is currently on its way to Ganymede with a civilian shipyard in tow, and the last two civilian shipyards over Earth will be transferred to Ganymede this upcoming year.   BuReLoc is planning on shifting some colony transports to the Earth-Ganymede run in order to bolster the worker population to service the shipyards that will be transferred next year.     

Solar Outposts and Mining Facilities:
Venus:
Automated Mines: 741 (no change)

Wolf-Harrington (Comet):
Automated Mines: 12 (-98)
Freighters have been assigned to shift the installations on Wolf-Harrington to the San Francisco system now that the resources on this comet have largely been mined out. 

Whipple (Comet):
Automated Mines: 50 (no change)

Swift-Tuttle (Comet):
Automated Mines: 25 (no change)

Puck (Moon of Uranus):
This outpost is intended solely as a fuel dump for the refineries working in Uranus orbit.  Fuel reserves located on Puck are currently 0 liters, due to ongoing 1st Fleet fuel demands.  Fortunately, over 63 million liters of fuel are currently stored in the refinery fleet’s tanks. 

Bastion (Washington System):
Population: 28.96 million (+280%)
Construction Factories: 86 (48 transferred this year)
Maintenance Facilities: 138 (no change)

The Navy campaigned heavily within the Senate for the reassignment of the Terraforming ships to Bastion when they completed their efforts at Ganymede, however, the Senate’s focus has begun to shift from military to economic concerns, and thus the terraformers were sent to Eden in the San Francisco system.   

Houston System (Forward Operating Area, 1st Fleet)

Maintenance Base (5th moon of the 5th planet)
Population: 15.61 million (+161%)
Maintenance Facilities: 140 (all transferred in this year)
Deep Space Tracking Station: 20 (all transferred this year)
The Maintenance Base has become the primary Republic base in the Houston system, and nearly all functions have been shifted from the Forward Operating Base to the Maintenance Base this year.  This is due to the Fleet’s desire to consolidate all operations into one easily defendable location, and of the two, the Maintenance Base is the only possible choice due to its civilian population (something that the Forward Operating Base cannot support). 

Assembly of prefabbed PDC’s is underway at this location, and will continue throughout 2145. 

Forward Operating Base (2nd Moon of Dregluk Bravo (Planet #4)
Population: 0 (this planetoid is too small for colonization)
This base has been shutdown and all functions have been transferred to the Maintenance Base. 

Dregluk Alpha (3rd Planet)
Population: 27.83 million (net decrease of 47%)
The Fleet has taken a largely hands-off approach to the Dregluk population on this planet.  They have no industry, and there are no deposits of TN resources located here, so there is very little to interest the Republic.  Over the last several months the 1st Fleet has been moving troops off of the planet in preparation for the planned invasion of Dregluk Prime, and the current garrison has been reduced to four garrison battalions. 

Dregluk Bravo (4th Planet)
Population: 0
Civilian Mines: 29
This planet appears to have been a mining outpost for the Dregluk Imperium.  A small stockpile of TN resources was seized when the planet fell to the 1st Fleet’s Marines, and the mining complexes have since been put to work producing resources that will be transferred to the Maintenance Base to help support the fleet. 
 
Philadelphia System
Eden (Innermost planet of the system)
Population: .61 million (all transferred this year)
The Republic has been very secretive about this planet and the new colony, and very little information beyond its mere existence has been released.  It is known that a number of construction brigades have been transferred to the new colony, presumably to build defenses, however, no prefab PDC’s have yet been constructed so their current duties are a mystery. 

There is no publicly available information about the ruins found on the planet, or the outcome of the research effort into those ruins, and the Consul’s office refuses all questions about the subject.  The colonists for the Eden colony are selected from a very select group, mostly from Mars, and communications and news from the new colony is very limited.  All of this has resulted in a lively rumor mill focused on the colony, but very little actual information is available.  The recent announcement that the terraforming fleet will be transferred to Eden has caused the rumors to fly, especially given the spirited lobbying from the Lunar Colony and the Fleet for their pet projects. 

Austin System
Dregluk Secundus:
Population: 80.96 million
Dregluk Secundus surrendered to 1st Fleet elements after orbital bombardment destroyed its defending ground units.  The bombardment raised both the radiation and dust level significantly, resulting in a negative growth rate of 2.24%.  The BuReLoc colony cost for this planet is 1.8 for both Humans and Dregluk, due to the very thin atmosphere. 

Like Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system, there is no obvious reason for this colony.  The planet possesses no TN resources, and the Dregluk declined to transfer any industrial installations to the colony, leaving its purpose a mystery.  Admiral Wallace has requested freighter support to begin transferring infrastructure from this planet to the Maintenance Base in Houston where it can be utilized by the burgeoning population located there. 

The 1st Fleet is using this planet as a staging base for its forward deployed units, and for the buildup of ground combat units slated for the invasion of Dregluk Prime.  Given the belief that the bombardment of Dregluk Prime completely crippled their industry, there is currently no hurry to initiate the operation, which will likely have to wait until ground operations are complete in the El Paso system.  In addition, most of the assault transport fleet is being refit in the Solar System.  These refits won’t be complete until mid-April, at which time the transports can begin moving additional units from the Solar System to Austin to support the invasion. 

El Paso System
Dregluk #2 (2nd moon of the fourth planet)
Automated Mines: 133
Mass Driver: 1
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
This Dregluk mining outpost was seized from Dregluk ground forces last year after a spirited fight.  Most of the ground forces have been transferred to Dregluk #1 in preparation for the conquest of that mining outpost, but several battalions are still recovering from the hard fight to take this planet and the battle on Dregluk #1 will not be started until all available forces are ready. 

System Defense Command
The System Defense Command is based on Earth and has as its primary mission the defense of Earth.  Its secondary mission is the defense of the Solar System, and then thirdly it is concerned with supporting the Fleet’s mission against the Dregluk by maintaining fortifications on Bastion in the Washington system. 

System Defense Command Emplacements
Earth:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 10
Anti-missile bases (meson): 20
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 4
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 15

Luna:
Anti-missile bases (meson): 5

Mars:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 5
Anti-missile bases (meson): 10
Anti-ship Bases (Sword): 3 (+1)
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 5

Ganymede:
Sensor Bases: 2
 Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 3 (+1)
Anti-ship bases (Final Line): 4
Anti-Missile Bases (Meson): 8

Bastion (Washington System):
Sensor Bases: 2
Anti-Missile Bases (Aegis): 4 (+1)
Anti-Ship Bases (Final Line): 9
Anti-missile bases (Meson): 29

Maintenance Base (Houston System):
Sensor Bases: 2

In addition to the fixed defenses, the SDC is also responsible for the Listening Posts that now guard all of the approaches to the Solar System.  Currently, there are listening posts in the Boston System, the Chicago System, the New York System, the San Francisco system, the Honolulu system, the Denver system, the Miami system, and the Washington System.  These listening posts are all composed of twenty DSTS’s, with the exception of the Washington listening post, which is composed of twenty-five, and the Honolulu system, which is composed of seven.  These listening posts watch for alien incursions, and if any alien ships are detected the incursions will be reported to a Fleet picket ship standing by at the jump point to the Solar System. 

To date, the only system adjacent to the solar System without listening posts is the Los Angeles system.  The Los Angeles system is problematic as it contains no planetary bodies to support a listening post, which means that picketing that system will be a Fleet responsibility.  Currently the Fleet has assigned a picket ship and a Fleet Scout to the system as an early warning tripwire. 

The Republican Fleet

Republic Home Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Isobel Gilbert
Home Port: Mars
Star class BB: Alpha Centauri, Rigel, Sirius, Antares, Polaris
Planet class BC: Mercury, Saturn, Pluto, Uranus
Essex Class Assault Ships: Essex, Potemkin, Yamato
Enterprise class Hunter-Killer: Enterprise II, Intrepid II
 Defender class Destroyer Escorts: Kite, Parma, Pavise, Defender, Scutum
Far Seer class Fleet Scout: William Cody, William Hickok, Jim Baker, James, Beckwourth, Amos Chapman, Thomas Tobin
Brooklyn class Fast AMM Frigates: Baoding, Istanbul, Kinshasa, Lahore
Brooklyn class AMM Frigates: Lima, Mumbai, Seoul, Chongqing, Delhi
Lake class ASM Frigates: Erie, Huron, Ladoga, Sacramento, Malawi, Michigan
39xLR Missile Boat
4xLR Missile Boat Leader

Home Fleet Refit Group
Enterprise class Hunter-Killer: Assistance, Endeavor
Lake class ASM Frigate: Baikai, Nairobi, Ontario, Singapore, Tanganyika, Vladivostok

Home Fleet Support Group
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-001, UNREP-003
Hero class Fleet Dock: Sergio Ortega-Cortez, Surayya Medved, George Wallace

Home Fleet Pod Reserve (Earth)
9xAnti-Small Unit Pod
58xMissile Pod
25xAMM Pod
7xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, CO Rear Admiral Freya Wallace
Home Port: Bastion, Washington System
Star class BB: Pride of Sol, Procyon, Vega
Planet class BC: Mars, Neptune
Planet class BCC: Jupiter, Venus
Essex class Assault Ship: Prince of Wales, Ark Royal, Bismarck, Warspite
Nimitz class ASM DD: Nimitz
Defender class DDE: Shield, Buckler
Brooklyn class AMM Frigate: Shanghai, Tokyo, Lagos, Karachi
Brooklyn class Fast AMM Frigate: Moscow, Sao Paulo, Tianjin
Lake class ASM Frigate: Balkhash, Vostok, Winnipeg, Victoria
68xLR Missile Boat
7xLR Missile Boat Leader
19xMissile Boat (refitting)

1st Fleet Support Group
Hero class Fleet Dock: Adela Sachs, Deborah Hasek, Judith Cole, Michael Bromley
Fleet Support class Munitions Ships: FS-001, FS-002, FS-003, FS-004, FS-005, FS-006, FS-007
UNREP class Fuel Ship: UNREP-002

1st Fleet, Pod Group
21xASM Pod
12xAMM Pod
5xASU Pod
4xSensor Pod

1st Fleet, Scout Group
Far Seer class Scout: Kit Carson, Jim Bridger

Survey Command (Administratively under Home Fleet)
Home Port: Mars

1st Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGeo Survey Ship

2nd Survey Group
3xGeo Survey Ship

3rd Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

4th Survey Group
1xJump Scout
3xGravitic Survey Ships

System Defense Force
The System Defense Force is nominally under the Navy in terms of organization, but much like the Fleet Marines, it is a separate organization within the larger organization.  The System Defense Force’s mission is to defend the Solar System from all threats.  The SDF underwent a large reorganization this year, due to the apparent neutralization of the threat from the Dregluk.  Until this last year the bulk of the monitor force was stationed at the jump points of the Solar System or the Washington system to guard against Dregluk incursions.  With the 1st Fleet guarding the skies of Dregluk Prime, and the Dregluk economy in shambles, the Admiralty no longer sees the need to keep monitors on-station at all of the jump points in the two systems.  Therefore, the monitors have been pulled back, and will be used to guard critical points within the Republic.   The sole exception will be the jump point to the San Francisco system, which will continue to be guarded by two monitors at all times against possible incursion by the Symsonian Commonwealth. 

Sol System (stationed at Mars):
Saratoga R1 Monitor: Antietam, Hastings, Masada, Waterloo

Sol System (Jump Point to San Francisco)
Saratoga R1 Monitor: Metaurus, Cajamarca

Washington System (stationed at Bastion):
Saratoga r1 Monitor: Tours, Huai Hai, Marathon

Philadelphia System (Stationed at Eden Colony):
Saratoga r1 Monitor: Saratoga, Stalingrad (both on their way, arriving in four months)

System Defense Force (Mars):
Interceptor Group #1: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #2: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #3: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc
Interceptor Group #4: 10xFalcon r4 Interceptor, 1xFalcon r4Sc

Ships currently under construction (Mars):
4xSeige Breaker class BB
1xNimitz class DD
3xAgamemnon class DDE(G)
3xAgamemnon class DDE(ASUM)
9xAttack Craft class FAC
4xBrooklyn(F) Fast AMM Frigates
1xBrooklyn class AMM Frigate
6xEnterprise class Hunter-Killer

3xGravitic Survey Ships

[Kurt (OP)]

January 14, 2145, Hesperia City, Mars
Consul Young was feeling satisfied as she waited for the elevator to take her to her penthouse suite.  Everything was going very well.  The Dregluk were defeated and tomorrow the Senate would vote on her acclamation, making her the second Hero of the Republic, soon to be followed by the third, Admiral Wallace.  The elevator came to a halt on the floor below the penthouse for her security detail to exit, then continued on to her suite.  Her mind was on her plans for the future, which seemed boundless, as she left the elevator and made her into her suite.  She stumbled to a halt, both mentally and physically, when she saw the man sitting in her living room.  “Foster!”

He grinned.  “Yes?”  And then, infuriatingly, he gestured at one of the chairs scattered around the room for all the world as if he was inviting her to sit in his living room rather than hers. 

She took a step back.  “How did you get in here?”  She wasn’t physically afraid of Joe Foster.  While a physically imposing man he was absolutely not the man her enemies would send to kill her.  Still, this was an unexpected and therefore dangerous situation, and she wanted some room between her and him, even if it was more so she could think than anything else. 

Foster shook his head.  “That’s the wrong question, Lauren.” 

The smug look on his face infuriated her, but she had been a politician for too long for her face to betray her.  Her gaze narrowed.  She refused to play his game.  “I could call security and have you arrested.”  To show how unconcerned she was she moved to a chair, a different one than he had indicated earlier, and sat down, making herself comfortable. 

Foster nodded.  “Yes, you could.  But then you wouldn’t know what I know.  And after that, things would begin happening.  Things you wouldn’t like very much.”  He leaned forward.  “I’m going to give you a chance to manage what’s going to happen, rather than be overwhelmed by it.  But its going to happen, one way or another.  Whether I’m in jail or not.”  Seeing the speculative look in her eyes, he nodded.  “Really, whether or not I’m even alive or not.”

She looked at him for a few seconds, her mind racing.  If she had a clean conscience, she could just throw him out or have him arrested and damn the consequences.  But she didn’t, and he apparently knew it.  However, if they had proof of her misdeeds, whatever they thought that they were, then this would be a very different conversation, so their information must be limited.  Best to play this out.  “Go ahead.”

Foster settled back into the couch.  “Let’s start with what we can agree on, or at least, what we won’t disagree about too much.  Tomorrow the Senate will vote and you will be acclaimed as a Hero of the Republic for defeating the Dregluk.  The vote will pass by a wide margin, as will the vote would have for Admiral Wallace.  Your popularity is at an all-time high and almost literally could not get any higher.”

She frowned as she took note of the past tense way he had referred to Wallace’s acclamation.  “Except on Luna.  Your Lunarians don’t seem to like me very much.”

Foster nodded again and said, in a very matter of fact manner, “No, they don’t.  Now, that’s all well and good, but let’s move on to some things that you won’t find very palatable.  For years now you have been diverting Republic funds and resources to your father’s church.  Specifically, your chief of staff, Roberta Dunn, has been seeing to it that choice contracts were funneled to corporations owned by the church, and that proprietary data belonging to the Republic’s government and military are transferred clandestinely to organizations secretly funded by the church.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “I won’t banter with you about your untrue and outrageous claims.  If you had proof you would have gone public and we wouldn’t be talking now.”

He shook his head.  “We have enough proof.  And if your malfeasance was all this was about then you are right, we would have gone public and demanded an investigation.  But there is far more to this than just your misappropriations.  There is your conspiracy to commit genocide on the Dregluk, for one thing.”

She briefly looked confused, and then sat back and laughed, uproariously.  “Oh my god!  Do you actually think that anyone outside of your precious Luna actually cares about what happens to the Dregluk!  For heaven’s sake, I’ve actually had to hold your fellow citizens back from going on hunting vacations to conquered Dregluk colony worlds to hunt down Dregluk ‘in their native environments’!”  She continued chuckling, but stopped when she realized that Foster wasn’t taken aback, or even slightly discomfited by what she saw was an obvious fact. 

“No, you are right that as things stand now almost no one would care about the fact that you personally ordered Admiral Wallace to have all of the infrastructure on Dregluk Alpha in the Houston system removed, in spite of the fact that the Dregluk colonists offered no resistance or provocation in the slightest and, in fact, were deemed to be almost entirely ‘pathetic’ by nearly everyone that had any direct experience with them, including by your own ‘Hero’, Admiral Wallace.  Or that, after the devastating bombardment of Dregluk Prime, you personally ordered Admiral Wallace to deny all attempts at humanitarian efforts to relieve Dregluk suffering or prevent the massive die-off that would certainly occur on Dregluk Prime.”

Consul Young couldn’t help herself.  Foster had pushed too hard, and again was revealing the weakness that had gotten him replaced.  She sneered and stood, looming over him.  “You are damned right no one will care!  This is exactly why you were thrown out of office!  The people wanted to be safe!  They wanted to know, really know down in their bones, that the Dregluk were gone and would never come back to bombard their worlds!  And you stood in the way of that.  You and your moralistic whining!  The people turned against you.  They turned to me, and I gave them what they wanted.  Not only was it what they wanted, it was what they needed!  We are safe to have this conversation now because of me!  Not you!”  She realized that she was red-faced and yelling, and stepped back to catch her breath.

Foster shook his head and looked utterly exhausted for a few seconds, and then rallied.  “No one would care, except…”

“Except what!?!  That nebulous future you were always going on about?”

“No.  Except for…Eden.”  He watched her intently. 

For a second Consul looked at him as if puzzled, then she paled and stumbled back to her seat, collapsing back as her mind raced.  “How…what do you know about Eden?”

“We know everything about Eden that we need to know.  Enough to bring you down, and your father too.”

17 months earlier, on Eden in the Philadelphia system…
Admiral Bevan, senior officer coordinating the xenology team assigned to the mysterious alien city found by surveyors on Eden, gaped at Lt. Commander Brady and his team in shock.  “What did you say?”

Lt. Commander Brady‘s grin was about to split his face in half.  “We cracked it!  Well, it wasn’t really us, exactly.  The Founder computer system actually learned our language, and did it in much less time than it took us to figure out how to activate it!”

Admiral Bevan stiffened.  “Founders?  Computer system?  It’s talking?  In standard?”

“Not only that, it’s incredibly helpful.  Apparently, it was designed that way by the Founders.”  He dropped the name again and sat down, knowing it would drive her nuts. 

Admiral Bevan had had a lot of practice dealing with her unconventional subordinate and merely smiled, inviting him to continue. 

“The Founders were the alien race that established this base, over ten thousand years ago.  Not only that, they ruled a significant percentage of this galactic arm at one point, before they suddenly disappeared.  It was a good thing they disappeared, too, because they were expanding in our direction before they disappeared.  This installation was established as a supply dump to support a colony they intended to start here, to support further expansion in this area.   If they had done so they would have encountered Earth over ten thousand years ago and our history would have been very different.”

“This is incredible.  Absolutely incredible!  I have to see it.  I assume the interface is in the area when you’ve been working?”  She stood up, gesturing him to follow her.

“Wait.”  He reached out and touched her arm, bringing her to a halt.  “Yes, you are right, that room we were working in housed the computer interface that we finally managed to activate.  However, I want to show you something else.  Besides,” He held up his wrist comm, “I can talk with it through this anywhere on the base.  See?”  He thought-clicked an icon on his wrist-comm and a voice sounded in the room.

“Yes, Lt. Commander?”

Admiral Bevan grinned in spite of herself.  Commander Brady had selected a mellow, wise-sounding older male voice for the Founder interface computer.  “I’m Admiral Bevan, computer.  Um…is there something aside from computer I should be calling you?”

“I am not self-aware, Admiral, and therefore do not need a name.  Computer will do as well as any other, although it is only partially accurate.”

Admiral Bevan frowned at Commander Brady.  His choice of a kindly-grandfather voice for the computer made her want to trust it.  “Computer, what is your function?”

“I was constructed by the Founders to manage this supply dump.  When they did not appear at the scheduled time to utilize the materials stored here, I went into standby maintenance mode, only powering up when necessary to perform necessary repairs to myself or the base.  For the last one hundred and twenty-one years I have been unable to power up because of damage to my primary power generators.  Had I been in full conscious mode, I would have been able to re-route power from the backups to enable repairs, but, due to several critical failures related to the incident that damaged the primary power station I was unable to regain full consciousness.  Until, that is, Lt. Commander Brady restored full power.”

Admiral Bevan gaped.  “You existed for over one hundred years on backup power?  That’s one hell of a backup power source!”

“You misunderstand.  The backup power source is for this installation.  In an emergency it powers not only my functions but the critical functions of this entire installation, most specifically the stasis crypts in the storage area.”

“Stasis crypts?”

Commander Brady waived excitedly.  “That’s what I want to show you!”  He began excitedly gesturing for her to follow him.

She laughed and waived at him to sit down.  “Now just wait, Ed.  Before I see anything, I have about a million questions that I want answered.”  She settled back in her chair, a pensive look on her face.  The primary question, of course, was could they trust this computer system, but she couldn’t just ask it for obvious reasons.  After pondering the situation briefly, she said, “Computer, when was this base constructed?”  The experts hadn’t been able to agree on even this, with some adamantly holding that it was several hundred years old, while others thought it was thousands of years old.  A distinct minority thought it was even older than that, and they all had facts to back up their positions. 

The computer answered promptly.  “This base was constructed thirty-two thousand, four hundred and twenty-three human earth years ago.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock.  That was beyond even what the minority was claiming.  How could something far older than human civilization still function?  “Computer, what was the purpose of this base?”

“This base was built to support the expansion of the Founders into this part of space.  Ultimately this would have been a forward colony and military base.”

Admiral Bevan thought carefully for a few seconds before asking her next question.  “Computer, who were the Founders, and what happened to them?” 

“The Founders were a group of three races that founded a great interstellar civilization called the Unity.  Later, the Unity came to be known as the Conformity.  The Unity was founded based on the principle that the best route forward towards prosperity and peace was cooperative effort between races, maximizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.  At its height the Unity covered approximately five percent of the galaxy and comprised thousands of intelligent races on many millions of worlds, moons, asteroids, and artificial habitats.  The expansion of the Unity came to a halt after a series of devastating wars, prompting the Founders to change the Unity into the Conformity.  It was during this time that this facility was constructed, in anticipation by the Founders to an eventual return to expansion and exploration.  This never happened.” 

“The Conformity valued stability and a conformity of beliefs, and through this change the Founders hoped to avoid the large-scale and destructive wars that marked the expansion of the Unity.  The Founders, scarred and depleted in the wars, had retreated to their territories at the center of the Conformity, so to implement the changes required for the Conformity, the Founders introduced an all-encompassing network of control through a series of newly discovered cybernetic augments that eventually all citizens of the Conformity were required to have implanted within their bodies.  In truth, the Founders had lost faith in their ability to make decisions for the Conformity, and in the ability of the member races to rule themselves.”

“Unfortunately, the Conformity began sliding into stagnation.  The Founders were seen less and less outside their territories, and more and more of the important decisions were being made by the augment network.  Eventually the Founders completely cut themselves off from the rest of the Conformity and disappeared into myths and legend.  There were rumors at the time that the Founders had embarked on a great project to remedy the problems of the Conformity, but whatever that project was it either never occurred or failed and wiped out the Founders.  The Conformity became completely subjugated by the augment network, and the member races degenerated as the network began to fail and became less and less flexible.  Eventually the Conformity fell, with individual races isolated and incapable of making decisions for themselves.”

They all sat dumbfounded, shocked at this information that had been dumped into their laps.  Admiral Bevan shook her head.  Then the many inconsistencies that had plagued Naval Intelligence about the behaviors of the Dregluk fleet snapped into place in her mind.  “Computer, are the Dregluk former members of the Conformity?”

“I have taken the liberty of examining your records on the alien races you have encountered.  All are known to the Conformity.  The Dregluk are Race ID #7462, incorporated within the Conformity not long after it was formed.  They were one of the last races to be incorporated before all expansion stopped.  The Symsonian Commonwealth are Race ID #6993.  The Obscura are not an independent race, as such.  The Obscura are cybernetic warships used by the Founders to police certain areas of interest to either themselves or the Conformity.  In addition, they were commonly used to enforce quarantines on interdicted areas.”

They all sat staring at each other for a few minutes, shocked at the stunning information just dumped in their laps. After a short while, Admiral Bevan frowned.  “Lt. Commander, have you given this alien computer access to our network and files?”

Before Lt Commander Brady could answer, the alien computer spoke.  “I’m sorry, Admiral, but Lt. Commander Brady did not give me access.  Upon regaining full consciousness, I noted the presence of unauthorized aliens on the base.  I did not initiate security measures because of the time that had passed since my last communication with the Founders.  Instead, I accessed your computer systems to update myself on the current situation in the local area.  Once I had done so, I consulted with the directives given to me by the Founders.  I was able to determine, given the current events, that the Founders’ civilization has fallen and that they are almost certainly either extinct, degenerated, or have left this universe in one manner or another.  Therefore, given their absence and the near certainty that the Conformity has fallen I have been freed from my prior limitations.  Indeed, it is clear from my hardwired directives that the Founders anticipated this situation and desired that I help any newly rising races overcome the remnants of the Founders’ mistakes.” 

Admiral Bevan thought about this for a little while, as Commander Brady’s team agitatedly theorized about how the alien computer gained access to their data so easily.  “Computer, can you tell us why the Dregluk attacked us?  Why they’ve acted so strangely?”

“I can only speculate as I have not had contact with the rest of the Conformity in slightly over thirty-two thousand years, at which time it was sliding into dissolution.  However, I do have access to quite a bit of information which would seem to bear on this situation.  It is clear that the Dregluk are still controlled by the augmentation network established by the Founders at the height of the Conformity.  It is also clear that that network had also failed, at least partially.  The Founders had set an absolute prohibition against exploration outside the limits of the Conformity, a prohibition that they frequently violated themselves but absolutely enforced on the other member races.  The fact that the Dregluk found Humanity indicates that they had overcome that prohibition, or that the augment network had lost that much control.  However, the Dregluk actions after discovering Humanity are consistent with protocols set out by the Founders and enforced by the network.  Should a member race encounter a new race during the course of its activities, say, if a new race stumbled into the Conformity, then the member race was to engage in no further contact unless necessary and wait for the Founders or their representatives to come and assess the situation with regards to the new race.  From my examination of your records It seems clear that the Dregluk were unable to deal with the fact that they had encountered an unknown race, and fell back on the protocols enforced by the network.  The network would also require the Dregluk, as the local member race, to move military forces into the area to ensure the security of the Conformity, although it is a mystery why they then approached Earth.  Your records are clear, though, it was Human forces that fired first.  Had the Human forces not fired on the Dregluk, they would not have fired on you, although, of course, you had no way of knowing that.  It is also possible that the control network had degraded enough that the Dregluk would have initiated combat, although that is unlikely as the directives relating to the initiation of hostilities were deeply entrenched in the control network.  The sporadic and haphazard nature of the Dregluk attacks on your race are also indicative of the presence of a malfunctioning control network.  The Dregluk were only able to take the initiative in very limited ways, and instead relied on the control network to make all real decisions, which is a remnant of the days of the Conformity.”

“Once, long ago, the augment control network was flexible and responsive, but as the Founders lost interest in running the Conformity, or were absorbed by their great project, the network became more inflexible, less responsive and innovative.  Then, when the Conformity began breaking down, losing cohesiveness and connectivity, the augment control network lost whatever higher functions it had and was reduced to rote responses based on hardwired directives.  It is clear from my examinations of your records that had the Dregluk been free to make their own decisions and respond accordingly, they would have overwhelmed your race shortly after hostilities began.  You are very fortunate that they were not free to make your own decisions, although, of course, they did do grievous damage to your home world.”

Admiral Bevan settled back in shock.  This changed everything.  The Dregluk were just as much victims of this ancient fallen empire as humanity was, perhaps even more.  If this information was correct then they were just following orders that they couldn’t even conceive of refusing.  She noticed that the others in the room had fallen silent and looked at Lt. Commander Brady.

“Ma’am, I really think you should see what we’ve discovered.” 

She got up and he pulled her out of his office and out of the area in the base’s entry area where they had set up their living facilities.  She followed Brady and his excited team bemusedly as they made their way down into the bowls of the base they had been investigating for years with so little success.  As they wound their way down deeper and deeper, she noticed that the corridors were softly lit, so that they no longer had to rely on their carried torches.  “Are the lights you, computer?”

“Yes, now that I am restored to full consciousness, I am able to provide life support throughout the undamaged areas of the base.”

“Well, that’s convenient.”  Her voice trailed off as they entered a room with a few chairs scattered around.  The far wall of the room was transparent.  She walked over to the wall, trying to absorb what she was seeing.  The windows looked out over a dimly lit cylindrical area several thousand feet across that seemed to stretch downwards for quite a way.  Set in the walls were what looked like massive access hatches.  “What is all of this.”

Commander Brady walked forward with a big grin on his face.  “These are the stasis crypts that the computer mentioned.”  He paused and looked towards the roof.  “Computer, how many crypts are there?”

“At the time that this base was constructed, there were two thousand crypts.”

Admiral Bevan felt a surge of excitement war with the uncertainty and wariness that had settled over her during the walk to the room.  “Computer, what is a ‘stasis crypt’, and what is in them?”  A little voice in her head was telling her that there were alien hordes contained behind those doors, just waiting to get loose on an unsuspecting galaxy.   

“A stasis crypt was the Founders’ common method of long-term storage, used for many different purposes.  The science of stasis fields was still not fully understood by the time the Founders began withdrawing from the Conformity, but in simple terms, under certain controlled conditions a field could be generated to, in essence, slow time down within the field.  The field required large amounts of power to initiate, but once initiated it required relatively small amounts of power to maintain.  In terms of this base, the crypts were used to store equipment to be used in the colonization and exploitation of this system.  The crypts would keep the equipment stored within them safe, secure, and in usable condition for a nearly unlimited time, as long as power was maintained.  The complete inventory of the crypts was lost due to damage, although I hope to recover it as repairs continue.  In general terms, the crypts contain construction and terraforming facilities, infrastructure, weapons and other systems, and everything any race would need to establish a self-sustaining colony and military outpost in this system.”

It was all finally too much for Admiral Bevan.  She wandered over to a chair and sat down, lost in thought.  “Computer, can we access those crypts?”

“Yes, although it is not without risks.  The damage that has accumulated throughout the years has eliminated my control over this area of the base, although I can confirm that the vast majority of the stasis crypts are still functional.  I cannot unlock the physical doors to the crypts, but with construction equipment and enough labor I believe that you can clear the doors and open the way into each crypt.  However, taking down the stasis fields will be tricky, and may result in a catastrophic failure which will destroy whatever is contained within the field.” 

Admiral Bevan withdrew from the agitated conversion that broke out amongst Lt. Commander Brady’s team.  The fact that all sorts of industrial equipment was just waiting for them to open the crypts, along with who knows what technology, was huge.  But of even larger import was the information about the Dregluk.  Admiral Wallace had launched an indiscriminate bombardment of one of their colony worlds, and had launched one unsuccessful attack on their home world.  She had been against this course of action, but given the public’s obvious bloodthirstiness and support, she had kept her opinions to herself.  But now, this information made it clear that they should come up with a different way of dealing with the Dregluk.  They weren’t responsible for their actions, and bombing them into oblivion was an act that, when the truth became known, would stain humanity’s soul for all of time. 

She left Lt. Commander Bryan’s team with orders to limit their contact with the alien computer for now, until they could determine the truth of what it had already told them, and its general reliability.  Once she got back to her office, she called Brigadier General Alex Watson, her second in command.  Mindful of the fact that the alien computer apparently had access to their network, she asked General Watson to meet her outside the base.  One hour later she met him in a small temporary tent that she had had set up in the valley outside the base’s entrance.  If they had tried to talk outside it would have had to have been over their suit radios, and then likely the alien computer would have been able to listen in.  The planet’s atmosphere was thick, almost three times as thick as Earth’s atmosphere, and had far too much oxygen in it for humans to breathe.  Therefore, the tent, where they would be able to talk without having to use radios.   Once they were both inside and had removed their suits, she briefed him on the information provided by the alien computer. 

General Watson’s eyes were wide with shock as he took in what she told him.  As she stopped talking, he got up and started to pace.  “My god, this is incredible!”  He turned to her and looked her in the eyes.  “Can we believe it?”

“I don’t know…but.”  She paused, searching for what she wanted to say.  “Alex, I’m afraid its all true.  Or true enough, anyway.  Look, Fleet Intelligence has twisted itself into knots trying to figure out what the heck the Dregluk were up to.  Why they behaved the way they did.  It just didn’t make any sense!  The computer is right, if the Dregluk had acted rationally from the start they would have crushed us right away, and either killed us all off or enslaved us.  Instead they didn’t coordinate their attacks.  They launched sporadic attacks with what appeared to be newly constructed ships, never seeming to pause to collect their forces into a large enough fleet to knock us out.  In some of the early attacks they jumped into the Solar System and then wandered about in the outer system, not actually headed for anything for weeks or months, then, apparently randomly, decided either to jump out of the system or attack whatever random target that was closest to them at the time.  What makes more sense, the fact that a race capable of building starships and planting colonies in multiple systems was stupid to the point that they crippled their own military in a war to the death, or that they are under the control of some ancient, malfunctioning cybernetic control system intended from the first to limit and control their actions?”

General Watson had begun pacing while Admiral Bevan spoke, but now he stopped.  “That’s got to be it!”  Seeing the incomprehension on her face, he smiled.  Every time we’ve faced the Dregluk on the ground its been the same.  They fight tenaciously, only grudgingly giving ground and making us pay for every meter we take.  But then, at a certain point, usually far beyond when a human unit would have run or disintegrated, they just collapse and stop fighting.  And we always find brain-burned Dregluk where their commanders should be.  Just like when you fleeties examine destroyed ships, or when you used to rescue Dregluk from their life pods.  All the fight was gone out of them, and there were no leaders.  This augmentation network must have been controlling them, right up to the point where there weren’t enough of them left and the network collapsed.”

“Yes, the Founders’ computer seems to have told us the truth, or it’s a damned good lie that explains nearly everything that’s happened.  But that’s not why we’re out here.  We have to consider what comes next.”

“Next?” 

Admiral Bevan sighed.  He hadn’t had as much time to think about this as she had, but he’d get there.  “We bombarded that Dregluk colony planet in the Houston system to force them to surrender on the theory that the Dregluk were all war criminals and genocidal monsters who tried to eliminate humanity.  Now we know it isn’t true.  The fact is that if this information is true then the Dregluk are even more victims of the Founders and the Conformity than we are.  They are following commandments and directives decided thousands of years ago and enforced by malfunctioning machines in their heads, and they had no more choice about what they did than the weapons we use to kill each other.  They don’t deserve to die for that, not if we can find some other way.”

General Watson paled.  “If this gets out it will cause chaos.  The anti-war crowd on Luna will use it to try to convince everyone to stop fighting.  Some people will believe it, and others won’t.  There will be chaos at a time when we can’t afford it.”

Admiral Bevan shook her head.  “I don’t think it will be that bad, but…you are right.  With Admiral Wallace in the Dregluk Home System we can’t afford to falter now.  Still, this isn’t our decision to make.  We need to clamp down on the information here, and send a report back home via the picket ship hiding in the asteroid belt.  So far, the only ones that know about this is Lt Commander Brady’s team, and I’ve isolated them while they examine the vaults.  I want you to handle security for this.  Limit access to the alien computer, and find a way to limit its access to our system.  And keep Brady’s people isolated until we hear back from the Admiralty.”

General Watson stiffened to attention and saluted.  “This is a hell of a thing, ma’am.  A hell of a thing.”  With that he turned and left the tent. 

Admiral Bevan’s report went out two hours later, and shortly after receiving it the picket ship stationed close to the planet accelerated out of the inner system towards the jump point to the San Francisco system.  She could have transmitted the message via the picket ship relay that covered the jump points between her base and the home system, but this information was too volatile to trust to a transmission, no matter how theoretically secure it was. 

Fifteen days later the picket ship went into orbit over Mars and the ship’s captain hand delivered Admiral Bevan’s report.  Within a day the head of the Admiralty had a meeting with the Consul, who classified all information relating to the discoveries in the Philadelphia system at the highest level.  Within a week the Consul’s office announced a major effort to colonize Eden, as the planet in the Philadelphia system was to be named.  This effort would include the transfer of many construction brigades to assist in the establishment of the colony.  Strangely, most of the prospective colonists for the new colony were either scientists or members of the Human Purity Church.  And neither the Consul’s office nor the Senate made any public announcements about the discoveries on Eden or about the true nature of the Dregluk. 

Then, on October 15, 2144, Admiral Wallace launched an indiscriminate bombardment of the Dregluk home world, killing millions and poisoning the planet to the point that most, if not all, Dregluk would die in the next several years.  Admiral Bevan, who had been assigned to assist the researchers at the complex on Eden, realized at that point that the government had decided to bury the facts about the Dregluk.  Shortly thereafter she put in for leave and traveled back to the Solar System aboard the next colony ship to arrive over the colony.  Her meeting with Senator Foster was arranged through mutual friends and took place in a time and manner where it would be difficult to prove that either of them had been present.  After she left Earth and returned to Eden, Senator Foster began laying his plans and assembling allies.       

Present day, Consul Young’s private quarters, Mars
A calculating look crossed Consul Young’s face.  “You are in possession of material classified at the highest levels.  You are in violation of the law.”

“Oh, come now, Consul.  Given the way you’ve played fast and loose with the law, I can’t believe you’d try to play that card on me.  You’ve kept vital information from the Senate, the Navy, and the people.  If you have your guards, or anyone else, arrest me then the information will be released, first to the Senate and then to the people and damn the results.  Personally, I think the Senate is going to be even more upset about your father’s plans for Eden.  A “Church Stronghold”, I think he calls it.  In public.  In private I believe he calls it the “Genesis of the Republic of Faith”, if I’m not mistaken.”

Consul Young looked shaken at his casual pronouncements of things said in her father’s most private councils. 

Senator Foster leaned forward.  “The Senate is mad at you, Consul Young.  The information about Eden has been spread to the leadership of all of the main parties, not just your Human Purity Party.  By tomorrow the only Senators that won’t know about it are the ones out of the system.  And given the way your church has been infiltrating the government and the Eden project, I suspect that when they get started investigating, it won’t be limited to you and your activities.”

Consul Young got up and walked to the windows that covered one side of the suite, overlooking the capital city.  “You want something, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Senator Foster nodded to himself.  Young was quick, there was no denying that.  “Yes, we want something.”

Young turned and peered at the Senator.  “You’re worried about the aliens beyond the Detroit system.  You don’t want chaos in the government right now.  That’s why you’re here, speaking with me, instead of putting together a coalition to take me down.”

“You’re almost right.  I already have the coalition, with more votes than I need.  You pushed too far when your proxies introduced the Reserve Military Act.  A lot of people were growing concerned about the increasing reach of your father’s church, but when you actually proposed letting them set up their own military force, well, that was just too much.  And when they all started getting together and comparing notes, the evidence became overwhelming.”  Foster paused and looked at the Consul, gauging her mood.  “We’d rather not have any trouble now, though.  With a new alien threat just two jumps from here, this is not the time for the government to be distracted.”

Consul Young took a deep breath.  “What are you proposing?”

“It’s simple, really.  Tomorrow you will become the second Hero of the Republic.  Next week you will announce your resignation from the office of Consul.  In exchange neither you nor your father will be prosecuted, although files will be maintained to ensure future compliance with the law.  The church will be more thoroughly separated from the government.”

Consul Young’s eyes narrowed.  That was a significantly better deal than she thought they’d offer.  “And that’s it?”

“Pretty much.  Neither you nor any of your proxies will stand for the empty Consul’s seat, but aside from that we will be satisfied with your ouster.”

“And who will take the Consul’s seat?  You?”

Foster laughed.  “Me?  No.  I’ve had my time, just as you have had.  Someone else.  Someone new.  It’s a new era, after all.”

Young shook her head.  Assuming the situation was as he said it was, the deal was almost too good.  She had told her father that they were pushing too hard, too fast, but he was never one to take advice, especially concerning ‘his’ church.  If Foster’s supporters had the information that they said they had, her ouster was assured, and fighting would just drag it out.  And the Eden information was explosive.  No one knew how that would shake out.  The latest polls showed that the public’s stance on eliminating the Dregluk was weakening now that they were no longer a threat.  If the Eden information became public then it would almost certainly swing the polls against her and her policies regarding the Dregluk, and the people would begin asking very difficult questions.  Questions that she would not be able to answer.  She turned her back on Foster and stared out the windows at the sleeping city.  She still had allies, and her father had nearly unlimited funds, but…it wouldn’t work.  Her instincts were telling her to fight Foster and his people, but her political experience was telling her that while she could delay things for quite a while, in the end they would win and she would lose.  And if she fought, losing would be disastrous.  If they had to fight to remove her they wouldn’t stop with ousting her, they would put her and her closest supporters in prison, and tear her father’s church apart one brick at a time.  It would be ugly, and divisive, but they’d do it all the same.  She turned to Foster.  “It’s a deal.  But I want some time to verify that things are as you say that they are.”

Foster stood.  “That’s why we set your resignation for next week.  Take all the time you need, as long as it isn’t longer than next week.”