April 2050
Naval Headquarters, Earth
Vice Admiral Vern Mucher sat down at the head of the table with a giant tactical plot screen behind him. Also sitting at the table was the rest of his staff; Captain Vernell Heywood, Head of Communications, Captain Suzanne Dowd, Head of Fighter Operations, Captain Isabell Stiltner, Head of Naval Intelligence, Commander Yvonne Dreger, Head of Logistics, Commander Brian Hoston, Head of Fleet Operations, Captain Rich Sipe, Head of Public Affairs, and Captain Agnes Laizure, Head of Survey.
Vern cleared his throat before beginning the meeting, “The last three months have completely reshaped every paradigm of Humanity. We have discovered Jump Point Physics, we have found two jump points in our own solar system, left our solar system for the first time, made contact with the first alien race we have ever discovered, and have recently established full communications with them. Let’s start this meeting hearing from Captain Stiltner and her analysis of the Conglomerate. ”
Captain Stiltner shuffled through her papers for a minute as she thought on her word choice, “To start off with our intelligence on the Bilos Conglomerate primarily comes from the first, and to date only real, contact with the race. Commanders Couture and Mastroianni were very complete in their information gathering however. We have seen four space faring ships of theirs and our tactical computers have labeled each a different class.
“The Orc, Vampire, and Hydra classes were the first to be spotted and all seem to have the same characteristics, leading my department to wonder if the computers were wrong. Each ship has a cross section of 168, which is slightly more than the Essex class carrier’s cross section of 155, this puts our estimate of the tonnage at 8,400. Neither Enterprise class ship got close enough to confirm a thermal signature for the ships but their fastest observed speed was 1,714 m/s, which puts them significantly slower than the minimum top speed of 4,500 m/s our fleet maintains. We don’t know anything more about these three classes but it can be assumed that they would each function in different, albeit unknown, roles if they are indeed separate classes.
“The Chimera is much different than the other classes. With a cross section of 20 it is assumed to have a tonnage of 1,000 which is about 1/3rd of the size of the Enterprise class, the smallest class of independent ship we have. It has a thermal signature of 50 and an estimated top speed of 2,500 m/s although we have only observed it going a maximum of 2,499 m/s. The largest problem we have with this ship is our sensors can only detect it at about 280,000 km while the other classes can be detected at almost 11 million km.
“It is hard to tell what engine and other technology they have from this information but it is tentatively believed that their over all technological level is lower than our own based on four observed vessels. ”
Vern nodded and then pointed to Captain Laizure, “Commander Laizure, what is your assessment of Alpha Centauri’s possible strategic importance?”
“Possible strategic importance? Well that is impossible to assess with our current information. ” Agnes replied heavily as if the expectations of her were unrealistic, “We have no idea what jump points may or may not exist in Alpha Centauri, either where they go or how many of them there are. On top of that we have no idea how mineral rich the system is. All I can really comment on is its possible suitability for colonization. Alpha Centauri A II, the home planet of the Conglomerate appears to have a breathable atmosphere and its not tidally locked. That being said the Conglomerate mostly live under ground and for good reason, in the time it takes that planet to rotate around its axis once the Earth rotates 112 times while a year for that planet is equal to a day and a half or 168 Earth days. The average temperature of Earth is ~57 F while Alpha Centauri A II can be estimated to be closer to 86 F. Beyond that there is Alpha Centauri A III’s seventh moon which is similar to Phobos or Deimos, Mars’ moons. Without mineral or gravity surveys of the system there is no real reason not let the Conglomerate keep their system. ”
She paused for a second, she had to focus on her wording momentarily. “There are two ways to survey the system of course. The first would be to build the theoretical jump gate on both sides of the jump point and then send our ships through, though that would take a year or more and may allow the Conglomerate to access our system. The second way would be to design a new jump engine and create new classes of survey vessels that are jump capable. That would also take one to two years. However it would have the upsides of both not allowing access to Sol and to have the vessels for possible future exploration. ”
“Yes, thank you Agnes. Your insights are valued as always. ” Vern said stiffly. She was the best surveyor they had but she was intolerably pessimistic. “Now moving on, Commander Dreger, which course would you suggest?”
Yvonne smiled as all eyes fell to her. “Well, to be perfectly frank, I would suggest the latter although we might want to build a jump gate on this side of the jump point in case we need to quickly respond to a threat in Alpha Centauri. Our ships could rush through and do battle while the construction ship could jump in and start constructing a gate on that side. All of this is possible but no matter how we slice it, the importance of Alpha Centauri will have to remain a mystery for at least a year. ”
Commander Hoston looked at clock for several seconds before looking at the group, “Right about now, the Coontz should be arriving at the Alpha Centauri jump point to begin construction on a jump gate. The Amerigo Vespucci should arrive at the Wolf 359 jump point in a few days to start building one there. Vice Admiral Mucher and I already had those thoughts and sent the two ships out a couple of days ago. When finished the Amerigo Vespucci will jump to the other side of the point and begin construction on a gate on that side to allow for a gravitational survey to begin. The Coontz will not, however, and will either return to Earth or will go to another jump point if one is found between now and the completion of that gate. ”
“Very good, Commander. In other news, the President and Congress want us to start transporting infrastructure and eventually colonists to Mars ahead of the completion and moving of the eight North Carolinas to Mars orbit in July 2051. In addition to the North Carolina class terraformers the recent expansion that was authorized will add eight Oregon class colony ships, two Lexington class battleships, one Essex class carrier without compliment of fighters approved at the moment, and seven Fletcher class destroyers. No Spruance class cruisers have been authorized. ”