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General C# Fiction / Re: Race to the Stars
« Last post by Zap0 on Yesterday at 11:24:36 PM » 2124 - the Five Nation Flotilla
Partially to recover lost trust by the publicization of their alien dealings, partially to position themselves as leaders of humanity, the PRL suggests a combined human military operation against a Qian target to serve as a test run for more serious cooperation against a possible alien threat. The other nations are of course doubtful of the PRL's motives but with aliens perceived a threat and the Xining demanding no ships enter their home system the proposal gains enough popularity not to be dismissed out of hand.
The target would be the Qian outpost on "Procyon's Rest" in Baton Rouge. With no Qian ships detected in the system so far and only two orbital weapon platforms of known design present this is as close to a known quantity as can be. There may potentially be an as of yet undetected STO force on the planet, but that should be much easier to dislodge than the STO force which ripped apart the PRL fleet during the first contact battle in Quanzhou, that one was dug in in a jungle, this is a desert world.
The PRL has been considering attacking the location for quite some time but figured a force too large would be required, leaving Sol open to Martian aggression. The main partner the PRL is courting for this project is the EU navy, who will hopefully pull in the Argentinians and the Japanese, at which point the Martians don't want to be left out and contribute ships themselves, allowing the balance of power in Sol to be maintained during the operation.
As no party is interested in expending their expensive missile stocks on an exercise such as this the task force will be composed of predominantly beam-armed ships. The PRL sets forth six of it's nine Dolphin type destroyers. The European Hades cruisers are too slow and rely on missiles and are therefore unsuited for the operation in question, but the PRL manages to get a squadron of escort destroyers promised to them. Smelling an opportunity to profilerate themselves and show everyone that they too play in the big boy leagues, Argentina offers to contribute ships as well. At that point the critical mass has been reached and Japan eventually commits two attack and two escort destroyers to the operation after facing pressure from it's relatively xenophobic population where the idea of pan-human military cooperation is very popular, or rather, the disunity shown since the advent of space colonization is not. The Martian businessmen were easier to convince than anticipated, a flashy operation like this with distinctly Martian ships contributing can be used for their propagandist agenda and the laser frigates they promise are old and expendable. Only the Russian state declines cooperation, citing budgetary issues preventing "non-essential" military maneuvers at current. Their all-missile doctrine does not fit in the planned operation anyhow. Any information gained as a result of the operation will be shared among the participants and physical loot will be divided according to warship tonnage contribution.
A Martian offer to use their flagship, the carrier Utopia Planitia, as a command and control platform is dismissed by EU delegates as needless showmanship as the vessel carries no offensive capabilities useful in the operation and will likely have to be defended outside hostile weapons range by escorts, likely EU escorts. European delegates are well aware of the Martian strategy regarding the EU Mars colony, and having a Martian ship steal the show as largest vessel in the fleet and center of operations would be a big boon to their agenda. Unfortunately for them the other participants see the practical benefits of using the carrier as a CnC platform, a role it was designed for after all. Martian negotiators accede that the tonnage of the vessel will not be counted in determining any eventual spoils and convince their own admirals to plan the operation with keeping the ship with the main fleet and bringing it into hostile weapons range, something they were quite opposed to. And so one more ship joins the fight. The enemy should be hopelessly outmassed and victory practically assured barring any major surprises - so goes the planning.
The real challenge begins now in organizing five different navies and their systems to interoperate smoothly, but that is the whole point, and likely the only real gain, from this operation. In addition each navy has to take care of their own supply chain, as Procyon's Rest is 24b km away from Sol no warship can reach there without refueling. Argentina does not even have the system mapped and will require assistance locating the jump points leading there.
By the time the various squabbles and negotiations finish it is already May. Until the ship dispatched to stabilize the last jump point into the Baton Rouge system arrives and finishes it's job another year is expected to pass. Smaller ships could likely all share the same few jump tenders but there are no tenders big enough to jump the large 20k ton capital ships used by the three largest powers.
Extrasolar fleet bases are becoming more and more popular. The EU and PRL colonies in Santa María are regularly overhauling explorers, especially now that the EU has as the second nation found the hidden JP connection back into the Santa María pocket that led the PRL to it's early contact with the Xining. Aside from Santa María the PRL's Wuhan colony is fully operational and serves as the nation's send-off base for it's contribution to the Procyon operation, as it's being called now. The Martian base in Salto, inbetween Sol, Santa María and Wuhan, is growing at rates exceeding everyone's expectation and now home to a squadron of plasma frigates in an interesting strategic location close to the Sol JP. Russia's Novokuznetsk colony is the farthest out of all but will no doubt serve as a great jump-off point for further expeditions. Even Argentina's Tablada colony is nearly operational with most of the spaceport facilities now in place.
2125
A small, new Split colony is found by the PRL while surveying a planet. Activating it's sensors to determine threat from STO forces, the Astiarchus does indeed find ground force signatures - two of them, one of the Split, and one, one-tenth it's size, from the Xining. Are they fighting over this planet? Either way, no fire is directed against the Aristarchus in orbit.
The sizes didn't change while the ship was in orbit. Think they're slave laborers?
The long-awaited dedicated missile defense system for use by future PRL escorts is being unveiled: It is a dome of superconducting materials with a hypercapacitor at the center. Once the capacitor releases it's charge very finely tuned magnetic fields direct the energy to flow towards the incoming projectile. As it leaves the dome the energy is converted into a particle stream. Not relying on moving mechanical parts and barrels allow the system to hit incoming targets with near-perfect accuracy at up to 16k m/s, as fast as the electronics can resolve it.
Each unit and the systems behind it is still rather bulky at nearly 800 tons but can fire 72 times per minute. The principle engineering challenge was how to make the sensitive emission dome resistant to damage.
There has been debate over the platform which will mount these systems. A repurposement of the new and fast Jade Rabbit hull has been proposed. Such ships could protect the existing Jade Rabbits on approach to a target without forcing them to lower their speed, which would sacrifice their main advantage. Then there's also the reality that Gallicite is very scarce and an engine-heavy platform like the Jade Rabbit can't be mass-produced at current. A destroyer platform after the old model uses the available Gallicite more efficiently. A "Mighty Dolphin" type destroyer only has insignificantly less tonnage dedicted to it's mission payload (weapons) despite being limited to 12k tons as opposed to a Jade Rabbit's 20k tons. It also costs only 40% of the Gallicite.
In the end the need to deploy missile defense systems en masse wins out and a destroyer platform is chosen.
Procyon's Rest
At the start of the year the fleets and their various support units are set into motion, for in March, the gates open. The Argentine ship gets to the meeting point first as it has high speed and was conceived with long-distance operations in mind. The Martian squadron in particular has problems arriving as there are no dedicated tankers in their navy - they have to refuel off of a PRL and a JAP tanker on the way. A direct result from their continued focus on Sol. Last was actually the EU squadron which had to wait for a tanker to catch up while sitting just 1b from the rest of the fleet on the Baton Rouge JP.
The Five Nation Flotilla - including support ships.
The assembled fleet is quite a sight. Total contributions to the operation are as follows:
Procyon Squadron PRL - 72k tons
Mighty Dolphin IIa class Destroyer - Codster, Devilfish, Great White, Halibut, Hammerhead, Humpback - Laser destroyer
Also underway: 2 troop transports to secure and investigate the surface
Procyon Squadron EU - 32k tons
Adana C class Escort - Kirikkale, Malatya, Manisa, Trabzon - Escort destroyer, railguns
Also there: salvage vessels
Procyon Squadron MARS - 36k tons (59k with carrier + fighters)
Utopia Planitia class Carrier - Utopia Planitia
Enterprise class Frigate: USS Ault, USS Bagley, USS Ernest G. Small, USS Hambleton, USS Herbert, USS Kidd - Outdated escort frigate, PD laser turrets
8x F-94 Eagle v2 class Attack Craft - ground support fighter, can alternatively launch single cruise missile
4x F-94 Eagle v2a class Attack Craft
Procyon Squadron JAP - 48k tons
Tama D class Destroyer: Ikazuchi, Yamagiri - Modern attack destroyer, particle beams
Yayoi B class Destroyer Escort: Kaba, Katsura - Modern escort destroyer, AMM
Procyon Squadron ARG - 12k tons
Esperanza 1 R10 class Destroyer: Salient - Modern attack destroyer, railguns
200k tons total. Expected enemy tonnage: 28k
When the order is given all ships activate sensors and proceed with the jump sequence. The jump is smooth as expected and the stabilizer begins working on the way back out. The fleet heads towards the target.
The planet was named in memory of the USS Procyon who's wreck is visible in the screenshot.
Tension rises as the fleet approaches and at 1.6m from target the first hostile AMM volley is detected - quite as expected. Despite everything going according to plan several ships leave formation as they decelerate in the face of an oncoming barrage. One Japanese escort launches interceptors, but all 20 "Shurikens" miss the extremely quick Qian projectiles. In a further display of disorganization, no point-defense fire is made and all 33 projectiles impact the PRL destroyer Codster. The next volley is absorbed more professionally, with half of incoming destroyed by PD fire. It seems the disorganization was only momentary.
A typical increment during the approach. The EU destroyers ended up getting the most missile kills.
The Japanese AMM volleys keep being too late to intercept the faster enemy volleys, so the escorts cease fire. It seems enemy targeting prefers targeting the escorts now, probably because they've outed themselves as launch platforms. Their shields fail and they start to retreat, giving a few counter-volleys again as the time-to-intercept is now lessened and there is no final fire cover from the rest of the fleet anymore. The AMM hail does not stop coming, however, and the Katsura and Kaba eventually receive internal damage. Before they get out of range the Katsura loses 20% engine capacity. The main fleet is now halfway through the hostile fire zone of 2m km.
A malfunction or something must have happened on the enemy stations as they now reduced their volley size to 27, instead sending the remaining 6 projectiles offset from the others. That makes them easier to destroy. The PRL destroyer Codster is still frequently receiving hits and it's heavy armor belt is getting worryingly light, if the enemy can keep up their assault for the remainder of the approach (which is the prediction) the ship may well get destroyed. Very unfortunate happenings accelerate it's demise: soon after the first hits penetrate and take out the first component on the Codster one of it's engines suffers a critical hit. The ship does not survive the str 62 secondary explosion.
Very unlucky to explode just after the armor has been penetrated! The PRL navy never really recoverd from the first contact battle where they fielded 15 modern destroyers. With this one lost now only 8 remain.
Still, the fleet presses on. It'll be all over once the allied ships are in weapons range of the planet. Subsequent volleys target the Utopia Planitia. Distance: 700k. It's mighty shields hold, but as the distance shrinks further there is no time anymore to coordinate point-defense fire between each volley launch and impact. The enemy uses this fact and changes his target once more to a PRL destroyer. The distance closes to beneath 240k and therefore within weapons range of the Japanese. Targeting data for the Qian AMM platform is relayed and the counter-fire begins. The attack ships break formation and charge forward, a few shots hit the platform - but once the PRL destroyers get in range their sheer volume of fire blows away the platform in one blast. Still, the Qian weren't silenced before they could inflict a good amount of internal damage on the PRL Devilfish.
Combined fire from all attack ships hits the remaining platform which just sits helplessly just outside it's weapons range.
Fear the might of Humanity!
The micromanagement involved in coordinating five different empires was actually rather managable. This engagement was a test run for me too.
The second kill goes to the Yamagiri and it's particle beamers. The fleet enters orbit, but no ground force is detected. The victory is celebrated, the crews and commanders are congratulated, hands are shaken. The support ships are called in, there are four wrecks in the system to salvage: The wreck of the Codster, the two Qian platforms and the old American survey ship in orbit.
PRL troopers land on the surface and, as expected, find no live population, only ruins. There is also a curious alien construct present which may or may not have been constructed by the people that once inhabited this world. There is very little functioning infrastructure left but a basic sensor station and a cargo lift, plainly designed to resupply the AMM platform in orbit. At it's base the real find is made: almost 12k of the alien AMM missiles that the fleet had to face in orbit. As their performance is plainly superior to human-built ones they are classed as alien artifacts and will be distributed among the participating nations according to the pre-arranged contribution key.
4250 - PRL
2833 - JAP
2125 - MARS
1889 - EU
708 - ARG
This is the distribution of AMMs between nations. Several of these do not even have AMM-capable ships at current, but such technology is not hard to develop. Most human nations having access to such advanced anti-missile technology is likely to encourage more offensive beam doctrines rather than missile doctrines in the future.
As for the other uses of the planet, each participating nation will be invited to found colonies on the surface for study of the alien relics. An orbital survey by the nearby Argentine explorer Aguaray confirms that there are no other structures nor any mineral deposits on the planet. Whether colonies will be established depends on what the Lunar Xenoarcheologists can make of the ruins and the dormant construct. Some of the technology salvaged still intact from the Qian wreckage provides clues to improving current technology, but the gains are relatively minor.
The discovery of advanced and immediately usable alien weapons, even if just AMMs, is not going to fuel more cooperative adventures of this sort. It would not be surprising to see the competing human nations try and secure such advantages on their own in the future. But given that all other Qian outposts detected so far are stronger than this one there won't be much of a rush to tackle them right now - just less incentive to cooperate in taking them down. Any real military cooperation in the future will likely be targeted against live aliens like the Xining, if any.
The Russian state is not too pleased that advanced alien missile defenses are now in all their competitors hands but not in theirs, especially as such weapons are very effective against the heavy Russian missiles. Still, as Russian doctrine calls for a massed strike, not a continuous barrage, it does not invalidate current doctrine entirely. Regardless, the best time for an offensive may be now before these alien AMMs enter regular service. Not being able to study the alien structures to derive more technology from them may prove a disadvantage long-term, but first the value of a research outpost on that planet must become clear. The state does not believe that this exercise will spark humanity to finally unite, as some dreamers are hoping, and is only concerned with the material changes in the strategic situation.
The actual efficacy of the Qian interceptor missiles recovered may have been overestimated by initial appraisal. While their speed is impressive and twice that of even the most modern human prototypes, the missile relies completely on it's high speed and accurate launch trajectory to hit a target, no special maneuvering capability is present. That makes each projectile incredibly hard to shoot down, as was the problem in both Human-Qian battles so far. But in it's intended use as a missile interceptor EU military R&D demonstrates a highly maneuverable prototype that can reach and even exceed the projected destruction rate of the captured Qian interceptors. A devious weapon: flexibly useful against the enemy but not as effective in their hands.
A new Japanese construction project begins: a military dropship capable of dropping 4k tons of ground forces. The hull is an elongated version of the currently active destroyers and can match their speeds. The indended use is to approach a defended planet under the cover from other destroyers and drop it's Gekishin TSF Squadron, a unit of 10 super-heavy mechas. Multiple dropships are required to drop supporting units and supplies as well. Three ships are planned.
By the end of the year most ships involved in the raid on Procyon's Rest are home again. The PRL's gambit to reduce Solar fleet strengths proportionally has worked and there were no major incidents in Sol during the operation. The gained technology is nice, but to the PRL the real gain in the project was the creation of a precedent for pan-human military cooperation that can serve as an example in case of a conflict with the Split. The large fleet numbers discovered by the diplomatic ship Xining several years ago have not been made available to the other nations. If it comes to war it'll be a great advantage to be able to use the other nations to soften the blow.
The project to terraform Luna began in the early 70's and was declared "finished" in 2083, but only now it's secondary effects are beginning to materialize. Creating an artificial atmosphere and seas can be done with technology, but a biosphere requires time to grow and adapt. The PRL's efforts have born fruit and Luna has become an idyll where plants and a few low-gravity adaptable animal populations are thriving. Massive forests with trees of sizes already outgrowing the largest on Earth span an increasingly large portion of the Lunar land, together with other plant species they have begun to form a sustainable ecosystem. Luna is now a jungle world.
Welcome to the jungle
Although they would never admit publicly that it was done for military reasons, the lush vegetation covering Luna's continents is going to be a great boon to the defender in any ground campaign on the body. Likewise it will make orbital targeting very hard. Together with the massive numbers of the PLA (People's Liberation Army) Luna is now an unstormable stronghold - just outside of weapons range of Earth itself.
Partially to recover lost trust by the publicization of their alien dealings, partially to position themselves as leaders of humanity, the PRL suggests a combined human military operation against a Qian target to serve as a test run for more serious cooperation against a possible alien threat. The other nations are of course doubtful of the PRL's motives but with aliens perceived a threat and the Xining demanding no ships enter their home system the proposal gains enough popularity not to be dismissed out of hand.
The target would be the Qian outpost on "Procyon's Rest" in Baton Rouge. With no Qian ships detected in the system so far and only two orbital weapon platforms of known design present this is as close to a known quantity as can be. There may potentially be an as of yet undetected STO force on the planet, but that should be much easier to dislodge than the STO force which ripped apart the PRL fleet during the first contact battle in Quanzhou, that one was dug in in a jungle, this is a desert world.
The PRL has been considering attacking the location for quite some time but figured a force too large would be required, leaving Sol open to Martian aggression. The main partner the PRL is courting for this project is the EU navy, who will hopefully pull in the Argentinians and the Japanese, at which point the Martians don't want to be left out and contribute ships themselves, allowing the balance of power in Sol to be maintained during the operation.
As no party is interested in expending their expensive missile stocks on an exercise such as this the task force will be composed of predominantly beam-armed ships. The PRL sets forth six of it's nine Dolphin type destroyers. The European Hades cruisers are too slow and rely on missiles and are therefore unsuited for the operation in question, but the PRL manages to get a squadron of escort destroyers promised to them. Smelling an opportunity to profilerate themselves and show everyone that they too play in the big boy leagues, Argentina offers to contribute ships as well. At that point the critical mass has been reached and Japan eventually commits two attack and two escort destroyers to the operation after facing pressure from it's relatively xenophobic population where the idea of pan-human military cooperation is very popular, or rather, the disunity shown since the advent of space colonization is not. The Martian businessmen were easier to convince than anticipated, a flashy operation like this with distinctly Martian ships contributing can be used for their propagandist agenda and the laser frigates they promise are old and expendable. Only the Russian state declines cooperation, citing budgetary issues preventing "non-essential" military maneuvers at current. Their all-missile doctrine does not fit in the planned operation anyhow. Any information gained as a result of the operation will be shared among the participants and physical loot will be divided according to warship tonnage contribution.
A Martian offer to use their flagship, the carrier Utopia Planitia, as a command and control platform is dismissed by EU delegates as needless showmanship as the vessel carries no offensive capabilities useful in the operation and will likely have to be defended outside hostile weapons range by escorts, likely EU escorts. European delegates are well aware of the Martian strategy regarding the EU Mars colony, and having a Martian ship steal the show as largest vessel in the fleet and center of operations would be a big boon to their agenda. Unfortunately for them the other participants see the practical benefits of using the carrier as a CnC platform, a role it was designed for after all. Martian negotiators accede that the tonnage of the vessel will not be counted in determining any eventual spoils and convince their own admirals to plan the operation with keeping the ship with the main fleet and bringing it into hostile weapons range, something they were quite opposed to. And so one more ship joins the fight. The enemy should be hopelessly outmassed and victory practically assured barring any major surprises - so goes the planning.
The real challenge begins now in organizing five different navies and their systems to interoperate smoothly, but that is the whole point, and likely the only real gain, from this operation. In addition each navy has to take care of their own supply chain, as Procyon's Rest is 24b km away from Sol no warship can reach there without refueling. Argentina does not even have the system mapped and will require assistance locating the jump points leading there.
By the time the various squabbles and negotiations finish it is already May. Until the ship dispatched to stabilize the last jump point into the Baton Rouge system arrives and finishes it's job another year is expected to pass. Smaller ships could likely all share the same few jump tenders but there are no tenders big enough to jump the large 20k ton capital ships used by the three largest powers.
Extrasolar fleet bases are becoming more and more popular. The EU and PRL colonies in Santa María are regularly overhauling explorers, especially now that the EU has as the second nation found the hidden JP connection back into the Santa María pocket that led the PRL to it's early contact with the Xining. Aside from Santa María the PRL's Wuhan colony is fully operational and serves as the nation's send-off base for it's contribution to the Procyon operation, as it's being called now. The Martian base in Salto, inbetween Sol, Santa María and Wuhan, is growing at rates exceeding everyone's expectation and now home to a squadron of plasma frigates in an interesting strategic location close to the Sol JP. Russia's Novokuznetsk colony is the farthest out of all but will no doubt serve as a great jump-off point for further expeditions. Even Argentina's Tablada colony is nearly operational with most of the spaceport facilities now in place.
2125
A small, new Split colony is found by the PRL while surveying a planet. Activating it's sensors to determine threat from STO forces, the Astiarchus does indeed find ground force signatures - two of them, one of the Split, and one, one-tenth it's size, from the Xining. Are they fighting over this planet? Either way, no fire is directed against the Aristarchus in orbit.
The sizes didn't change while the ship was in orbit. Think they're slave laborers?
The long-awaited dedicated missile defense system for use by future PRL escorts is being unveiled: It is a dome of superconducting materials with a hypercapacitor at the center. Once the capacitor releases it's charge very finely tuned magnetic fields direct the energy to flow towards the incoming projectile. As it leaves the dome the energy is converted into a particle stream. Not relying on moving mechanical parts and barrels allow the system to hit incoming targets with near-perfect accuracy at up to 16k m/s, as fast as the electronics can resolve it.
Each unit and the systems behind it is still rather bulky at nearly 800 tons but can fire 72 times per minute. The principle engineering challenge was how to make the sensitive emission dome resistant to damage.
There has been debate over the platform which will mount these systems. A repurposement of the new and fast Jade Rabbit hull has been proposed. Such ships could protect the existing Jade Rabbits on approach to a target without forcing them to lower their speed, which would sacrifice their main advantage. Then there's also the reality that Gallicite is very scarce and an engine-heavy platform like the Jade Rabbit can't be mass-produced at current. A destroyer platform after the old model uses the available Gallicite more efficiently. A "Mighty Dolphin" type destroyer only has insignificantly less tonnage dedicted to it's mission payload (weapons) despite being limited to 12k tons as opposed to a Jade Rabbit's 20k tons. It also costs only 40% of the Gallicite.
In the end the need to deploy missile defense systems en masse wins out and a destroyer platform is chosen.
Procyon's Rest
At the start of the year the fleets and their various support units are set into motion, for in March, the gates open. The Argentine ship gets to the meeting point first as it has high speed and was conceived with long-distance operations in mind. The Martian squadron in particular has problems arriving as there are no dedicated tankers in their navy - they have to refuel off of a PRL and a JAP tanker on the way. A direct result from their continued focus on Sol. Last was actually the EU squadron which had to wait for a tanker to catch up while sitting just 1b from the rest of the fleet on the Baton Rouge JP.
The Five Nation Flotilla - including support ships.
The assembled fleet is quite a sight. Total contributions to the operation are as follows:
Procyon Squadron PRL - 72k tons
Mighty Dolphin IIa class Destroyer - Codster, Devilfish, Great White, Halibut, Hammerhead, Humpback - Laser destroyer
Also underway: 2 troop transports to secure and investigate the surface
Procyon Squadron EU - 32k tons
Adana C class Escort - Kirikkale, Malatya, Manisa, Trabzon - Escort destroyer, railguns
Also there: salvage vessels
Procyon Squadron MARS - 36k tons (59k with carrier + fighters)
Utopia Planitia class Carrier - Utopia Planitia
Enterprise class Frigate: USS Ault, USS Bagley, USS Ernest G. Small, USS Hambleton, USS Herbert, USS Kidd - Outdated escort frigate, PD laser turrets
8x F-94 Eagle v2 class Attack Craft - ground support fighter, can alternatively launch single cruise missile
4x F-94 Eagle v2a class Attack Craft
Procyon Squadron JAP - 48k tons
Tama D class Destroyer: Ikazuchi, Yamagiri - Modern attack destroyer, particle beams
Yayoi B class Destroyer Escort: Kaba, Katsura - Modern escort destroyer, AMM
Procyon Squadron ARG - 12k tons
Esperanza 1 R10 class Destroyer: Salient - Modern attack destroyer, railguns
200k tons total. Expected enemy tonnage: 28k
When the order is given all ships activate sensors and proceed with the jump sequence. The jump is smooth as expected and the stabilizer begins working on the way back out. The fleet heads towards the target.
The planet was named in memory of the USS Procyon who's wreck is visible in the screenshot.
Tension rises as the fleet approaches and at 1.6m from target the first hostile AMM volley is detected - quite as expected. Despite everything going according to plan several ships leave formation as they decelerate in the face of an oncoming barrage. One Japanese escort launches interceptors, but all 20 "Shurikens" miss the extremely quick Qian projectiles. In a further display of disorganization, no point-defense fire is made and all 33 projectiles impact the PRL destroyer Codster. The next volley is absorbed more professionally, with half of incoming destroyed by PD fire. It seems the disorganization was only momentary.
A typical increment during the approach. The EU destroyers ended up getting the most missile kills.
The Japanese AMM volleys keep being too late to intercept the faster enemy volleys, so the escorts cease fire. It seems enemy targeting prefers targeting the escorts now, probably because they've outed themselves as launch platforms. Their shields fail and they start to retreat, giving a few counter-volleys again as the time-to-intercept is now lessened and there is no final fire cover from the rest of the fleet anymore. The AMM hail does not stop coming, however, and the Katsura and Kaba eventually receive internal damage. Before they get out of range the Katsura loses 20% engine capacity. The main fleet is now halfway through the hostile fire zone of 2m km.
A malfunction or something must have happened on the enemy stations as they now reduced their volley size to 27, instead sending the remaining 6 projectiles offset from the others. That makes them easier to destroy. The PRL destroyer Codster is still frequently receiving hits and it's heavy armor belt is getting worryingly light, if the enemy can keep up their assault for the remainder of the approach (which is the prediction) the ship may well get destroyed. Very unfortunate happenings accelerate it's demise: soon after the first hits penetrate and take out the first component on the Codster one of it's engines suffers a critical hit. The ship does not survive the str 62 secondary explosion.
Very unlucky to explode just after the armor has been penetrated! The PRL navy never really recoverd from the first contact battle where they fielded 15 modern destroyers. With this one lost now only 8 remain.
Still, the fleet presses on. It'll be all over once the allied ships are in weapons range of the planet. Subsequent volleys target the Utopia Planitia. Distance: 700k. It's mighty shields hold, but as the distance shrinks further there is no time anymore to coordinate point-defense fire between each volley launch and impact. The enemy uses this fact and changes his target once more to a PRL destroyer. The distance closes to beneath 240k and therefore within weapons range of the Japanese. Targeting data for the Qian AMM platform is relayed and the counter-fire begins. The attack ships break formation and charge forward, a few shots hit the platform - but once the PRL destroyers get in range their sheer volume of fire blows away the platform in one blast. Still, the Qian weren't silenced before they could inflict a good amount of internal damage on the PRL Devilfish.
Combined fire from all attack ships hits the remaining platform which just sits helplessly just outside it's weapons range.
Fear the might of Humanity!
The micromanagement involved in coordinating five different empires was actually rather managable. This engagement was a test run for me too.
The second kill goes to the Yamagiri and it's particle beamers. The fleet enters orbit, but no ground force is detected. The victory is celebrated, the crews and commanders are congratulated, hands are shaken. The support ships are called in, there are four wrecks in the system to salvage: The wreck of the Codster, the two Qian platforms and the old American survey ship in orbit.
PRL troopers land on the surface and, as expected, find no live population, only ruins. There is also a curious alien construct present which may or may not have been constructed by the people that once inhabited this world. There is very little functioning infrastructure left but a basic sensor station and a cargo lift, plainly designed to resupply the AMM platform in orbit. At it's base the real find is made: almost 12k of the alien AMM missiles that the fleet had to face in orbit. As their performance is plainly superior to human-built ones they are classed as alien artifacts and will be distributed among the participating nations according to the pre-arranged contribution key.
4250 - PRL
2833 - JAP
2125 - MARS
1889 - EU
708 - ARG
This is the distribution of AMMs between nations. Several of these do not even have AMM-capable ships at current, but such technology is not hard to develop. Most human nations having access to such advanced anti-missile technology is likely to encourage more offensive beam doctrines rather than missile doctrines in the future.
As for the other uses of the planet, each participating nation will be invited to found colonies on the surface for study of the alien relics. An orbital survey by the nearby Argentine explorer Aguaray confirms that there are no other structures nor any mineral deposits on the planet. Whether colonies will be established depends on what the Lunar Xenoarcheologists can make of the ruins and the dormant construct. Some of the technology salvaged still intact from the Qian wreckage provides clues to improving current technology, but the gains are relatively minor.
The discovery of advanced and immediately usable alien weapons, even if just AMMs, is not going to fuel more cooperative adventures of this sort. It would not be surprising to see the competing human nations try and secure such advantages on their own in the future. But given that all other Qian outposts detected so far are stronger than this one there won't be much of a rush to tackle them right now - just less incentive to cooperate in taking them down. Any real military cooperation in the future will likely be targeted against live aliens like the Xining, if any.
The Russian state is not too pleased that advanced alien missile defenses are now in all their competitors hands but not in theirs, especially as such weapons are very effective against the heavy Russian missiles. Still, as Russian doctrine calls for a massed strike, not a continuous barrage, it does not invalidate current doctrine entirely. Regardless, the best time for an offensive may be now before these alien AMMs enter regular service. Not being able to study the alien structures to derive more technology from them may prove a disadvantage long-term, but first the value of a research outpost on that planet must become clear. The state does not believe that this exercise will spark humanity to finally unite, as some dreamers are hoping, and is only concerned with the material changes in the strategic situation.
The actual efficacy of the Qian interceptor missiles recovered may have been overestimated by initial appraisal. While their speed is impressive and twice that of even the most modern human prototypes, the missile relies completely on it's high speed and accurate launch trajectory to hit a target, no special maneuvering capability is present. That makes each projectile incredibly hard to shoot down, as was the problem in both Human-Qian battles so far. But in it's intended use as a missile interceptor EU military R&D demonstrates a highly maneuverable prototype that can reach and even exceed the projected destruction rate of the captured Qian interceptors. A devious weapon: flexibly useful against the enemy but not as effective in their hands.
A new Japanese construction project begins: a military dropship capable of dropping 4k tons of ground forces. The hull is an elongated version of the currently active destroyers and can match their speeds. The indended use is to approach a defended planet under the cover from other destroyers and drop it's Gekishin TSF Squadron, a unit of 10 super-heavy mechas. Multiple dropships are required to drop supporting units and supplies as well. Three ships are planned.
By the end of the year most ships involved in the raid on Procyon's Rest are home again. The PRL's gambit to reduce Solar fleet strengths proportionally has worked and there were no major incidents in Sol during the operation. The gained technology is nice, but to the PRL the real gain in the project was the creation of a precedent for pan-human military cooperation that can serve as an example in case of a conflict with the Split. The large fleet numbers discovered by the diplomatic ship Xining several years ago have not been made available to the other nations. If it comes to war it'll be a great advantage to be able to use the other nations to soften the blow.
The project to terraform Luna began in the early 70's and was declared "finished" in 2083, but only now it's secondary effects are beginning to materialize. Creating an artificial atmosphere and seas can be done with technology, but a biosphere requires time to grow and adapt. The PRL's efforts have born fruit and Luna has become an idyll where plants and a few low-gravity adaptable animal populations are thriving. Massive forests with trees of sizes already outgrowing the largest on Earth span an increasingly large portion of the Lunar land, together with other plant species they have begun to form a sustainable ecosystem. Luna is now a jungle world.
Welcome to the jungle
Although they would never admit publicly that it was done for military reasons, the lush vegetation covering Luna's continents is going to be a great boon to the defender in any ground campaign on the body. Likewise it will make orbital targeting very hard. Together with the massive numbers of the PLA (People's Liberation Army) Luna is now an unstormable stronghold - just outside of weapons range of Earth itself.
