A much shorter update this time but it brings the campaign up to the release of version 4.0
The first three Fearless class Assault Transports were delivered to the Fleet on March 16th 2049. As the new ground forces training programme was only just getting underway, there were insufficient assault divisions to fill more than one transport. Even so, three more were laid down to complete the intended production run of six units. The new transports would be based at Sparta as the capital had the only maintenance facilities large enough for the 15,000 ton vessels. Until the completion of the Athenas, the three ships would be the largest in the Commonwealth Navy.
On April 15th 2049, a Tulan ship entered Sol. The Tulan, first encountered in 2029 in the Vienna Nebula by the European survey ship Montcalm, were large bug-like creatures with a communal mind-link that allowed their entire species to share knowledge. Peaceful communication was established and a non-aggression pact was signed in March 2030. Glacially slow and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations took place regarding a possible trade treaty but eventually contact was reduced to occasionally exchanged pleasantries. Because of their apparent pre-Trans Newtonian stage of development, the Tulan were not seen as a threat. After the final war on Earth, the human race was engaged in a struggle to survive and future relations with the Tulan were a minor issue, although a small ship remained on station in the Tulan home system for several years. In 2042, the Tulan informed the Commonwealth picket ship that they had developed the means for spaceflight and politely demanded that the Commonwealth should leave their system as quickly as possible. Commonwealth forces relied entirely on missiles, which wouldn't function within the nebula, so even if the Tulan had even a minimal energy weapon capability, there was no way to resist them. Even though no overt threats had been made, the Fleet Admirals decided that acceding to the Tulan demands and withdrawing was the safest course of action. No significant intelligence was available regarding Tulan technology or capabilities, although no spacecraft had ever been detected in the Vienna system so it seemed likely they were at the very earliest stage of Trans-Newtonian development. While it was deemed unlikely that the Tulan would pose a danger to the Commonwealth, a fleet of warships was maintained at the Sol - Vienna jump point for several years. The force was reduced over time and by 2049 only the two old Arleigh Burke IV destroyers Cole and Fitzgerald remained on station.
As soon as the Tulan ship emerged from the Vienna jump point it was detected by Fitzgerald's active sensor and hailed by the destroyer's C.O., Commander Benjamin Gosselin. A huge bug with a chitinous grey-pink exoskeleton, a soft yellow underbelly, twelve pairs of multi-segmented clawed legs and a pair of enormous luminous sliver eyes appeared on the Fitzgerald's main screen. The experience of all the human negotiators who had dealt with the Tulan during thirteen years of contact was that individual Tulan appeared to have designations rather than names. In this case, the commander of the small, 2200 ton ship introduced itself as QCL-644 and extended greetings to the Commonwealth ships. Commander Gosselin explained that Sol was a Commonwealth system and requested that the Tulan ship withdraw into Vienna. QCL-644 replied that its ship was on an exploratory mission to determine the systems beyond his system's jump points. As this system had now been identified as part of human-controlled space, the Tulan Confederation would abide by its treaty commitments and avoid it in future. A second Bug entered the visual field of the communications system and took over the conversation as QCL-644 abruptly departed. As had been observed in the past, the Tulan seemed to switch roles and responsibilities without warning, sometimes in mid-sentence. The new arrival requested that a Tulan ship be permitted to return if the Confederation wished to communicate with the Commonwealth. After quickly discussing the situation with his superiors on Sparta via the jump gate network, Commander Gosselin provisionally agreed if the Tulan would accept two conditions. Firstly that a Commonwealth ship should be allowed to enter the jump point into Vienna if the Commonwealth wished to communicate with the Confederation and secondly that the visiting ship should not be allowed to use active sensors. The Tulan agreed immediately and, without further warning, the ship vanished into the jump point.
The unexpected visit of the Tulan caused some consternation within Fleet Headquarters. The Tulan had plainly increased their technology to the point where jump travel was possible, although it had taken seven years so their rate of advancement was relatively slow. The small size of their jump ship also indicated a much lower tech level than the Commonwealth. Even so, it highlighted once more the continued inability of the Commonwealth to fight within a nebula even if a decision was made to enter Vienna against the will of the Tulan. A 15cm Near Ultraviolet Laser was available but no ships had been designed to make use of it, primarily because research was still underway on the small New York IV research colony into the technology required to develop suitable fire control systems. The much larger research facilities on Sparta were involved in developing the systems required for even smaller craft than the corvettes plus the facilities for larger ships to transport them.
On July 16th, the Athena class Battlestars Athena, Ares and Apollo were launched from the Syria Planum Shipyard on Mars. Armed with long range anti-ship missiles, protected by shields and formidable armour and able to defend themselves against enemy missiles, the 25,000 ton warships represented a quantum leap in capability for the Commonwealth Navy. Over three thousand SS-N-4 Shadow and SA-N-3 Gladius missiles were stockpiled on Mars ready to fill their magazines. All three were dispatched to Sparta where efforts were underway to provide the maintenance facilities required to support such vast warships.
In late October, the first three Magellan class Scout Cruisers were launched from the Lagos Shipyard in orbit of Lisbon V. Columbus, Drake and Magellan along with several more planned sister ships would carry the burden of the Commonwealth's future exploration. Although all investigation of new jump points had ceased in August 2046 after the loss of Newton in Zagorsk, the two existing survey ships, Copernicus and Galileo, had continued surveying systems. Five jump points had been located in Volgograd, adjacent to Xia, and a sixth in Moskva, two jumps from Xia and three from Sparta. The two out-of-date ships had almost completed a survey of Sverdlovsk, also connected to Xia, after which they would head to Xiamen-Kan for a refit. Rather than being updated to a less capable version of the Magellan class, the Galileos would receive a thick belt of armour as well as new engines and would be utilised in the survey of nebula systems such as those within the San Francisco Nebula. Any actual exploration would still be carried out by Magellans but the refit would allow Copernicus and Galileo to continue to serve a useful function within the Commonwealth Navy. Drake and Magellan set course for the systems around the Xiamen home world, where they would end the hiatus on jump point exploration, while Columbus headed through Sol to the Prague jump point. The two systems beyond Prague, Newcastle and Leyland, were the only unsurveyed systems within two transits of Sol which were not within or beyond the San Francisco Nebula.
Galileo II class Gravsurvey Ship 4000 tons 335 Crew 792 BP TCS 80 TH 320 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 5-22 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/3/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 42% IFR: 0.6% Maintenance Capacity 371 MSP Max Repair 100 MSP
Lockheed JD4000 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 4000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
NPO Energomash Magneto-plasma Drive (4) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 187.5 billion km (542 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points
[attachment=2:1mzd1hfi]October2049.GIF[/attachment:1mzd1hfi]
The research into the various systems required for sub-corvette sized spacecraft was completed later the same month. Most important was the development of a small, very high powered engine technology that had three times the raw power output of a normal ship-based engine but three significant drawbacks. Any drive based on the technology could not be scaled up beyond twenty percent of the size of a corvette engine, the fuel consumption was a hundred times that of a ship-based engine and only one 'fighter engine' could be mounted within the same hull. Even with the restrictions, the Soloviev D-54 Magneto-plasma Drive allowed small, very fast spacecraft. Other new systems included much smaller crew accommodation and a search sensor that could be used on either fighters or corvettes.
The first two fighter-sized spacecraft to be developed were the F-1 Falchion Strikefighter and the E-2 Eclipse Early Warning Craft. The Falchion used the same launchers and fire control as the Molniya II Corvette, although it could only carry three SS-N-5 Scimitars rather than sixteen. The small size and high speed of the Falchion would allow it to quickly approach hostile vessels and fire from well outside the range at which it could be detected. While it had only the fraction of the range of a corvette, it would still be able to operate far outside normal missile range. The Falchion was too small to mount a search sensor consistent with the range of its missiles so the E-2 Eclipse was designed to provide sensor support. Although slower than the Falchion it had twice the range and could also serve as a scout in support of the battle fleet. In any event, the Eclipse was really intended as a backup solution to the Sentry class Fleet Scout.
The Sentry was an entirely new concept in spacecraft design. It was intended to accompany battle formations or future carrier designs and was built around the SGS-11 Battle Management System. The SGS-11 was a huge active sensor with a range of over six hundred million kilometres and could provide a picture of a vast swath of space around a Commonwealth fleet, including everywhere within reach of the F-1 Falchion. A fleet accompanied by a Sentry would be able to manoeuvre and conduct fighter strikes based on the location of enemy forces that were unlikely to be able to reciprocate. As the enormous EM signature of the SGS-11 Battle Management System was likely to attract unwelcome attention, the Sentry was much faster than a normal battle fleet unit, allowing it to take evasive action as required. That signature could also be used to lure enemy forces astray, as the range of the SGS-11 meant the Sentry could operate at a considerable distance from the fleet for which it was providing coverage.
F-1 Falchion class Strikefighter 225 tons 12 Crew 45.9 BP TCS 4.5 TH 54 EM 0
12000 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.8
Annual Failure Rate: 45% IFR: 0.6% Maintenance Capacity 0 MSP Max Repair 21 MSP
Magazine 12
Soloviev D-54 MPD (1) Power 54 Efficiency 72.00 Signature 54 Armour 0 Exp 50%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.1 billion km (25 hours at full power)
Mk 2 Guided Missile VLS (3) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
CGM-8 Corvette Fire Control (1) Range 50.4m km Resolution 80
SS-N-5 Scimitar (3) Speed: 24,000 km/s Range: 52.5m km WH: 9 Size: 4 TH: 80 / 48 / 24
E-2 Eclipse class Early Warning Craft 250 tons 24 Crew 86.2 BP TCS 5 TH 54 EM 0
10800 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 50% IFR: 0.7% Maintenance Capacity 0 MSP Max Repair 63 MSP
Soloviev D-54 MPD (1) Power 54 Efficiency 72.00 Signature 54 Armour 0 Exp 50%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 2.0 billion km (51 hours at full power)
CGS-15 Corvette Search Sensor (1) GPS 5040 Range 50.4m km Resolution 80
Sentry class Fleet Scout 6000 tons 597 Crew 1324.6 BP TCS 120 TH 720 EM 0
6000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 80/24/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 57% IFR: 0.8% Maintenance Capacity 690 MSP Max Repair 630 MSP
Rolls-Royce Merlin-6 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
NPO Energomash Magneto-plasma Drive (9) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 100.0 billion km (192 days at full power)
SGS-11 Battle Management System (1) GPS 63000 Range 630.0m km Resolution 100
STP-10 Thermal Sensor Array (1) Sensitivity 80 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 80m km
SEP-6 EM Sensor (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 24m km
The Falchion and the Eclipse would be built in factories rather than shipyards. The only fighter factories in existence in late 2049 were twenty-two installations found in the ancient ruins on Mars. Those factories would all be shipped to the growing colony on New London which would be the centre of future fighter production for the Commonwealth. As those factories would only be able to produce a few fighters per year, additional fighter factories would have to be built, probably by the construction factories on Mars. With so many other demands on the Martian construction schedule, including ground force training installations for the ongoing ground forces expansion, ordnance factories to address the missile shortages that were increasing with the growth of the Commonwealth Navy, prefabricated planetary defence centres for the colonies and new requirements for automated mines, the rate at which new fighter factories could be built was likely to be limited in the short term. For that reason, the final decision on a carrier design was delayed until sufficient fighters and missiles were available.
On December 6th 2049, Magellan transited the unexplored jump point in Moskva, officially bringing to an end the Commonwealth's moratorium on new exploration. She emerged four hundred million kilometres from a yellow G4-V star orbited by two Venusian worlds. An orange K0-V companion star, three billion kilometres from the primary, was orbited by a gas giant, three terrestrial planets and a small asteroid belt. The fourth planet of the companion had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, albeit with an oxygen pressure below human tolerance, and a surface temperature of 11C, marking it as potentially inhabited. The entry jump point also had a jump gate. As the jump point in Moskva lacked a gate it was more likely this was one of the abandoned ancient gates occasionally discovered as the Commonwealth expanded its borders but it still added to the trepidation felt by Magellan's crew on her first exploratory mission. Drake was waiting at the Moskva - Denver jump point to act as a communication relay in case Magellan found anything of immediate interest. Commodore Martin Gauthier, C.O. of the Magellan and senior officer of the small two ship force, officially named the new system Kursk then ordered Captain Svetlana Bogdanova to bring Drake across Moskva and through the jump point while he took his own ship to Kursk-B IV to check for signs of life. Even if the planet was lifeless, it would be an opportunity to try out the new SR-N-3 Raptor-L Recon Drones and SB-N-1 Geosurvey Buoys.
[attachment=1:1mzd1hfi]KurskDec12.GIF[/attachment:1mzd1hfi]
Magellan approached within three hundred and forty million kilometres of Kursk-B IV then fired a recon drone to check the planet for EM and thermal signatures. She left her own active sensor off to avoid giving away her position in the unlikely event Kursk-B IV was inhabited. Six hours after the drone launch, with the Raptor-L still almost a day from its destination, Magellan's EM sensor picked up three unknown active sensors on an intercept course at a range of one hundred and eighty million kilometres. A Galileo class ship would only have detected the active emissions when they were less than eight million kilometres away. As the unknown sensors had a range of seventy-seven million kilometres they were still well outside the range at which they would be able to detect Magellan, which suggested the alien ships were closing on a thermal contact picked up by planetary sensors. Commodore Martin Gauthier ordered his helmsman to reverse course in an attempt to get outside planetary sensor range and ordered his tactical officer to redirect the recon drone to investigate the new contacts. As soon as that order was carried out the drone discarded its first stage, as it was well within the preset separation distance of two hundred million kilometres.
[attachment=0:1mzd1hfi]KurskEMContacts.GIF[/attachment:1mzd1hfi]