March 29, 2354
The Imperial Guard’s first new-built ship, the Prince William, is launched from Terra’s orbital yards. The Prince William is a modified Essex(C) class light cruiser, with ECM technology from salvaged alien wrecks. The Navy had been anticipating regaining the use of the orbital yard once the Guard ship was finished, however, as part of the compromise worked out last year, the Guard will retain control of the yard, at least for the foreseeable future. Work is begun immediately on retooling the yard to build the Guard’s latest class, a gunboat carrier.
April 6, 2354
The 46th, 47th, 48th, and 49th Engineer Regiments, assigned to Luyten 726-8 B II, complete their recovery work. The alien ruins found on the planet have either been restored or determined to be non-functional. Two maintenance facilities, four factories, a fuel refinery, a mine, and a mass driver were recovered and all will be transferred to the new colony on Luyten A II. The four engineer regiments will also be transferred to the new colony to provide security and to begin building defenses.
June 14, 2354
The research team led by Toby Tomlinson completes R&D on the box launcher systems. The team is immediately plunged back into development work on a new generation of missiles for the Imperial Navy, Guard, and Planetary Defense Forces.
[attachment=0:1vrrs80z]Imp Msls.gif[/attachment:1vrrs80z]
The new generation of missiles will be accompanied by a new generation of launchers, with reduced reload times, and a new box launcher for the gunboat fleet.
July 12, 2354
The Naval Design Bureau finalizes its design for the Navy’s newest additions:
Ticonderoga class Light Carrier 15000 tons 937 Crew 2715.2 BP TCS 300 TH 1100 EM 1200
3666 km/s Armour 4-54 Shields 40-300 Sensors 44/44/0/0 Damage Control Rating 13 PPV 6
Annual Failure Rate: 138% IFR: 1.9% Maintenance Capacity 1471 MSP Max Repair 240 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 5000 tons Magazine 618
imperial Atomics ICF Drive (11) Power 100 Fuel Use 50% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 420,000 Litres Range 100.8 billion km (318 days at full power)
Gamma R300/14 Shields (20) Total Fuel Cost 280 Litres per day
Phoenix Arms AMM Launcher (6) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Imperial Dynamics Standard AMM Firecon (2) Range 1.8m km Resolution 1
Shrike AMM (200) Speed: 24,000 km/s End: 2.5m Range: 3.6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 280 / 168 / 84
Standard Missile (113) Speed: 20,400 km/s End: 42m Range: 51.4m km WH: 6 Size: 4 TH: 136 / 81 / 40
ID Standard Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 19200 Range 192.0m km Resolution 80
Cyberdyne Standard AM Search Sensor (1) GPS 180 Range 1.8m km Resolution 1
Cyberdyne Standard Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 44 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 44m km
ID Standard EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 44 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 44m km
ECCM-2 (2) ECM 20
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
The Ticonderoga is based on the Essex Flight II class light cruisers. All of the light cruiser’s offensive weapons have been removed to provide room for its flight deck. In addition, the armor belt has been reduced, and its missile defense capabilities have been reduced by 25%.
AF-1 Phoenix class Fighter 228 tons 16 Crew 72.7 BP TCS 4.56 TH 72 EM 0
15789 km/s Armour 2-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.8
Annual Failure Rate: 4% IFR: 0.1% Maintenance Capacity 20 MSP Max Repair 20 MSP
Magazine 12
imperial Atomics FTR-ICF Drive (1) Power 72 Fuel Use 7000% Signature 72 Armour 0 Exp 80%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.1 billion km (19 hours at full power)
IA Standard Box Launcher (3) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Imperial Dynamics FTR Missile Fire Control (1) Range 11.9m km Resolution 20
Cyberdyne FTR Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 396 Range 4.0m km Resolution 20
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a fighter for production and combat purposes
The AF-1 Phoenix is designed for either planetary defense or the fleet strike role. While it will carry the same standard missile as the Guard’s gunboats and the fleet’s CL’s, the Phoenix’s limited sensor suite will mean reduced engagement ranges compared to those other units.
Currently, the Navy plans to deploy the AF-1 Phoenix in two ten unit squadrons on the new Ticonderoga class light carriers.
September 1, 2354
Assembly begins on a City class PDC on Titan. The Empire’s entire complement of Engineer regiments has been transported to Titan to assemble the large missile base. When the assembly is complete the engineers will be relocated to Luyten A-II, where the next base is scheduled to be assembled.
November 14, 2354
A naval outpost is established on Luyten A-II. The outpost has enough maintenance capacity to support a squadron of gunboats, and the 4th Planetary Defense Group is en route from Earth to take up station over the colony. The trip is within the gunboat’s maximum range, barely.
November 29, 2354
The first new terraforming ship to be built by the Empire since the heady days of the Venus/Mars terraforming effort is launched from the Terran yards. The ship immediately sets out for Luyten A-II.
March 26, 2355
The Empire’s second jump battleship, the California, is launched from the orbital yards. The California is a Flight II BB(J), with the latest drive systems, which give it a maximum speed of 3731 kps, while the Flight I’s have a maximum speed of 2985. The lead ship in the class, and only other existing battleship, the North Carolina, enters the newly vacated slipway to begin refit to Flight II.
May 14, 2355
A massive fleet leaves Terran orbit, bound for the Proxima Centauri system. From there it will travel to each of the three systems adjacent to Proxima and probe their warp points. The fleet is a combined force of Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy ships. The Guard detachment is composed of the DDG Victory, the CL Prince William, the scout Far Eye, and two Agincourt class light carriers with their compliments of three gunboats each. Of the ships in the detachment only the Victory, the Far Eye, and two of the gunboats have old Imperial tech.
The Navy group, Task Group 1.3, is built around the BB(J) California. The California is supported by the Essex class light cruisers Aurora and Stalwart, and three Lexington Flight II class missile defense frigates. All of the warships in both groups have been loaded with the latest Imperial missiles, even if that meant stripping several other ships of their missiles.
Finally, trailing the warships are two Landing Flight II class troop transports with a mixed force of Imperial Marines and Army battalions. In addition the Guard salvage ship Hard Scrabble will be assigned to salvage any alien ships encountered by the force, if necessary.
June 28, 2355
The combined force arrives at the first warp point slated to be probed in the Giclas 9-38 system. After regrouping for a short period of time on the warp point, the two groups of armed ships jump out of the system. They find themselves in a single-star system quickly identified as the AD Leonis system. The central star is orbited by two rocky planets, four gas giants, and eighty four moons. One of the inner rocky planets has an oxygen atmosphere, and one of the larger moons has a methane atmosphere capable of supporting life.
July 9, 2355
The combined force of Imperial ships completes its probe of the AD Leonis system and departs, en route for the Giclas system’s second unexplored warp point.
July 19, 2355
Rear Admiral Sir Sam Craig shook his head groggily. He had been thrilled to lead the Navy’s first major out-system expedition, but the nausea associated with transits was something he hadn’t anticipated. Put simply, it sucked. And this was their second transit in less than five minutes. With this latest transit all of the group’s ships were now in the same system, with the exception of the troop transports and salvage ship which were left in the Giclas system, where they were safe.
Sir Sam’s focus on his rebelling stomach suddenly receded when an emergency alarm sounding across the bridge. “What’s going on?”
“Sir, incoming data feeds from the Aurora show four new contacts, 7.4 mkm’s out-system from our current location.”
Sam’s mind raced. Seven point four mkm’s was way too close for comfort. “Get our systems up! All ships are to go to Defense State 1. Prepare to engage the enemy.” It never occurred to him to jump out. They were here to clear the system, not run away.
Ten seconds later the battleship’s systems came online. The central plot lit up to display four contacts with neutral light-green icons floating well within missile range. All four contacts quickly updated to the blood red icons of confirmed hostile contacts. Sidebars with known data for the four contacts began to show up next to the icons.
“Sir, all four contacts confirmed hostile. Energy signatures are consistent for automated warships discovered in the Luyten and Wolf 359 systems. Contacts are in bound at 5,555 kps. Contact #1 is 21,600 tons, designated Hostile 01. Contact #2 and #3 are 14,400 tons, designated Hostile 02 and 03. Contact #4 is 7,200 tons, designated Hostile 04.”
Admiral Craig settled back into his chair. “Very well. All units will engage the enemy. Cord,” he turned to his Flag Captain, “get the frigates out in between us and the enemy. All units will come about to 120 degrees, relative, and accelerate to Fleet maximum speed. Our target is Hostile 01.”
Even as the combined force turned away from the oncoming enemy ships new alarms sounded. Admiral Craig’s head whipped around just in time to see pulsing red icons appear near the enemy ships.
“Missile launch detected! Twenty one missiles in bound at 32,000 kps.”
“Standard missile defense posture. All ships prepare to engage incoming missiles.” Even as Admiral Craig spoke the battleship shuddered around him as the ship’s launchers hurled fifteen flight II capital missiles into space. The light cruisers Aurora and Stalwart, both well drilled ships, had launched nearly fifteen seconds earlier, just after Admiral Craig ordered the fleet to engage. The two Imperial Guard ships followed shortly after the California.
“Incoming message traffic from the Victory!”
Admiral Craig nodded towards the main viewer and in a few seconds Imperial Guard Captain Rebecca Cox appeared on the screen. “Of course you wouldn’t consider withdrawing to regroup, would you?”
Sir Sam’s face split in a grin. “And miss the party? We’re in a perfect position here. Defense estimates that our counter missiles will have a fifty percent hit profile against the enemy missiles, which means it is unlikely that any will penetrate to the inner defense sphere. In the meantime, we are out of range of their close-range weapons and can bombard them with superior numbers of missiles.”
Captain Cox shook her head. “That’s not the point and you know it!” With that the screen flickered out and Sir Sam had to fight to keep his amusement under control. He enjoyed twitting the Guard too much, and he knew it would lead to trouble at some point.
“Sir, the Guard carriers and the Far Eye are detaching and running ahead of the fleet. Gunboats are launching now.”
“Very well. That’s fine. They just want us in between their precious old-tech ships and the enemy.” He turned his attention back to the main plot. Hostile missiles were incoming at regular intervals, twenty one to a group. Imperial missile waves stretched out towards the alien group with no particular order, the salvoes staggered. Admiral Craig leaned forward as the first wave of alien missiles entered the outer defense sphere, 1.5 mkm’s from the fleet. Counter missiles began racing away from the Imperial ships at 40,000 kps. At the combined speed of the anti-missile missiles and their targets their flight time would be just under twenty one seconds.
Right on time the Imperial counter missiles began their interceptions. Space in between the two groups of ships was pocked by nuclear explosions as the defensive missiles began taking out incoming threats. The Imperial defensive missiles performed exactly within specifications and within a matter of seconds the first wave of alien missiles was eliminated.
Sir Sam’s eyes were drawn to the icons representing the alien ships. The leading edge of the Imperial offensive missile wave was about to arrive. The first missiles to arrive would be the California’s first wave of capital missiles, as they were faster than the standard missiles carried by the other ships. Admiral Craig winced when eleven of the fifteen capital missiles in the first wave were stopped short of the target by some sort of point defense fire. The remaining four got through and slammed into the enemy ship, to no apparent effect.
By then the Imperial counter missiles had destroyed the second wave of enemy missiles short of the fleet. Thinking about the enemy’s defensive capabilities, Admiral Craig turned to the repeaters that showed his ship’s magazine status. The display was dismaying. Only one salvo had gone home and his battleship was down to 63%, and the light cruisers were down to 59%. After a few seconds he decided. “All units cease fire. New targeting will follow shortly.” Depending on the effects of the missiles already in space they might have to concentrate their fire better to get through the enemy’s point defense.
The dance continued. Hostile 02 took two standard missile hits from a depleted missile salvo from one of the Imperial CL’s. Two more incoming missile salvoes were destroyed by Imperial counter missiles short of the fleet, but then it happened. Imperial missiles were being destroyed short of the alien fleet, just as the alien missiles were being destroyed short of the Imperial fleet, but the difference was that occasionally Imperial missiles were slipping through. The second wave of capital missiles from the California came in just behind a group of standard missiles from the smaller Imperial ships, and thus was ignored by the alien defenses until it was too late. Four capital missiles were destroyed short of the alien fleet but then eleven slammed into Hostile 01. Cheers broke out across the California’s bridge, but Admiral Craig didn’t join them. Instead he peered intently at the damage estimations. Finally he settled back into his combat frame in satisfaction. The icon for Hostile 01 changed to indicate that it was streaming atmosphere and hull plating. At least one of his missiles had penetrated the alien ship’s armor.
Just after the California’s missiles went home sixteen standard missiles from the Aurora and the Stalwart slipped through the enemy’s defenses and slammed into Hostile 02. The alien ship staggered when the sixteen missiles began battering it. It didn’t fall out of formation but it too was trailing shattered plating as it continued on towards the Imperial ships.
In the meantime the alien ships continued launching their twenty-one missile salvoes and the alien missiles were penetrating closer to the Imperial fleet with every successive salvo.
Seconds passed. The Imperial salvoes were being stopped short of the alien fleet, and while the alien salvoes were getting closer, none had penetrated to the inner defense sphere. Admiral Craig frowned. Not enough Imperial missiles were penetrating, due primarily to the staggered launches.
Just then another six capital missiles from the California slipped past enemy defenses and hit Hostile 01. None penetrated, but it was a solid hit. Admiral Craig opened his mouth to issue new fire orders when a group of standard missiles reach attack range. This group of eight standard missiles from the Aurora had slipped past all of the alien defenses and arrowed straight into Hostile 02. The explosions staggered the alien ship, but it sailed through the fireballs apparently intact, only to explode seconds later. The battle management AI estimated that the enemy ship had been rocked two secondary power system explosions, one of which was large enough to gut the alien ship. Admiral Craig settled back and decided to wait a bit and see how the loss of one of its ships affected the alien battle group.
The seconds dragged. The missiles already in the pipeline which were targeted on Hostile 02 continued to track on the last location of their target, at which time they went into terminal guidance mode based on their on-board sensors. At that point they selected the largest target, which in this case happened to be Hostile 01. The alien group stopped fifteen standard missiles with point blank fire, but that left six missiles to hit the big alien ship.
Admiral Craig looked at the battle clock on his display. Three hundred and thirty five seconds had passed since his ships first detected the alien ships. Five and a half minutes of battle and his ships had expended more than half of their offensive missile loads. He checked again and relaxed slightly. Defensive missile loads were holding up better. His primary missile defense units, the three frigates, were still over 90%.
While Admiral Craig worried about his missile load outs yet another group of standard missiles broke through the enemy anti-missile fire and hit Hostile 01, causing it to trail even more shattered plating in its wake. It was still coming on at 5,555 kps though.
Admiral Craig’s lips drew back in a smile as nine more capital missiles from the California slammed into the big enemy ship. The ship was slowing now, obviously taking damage with every hit. By now its armor had to be no better than swiss cheese. Seconds later another group of eight standard missiles hit the big alien ship, slowing it further. A third standard missile group hit it five second later, slowing it even more. Admiral Craig shook his head. The alien ship was taking unbelievable punishment. It was still coming on, though.
Just then the battle management AI brought something to Admiral Craig’s attention. After a few seconds Craig swore under his breath. The alien ships had separated enough that the AI could now determine that Hostile 01 was not the ship that was launching the missiles. Instead it was either of the two remaining ships, Hostiles 03 and 04.
Just then yet another standard missile salvo slammed into the big alien ship. Yet again the alien ship sailed through the fireballs like it was invulnerable, but then it staggered. Admiral Craig enhanced the view and just as it focused on the alien ship the entire side of the monster blew out from a massive internal explosion. Cheers sounded throughout the bridge as the second alien ship died under the Imperial missile barrage.
Admiral Craig watched as the remaining Imperial missile salvoes went in one after another. Several got hits on Hostile 03, the largest remaining enemy target. Hostile 03 was now trailing plating in its wake, but it was still launching missiles and running at top speed.
The last large group of standard missiles arrowed in on the alien ships a few seconds later. Twelve standard missiles slipped through the alien point defense fire and hit Hostile 03 causing what had to be serious internal damage. The damned alien ship was still running at maximum speed and still spitting missiles, although Admiral Craig was gratified to see that after the last missile strike the number of missiles launched had fallen from twenty one to just two.
Seconds later the last Imperial missile salvo entered attack range. Five of the six standard missiles were shot down short of the target and the last hit Hostile 03, causing it to shed even more shattered armor plating.
Admiral Craig pondered the situation. All of the Imperial missile salvoes en route were expended, with the exception of one of the California’s capital missile salvoes that was circling the wreck of Hostile 01 looking for targets. The two remaining enemy ships were beyond their myopic sensor range so they would circle there unit they ran out of fuel and self destructed. Hostile 03 was obviously damaged, probably seriously, but Hostile 04 was intact.
“All ships, this is the Admiral. We’re almost there. Standard by for orders.” He turned to his flag captain. “Cord, I want a coordinated missile salvo on Hostile 03. Just one should do it. Once Hostile 03 is out of action, we’ll launch on Hostile 04. Two salvoes only.”
Captain Sir Cord Sims nodded. “Sir! We’ll make it happen.”
Admiral Craig turned away knowing it would be done as he asked. Captain Sims had been with him since the rebellion, and they had both been awarded by the Prince’s hand, personally, in the aftermath of the rebellion.
Fifteen seconds later a single enemy anti-ship missile slipped through the Imperial anti-missile envelope and closed on the Prince William. The Guard cruiser’s laser turret slewed around and picked the alien missile off just before it detonated. Ten seconds after that the California shuddered as its big capital missile launchers hurled fifteen capital missiles free of the battleship. Admiral Craig noted that it was a perfect launch, and that twenty-one standard and nineteen capital missiles were now in space, racing towards the enemy ships. The flight time was just over three hundred seconds for the capital missiles and three hundred and seventeen seconds for the standard missiles.
As Admiral Craig watched the plot he realized that the missile salvo would still arrive staggered at the enemy ships, not only because of the speed difference between the standard and capital missiles but because a gap had opened between the Guard formation and the Naval group. “Captain Sims, close us up on the Guard ships. I don’t want any more missiles slipping through their anti-missile fire.”
“Yes sir. Helm, come about to 165 degrees relative. Close on the Guard formation and assume station ten thousand kilometers out, in between them and the enemy. Flank speed.”
The Imperial fleet shook itself out as its component ships maneuvered into position. The Imperial Guard vessels formed the core of the fleet, with the rest of the Navy ships positioned in between them and the threat.
Even as the ships moved into their new positions a group of two enemy missiles avoided the four Imperial anti-missile missiles assigned to kill them and swooped in on their targets. The Imperial battle management AI’s struggled to reprioritize their targeting but it was too late. Before they could launch new AMM’s the alien missiles had passed into the inner defense sphere. The inner defense sphere was divided into two sections, divided in between the lasers of the Aurora and Stalwart. Defense of the outer part of the inner defense sphere was tasked to the two CL’s offensive 200 mm lasers, while the inner half of the inner defense sphere was tasked to the CL’s 100cm laser turrets. The two CL’s battle management AI’s targeted the incoming missiles with the ships standard lasers and opened fire at 180,000 kilometers. In seconds both missiles were destroyed by the six large lasers.
Over the next minute the last several groups of alien missiles closed on the Imperial formation. One missile managed to penetrate the outer defense sphere only to be taken out by the Aurora’s quad-100 mm laser turret. With that the alien missile threat was ended decisively, without any of the Imperial ships being hit.
The five minute flight time to the alien ships passed slowly. Everyone on the bridge of the California, no matter what their jobs were, were watching the plot, eyeing the missiles crawling towards their target. Finally the capital missiles reached their attack range. Because of the placement of the squadrons during the launch, the four capital missiles launched from the Guard ship Victory arrived first and were quickly dispatched by the target’s point defenses. That left the fifteen capital missiles from the California to swoop in and devastate the target. Nine of the big missiles hit the target and caused a massive internal explosion that completely wrecked the alien ship.
Admiral Craig grunted in satisfaction. The third alien ship was gone, and unless he was mistaken the fourth was doomed. There were thirty five capital missiles and twenty one standard missiles circling out there, looking for targets. Right now the alien ship was too far away from the missiles for their myopic sensors to see them, but the alien ship was racing towards what amounted to a minefield, right in its path. He wouldn’t have to launch a single missile to finish the last ship off.
A minute and a half passed and sure enough the alien ship continued straight towards the fleeing Imperial ships. Right into the minefield composed of circling missiles. The first to acquire the ship was a group of five capital missiles, followed quickly by the twenty one standard missiles. The capital missiles damaged the alien ship, and then the standard missiles roared in and finished the job. The alien ship came reeling out of the explosions caused by the Imperial missiles, obviously heavily damaged, and then its hull blew out in a large secondary explosion. The battle was over.
The Imperial ships retreated the warp point to reorganize. Over the next several hours the ships equalized their fuel load-outs and magazines. Admiral Craig, in conjunction with Captain Cox, decided to wait on the warp point for the Guard salvage ship, which was still two days out from the warp point in the Giclas system.
While waiting, the Imperial science teams study the system. The system is quickly identified as Kuiper 79, a binary with a K4-V primary and an M3-V secondary star in a very close orbit. Between the two stars they possess six rocky planets, two gas giants, and thirty five moons. Two of the rocky inner planets are potentially life bearing.
Once the salvage ship is in-system and working on the nearest wreck, the Imperial Guard force and Naval detachment headed in-system to probe for any other remnants of alien activity. Five hours later the combined force detected an active alien installation on Kuiper-79 A-I, the innermost planet. The installation was identical in signature to the one found in the Wolf system, and so was likely a listening post.
By the time the combined force had closed to 3.8 mkm’s the scout Far Eye detected sixteen strength six thermal contacts in close proximity to the installation. These contacts were identified a short time later when the Victory’s anti-missile sensors determined that they were very large missiles apparently orbiting the planet. When the combined force reached 1.5 mkm’s from the planet the battle management AI’s loosed several groups of anti-missile missiles at the orbiting targets. The alien missiles, or whatever they were, were easily destroyed once the AMM’s reached attack range. The over-flight of the planet proved uneventful, and the group moved on to the next planet.
Six hours later, as the combined force approached Kuiper A-II, a new thermal contact appeared. Once again it appeared to be small objects in orbit. Once again the contacts were identified as very large missiles in orbit over the planet. As before a salvo of anti-missile missiles took care of the mysterious orbiting missiles.
The rest of the probe was without incident. On August 1, 2355 the combined force returned to the warp point. Moments later the Guard salvage ship, which had temporarily halted its work on a nearby wreck, jumped out, then returned with the two troop transports. Once the transport’s crews had recovered, the combined force set out for A-I with the transports along to provide ground troops to secure the alien installation. The Imperial Guard detachment remained at the warp point to secure the exit point from the system and to guard the salvage ship.
Several days later the combined Army and Marine force cleared the area around the installation and secured the listening post itself. No resistance was encountered during the operation and the installation, like the one in the Wolf 359 system, was found to be an automated listening post.
August 19, 2355
The Guard salvage ship completes salvaging the first wreck. The hulk is a trove of information, and hard data on advanced ECCM systems for small craft is recovered. In addition, the salvage ship recovered eleven magneto-plasma engines, a thermal sensor, two missile fire control systems, an ECM-5 system, and an ECCM-5 system. Additional systems might have been recovered, but the salvage ship ran out of cargo space.
The salvage ship is dispatched back to the home system with orders to return with a group of cargo ships so that it will not have to make more trips to unload whatever it recovers from the other wrecks.
In the meantime the combined force of Naval and Guard ships departs the system to return to the home system to refuel and refill its magazines, before returning to probe unexplored warp points in the Ross 154 and Altair systems.
As the combined force departs, a geo-survey ship enters the system to begin its survey. Several days later the survey ship discovers a ruined city on Kuiper A-II, a terrestrial type world with low gravity and a noxious atmosphere composed primarily of ammonia.
September 29, 2355
The 3rd Battle Group arrives in the home system and reports its encounter with the automated warships in the Kuiper system. Once the 3rd BG has refueled and taken on ammunition and supplies in Mars orbit, it will await the arrival of the Guard detachment before departing for the Ross 154 system.
November 11, 2355
“Transit complete, sir. No anomalous readings, sensors clear.”
“Very well.” As usual, Rear Admiral Craig was fighting his stomach down after this latest transit. He hated transits with a passion at this point, but viewed them as the price to be paid for the stars.
“Sir, urgent report coming in from the Victory!”
Admiral Craig shook his head, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t completely lose control of his stomach yet again. “Put Captain Cox through.”
The view screen at the front of the battleship’s bridge fluttered then cleared to show the ultra-modern bridge of the Guard’s premier warship, with a woman with a very stern visage in the center seat. “Admiral Craig, we have some exciting news. Our scientists concur. This is the Wolf 1061 system. This system was known during the first interstellar era, and was in fact home to an imperial colony. The colony was planted on Wolf 1061 A III, or Verge, as it was known back then. The Far Eye’s EM sensors have confirmed the presence of a high technology population on that planet.” The Guard officer paused, showing more animation than Admiral Craig had ever seen out of her. “We have our first proof of other imperial populations surviving the collapse!”
“Very good, Captain. You may begin first contact procedures. In addition, lets displace forward several tens of mkm’s to make it more difficult for them to determine the location of the warp point, should they turn out to be hostile.”
Meanwhile, on the erstwhile Imperial Colony of Verge…
Director Timmon Althas, Hereditary Director of the Verge Directorate, hated to be woken up in the middle of the night. He had, in fact, had several prior assistants beheaded for waking him for what he felt were less than sufficient reasons, and so his subsequent assistants had shown a remarkable restraint in waking him. He had, in fact, not been woken since the last assistant had expired in the dungeons beneath the secret police headquarters located next to his palace.
He was, therefore, somewhat surprised to be woken up by his latest assistant. He played briefly with the idea of ordering this assistant to be tortured in various ways before finding out what the problem was, however, after some consideration, he decided that he would have to forgo that pleasure, at least for now. It wouldn’t do to be too unfair after all.
Having composed himself, he hit the “accept” button on his room communications system so that it would quit pinging to wake him up. The small screen activated to show Captain Jay O’Sullivan, the commander of the Directorate’s fleet. For a second Director Althas was taken aback. His assistant was the only person that could activate the communications link to his room. After staring at the Captain for several seconds he realized that he could just ask and find out what was going on. “Captain, where is my assistant?”
Captain O’Sullivan looked faintly embarrassed. “Well, sir, he, ahhhh, he seemed reluctant to wake you. I insisted, you see, but even so he was hesitant to interrupt your sleep. Ultimately he refused to wake you, but after I insisted that the situation was urgent he finally relented and allowed me to make the call. I told him I would take responsibility for interrupting your sleep.”
Director Althus stared owlishly at the Captain for a few seconds. “Yes, quite right. I insist that everyone in my government take responsibility for their actions. Thank you very much for taking responsibility for yours. I’ll have the Directorate Internal Security come right to your location. Just wait there for them. Thank you.”
Captain O’Sullivan’s face grew red as the Director spoke. Finally, before the Director could finish, he broke in. “But sir, you don’t understand! Our detectors have picked up EM emissions from a ship!”
Once again Director Althus stopped and stared at the Captain owlishly. “Well of course they have. I think that should be obvious. After all, we have a ship. You should know that. After all, you used to oversee the Navy. Of course, I’m going to have to find someone else to do that now. Hmmmm. You know, it occurs to me that you could be very helpful with my new problem of finding someone to replace you. Perhaps you could tell the agents that Assistant Director Tenling will be sending by who you would recommend as your replacement? That would be very helpful.”
If anything Captain O’Sullivan got even redder. “No sir! You don’t understand! Another ship! We’ve detected another ship! It’s in the outer system, 2.6 billion kilometers out and its sensors must be very powerful if we can detect them from here! It’s not the West sir, it’s another ship, one that isn’t ours!”
Yet again Director Althus was at a loss. Generally he was when it came to anything out of the ordinary, but then, to be fair, on Verge things were very rarely out of the ordinary. Finally he shook his head. This was a serious situation. He was firmly of the opinion that anything that might threaten his family’s power base on Verge could be classified as “a serious situation”, and this situation obviously fell into that category, so it was time to be serious in response. “Captain, this is very serious. What do we know about this ship and its crew?”
Captain O’Sullivan took a deep breath, quite obviously relieved that he had gotten through to the Director. Finally. “Your Excellency, we received a message from them shortly after we first detected them. They are claiming to represent the Empire, and state that they come in peace.”
Director Althus frowned thoughtfully. Things were perfect here on Verge. The power of his family rested firmly on their control of the few remaining old Empire technological systems left. His personal guard, the 1st Battalion, and the aptly named Director Althus, in orbit, were all equipped with carefully maintained systems left over from the old Empire. Without them his family would never have maintained control of the planet after the rest of the universe vanished. Director Althus wasn’t a smart man. He knew and accepted that, as it was largely the reason that the family had selected him to be the Director in the first place. He was shrewd enough, though, to know that any outside influence, any at all, would upset the system. His system. Bringing in more outside technology would be disastrous, and would destabilize the system. That could not be allowed. He made up his mind. “Captain O’Sullivan, I am temporarily reinstating you to your former position. Retaining your position depends on you making these outsiders go away. You are to take the Director Althus out to meet the outsiders and destroy them utterly. We must send a warning to them, whoever they are, that they must never return. Ever! Is that understood?”
Captain O’Sullivan was shaken. “But sir! They say that they are the Empire! We can’t just attack them, certainly not with one destroyer! What…”
Director Althus roared in anger! “How dare you refuse! I have been very magnanimous! Very magnanimous indeed!” Just then Director Althus saw in his viewer that the door behind the Captain had opened, and figures in severe black uniforms were walking in. “Ah, there you are! Take him away! I have had enough of his insolence!”
The Director continued to shriek as the secret policemen seized the hapless Captain and rushed him out of the room. After a few seconds the Director calmed down. After a few more seconds he placed a call to his assistant, whose name he had never bothered to learn. They came and went so fast, after all. When the trembling man was on the phone he smiled. “There you are. Don’t worry, I’ve had that idiotic naval man arrested. He took full responsibility for waking me, something I heartily approve of. You should take note, really, and in the future, if there is anything you need to take responsibility for, you should tell me.” The Director stopped and peered at his assistant as if seeing him for the first time. Is there anything you want to take responsibility for?”
The unfortunate assistant, who had by now voided both his bladder and bowls, and who was sweating profusely, gabbled that he had done nothing. Fortunately the Director’s view screen was incapable of relaying the quite incredible smell or he would have had the assistant arrested for not taking responsibility for his odors. As he couldn’t smell them the assistant was safe.
“Good, good. You are a good man, an excellent assistant. Now, get me the second in command of the Navy. I feel sure that it is another one of those Captains. Hopefully this one is brighter than the last.”
A few minutes later Captain Gibson was put through to the Director. He had just been informed of the arrest of the late Captain O’Sullivan, who had, perhaps wisely given what awaited him, attempted to escape. The late Captain was, as a result of his ill-conceived escape attempt, shot forty-seven times by his rather enthusiastic former guards. Captain Gibson was determined to avoid the same fate. “Sir, the Director Althus and its crew stand ready to engage the enemy at your orders!”
“Yes, yes. Good man. I knew I had the right man. Now go take care of this for me.” Althus turned off the viewer and went back to his bed determined to sleep in late to make up for this entire unfortunate late night affair.
Captain Gibson lowered the pistol he had been holding out of view of the phone camera and set it down with a trembling hand. He had survived, for now. He hurriedly ordered his HQ to send a message acknowledging the receipt of the Imperial message and informed them that he was coming out to meet them. He was fairly sure that he would be safer out there than on Verge for the foreseeable future.
November 13, 2355
“Sir, data is coming in from the Far Eye now. Routing it to your desk now.”
Admiral Craig configured his monitor to display the data from the scout. His eyebrows went up on their own as he realized what he was seeing. Without turning he activated his desk comm. unit. “Marie, I’m expecting a call from Captain Cox within the next several minutes. Put her through to me here as soon as it comes in. Thank you.”
Admiral Craig wasn’t disappointed. Ninety seconds later his desk view screen lit up. “Ah Captain Cox. I assume you are calling about our new friends?”
Captain Cox’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen the same data I have, Admiral. That ship mounts an Imperial Arms Type 2 active sensor. Just like the one on the Victory. That is old Empire tech out there.”
Admiral Craig settled back into his chair. “Yes it is.” He knew what she wanted, he just wanted her to say it.
Captain Cox gritted her teeth. “Tech systems from the Old Empire are under Guard jurisdiction by Imperial Order #2258-03. That ship,” She stabbed her finger towards the approaching ship, or at least towards that general direction, “belongs to the Guard.”
Admiral Craig leaned forward. “Actually, that ship belongs to them. I suspect they would dispute your ownership.”
“It does not. Those are Imperial citizens, whether they know it or not. They are unlawfully in possession of old Empire tech, and I will classify them as rebels if they refuse to turn it over. Technically they are in rebellion right now, or at least they will be if they refuse to recognize the sovereignty of the Empire. The Regent has authorized me to issue a formal request to rejoin the Empire to any Imperial colonies that we discover.”
“And if they don’t?” Admiral Craig was intrigued.
“That is being debated in the Senate as we speak. For now it is a request only. However, I expect the Senate will authorize a more…forceful…request soon. After all, the Empire has always maintained that it was the only legitimate government for humanity, and the guiding principle of the old Empire was that unification was the only thing that saved humanity.”
Admiral Craig’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. For the most part she was right. The old Empire was founded in the chaos of the twenty-first century during the dissolution of the old nation-states. Its leaders, both the Emperors and the Senators, had had a healthy fear of chaos and internecine conflict, and had been firmly convinced that allowing humanity to fractionate into multiple governments would only lead to war and more chaos. The current government retained some of those old fears, especially in light of the recent rebellion. When you added in the current Senate’s expansionistic bent and the numbers of nobles and corporations looking for new territories, the outcome was almost certain.
A smile crept across Admiral Craig’s face. He had the feeling he was going to enjoy the next few years. “You may be right. Have your people been able to identify the ship?”
“They say that its emissions profile is a match for a Soldier class assault destroyer. If so they are holding it back. The war book says that the Soldier class had a top speed in excess of 10,000 kps.”
Admiral Craig’s eyebrow rose. The old Soldier class ships were designed to transit through contested warp points and survive long enough to destroy enemy ships on the far side. They were well protected, and were heavily armed with beam weapons. “That is going to be a tough nut to crack, if they are hostile. We’ll have to take their shields down, then pound them. If their defenses are intact then we may not be able to get missiles through their active point defenses. The only ships that I have that can engage them at close range are the light cruisers Aurora, Stalwart, and Trafalgar.”
“The Victory can engage them as well, but I’d rather not risk her at close range.”
Admiral Craig thought for a short time, and then suggested that they and their respective staff members meet to develop a defense plan should the Vergers prove hostile. In the meantime, they sent a joint message asking the Verge ship to stop just inside the range where their sensors would be able to detect the Far Eye, which was likely the only ship they could see due to its emissions. Long before the Verge ship arrived they would withdraw the rest of the fleet several mkm’s back towards the warp point and assume a low emissions profile to remain out of sight. Captain Cox insisted on assigning one of her ships to guard the Far Eye, which was by far the Guard’s most important possession, so the Prince William hung close to the scout while the rest of the combined force remained back.
November 16, 2355
The Verge Destroyer hung in space, 143 mkm’s from the two Guard ships. It was a very unsatisfying distance for both sides. Nearly eight minutes passed while the messages traveled between the two sides, making conversations nearly impossible. Finally, after several hours, Captain Gibson of the Verge ship Director Althus announced that he was tired of the game and was going to close to make real conversations a possibility. Captain Cox, on board the Far Eye for the negotiations, flatly refused to allow this, but Captain Gibson insisted. Shortly thereafter the Verge ship began closing again.
Captain Cox ordered the Verge ship to veer off, but they refused. Forty one minutes after they started to close, the Verge ship detected the rest of the combined force sitting 10 mkm’s behind the lead ship. Captain Gibson was enraged, or at least acted as if he was, and ordered his ship to full speed. He sent a message to his HQ informing them of the presence of the additional ships and informing them that they were attacking.
Seeing that the Verge ship intended to close, the Imperial force began backing off, towards the warp point. Once there the ships moved into a defensive formation and they waited for the Verge ship to reach effective combat range. Captain Cox and Admiral Craig had spent a lot of time discussing this situation, and the problem was that the oncoming ship had extensive ships and very effective close in anti-missile defenses, as well as very heavy armor. Captain Cox had insisted that the ship must be captured, not destroyed, but to do that they needed to knock down its shields. Doing that, at long range, against its missile defenses, was unlikely. Therefore, they would just have to wait until it closed and take it out at close range. The likelihood that one or more Imperial ships would be damaged or destroyed in the coming battle was near certain, so Admiral Craig had insisted that the battle take place near the warp point, which would allow damaged ships to retreat, along with the entire force, if necessary.
Admiral Craig was making final preparations as the Verge ship neared 10 mkm’s range when his comm. tech announced the reception of an incoming message that had been tight-beamed directly to the California. Intrigued, after having the message scanned for systemic threats, he opened it. The message purported to be from a Captain Gibson, the commander of the approaching ship. The message also indicated that Captain Gibson was willing to talk about a non-violent way out of the upcoming conflict. The Captain gave a very specific channel and format for any contact with him, should the Imperial officers be willing to discuss the situation.
Admiral Craig immediately contacted Captain Cox and linked her in with his comm. system, then opened communications on the specified channel. Captain Gibson appeared immediately. “I take it you are willing to be reasonable in this matter?”
Admiral Craig glanced at Captain Cox, who definitely was not known as a reasonable person, then turned his attention fully on the Verge officer. ‘Captain’ Gibson was wearing what, at best, might be charitably called a caricature of an Imperial uniform. It was gaudy, almost clown-like, and the amount of gold braid and medals on the officer’s chest was truly awe inspiring, as it caused one to wonder how he could move with that weight on his chest. Craig cleared his throat. “It all depends. What do you consider reasonable?”
Captain Gibson looked around furtively. “I want enough money for myself and my key officers to support us comfortably for life. I want homes for us, somewhere nice, and I never, never want to hear about the planet Verge again in my life!”
Admiral Craig was taken aback by the naked sellout, but before he could speak Captain Cox broke in. “Done. The Imperial Guard will pay each officer that comes over to us enough to make them comfortable for life.”
Captain Gibson paused and peered at the two Imperial officers. “How can I trust you?”
Once again Captain Cox spoke first. “The payment will be guaranteed by the Regent himself. I’m sure that Admiral Craig will vouch for the Guard’s honesty in this matter.”
Admiral Craig nodded. The Guard would pay any amount to get their hands on more old Empire tech. They could easily afford to pay the price the man wanted, a hundred times over in fact. “They are good for it.” Craig’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you doing this? That is one effective warship you’ve got there. Now, I’m not saying you were going to win if you went up against us, but you could have given us a run. Why give up without a fight?”
Gibson looked around again, just as furtively as before. “I’m a dead man no matter what happens in this fight. The last five heads of the Verge Directorate Navy have lasted less than five months each. Sooner or later they’ll find some reason to get rid of me, and if I’m lucky I’ll just be ‘retired’ to a sanitarium. If I’m lucky.” Gibson shuddered. “I figure that no matter what happens I’m better off with you.” Gibson’s eyes hardened. “Now swear, both of you, that I and five other officers will be taken care of, as we discussed. I want our agreement recorded.”
Both Cox and Craig swore, as required. Afterwards Admiral Craig shook his head. “So you are going to just give us your ship?”
“Well, no, not quite. You see, I don’t really control it. My officers, the ones I’ve mentioned, are behind me and will follow my orders, but the crew won’t. They are scared to death of the government’s secret police, of which there are several on board. The second I do something against my orders they’ll have me relieved and appoint someone else to command. Right now I’ve told the crew that we are negotiating with you, in an attempt to lull you into inattention before we attack. That will work for a while. My officers and I will make it possible for you to board the ship. After that it is up to you to take it. You’ll have to fight. The crew has been whipped up to a frenzy by xenophobic propaganda that the government has been pumping out ever since you guys arrived. We can make sure that you get on board safely, though.”
Admiral Craig looked at Captain Cox for a second. If Gibson was telling the truth, then this was an incredible opportunity. Still, even so, a lot of marines were going to die even if everything went right. After a second Craig shook himself. Fewer were going to die if this worked than would have died in an open battle with that ship. “How can you guarantee that you can get my marines on board?”
Captain Gibson looked furtive again. “Well, the Director Althus isn’t exactly in good shape. We’ve done our best to maintain it, but, well, we’ve lost almost all of the old technology and the means to maintain it. And, well, the ship suffered some damage during its, ahhh, transfer of ownership from the old Imperial Navy to the Verge Directorate. Some of the systems are non-functional, and others are jury-rigged. I can guarantee that the crew won’t see you coming. We can do that, if nothing else.”
Admiral Craig muted the pickup and frantically signaled to one of his officers, indicating that he wanted the California’s telescopes to be focused on the Verge ship. After a few seconds the ship was on-screen, at first a mere blob, but then it sharpened up as the battleship’s processors massaged the incoming data. Craig’s eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing. There were two huge gouges in the other ship’s armor, both of which appeared to penetrate the thick armor belt all the way to the interior of the ship. No wonder they didn’t want to fight! “Confirm that the Verge ship’s shields are down!”
After a few seconds the sensor officer confirmed that the Verge ship’s shields were down. Admiral Craig turned back to his monitor and un-muted it. After receiving a nod from Captain Cox he smiled. “Captain Gibson, you have a deal…”
Twenty minutes later three Type 1 Drop Ships detached from the Guard Transport Inchon and raced towards the Verge ship at 30,000 kps. These drop ships were yet more examples of the Guard’s old Empire tech. They were wonders of technology, capable of 30,000 kps, heavily armored, and capable of spotting their own targets and delivering an entire battalion of marines anywhere within their nine billion kilometer range. Now the drop ships were heading towards a lone, damaged destroyer just 10 mkm’s away, with three battalions of marines armored up and ready for combat. Two drop ships remained with the fleet, in reserve.
It took five minutes for the drop ships to cover the distance to the Verge ship, a time during which the watching Imperial officers felt like they were waiting for the axe to fall. No one really knew if they could trust Gibson, and if this was a trick of some sort, things would go badly for the marines. Admiral Craig was fairly sure that this was not a trick, as eliminating some marines wouldn’t help the Vergers win the resulting battle, and given their existing damage they were even less likely to win that than they would have been in an intact ship.
The Guard drop ships raced towards the Verge ship, passed the point where all of the alarms on the targeted ship should have been ringing. Nothing happened. The drop ships raced right up to the Verge ship without opposition! Craig leaned forward, watching on his monitor as the 57th Marine Battalion began spilling from its drop ship, headed towards the tremendous rents in the Verge ship’s armor.
The operation was inherently risky, even against a ship that was compromised to begin with, and the marine battalion suffered losses as it crossed to the ship and began its entry. After a few seconds it became apparent that the crew had indeed been caught by surprise. The marines crossed the gap and infiltrated into the ship through the large gaps in its armor. Fighting was sporadic at first, but then became general as the crew became aware of the threat. As the resistance rose the marine commander decided to commit an additional battalion to the attack. This proved to be a fateful decision as the ship’s exterior defenses had been activated. The 56th Marine Battalion suffered heavy casualties in its crossing. Fifteen minutes later the battle was over and the Director Althus was taken. Less than half of her crew was taken alive. Captain Gibson and his officers were transferred to the Victory as soon as possible.
With the Director Althus in tow, and the marines back on board the Inchon, the combined Imperial force set out for Verge.
November 23, 2355
Director Althus was not happy. Seven days ago the ship named in his honor had disappeared. It had just dropped out of contact after confused reports of fighting aboard had been broadcast. That had been very embarrassing for him, as the ship had been named after him. He felt that his own honor had been impugned. He was fairly sure that some in his own family were laughing at him, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. It just wasn’t done within the family, after all. Oh, he had terrorized the proles, of course, but now things had gotten even worse. Planetary sensors had picked up a group of ships moving in-system along the same vector that the supposed ‘Imperial’ ships had been detected. It seemed clear that they were coming for him. He had alerted the planetary defense network, and a trembling general had assured him that they would be stopped. That remained to be seen, though.
November 26, 2355
The Imperial ships had come to a halt sixteen mkm’s short of the planet. No communications attempts had been made in either direction. Both sides found it ominous. Finally, Admiral Craig broke the silence. “This is Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Craig of the Imperial Terran Navy. This force, which has been engaged in carrying out the lawful commands of his majesty Emperor Michael, has been subject to an unprovoked attack. I call upon you now to explain your actions.”
The transmission went unanswered for twenty minutes. “Admiral, sensor contact, 9.3 mkm’s out, on a direct path to the planet. Confirmed thirty contacts, in-bound at 8,000 kps. CIC has identified the contacts as planetary missiles. ETA is nineteen point three seven minutes.”
Admiral Craig thought it through. The missiles were big and slow, which meant that they would be easy to intercept unless they had significant active or passive countermeasures. “All units will assume missile defense configuration Alpha-1. No ships are authorized to launch on the planet.” That taken care of he comm’d Captain Cox. He didn’t want her going off half-cocked and launching on the planet. The Navy had never bombarded civilian populations and they weren’t about to start now.
One hundred and fifty seconds later a second group of thirty missiles appeared behind the first. After that every one hundred and fifty seconds a new group of missiles appeared on the Imperial screens. Once the lead group had closed within range of the Victory’s large anti-missile sensor array the missiles were identified as size ten missiles, which were large enough to do significant damage should they hit. Of course, that was very dependent on the technology with which they had been constructed.
Two hundred and thirty five seconds later Imperial AMM’s began spilling from the Imperial ships. The disparity between the two groups of missiles was great. The Imperial missiles ran at 40,000 kps, while the attacking missiles approached at a mere 8,000 kps. When the AMM’s intercepted their targets they performed flawlessly. They achieved a one to one hit ratio and wiped the attacking missiles out one million kilometers short of the fleet. After that the interceptions became regular, like clockwork. Not one defending missile missed, and not one attacking missile got closer than one million kilometers. The attacking missiles ran out after nine salvoes, and then the combined Imperial group began moving towards the planet again.
The Imperial ships approached Verge unmolested. Immediately after arriving in orbit the marines assaulted from orbit in a series of combat drops. After the marines had seized landing areas the troop transport went in and dropped off four Imperial Army mobile infantry battalions and a replacement battalion. Shortly thereafter the fighting on the ground began to escalate.
December, 2355
Author’s note: I’m out of time to write an update, so I’m going to skip it this time in the interest of posting this right now. Hopefully that’s okay with everyone.
[attachment=1:1vrrs80z]2355.gif[/attachment:1vrrs80z]
