January 6, 2358
The first Imperial terraforming ship arrives over Ross 154 A-II and begins working to add oxygen to the planet’s atmosphere. Currently the atmosphere has a total pressure of .1079 and is composed of 77% nitrogen and 23% oxygen. The average surface temperature is -40.73 degrees, something that will have to be changed as well.
January 21, 2358
The CL Saratoga arrives in the Solar System bearing the bad news from New Victoria. The plea for help from Admiral Gibbons and the status report cause a flurry of activity within the Imperial Government, Navy, and Army. Preparations begin for a major deployment to New Victoria.
Naval transports began loading Army, Marine and Guard units from their Terran bases while Imperial Guard transports raced to Mars to begin loading the troops stationed there. In the meantime a small squadron of reinforcements began gathering over Terra to escort the vast troop fleet to New Victoria. The squadron includes the Nimitz, the Empire’s first Bombardment Cruiser.
Nimitz class Bombardment Cruiser 15000 tons 1812 Crew 2560.7 BP TCS 300 TH 1200 EM 600
4000 km/s Armour 6-54 Shields 20-300 Sensors 44/44/0/0 Damage Control Rating 13 PPV 100
Annual Failure Rate: 138% IFR: 1.9% Maintenance Capacity 1387 MSP Max Repair 180 MSP
imperial Atomics ICF Drive (12) Power 100 Fuel Use 50% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 120.0 billion km (347 days at full power)
Gamma R300/14 Shields (10) Total Fuel Cost 140 Litres per day
120mm Meson Cannon (25) Range 60,000km TS: 6250 km/s Power 4-4 RM 6 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
CIWS Mk 1 (2x6) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Bombardment Fire Control (5) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 6250 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Cyberdyne MCt Fusion Reactor (10) Total Power Output 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
ID Basic Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 6000 Range 60.0m km Resolution 100
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 (5) ECM 20
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
February 2, 2358
The Naval transports are loaded and en route to the jump point to Proxima Centauri jump point, as are the Guard transports with the troops from Mars. Once the transports and their escorts are assembled on the jump point they will set out for New Victoria.
February 21, 2358
The final troop transports arrive at the solar warp point to Proxima Centauri. With the squadrons assembled the entire group jumps out, bound for New Victoria in the Kruger 60 system. It will take the nine troop transports, six warships, and one underway-replenishment ship fifty three days to reach their target.
March 22, 2358
The bulk of the 3rd Battle Group completes overhaul on this date. The battle group has been reorganized while it was being refitted. The group now consists of a command battleship, a line battleship, three light cruisers and four frigates. Rear Admiral Craig flies his flag from the command battleship California, the first of its class in the Imperial Navy. Admiral Craig, who has been chafing during his time in orbit, orders his group into the inner system for training exercises.
April 4, 2358
The Imperial Navy’s first new Courier/Scout is launched on this date.
Brooklyn class Fast Scout Craft 2300 tons 230 Crew 469 BP TCS 46 TH 500 EM 0
10869 km/s Armour 1-15 Shields 0-0 Sensors 44/44/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 10% IFR: 0.1% Maintenance Capacity 510 MSP Max Repair 50 MSP
imperial Atomics ICF Drive (5) Power 100 Fuel Use 50% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 391.3 billion km (416 days at full power)
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
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
The Brooklyn class is a direct outgrowth of the Empire’s need to maintain communications in between inhabited systems and its far-flung naval task groups. Ultimately, the Navy intends to station at least one Brooklyn class unit in each exploited system and with each task group outside the home system, and preferably several. This unit is only intended to work within the jump gate network. Plans are being reviewed for a jump capable version of this unit, but nothing has been finalized as of yet.
April 12, 2358
The Imperial transport fleet arrives in the Kruger 60 system. It will be several days before they can reach New Victoria, but their arrival in the system has an immediate effect. Several of the major New Victorian nations maintain a careful watch for Imperial ships coming and going, and the arrival of this major force was expected. While the various New Victorian nations have a long history of fighting each other and many reasons to distrust each other, they all fear a piecemeal takeover by the Empire. Within a matter of hours the major nations agree to unite against any Imperial takeover of their planet. Most of the minor powers fall in line, but some do not and fighting continues across the planet.
April 15, 2358
The Terran relief fleet arrives in orbit over New Victoria. Terran troop transports immediately begin unloading their troops in remote areas, far from the local nation’s power centers. With his reinforcements in hand Admiral Gibbons interrupts all communications networks below, inserting his own message to the governments and people of New Victoria.
“People of New Victoria, I am Rear Admiral Isaac Gibbons, Imperial Terran Navy.” Admiral Gibbons stood on the flag deck of his command light cruiser, in his formal dress uniform, with every medal and service bar in place. He made an imposing figure. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a shaven head and a scar across his face from a boarding action during the rebellion. He looked like what he was, a wrecking ball that wouldn’t stop until he was right where he wanted to be.
“For too long I have been forced to watch as events spun out of control on your planet. As the death toll mounted and atrocities were committed in the name of security and prosperity. No more! The Emperor himself has charged me to end the strife and killing on your planet, and to ensure that basic human rights, ensured by the Imperial constitution, are honored in this system. By their own actions your governments have abrogated their right to rule. Their constant conniving and plotting have resulted only in war. Their plotting led to a full scale nuclear exchange several months ago which, except for the fact that my squadron was here, would have eliminated all life on this planet. Therefore, I have been ordered by Emperor Edward to end this state of affairs as quickly as possible. New Victoria will be incorporated into the Empire, effective immediately. All New Victorian military units are ordered to lay down their arms and submit to Imperial authority. All New Victorian governments are to suspend all operations except for the provision of essential services until Imperial controls are in place. You have one hour to comply, any military units or governments still operating past that time will be considered to be in rebellion against the Imperial government and will be treated accordingly.”
Admiral Gibbons paused and took a deep breath. “I have one final thing to say to the people of New Victoria. I personally regret having to take this action. I, my officers, and my troops do not want to be here, and do not want to interfere in your planet’s affairs. The Imperial government, however, has an interest in the well being of every Imperial citizen. And that is exactly what you are, an Imperial citizen, whether you know it or not. New Victoria was an Imperial colony during the first interstellar era, and there is no provision in Imperial law for colonies leaving the Empire. As citizens, the Empire has a responsibility to ensure that your basic rights are observed. During the months I have been in this system I must say that your rights, as recognized by the Empire, are not observed. That will change now. The Empire has returned to this system and things will change for the better once we regain control. We are not here to attack or hurt you, although, if your governments resist, that may be the result. We’ll do our best to avoid that. However, we are the Empire. We will accomplish our goal, no matter what. Nothing will stop us, certainly not your governments if they decide to stand in our way.”
Admiral Gibbons took a deep breath and his gaze hardened. “To the governments of New Victoria. I now have the troops and orbital weapons to decisively end this conflict. Lay down your arms and submit to Imperial authority. I won’t ask again. You have one hour.”
Twenty minutes later a transmission was beamed to the orbiting fleet. “I am Feldon Walker, Primate of North Huron and newly elected leader of the New Victorian International Coalition. We reject the Empire’s interest in our planet and order you to leave this system immediately. If any Imperial soldiers land they will be attacked and harried from our planet.” Primate Walker was heavy set and sweating, and obviously under a lot of pressure. He kept glancing to the side, as if seeking reassurance from whoever was there. “The International Coalition now represents this planet and it s people, and we reject this naked aggression from the Empire. The Empire has no interests here, in spite of its oft repeated and so called ‘concern’ for human rights. This is nothing more than a land grab, and we will resist this unjust act to the end. The Empire is not welcome here! The people of New Victoria will defend their planet from any aggressor, including the Empire!” Primate Walker’s face twisted and his gaze intensified. “And if the Empire thinks that we have expended all of our missiles, well, then, they don’t know as much as they think they do.” With that the transmission ended.
Admiral Gibbons turned to this chief of staff. “Primate Walker?”
“He is the leader of a first rank nation down below. Indeed, Intel believes that he is behind much of the plotting that ultimately led to the kidnapping of our officers and the nuclear exchange.”
Admiral Gibbons settled back into his chair. “Hmmm…well, he appears to believe that a few threats will make us go away. Begin the bombardment as scheduled.”
Forty minutes later…
The Nimitz, the lead ship in a brand new class, was a brand new concept for the Imperial Navy. Inspired by the situation on first Verge and now New Victoria, the Nimitz was equipped with revolutionary weapons that its designers hoped would obviate the need for orbital bombardment or large deployments of troops. Reaching down through a thick atmosphere required very special weapons, and because of this the Nimitz was equipped with meson cannons. Twenty five meson cannons, to be exact. The ship’s fire control and detection systems could be pressed into use in a fleet engagement, if necessary, but it was optimized for use against ground targets. This was to be its first trial.
At precisely the designated time the Imperial cruiser began charging its weapons. The 120mm meson cannons were buried deep within the ship, and required no external emitters so there was no indication of what was happening. Then the ship began firing. The meson cannons emitted streams of mesons that decayed in the vicinity of their targets into particles capable of interacting with matter, at which point they interacted very energetically.
Down below five New Victorian missile bases suffered five internal explosions each. The explosions were devastating, not because they were large but because they were precisely targeted and occurred within the base’s armor belt. Five seconds later there were twenty five more explosions scattered amongst the same five missile bases. Every five seconds explosions blossomed at the targeted missile bases until they ceased to exist, generally after the third strike. Then the Nimitz shifted its targeting to the next set of bases in its targeting queue.
At first, when the first set of bases began suffering internal explosions, the New Victorian authorities thought that the bases had suffered an accident. When the second set of bases came under fire they thought it was a strike by Imperial commandos dropped from orbit. After that chaos reigned in the New Victorian chain of command, which hadn’t been unified. By the time they got things sorted out it was too late. Of course, even if they knew what was happening they wouldn’t have been able to do anything to stop the Imperial bombardment. It took the Nimitz just one hundred and five seconds to destroy all thirty four ICBM bases on the surface of New Victoria.
With the Nimitz’s fire mission complete Admiral Gibbons went back on the air. “People of New Victoria, the Imperial fleet has just eliminated every ICBM base on this planet, and we did it without nuclear weapons or creating any fallout to poison your biosphere. Never again will your governments aim nuclear weapons at their own neighbors. You may rest at ease that this threat, at least, has been eliminated. To the governments of new Victoria I say again, stand down and submit to Imperial authority! You have no other choice.”
The landings were underway even then. New Victorian ground forces had only lightly opposed the landings, but that would change as more and more of the old-style divisions were brought to bear on the Imperial troops.
April 20, 2358
The fighting on New Victoria was intense and horrifying, at least for the Imperial forces. The New Victorians brought division after division against them and the Imperials smashed them all, one after another or en mass, but they still kept coming. No matter where the Imperials went the New Victorian governments threw thousands of men and tanks at them in mostly vain attempts to stop or slow them down. And slowly, steadily, at a horrifying cost, they were succeeding in wearing down the high-tech Imperial brigades.
May 21, 2358
The Imperial Fleet’s first carrier is launched from the Terran yards. The Ticonderoga immediately sets its course for Mars, where it picks up part of its fighter complement. The 1st Fighter Squadron is one half of the carrier’s planned complement. Once the fighters are on board the carrier joins Admiral Craig’s 3rd Battle Group.
The fighting on New Victoria drags on. Imperial morale, at least amongst the officers, is falling. The Imperials smash division after division and yet the New Victorians keeping sending fresh units against them where ever they go. This week the 56th Marine Battalion, part of the 1st Imperial Marine Brigade, is caught in a trap and wiped out by eighteen New Victorian armored and infantry divisions.
What the Terrans don’t know is that the New Victorians are becoming desperate. Almost all of their divisions have suffered combat losses, some significant. Morale on the New Victorian side has dropped drastically, and the Imperial Terran ground forces have attained a formidable reputation both for combat prowess and honor among the rank and file.
May 28, 2358
Victoria Tannenbaum’s research team completes development work on the Empire’s new engine technology. Conversion of the Imperial shipyards over Terra begins immediately to convert the fleet to Flight III designs utilizing the new magnetic confinement fusion drives.
June 7, 2358
The New Victorian military is growing desperate. Their seemingly inexhaustible supply of divisions is now revealed to be inadequate in the face of Imperial technology. Battalions and brigades are melting away under fire, and divisions are lost seemingly on a daily basis.
For their part Imperial morale is firming up as their advantages become obvious.
June 12, 2358
The 112th Imperial Army mobile infantry battalion is overwhelmed by massed New Victorian infantry attacks and destroyed. The New Victorians sacrifice two armor and four infantry divisions, all depleted before entering battle, to destroy the Imperial unit. While not apparent at the time, this marks the high water point of New Victorian efforts against Imperial troops. After the destruction of the 112th, the New Victorians will never be able to put together a coordinated attack again because of mounting losses.
June 19th, 2358
Imperial morale on New Victoria soars as the 3rd Imperial Guard detachment, composed of three Inchon class Troop Transports, arrives over New Victoria and begins unloading reinforcements. In short order the 115th Imperial Army Assault Brigade, two independent assault battalions, and four badly needed replacement battalions are on the ground and moving to engage the beleaguered New Victorian defenders.
The replacement battalions are welcomed in particular as the heavy losses suffered by the Imperial units since the start of the campaign have meant that eight of the nine replacement battalions that arrived with the main force have since been depleted.
July 27, 2358
The fighting is going well for the Empire on New Victoria. New Victorian divisions are being destroyed daily, and the remaining enemy forces are depleted and of low morale. They still keep throwing themselves into the teeth of the Imperial war machine. The Empire’s soldiers arrived here with a dismissive attitude for the defenders, secure in the knowledge that they had better technology and organization. That attitude has long since gone, burned away in the fires of war. The defenders are tenacious and never, ever give up. They have won the Imperial soldier’s respect, even if their cause is viewed as misguided, at best.
While the defenders teeter on the brink of collapse, the Imperial forces are only slightly better. Only the newest reinforcements are at anything near full strength, and the last of the replacements were dispersed to line units long ago. Neither side really wants to continue, but the Empire is determined to bring order and justice to this world, while the defenders view this as a fight for their homes and family.
August 20, 2358
A newly trained New Victorian armor division leaves the training grounds and moves directly to the front lines, where it is mauled by an Imperial Guard armored force advancing towards the New Victorian training areas. While the new division is nearly destroyed, the Imperial Guard’s advance is halted and the New Victorian training areas are safe for now.
September 3, 2358
The forces available to the New Victorian Alliance have been reduced to one hundred and forty divisions, twenty six of which are armored. While on paper this still represents a very large number of troops and considerable combat strength, the reality is considerably different. Most of the remaining divisions can field approximately 20-30% of their original strength, and many are weaker than that. None are above 40% of their establishment strength. The Alliance Council, now composed of the leaders of the various New Victorian militaries who usurped power from the civil governments, has begun to search for a way to end the conflict, however, they fear the consequences of defeat. The Empire is an unknown quantity, and even without the possibility of a vengeful Empire the leaders all fear the loss of stability in their own countries that defeat would bring, after the extreme measures that they imposed supposedly to win the war. They are deadlocked and fear making any decision at this point, so the war grinds on.
September 24, 2358
Six hastily trained infantry divisions are thrown into the fight on New Victoria by the Alliance Council. These divisions are their last hope, the last reinforcements that they will be able to rush into action. The new divisions are sent straight into battle as a last ditch massed attack against Imperial forces mopping up resistance in a major city on the southern continent. All six divisions are mauled in the battle, to little result. Many of the depleted divisions supporting the attack are destroyed outright, and the assault fails miserably.
The New Victorian Alliance Council refuses to see reason and orders the attack to continue. Discontent among the officers and men of the remaining divisions is rising.
October 15, 2358
Twenty two New Victorian divisions mutinied this week. The rebellious divisions are nearly all of the divisions assigned to the desultory attack on Imperial positions in the southern continent, and include the six ‘fresh’ infantry divisions that formed the core of the assault. The Alliance Council dispatches security forces to end the mutiny and to prevent the rebellious forces from marching on the Alliance’s few remaining power centers, but when the security forces arrive at the camps of the mutinous forces they find little but abandoned equipment. The troops and their officers apparently melted away into the surrounding civilian population or into Imperial custody. As the surrounding civilian population is remarkably hostile to the Council and Imperial forces are advancing, the security forces are forced to withdraw empty handed.
November 14, 2358
The last New Victorian division deserts its post and the final defenses around the last Alliance city collapse. Imperial units move in, but for a time chaos reigns and no one is sure what is going as the Council’s control evaporates along with its military.
November 19, 2358
New Victoria officially surrenders to the Empire. With the cessation of active hostilities, the Emperor’s chosen representative, Senior Administrator Peter Curtis, takes over civil administration of the planet. The military still has primary authority, given the recent hostilities, but Curtis will begin working towards restoring civilian control of the planet.
Admiral Gibbons orders the Imperial Guard 2nd Detachment to begin loading troops for immediate return to Terra. The Guard transports will be able to carry three of the worst damaged brigades back to Terra at 7000 kps, getting them back home much faster than the Navy’s transports could. Once the loading is underway, Admiral Gibbons composes a message to the Emperor and Senate informing them of the victory and its cost. Once his report is complete he dispatches the Brooklyn class courier assigned to New Victoria back to the home system. The courier will be able to make the round trip in just forty days. Included with the reports is a request for the immediate establishment of a full naval base on New Victoria.
December 9th, 2358
The courier from Admiral Gibbons arrives in the Solar System. The Imperial government spreads the news of its most recent victory far and wide. Plans are made immediately to begin transferring maintenance facilities to New Victoria, along with a substantial supply of raw materials to jump-start the conversion of its conventional industry to industrial capacity capable of utilizing trans-newtonian resources.
December 16th, 2358
The Naval Troop Transport Group completes loading the invasion force and sets out on the long trip home. Two brigades of infantry and a brigade of garrison troops will remain on the planet to act as a security and occupation force.
January 11, 2359
The first two Guardian class orbital missile bases are launched from the Terran yards. The size of heavy cruisers, the bases were intended to defend the colony of Nova Terra in the Luyten system. Now there is some debate as to the wisdom of redeploying the bases to the Kruger 60 system to watch over New Victoria, which has a much larger population. In any case, the bases will require a large maintenance facility to support them, so until the facilities are in place they will remain where they are.
January 26, 2359
The Empire goes into mourning. Princess Victoria Tannenbaum died on Venus early in the morning, apparently of natural causes. The Princess was respected by her colleagues in the Venusian research establishment, and the public loved her for her tireless support of charitable institutions focused on aiding the victims of the rebellion.
An Imperial inquiry reveals the fact that the Princess actually died in a lab accident while she and her team were conducting tests on an early prototype of an inertial confinement fusion drive. Her superiors in the lab, fearing Imperial censure, tried to cover up the accident. Those responsible are censured and forced to retire, however, the Emperor decides to allow the original story to stand, in spite of the fact that his sister died a hero while saving several other members of her team. Both Edward and Victor refuse to allow any controversy to mar the memory of their sister, even though the controversy is aimed at others, not her.
The Princess’ death leaves a large hole in the Venusian research establishment. There were few master researchers that were her equal, and only one that was close in the power and propulsion field.
February 2, 2359
The relief squadron for New Victoria arrives, releasing Admiral Gibbons and his battle group to return to Terra. This is welcome, as the group has been on station for over a year, and many of the ships in the squadron were overdue for overhaul before being dispatched to Kruger 60. After meeting with Brigadier General Joshua Mclean, commanding officer of the 107th Infantry Brigade and the Provisional Military Governor of New Victoria, Admiral Gibbons and his group departs for the long trip home.
March 7, 2359
Work is begun on the Empire’s first Planet class superdreadnought. The Terra will take eighteen months to build, and will be one third larger than the State class battleships currently filling the capital ship role in the fleet. The Navy had high hopes for the Planet class; however, it appears that they may have reached an upper limit to the size of warships. The Planet class is slow, compared to the battleships, and has less endurance in terms of fuel and supplies. Still, it is a stupendous warship, heavily screened and armored with a large broadside.
March 17, 2359
Terraforming of Ross 154 A-II is complete. The terraforming fleet departs, headed for the Altair system.
Imperial status, December 2359
The Empire has spent the last two years consolidating the territory it has already explored. No new systems have been probed during the last two years. Instead, the Imperial Navy has spent the bulk of the last two years either training, or in refit or overhaul status. By December 2359 entire fleet has been refitted with magnetic confinement fusion drives, boosting the fleet-standard speed to 4500 kps (higher for some classes). Finally, the fleet has undergone a reorganization, making permanent assignments to battle groups. The fleet is now organized into three battle groups and a carrier strike group. Pressure is growing within the Navy and Senate to resume expansion, and it is likely that the 3rd Battle Group will be dispatch to probe un-explored warp points early in 2360.
The Imperial Army, Marine Corps, and Guard were all involved in the massive battles on New Victoria, and all three suffered serious losses. As of December 2359 the Imperial ground forces losses have largely been made good, although this has required the devotion of nearly all of the Empire’s training grounds to train replacements for the last year.
The Imperial terraforming fleet has begun work in the Altair system, and it is anticipated that Altair II will be terraformed early next year, after which work will begin on Altair III. Imperial colonization efforts are focused on Nova Terra in the Luyten system, and New Home in the Ross 154 system. Both worlds are perfect for human colonization, and by the end of the year their combined population is 31.97 million colonists.
As of August, 2359, Verge was released from military rule and is considered an Imperial protectorate. The Imperial government has not yet determined the best way to utilize Verge’s resources, population, and industry. For now, Verge’s research facilities are being transferred to Venus and replaced with mining facilities from Mars. Unfortunately, while Verge’s resources are present at high availability levels, they are not particularly abundant and will run out relatively quickly if the mining capacity is increased to the levels originally planned. Currently, the Imperial government is considering devoting the Ross 154 colonies to mining resources to be used on Verge.
New Victoria is still under military control, and will be for at least another year. Work has begun on converting the planet’s conventional industry to trans-newtonian industry, however, productivity is low due to military controls. As with Verge, the Imperial government has not yet decided how to fully utilize New Victoria. Given the planet’s lack of resources, it is likely that the planned colonies in the Altair system will be devoted to mining resources for the industries on New Victoria.
The Imperial government has stationed courier/scout ships in every inhabited or exploited system, reducing communications times and giving its far-flung colonies and territories the ability to call for help if it should be needed.
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