January 4, 2360
The terraforming fleet finishes warming Altair II, completing the terraforming of this planet. Its task completed, the fleet moves on to Altair III. Altair is such a stupendous system, though, that it will take the bulk of the fleet over a month to arrive at the new terraforming site.
February 7, 2360
There are celebrations all across Terra as the 1st Expeditionary Fleet sets out for the frontier. The Fleet is composed of the 3rd Battle Group and the Imperial Guard 2nd Detachment, and is supported by several supply ships and two naval and Guard troop transports carrying a Marine brigade, a Guard shock brigade, and an Army infantry brigade. In addition, several survey ships from the Imperial Survey Corps will follow behind the fleet to begin survey work once the new systems are declared clear. Rear Admiral Craig will command the immense conglomeration of firepower.
After the planet-wide celebrations wind down the fleet sets out for the Lalande 21185 system, where it will set up a base of operations. Once the base is ready the fleet will move into the five connecting systems to probe the ten unexplored warp points found in those systems.
February 14, 2360
The Terra, the Empire’s first superdreadnought, is launched with much fanfare. The ship is launched nearly nine months early due to the pre-production of its engines and jump drive on Mars before assembly work began in orbit over Terra. The ship joins the 1st BG on this date.
March 5, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet is assembled at the first unexplored warp point in the Ross 128 system. A supply base has been established in the Lalande system with supplies, fuel, and missile stocks. The fleet has been refueled from the UNREP ship assigned to accompany them. Everything is in readiness.
The 3rd Battle Group’s two battleships, the California and New York, accompanied by the frigate Reedy River, moved slowly away from the rest of the fleet and seemed to drift forward, ever so slowly. Finally, as they receded from the rest of the fleet, they blinked out.
After a period of time which seemed to be forever, or no time at all, or both, the three ships reappeared in a brand new system. The system was a binary, as were so many others. After a short period of observation the fleet’s scientists identified the system as the FL Virginis system, a binary system with an M5-V primary and an M7-V secondary star. The primary was orbited by three rocky planets, including a Terra-type planet, a gas giant, and numerous asteroids. The Terra-type planet was smaller than Terra, with an average temperature of -29.6 degrees and an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere that was too thin to support human life. The secondary star was orbited by a single Terra-type planet with an average temperature of -111 degrees, a gravity of 1.63 G’s, and an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere that could support human life, if the planet wasn’t so cold.
The battleship’s sensors didn’t detect any thermal or EM emissions, so Admiral Craig ordered his flagship back through the warp point. The battleship returned a minute later with the Far Eye and a second Guard ship. The Far Eye’s exquisitely sensitive sensors probed the system, but after five minutes had discovered nothing further. Given the fact that their entry point into the system was in between the two inner planets of the primary star, Admiral Craig was fairly certain that there were no hostiles about, however, he wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. After detaching a cruiser/frigate force to watch the support ships the 3rd BG and the 2nd Guard Detachment set out to probe the system’s planets.
March 8, 2360
The probe of the FL Virginis system is complete and the 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps out, headed to the second unexplored warp point in the Ross 128 system.
March 11, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet arrives at the second unexplored war point in the Ross 128 system. The Naval and Guard ships jumped through to the new system, discovering the Gliese 505 system. The system primary is an M1-V system with three inner rocky planets, two gas giants with a grand total of fifty four moons, and three outer rocky planets. This system was not known to the old Empire, but there is some excitement amongst the officers as the second planet is a near twin for Terra. The planet’s gravity is 1.09 that of Terra, while the oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere has a pressure of 1.07. The planet’s average temperature is -3.6 degrees and its mass is .96 that of Terra. Because it orbits so close to its primary, at 26.7 mkm’s the planet’s day is the same of its year, forty two days. The Far Eye detects no EM or thermal emissions; however, the group’s entry point was 2.5 billion kilometers from the primary.
After some time to study the system the combined force sets out for the inner system to probe for civilizations.
April 12, 2360
Work is started on the Empire’s first full sized carrier, the Agamemnon, in the orbital yards.
May 18, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps through the innermost unexplored warp point in the Gliese 526 system.
The Terran ships find a system with an M4-V primary with four rocky planets and two gas giants. The innermost planet has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. The system is soon identified as the Wolf 437 system, previously unknown to the Empire.
May 24, 2360
The Imperial Governor of Verge, Joshua Farrell, contracts a serious ailment particular to Verge and is forced to retire. Once word arrives on Terra the Emperor will appoint Rhys Bray, a trusted friend and confidant, to the position.
On this day the 1st Expeditionary Fleet completes its probe of the Wolf 437 system and jumps out.
May 25, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet arrives at the second unexplored warp point and jumps through. After a short observation period it becomes clear that they’ve discovered a new jump route into the Gliese 505 system, a system they recently probed from the Ross 128 system. The Terran ships jump out shortly thereafter.
May 28, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps through the third unexplored warp point in the Gliese 526 system. They discover a system with an M5-V primary with two rocky planets and two gas giants. None of the planets or moons appear to be suitable colonization sites.
June 20, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps out of the Gliese 526 system yet again. They reappear 2.68 billion kilometers from an M5-V star. The star is orbited by four rocky planets and two gas giants. One planet has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, although it is quite cold for humans.
The 1st EF departs the warp point shortly thereafter to probe the system.
July 10, 2360
The 1st EF completes its probe of the GJ 1156 system and jumps back to Gliese 526 system.
July 15, 2360
The 1st EF jumps through the last unexplored warp point in the Gliese 526 system.
The fleet arrives in a planet-less system centered on a small D9-VII star. There being no planetary bodies to probe, Admiral Craig orders the fleet to return to the Lalande 21185 system to refuel and resupply.
August 16, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet arrives at the innermost unexplored warp point in the DX Cancri system. After a short time spent reorganizing, the combat elements jump through to the new system.
They find themselves in a single-star system with an M4-V system. Examination of the system revealed two rocky planets, two gas giants, and an asteroid belt. None of the planets appear to be habitable, but the group sets out to probe the system in any case.
August 29, 2360
The combat elements of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet complete their probe of the system and jump out, headed towards the second unexplored warp point in the DX Cancri system.
September 7, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet is assembled on the second, and last, unexplored warp point in the DX Cancri system. After all of the ships are assembled, the combat elements jump through. They find themselves in a system with an M1-V primary with a grand total of one gas giant with no moons and a scattering of comets. The fleet sets out to probe the system.
September 10, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet completes its probe of the Gliese 205 system and sets out for the Wolf 359 system to probe the six unexplored warp points there.
October 4, 2360
The research team led by Toby Tomlinson completes R&D the latest generation of missiles for the Imperial Navy, Guard, and Planetary Defense Forces.
The stats for the Empire’s missile weaponry are as follows:
[attachment=1:x3szd4qs]Imp Msl 2360.gif[/attachment:x3szd4qs]
The Flight III versions of the standard Imperial missiles incorporate several lessons learned over the last several years. Primary among these lessons was the fact that it was difficult to coordinate capital missile salvoes with standard missile salvoes, as the two types of missiles had different speeds. The Flight III versions of standard, capital, and planetary missiles all have the same speed, making coordination of salvoes much easier to accomplish.
October 6, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet is assembled at the innermost unexplored warp point in the Wolf 359 system. Without fanfare the combat elements jump out of the system. They appear in a single-star system that is almost a binary system. The primary is an M6-V with a single super jovian planet a quarter the size of the primary. The lone planet, which is just sub-stellar itself, orbits just 570,000 kilometers from the primary. Aside from a lone comet there are no other planetary bodies. Admiral Craig decides no probe is needed as there are no rocky bodies in the system.
October 9, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet probes the second unexplored warp point in the Wolf 359 system. They appear in a binary system with an M2-V primary and an M6-V secondary star. The primary has no planets, while the secondary star is orbited by five rocky planets, two gas giants, and an asteroid belt. Two of the planets are potentially life bearing. After some consideration Admiral Craig decides to defer probing the system, as the secondary star is over nineteen billion kilometers away, meaning it would take over one hundred days to make the round trip.
October 22, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps through the fourth unexplored warp point in the Wolf 359 system. They discover a binary system with an F5-IV sub-giant star with a tiny D7-VII sub-stellar object as a secondary star. There is much excitement when the system is identified as the Procyon system. This system was known to the old Empire, and in fact, during the first interstellar era there was a large, heavily industrialized population on a Terran type planet orbiting the innermost gas giant. Back then the colony was named Plateau and it had been a political and industrial power in the old Empire
A few seconds later the sensitive sensors on board the Guard scout Far Eye detected a large population where the old Imperial colony used to be. There was immediate celebration amongst the crews at the discovery of yet another Terran colony.
Admiral Craig immediately sends a message identifying the fleet as an Imperial Terran Fleet and welcoming the colony back into the brotherhood of humanity. The message will take four hours to reach the planet.
Four hours later…
The Imperial message arrived at the former colony site and was immediately noted. The message’s import was considered by the ruling intelligence, which ultimately decided to take no action, at least for now.
Sixteen hours later, after dispatching a second message and waiting for a response, Admiral Craig decided to push into the system to determine the situation on the former colony. Admiral Craig detaches the Fletcher, a bombardment cruiser, and the Wilmington, a frigate, to watch over the UNREP ship and the two troop transports, all of which will remain on the warp point.
October 27, 2360
The Imperial Terraforming Corps completes work on Altair A-III. The terraforming ships depart shortly thereafter, for the Barnard’s Star system. The trip will take over eight months for the older terraforming ships.
October 30, 2360, 1635 hours
As the 1st Expeditionary Fleet approached the planetary system associated with Procyon-A they finally received a message from the population located on a moon of Procyon A-I. The message was: “You have entered the Plateau Defense Sphere. At present, you are not authorized to transit the Plateau Defense Sphere. Please withdraw to an area beyond one billion kilometers from Plateau and request permission to enter the Defense Sphere from the Plateau Command Authority. If you do not withdraw you will be met with armed force. Approach no closer.”
The message was delivered voice only, in Imperial Standard in a non-descript, plain male voice. Admiral Craig immediately ordered the fleet to come to a halt. Upon checking, he realized that they had passed to within one billion kilometers of Plateau only seconds ago, which meant that Plateau had sent the message hours earlier in anticipation of their reaching this point. After pondering the situation, Admiral Craig ordered the fleet to withdraw so that they were beyond the “Plateau Defense Sphere”. Once there, he sent another message to the Plateau Command Authority, requesting permission to approach, or for a Plateau ambassador to come to them.
Sixteen hours passed without a response, more than enough time for eight messages to pass back and forth.
November 1, 2360, 0900 hours
Admiral Craig paced back and forth in his cabin, pondering the situation he found himself in. He had just finished a meeting with his senior JAG officer, covering the legalities, which unfortunately were unclear. The Emperor had committed the Empire to honoring the sovereignty of former Imperial colonies, as evidenced by the Empire’s hands-off policy towards New Victoria until their final demonstration of their incompetence and human rights violations. If a former Terran colony insisted that they wanted no contact with the Empire, then in the absence of any information about the oppression of their population, then he had to take their word for it and leave future contacts to the diplomats.
At the same time both the Emperor and the Senate have publicly insisted that the Empire has a positive responsibility to ensure the well-being and basic human rights of former Imperial colonies. Fleet Admiral Tannenbaum himself had told him that he was expected to act aggressively to determine the status of any human colonies they discover. He was to avoid provoking a war if possible, but as per Admiral Tannenbaum, both the Emperor and the Senate were serious about ensuring the basic rights of any humans they encountered.
That left him with no clear guidance in the middle of a difficult situation. He had no real information on the situation on Plateau. Multiple attempts to contact this “Command Authority” had no results, which left him with no information as to the status of the population on Plateau. Really, he didn’t even know if there were humans there. There was no way he could go back to Admiral Tannenbaum with no real information about the humans on Plateau. Admiral Tannenbaum had supported him since the war, and now he stood in between the Navy and the politicians in the Senate and government. Admiral Craig shook his head. He’d go to nearly any length to avoid putting Admiral Tannenbaum in a bind with the Senate or with his brother, the Emperor. Coming back with no information at all about a human colony would do just that.
After thinking about it a little more Admiral Craig realized that he really only had one choice. The Senate was currently very hawkish, for various reasons. They would forgive an overaggressive commander who could explain his actions from the point of view of acting to preserve the lives and rights of humans, much more than they would condone the actions of an overly timid commander. Admiral Craig’s lips curled in a sneer. He much preferred direct action, and having a Senate behind him that felt the same way just made things that much better.
His mind made up Admiral Craig crossed the room to his desk, then accessed the command deck.
“Command Deck, communications officer.”
“George, record a message for immediate broadcast to Plateau.” He waited a few seconds, until the communications officer nodded. When the video pickup lit up he began. “This is Rear Admiral Craig of the Imperial Terran Fleet. We are currently holding one billion kilometers from your planet, as requested. We have made multiple requests to enter your Defense Sphere and begin negotiations for opening political and economic relations with your planet, and we’ve received no response.” He paused and gathered his thoughts. “This places me in a difficult situation. I have been charged by the Emperor and the Senate with determining the well-being of any humans discovered during our explorations. The lack of a response makes it impossible for me to make this determination. In light of my orders, if no response to this message is sent in the next three hours I will find it necessary to proceed to Plateau and determine the status of the humans living there.” He paused again, and a steely, determined look crossed his scarred face. “We do not wish to fight other humans, but the Imperial Navy takes its responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of all humans very seriously. Make no mistake; we will fight if we are forced to. Do not place us in a position where we are forced to engage your defenses. You have three hours to respond to this message.” Craig nodded to the communications officer.
“On the chip, sir, and ready for broadcast.”
“Send it in the clear, wide beamed to the entire planet. Inform me immediately if there is a response.”
Five hours passed. Admiral Craig spent the time going over every bit of information they had on Plateau, both from the old Empire and from the present. There wasn’t much there. The population currently had a thermal signature twice that of Terra, and an EM signature that was also larger than Terra’s, indicating a large, heavily industrialized population. There was no chatter, though. No civilian radio transmissions, either voice or data. Everything the communications section did pick up seemed to be some sort of automated equipment.
The five hours passed quickly, and in the end Admiral Craig decided to give Plateau another five hours, just to be sure. No response was received and in the end Admiral Craig was forced to give the command to cross the line that Plateau had drawn in space. As the 1st Expeditionary Fleet moved out Admiral Craig ordered the scout Far Eye to activate its sensors. Up to now, as a gesture of good will to the locals, they had been relying on the Far Eye’s exquisitely sensitive passive sensors, but Admiral Craig was through catering to the local’s sensitivities. Plateau was well within the scout’s sensor range, and immediately after activating the sensors multiple contacts appeared in orbit of the planet.
In total there were fifty eight contacts, ranging from five very large contacts that were obviously commercial ships of some sort to the most numerous contacts, which were 13,450 tons. In addition, a relatively small shipyard complex was detected in orbit as well.
One hour later the Imperial Force finally received a response from Plateau. “You have entered the Plateau Defense Sphere. Turn back immediately or you will be engaged by Plateau Defense Forces. This is your last warning.”
Admiral Craig didn’t bother to respond. After all, this was just a copy of the original message sent to them the first time they approached closer than one billion kilometers.
Five more minutes passed as the Imperial Fleet continued towards Plateau, then the system map Admiral Craig had displayed on one of the room’s walls changed. Sixteen Plateau ships had left orbit on a course for the approaching Imperial fleet. The force was composed of eight ships a little larger than an Imperial heavy cruiser, and eight smaller ships in between an Imperial light cruiser and destroyer’s mass.
Admiral Craig frowned thoughtfully. That was a significant force, depending on their technology. They obviously had good engine technology, as the Plateau ships were approaching at 4431 kps, which was a good turn of speed, even if it was 152 kps slower than the Imperial force. His fleet was composed of two battleships, four light cruisers, a destroyer, five frigates, and three gunboat motherships with fifteen gunboats. All things being equal, he had no doubt that his boys could take on the Plateau force, but then, things were rarely equal in interstellar combat. In the end he decided to continue inward, at least for now. He had provoked one response from them, perhaps continuing would provoke more.
Another hour passed, and then the Imperial force received a message from Plateau. Admiral Craig ordered the message displayed in his conference room, where he was meeting with his staff. The wall-mounted monitor lit up to show a human in an old-style Imperial Naval uniform, standing on what appeared to be the command deck of a warship. There was bustling activity around the officer, who was male, middle aged, and somewhat plain looking. “I am Adam Minola, commander of the Plateau Defense Forces. I apologize for not communicating with you sooner, but my government needed some time to determine the proper course of action.” Minola’s face split in a big grin. “We are very glad to hear that the Empire still survives, and we look forward to establishing regular relations with you. However, I’m sure you’ll understand that we must be cautious. We know nothing about you, or the current Empire. We must ask that you withdraw to the warp point and give our government some time to decide what our policy towards the new Empire will be. I’m sure our citizens will agree to establishing regular contact with the Empire, once the situation is adequately understood.”
Admiral Craig considered the message for a few minutes. There was something off about it, something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. After ninety seconds or so he shook his head. “Helm, bring the fleet to a halt. Approach no closer to Plateau without my personal orders. Communications, record for transmission to Plateau. Begin: We have received your message and we welcome contact with Plateau. It is the Imperial Navy’s mission to reunite and defend humanity, and we will certainly respect Plateau’s legitimate territorial concerns, however, we are under an obligation to determine the wellbeing of any human populations we discover. I would like to send a delegation to Plateau to discuss re-establishing contact between our two governments. This delegation could travel aboard one of your ships, if you deem it necessary.” Admiral Craig gestured to stop the recording.
The message went out while the Plateau ships continued to approach the Imperial force, which had come to a halt. Two hours later commander Minola appeared on the Imperial screens again. He looked regretful. “I’m afraid that I cannot allow an Imperial representative to approach Plateau at this time. My government is currently debating the situation, and a plebiscite will be placed before the people to decide on the proper form that contact with the Empire will take. This will take time, and we cannot allow an outsider to influence the situation. I have been authorized by my government to request that you withdraw from this system for a period not less than six months. At the end of that time we will allow a contact ship to enter our system for the purpose of establishing relations between our states.”
Admiral Craig frowned thoughtfully. The Plateau request was not unexpected, or unreasonable, really, but he had hoped for more. After checking with his staff, he sent a final message agreeing to the Plateau demand for withdrawal, and promised to return in six months.
November 11, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps out of the Procyon system. Before leaving, Admiral Craig sends one final message to Plateau confirming that an Imperial ship will return to the system on May 15, 2361. Once again, Admiral Craig warns Plateau’s government against leaving the system through the warp point as the system beyond, Wolf 359, is claimed by the Empire.
Once through the warp point, Admiral Craig detaches one of his three couriers to picket the warp point at a reasonable distance. Once that is done, he detaches a second courier to return to the Solar System to inform the government about the re-discovery of Plateau. Once that is done the fleet sets out for the next unexplored warp point in the system.
November 13, 2360
Admiral Craig’s courier arrives in the Solar System to report on the discovery of Plateau. The courier then jumps back out to rejoin the 1st Expeditionary Fleet. After some debate with his staff, Fleet Admiral Tannenbaum decides to dispatch a command cruiser and two frigates from the 1st Battle Group to establish a watch on the warp point in the Wolf 359 system that leads to the Procyon system.
November 17, 2360
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet jumps through the next unexplored warp point in the Wolf 359 system. Like so many others, the new system has an M4-V star. The small red star is orbited by five gas giants, two Terran type planets, and an asteroid belt. None of the planets are particularly habitable. The combat elements of the 1st EF set out to probe the system.
November 20, 2360
The active sensors of the scout Far Eye, which is part of the Imperial Guard contingent assigned to the 1st EF, detects an alien hulk on the outer edge of the asteroid belt in the Luyten 674-15 system. Shortly after that, the scout’s sensors detect a jump gate 890 mkm’s from the star, indicating that a jump point is located there.
November 28, 2360
The 1st EF arrives at the jump gate in the Luyten 674-15 system. Their probe of the system is complete, and aside from the wreck and the jump gate, no other signs of intelligent life were found. Admiral Craig has decided to jump through the warp point and probe the system beyond.
The 1st EF discovers a binary system on the far side, with an F6-V central star and a K2-V secondary star. The primary star is orbited only by an asteroid belt, while the secondary star, which orbits the primary 130 billion kilometers out, is orbited by five rocky planets and two gas giants. Admiral Craig orders the 1st EF to probe the asteroid belt and then return to the warp point.
December 3, 2360
The 2nd Carrier Strike Group is formed out of newly built units along with a leavening of more experienced units from the 1st Battle Group. The new group’s commander is Rear Admiral William Clark, the commander of the Battleship Texas.
December 8, 2360
Sir Dennis Lucas, commanding officer of the Planetary Defense Corps, is killed in an air-car accident. The accident is investigated by Naval Intelligence, as befitting the death of a high officer and a personal friend of Admiral Tannenbaum. Ultimately, the death will be ruled an accident. Rear Admiral Eleanor Dixon is appointed to replace Admiral Lucas.
December 12, 2360
The 1st EF is assembled on the sixth unexplored warp point in the Wolf 359 system. After refueling, the combat elements jump through the warp point. They materialize 2.2 billion kilometers from a brilliant white star quickly identified as Sirius. Sirius is orbited by a super jovian gas giant with fourteen moons and two terrestrial type planets with thick, noxious atmospheres. Sirius has a white dwarf companion star which is orbited by a gas giant with nineteen moons and a terrestrial type planet. The terrestrial type planet is in the moderate colonization cost range, at 2.75, but has a completely inhospitable atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen, ammonia, and methane. One of the gas giant’s moons has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, and while particularly cold (-99.8 degrees), is a good potential colonization site. Admiral Craig orders the fleet into the system to probe for civilizations.
[attachment=0:x3szd4qs]2360.gif[/attachment:x3szd4qs]
