Campaign Updates

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 192, Bjering Consolidate Territory, Grioll system
The first Bedu refugees arrive on the planet they’ve named New Home.  Their fleet is still en route through the Bjering territories, as are the rest of the refugees. 

 Month 194, Bedu Refuge System “New Home”
The Bedu refugee fleet arrived over their new home planet on Day 7.  The transport fleet immediately began unloading refugees, who joined the refugees that had already made it there via the Bjering ICN.  The new arrivals bolstered Bedu numbers on the planet to just over twenty-four million, a prodigious achievement. 

After the transports were unloaded, almost all of them were turned over to the Bjering.  The refugees could only support a relative few of the freighters, and turning them over had always been part of the deal with the Bjering.  In all, over two hundred freighters and transports were transferred to Bjering control.  As the new refugees are being dispersed to prepared camps on the planetary surface, work begins in orbit on a new shipyard.  Newly constructed ground-based industry, working in tandem with a mobile shipyard that arrived with the refugee fleet and with the Bjering colonists already on the planet, all cooperate to build the new orbital station. 

The survey fleet that accompanied the refugees into exile departs shortly after arriving, to probe a warp chain to which the Bjering have given them access.  The survey groups departure brings to the fore a problem that will become significant in the coming months.  The military ships that accompanied them, four carriers and six destroyers, along with the survey fleet, will require maintenance support that significantly out strips the refugee’s production levels for the foreseeable future.  Virena, newly acclaimed Imperator of the Free Bedu Empire, commissions a study by her staff of the sustainability of the current force levels and the results are dispiriting.  As tremendous an accomplishment as the refugee transfer was, they just don’t have the industrial base to support the ships that came with them.  Worse, the study points out the fact that the new Bedu Empire doesn’t have the population base or resources to conduct independent research and development, or to perform much in the way of construction or colonization without significant assistance.  The problem is not immediate, as the refugee fleet brought enough maintenance supplies with it to support the existing fleet levels for roughly ten months, but study is clear, they will inevitably run out of supplies at that time, and there is little that they can do to remedy the situation.  What they have is what they have. 

Month 195, Bedu New Home System
Empress Virena dispatches the remainder of the Bedu Empire’s combat fleet back to the Bjering Gunnar system to bolster their defenses.  The fleet was doing no good orbiting New Home, and Virena is eager to show the Bjering that the Bedu refugees can be useful.  This has become particularly important given their weak economic situation. 

In recognition of their situation, Virena does a deal with the Bjering Consolidate.  In exchange for transferring the survey fleet they brought from Bedu Prime, the Bjering grant the Bedu refugees the right to colonize a nearby ST world rateed benign/rich.  Empress Virena intends to spread her people to that world to spread out their population.  This move also reduces the maintenance overhead of the Empire, allowing them to support their remaining warships for a little longer. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 187
While the government focuses on the emergency in the Sligo system with Tarek rebellion, and ensures that the press and the public is focused on the problem as well, the Colonial Bureau of Relocation has been moving massive numbers of people off of Earth and out to the colonies, to avoid having to enforce strict population control laws.  The relocation program has been a success so far, as the population has remained below the critical number that threatens to destabilize Earth’s fragile ecology.  In fact, most of the Colonial Union’s colonization budget has been focused on this effort for the last several months.   

The massive relocation project is primarily intended to reduce the population on Earth, to ease the stress on Earth’s damaged environment, and the government has gone to great lengths to publicize its efforts, billing this as a heroic effort to assist ‘Mother Earth’.  While all of this is true, as far as it goes, there is less attention paid to the destination of these colonists.  The government announcements merely reference the fact that the destinations are established colonies throughout the Union eager to accept new workers from Earth, without any specifics.  In reality, the bulk of the new colonists are being sent to one location, the Tlatelolco home planet in the Redwing system.  What was once a small scientific research assistance outpost on the Tlatelolco home planet is now a bustling colony of almost forty million people.  This has caused considerable friction with the Tlatelolco, who have started wondering when they will be outnumbered on their own home world.  Only the inherent peacefulness of the Tlatelolco has prevented the situation from deteriorating into violence, and the Colonial Union has deployed ground forces to the system to protect the burgeoning colony.   

Month 190, Colonial Union, Redwing system
The Human population of Redwing A-IV, the Tlatelolco home planet, has risen to almost 45 million, and is capable of supporting colonization from itself without disastrously depleting its numbers.  By popular vote, the colonists rename the planet New Terra, and establish a mining colony on the system’s third planet, a rocky planet rich in minerals.  The Tlatelolco protest this action, increasing tension between the world’s natives and the colonists.  Even as the tensions mount, another massive colony fleet departs from the Solar System, carrying thirty million colonists bound for New Terra.  The fleet is composed of hundreds of CFN freighters and transports, and represents a significant percentage of the Colonial Union’s transport capacity.  Therefore, it is escorted by a large group of cruisers and destroyers dispatched from Epsilon Eridani, and will be met halfway to their destination by another group of cruisers and destroyers from the Sligo system. 

Working in the utmost secrecy, the yards in the Redwing system, which are still considered top secret by the Colonial Union’s government, begin work on a new proto-type hull, the escort carrier.  The Colonial Union has not finalized the design for the fighter’s hanger bays, yet, so the proto-type hull has holds in place of the fighter bays. 

Late in the month the Colonial Union concludes delicate negotiations with the D’Bringi Alliance.  The negotiations have been a secret and the announcement of the commencement of trade with the Alliance causes mixed emotions throughout the Union.  The majority New Dawn Party is strongly isolationist and anti-alien, but they have been weakened by recent events and are in disarray.  In addition, the profits promised by the trade treaty have enticed a number of key New Dawn senators to vote for the treaty in the Senate.  The opposition Conservative Party was fully behind the treaty, as it has been seeking to expand and regularize contacts with alien races.  There is some alarm in the upper reaches of the New Dawn Party at the well-funded and well thought out campaign that the Conservatives waged to get the treaty approved.  This new trade will almost triple the Union’s trade balance in one fell swoop.  The trade treaty specifies that the trade between the two nations will move through the Sandhurst system, in the Sligo Sector, a contact point known to both nations.  The Sandhurst system is not currently fortified, as it is adjacent to the Sligo system, which has significant fortifications, but it is patrolled by a squadron of destroyers from the Sligo Fleet, reinforced by a number of scouts and two squadrons of escorts.  With the opening of trade, it is likely that this squadron will be reinforced by several squadrons of cruisers, at least. 

Month 192, Sol System
Yet another massive colony fleet departs Earth, bound for the Redwing system.  As before, the colony fleet is heavily escorted by the navy, as this one fleet encompasses most of the Colonial Union’s transport capacity.  In spite of the government’s attempts to downplay the population transfer to the home world of the Tlatelolco, such big convoys cannot be hidden and have begun to draw attention.  Several prominent senators have begun asking uncomfortable questions, and word has come down that this will be the last massive transfer to the Redwing system for some time.  The New Dawnists weren’t quite able to achieve their goal of increasing the number of humans on New Terra (the new name for the Tlatelolco home world) to outnumber the Tlatelolco, but they have managed to build a solid medium population colony capable of supporting new colony efforts from its population.   

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 187, Tomsk Union, Port Louis System
A Tomsk survey ship jumped out of the system this month, probing the lone new warp point discovered in this system.  The new system was a binary system, with a white star/yellow star combination, and each of the stars had a type T planet.  The nearest type T planet to the survey ship was two hundred and fifty- two light minutes away, and even so it lit up the survey ship’s sensors like fireworks.  The frigate performing the probe of the system was equipped with both science instruments and long-range scanners, and the combination of sensors gave it unparalleled ability to detect populations.  The alien population on the fourth planet of the primary was very large, and thus easily detectable even at this range.  After ensuring that nothing was within range of the warp point, the frigate’s captain followed protocol and jumped out to report the discovery. 

The message took some time to cross the Port Louis system, but the adjacent system of Celabinsk had been colonized for some time and was linked to the ICN, so once there the message traveled quickly to the capital in Tomsk.  All of the information from the probe ship was studied and compared to records.  Starfleet was quickly able to establish that the race in the new system was not one of the major known races.  The data was then compared to the secret database of information about known or suspected races.  This database was sketchy in places, as it depended mostly on information gained from other races through less than above-board methods.  For instance, a Tomsk intelligence team working in the Confederated Systems had recently purchased a database containing information about a race known as the Mintek.  Apparently the D’Bringi Alliance had given the information to the Confederation, as a warning about a race they believed to be a threat to all governments in known space.  In addition, greater or lesser amounts of information was available about the member races of the D’Bringi Alliance, and all of the information had been consolidated in this top-secret database that every new contact was checked against.  The checks came up negative.  This didn’t mean that the new race was actually completely unknown, as the database was known to be incomplete due to the reticence of the various governments to openly report their discoveries, but it was a good indicator that this race was new, and perhaps did not know about warp travel. 

With the checks complete the Tomsk government decided to initiate contact with the new race.  Starfleet was ordered to send a force to the system to cover the first contact, which would be performed by the frigate which discovered the new race.  The Bjering decided to send their force assigned to the Tomsk system as well, to observe and support the Tomsk action.  Three Starfleet battlecruisers, escorted by a reinforced group of light cruisers and destroyers, set out for the Port Louis system on the eleventh.  They were followed by the Bjering Epsilon Fleet. 

Month 188, Day 15, Tomsk Union, Port Louis System
The Tomsk contact squadron was deployed in defensive positions around the warp point, along with the Bjering ships that had accompanied them to establish contact with the new aliens.  A single Tomsk light cruiser jumped across to the new system, carrying a contact team and ambassadors from the Tomsk government, and that of the Bjering.  They materialized in the outer system and immediately set out for the inner system, leaving behind the squadron of light cruisers that had jumped in behind them to secure the warp point.  The remainder of the ships stayed in the port Louis system, out of sight, all except a frigate that sat on the warp point as a comms link. 

In order to avoid giving away the bearing to the warp point the contact ship cut across the system, instead of heading directly inwards.  Three days into the trip, long before it entered sensor range of the inner system, the contact ship stopped and started sending contact messages towards the heavily populated planet in the inner system of the primary star. 

It took over six hours for light, and radio waves, to make the round trip to the planet and back, but almost immediately after the six hours was up a return message appeared on the Tomsk ship’s receivers.   The ship’s computer was able to convert the signal into video and audio relatively easily, and the Tomsk crew was able to get their first look at the new aliens.  They were, to put it lightly, hideous.  Uniformly a rusty, coppery color, the new race was bidepal and vaguely humanoid, but with armored skin with numerous protrusions on the arms and along the back.  Their eyes were deep set and a disquietingly blue color that almost appeared to glow.  Their faces were a horror of serrated pincers over a gaping maw with a long, twisting tongue that protruded in random twisting patterns. 

Both the Bjering and Humans had to suppress atavistic shivers at seeing the new race, but both had had enough experience contacting alien races to know that their appearance had little to do with how they behaved.  The contact team immediately set to trying to decipher their message, while the rest of the crew settled in to wait, now that the new race knew that they were there. 

Just over three days later the Tomsk cruiser picked up a drive field coming out from the inner system, and two days later was able to resolve the contact as a quartet of light cruisers.  One of the light cruisers approached the Tomsk cruiser, settling in at fifteen light seconds, while the other three spread out in an arc in between the Tomsk ship and the inner system.  The alien contact ship took over for the signals coming from the inner system, and work began in earnest in deciphering each other’s language. 

Month 189, Tomsk Union
Contact efforts continue with the new race, and are progressing satisfactorily. 

In the Bjering Consolidate, Bjering contact teams establish full comms with the pre-industrial Aldrean Contemplative Union, a low-tech race discovered ten months ago on the periphery of Bjering expansion.  The Aldreans are humanoid, and differ significantly from both Bjering and Humans, although in appearance they are somewhat closer to Bjering. 

While the contact teams have been working towards full communications, the Bjering government has been debating the approach to take with the low-tech race.  Using the normal approach of offering technological and economic assistance to increase their tech level to the point where amalgamation becomes possible would take many years, perhaps a decade or longer, given their current level.  Instead, a faction within the government has proposed a faster way, involving a massive investment of Bjering resources to quickly raise the new race to the Bjering level of technology.  After some debate the government has agreed, but the Aldreans will have to agree as well. 

Eager to begin the process of uplifting their new friends, the Bjering offer the Aldreans a partnership agreement, but the Aldreans, cautious in their ignorance, refuse, at least for now. 

Month 190, Tomsk Union
Contact efforts continue with the aliens discovered beyond the Port Louis system.  Partial communications have been established, enough to discover that the aliens call themselves the Tolan Trade Federation. 

In a joint announcement, the United D’Bringi Soviets and the Tomsk Union announce that the D’Bringi separatist state will be joining the Tomsk Union as a full member.  The United D’Bringi Soviets are a splinter state of D’Bringi who, after being abandoned by their nation, joined the human cause against their former clan rulers.  They owed loyalty to the old Soviet Union, however, after that state was destroyed, they accepted relocation to an ST type world on the frontier, close to the Tomsk Union.  After the Colonial Union turned decidedly anti-alien, they made common cause with the Tomsk Union, and have only grown closer over the last several years.  The United D’Bringi Soviets currently have settled two type ST planets in Tomsk territory, and both of their populations are fairly low, so this news, while exciting, will not affect the bottom line of the Tomsk Union much. 

Month 191, Tomsk Union
Full communications are achieved with the Tolan Trade Federation.  The Tomsk Union offers them a trade and military treaty, but the Tolani turn them down. 

Month 192, Bjering Consolidate
The Bjering, persistent nearly to the point of obsession, offer the Aldreans yet another treaty.  This time, finally, the Aldreans accept.  The Bjering immediately begin work on bringing in specialists and engineers to begin upgrading the Aldrean technological base.  In addition, the Aldreans grant the Bjering the rights to settle the two type T planets in their system.  The Aldreans, as an ST type civilization, have little use for those worlds, and they appreciate that the Bjering held off from colonizing them until given permission.  As a planet-bound race, there was little they could do to stop the Bjering, had they gone ahead and colonized those worlds, and the fact that the Bjering held off was a tipping point in their decision-making process.  Most of this activity is being funded by the Tomsk Union, through grants to the Consolidate government.  This is necessary because of the current military buildup by the Consolidate due to the Bedu situation. 

By the end of the month, the bulk of the Consolidate Navy is concentrated in the Gunnar system, with an additional force from the Tomsk Union en route.  There is no evidence that the Mintek are planning an invasion, but the Bjering leadership believes in being cautious. 

Month 194, Bjering Consolidate
A Bjering scientific and engineering mission arrives on Aldrea Prime and settles in to begin technology transfers.   

[Kurt (OP)]

Alliance Update, Month 195
Grand Alliance:
Total Income (All Sources): 153,521.65 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 76,379.9 MCr’s (50%)

Fleet Dispositions:
Alliance 1st Fleet (Rehorish Home): 1xBB, 3xBC, 6xCA, 3xCL, 9xDD, 3xCTV, 18xF0, 4xFT(supply)
Alliance 2nd Fleet (D’Bringi Home): 1xCV, 7xBC, 2xCA
Alliance 3rd Fleet (Kure System): 12xBC, 2xCA, 3xCL, 5xCVS, 6xDD, 2xCTS, 9xCTV, 174xF0
Alliance 4th Fleet (Phyriseq System): 18xBC, 11xCA, 1xCVS, 3xCVE, 9xDD, 78xF0
Alliance 5th Fleet (T’Pau Home): 6xBB, 9xCA, 3xCVE, 15xF0
Alliance 6th Fleet (Stone system – Aurarii): 15xBC, 1xCVL, 12xCA, 6xCAV, 4xCVS, 15xCL, 19xCVE, 9xDD, 2xDDV, 5xDD(pinnace), 16xCTV, 5xFT(supply), 20xPinnace, 375xF0
Border Patrol (Roban): 3xCTV, 18xF0
Border Patrol (Juath): 3xCTV, 18xF0 (known contact with Mintek, closed warp point location not known by Minetk)
Border Patrol (Kawasaki): 3xCA, 3xCVE, 6xDD, 36xF0 (Upstream from the Kure system)
Border Patrol (Phyriseq WP #5): 3xCA, 6xDD (contact point with the Confederated Systems)
Border Patrol (Sapporo): 6xCL, 6xDD (Contact point with the Confederated Systems)
Patrol Group – Bir (Bir Home): 3xCTV, 18xF0
Patrol Group – Chirq (Chirq Home): 3xCTV, 18xF0

Reinforcement Group #1 (en route to Zir Villiers system): 6xBC, 3xCA, 3xCVS, 3xDD, 1xCTS, 3xCTV, 96xF0
Reinforcement Group #2 (en route to Zir Villiers system): 3xBC, 3xCL, 3xCVE, 2xCTS, 3xCTV, 54xF0

Under Construction: 13xRepair Ship, 3xCV, 9xMobile Shipyard, 30xF0, 5xBB, 1xShipyard, 1xSD(prototype)
Assemble Prefab: 1xShipyard
Un-box fighters: 20xF0

The Alliance is currently developing HT-9 systems, including anti-matter warheads and first-generation fighters.  Most of the new technology is expected to be available for production within the next three months.  In the meantime, the construction and refitting of warships has fallen off in preparation for the next round of refits to upgrade the fleet to the latest technology.  In the meantime, construction capacity has been diverted to building up the mobile repair and construction capacity of the Alliance.  These new repair ships and mobile shipyards will allow the Alliance to more quickly establish forward bases and improve its fortifications in systems that have no construction capacity. 

Recent encounters have convinced the Alliance Navy that it has to at least prototype larger hulls, even if it plans to continue deploying battlecruisers as its primary capital ship.  The encounter with the Aurarii, who possess light monitors twice the size of Alliance battlecruisers, have not convinced Alliance planners that they need to deploy such large hulls in large numbers, but have convinced them that the hulls should at least be prototyped so that they can be constructed in numbers if necessary.  Therefore, the Alliance’s first superdreadnought is under construction in the Rehorish yards, and is slated to be launched in month 212. 

The ongoing integration effort with the newer races is going well, and the Alliance Navy is planning on implementing a standardization program across the Alliance to bring member navies into alignment with the Alliance navy.  This includes standardizing the Alliance member navies, as there is still a variety of designs and design theories left over from the days when the three member races were independent.  The Navy plans to use the upcoming refits to bring the Alliance Navy more into compliance with an overall design and deployment strategy. 

The situation in the Doraz territories with the Aurarii seems to be largely resolved at the current time.  The Aurarii appear to be much more open to peaceful contact at this time, perhaps because of the presence of such a large Alliance fleet in their territory.  In any case, the Aurarii cannot know of the location of the closed warp point that leads back to the Alliance, and have complied with Tai-sho Talix’ demand that his withdrawing fleet not be followed into the outer system.  Tai-sho Talix left behind a trio of corvette carriers and a supply ship to continue the contact effort, and the Doraz Navy remains on guard at the warp point.   

While the situation with the Aurarii seems to be resolved, the situation in the Zir territories has become much more critical with the detection of drive fields on a direct course for the warp point in one of the inhabited systems adjacent to the Villiers system.  While the unknown ships did not transit through the Villiers system, there could be no other reason for the alien ships to be on a direct course for the warp point so far out in the outer system.  The fact that they didn’t transit likely means that they detected the picket ships withdrawing and are exercising caution.  With the detection of the alien ships, the Alliance has been forced to withdraw more ships from its inner systems to dispatch to the Villiers system, and fleet command ordered Tai-sho Talix to move the 6th Fleet to Zir territory as soon as possible, in spite of the fact that the situation with the Aurarii, while improved, is not entirely resolved.   In addition to the warships, the Alliance is shifting a good portion of its mobile construction and repair capacity to the Villiers system with the intent of building up its defenses before any attempt to make contact with the unknown race is made, or before any attack on the Mintek can be contemplated.  Construction will be started on prefabbed bases next month, and these will be then shipped to the Villiers system as soon as possible, so that the arriving construction ships can begin assembling them.  In addition, mines and other automated weapons will be sent to the Zir system to bolster the defenses, as soon as units capable of controlling them arrive at the Villiers system.  Unfortunately, this will all take time, as the Zir territories are three month’s travel from the core planets of the Alliance for the freight transports. 

Bir Meritocracy
Total Income (All Sources): 1,073.12 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 0 MCr’s (0%)

The Bir have achieved HT-1, with Alliance assistance, and are working on developing the basic systems for stellar and interstellar travel, again with Alliance assistance.  The Bir depend on the Alliance for defense, and at the current time there is a squadron of corvette-carriers in the Bir system at all times. 

Chirq Cooperative
Total Income (All Sources): 3,751.19 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 475.20 MCr’s (13%)

Home Fleet: 7xES
Orbital Defenses: 1xBS2

The Chirq have achieved HT-3, with Alliance assistance, and are developing the systems available at that level.  Over the last ten months the Chirq have built a small navy to handle local patrols, but depend on the Alliance for their primary defense.  Unfortunately, due to other commitments, the Alliance has not been able to deploy more than a squadron of corvette-carriers to the system, although the treaty the Chirq have signed with the Alliance binds them to defend Chirq territory should it become necessary.  The D’Bringi corvette carriers leave the Chirq home system at regular intervals to patrol Chirq territories, as freighters have gone missing in this area in the past.

Doraz Contingency
Total Income (All Sources): 17,061.73 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 5,454.7 MCr’s (32%)

Contact Force (Stone System): 12xCA, 6xDD, 2xCT
Home Fleet: 1xBC, 3xCA, 9xDD, 3xCT, 3xFT(Supply)

The Doraz continue to build their empire.  They currently have settled eighteen habitable planets in eleven systems, and are currently focusing on bolstering the population of the colony in the Whever system (rated benign/rich) to the level at which it can support independent colonization.  Unfortunately, the Whever system is adjacent to the Doraz home system, so it will not extend their colonization reach much beyond its current extent, but the system itself has an asteroid belt and numerous moons which could be colonized from the main colony once it reaches the appropriate size. 

The Doraz have achieved HT-7 and are close to completing development of the systems available at that level.  In fact, refits have already begun on some of the smaller units stationed in the home system, but until the Aurarii situation is resolved most of the refits will have to be deferred to maintain ready fleet strength. 

Torqual Free State
Total Income (All Sources): 27,363.77 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 9,337.73 MCr’s (34%)

Home Fleet: 25xCA, 12xCL, 5xCTS
Equity Patrol Squadron: 3xCA, 3xCL
Unity Patrol Squadron: 3xCL


Admiral Falson, hero of the civil war, has turned out to be a competent statesman, much to his own surprise.  During the civil war he managed to create a rough coalition of groups that opposed the Council, and since the end of the conflict he has, with the assistance of the Alliance, been largely successful in turning that coalition into a cooperative government.  The aftermath of the civil war has not been entirely without difficulty, and immediately after the fighting there were large scale pogroms as the people who had been so brutally oppressed took their revenge on their oppressors and those who had helped the Council, or, unfortunately, anyone even remotely suspected of being a Council supporter.  The bloodshed threatened to spin out of control, but with the assistance of a small peace-keeping group of Alliance commandos, Admiral Falson was able to end the violence and impose order. 

Economically, the Torqual have largely recovered from their civil war.  The new government has focused on re-establishing governmental institutions, and voluntary colonization has been restarted.  Indeed, several groups of voluntary colonists have been sent to bolster the workers at the mining operations in the Equity system, after the newly established, worker owned, mining corporations in that system requested additional workers.  There was no lack of volunteers for the highly lucrative positions, and the population of the system has swelled as a result.  Currently, the Torqual have two systems capable of supporting colonization efforts, their home system and the Equity system.  Overall, the Torqual have settled twenty-one habitable planets in fourteen systems.  The new government on Torqual Prime has devoted significant resources to settling the new systems discovered by the exploration corps, which were allowed to lay fallow during the rule of the Council.  This has stimulated economic growth and has done much to revitalize Torqual culture.  To help economic growth, Governor Falson has commissioned a third exploration fleet to help find new planets to settle and to extend the Torqual state’s borders. 

In month 192, a month and a half after the large-scale fighting ended on Torqual Prime, Admiral Falson officially accepted the position of the Military Governor of the Torqual Free State, on the condition that a constitutional convention be convened to determine the new form of Torqual government within the year.  The people’s representatives to the convention have been selected, and the constitutional convention met for the first time this month.  No one is sure what will come out of this experiment, and Governor Falson is staying away from the convention to avoid accusations of influencing the proceedings. 

Zir Contemplative Union
Total Income (All Sources): 36,398.38 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 9,122.4 MCr’s (25%)

Home Fleet: 6xDD, 28xFG, 8xFT(supply), 36xCT
Frontier Fleet (Villiers): 6xDD, 3xFG, 21xCT

For the last several years the Zir have been debating the best course of action to take as regards to the races they discovered through the Villiers warp point nexus.  The Villiers system was an incredible find, five habitable type T planets, one of which was rated benign/rich, two asteroid belts, and no less than thirteen warp points.  The Zir have been focusing a significant percentage of their budget for expansion on this one system, and the benign planet, named Villiers Prime, now hosted a Zir population capable of supporting colonization.  Even now, at this early stage of its growth, the Villiers system produced one seventh of the Zir Union’s overall income, and was one third as productive as their home system. 

The debates within the Zir Union as to the strategy to take towards the Mintek, human, and unknown aliens found through the warp points in the Villiers system have been endless and were no closer to resolution in the recent past than they were when the nexus was discovered.  The debates became moot when the Zir agreed to a closer relationship with the Alliance, and as part of that agreement full astrographic data was turned over to the Alliance after the agreement was signed.  There is some evidence that the two major factions in the debates, those who wanted to wipe all mention of the humans, Minteks, and aliens from the records and pretend they didn’t exist, and those who wanted to make contact with them and be the first to establish peace, at least with the Mintek, were caught out by the revelation of the alien’s existence to the Alliance.  There is more evidence that a third faction, which wanted to turn the entire mess over to the Alliance, had preempted the entire debate by engineering the turn-over of the astrographic data.  In any case, the deed is done and the Alliance now knows about the presence of both the nexus and the races beyond it.  Even now massive forces are being dispatched to the Villiers system, but the Alliance is large and it will take time for them to arrive.  In the meantime, the Alliance has demanded that the Zir improve the defenses of the Villiers system, and in response the Zir navy plans to make a major deployment of forces to that system in the near future.  In addition, the Zir have diverted shipyard capacity to build construction assets, and no less than six mobile shipyards and four repair ships are under construction. 

The Zir are currently HT-7, and have a number of systems at that level under development. 

Overall Alliance Strength:
Income: 239,169.84 MCr’s
Maintenance: 100,769.93 MCr’s
Fleet: 1xCV, 1xCVL, 13xCVS, 36xCVE, 7xBB, 65xBC, 103xCA, 57xCL, 94xDD, 69xFG, 249xCT, 7xES, 164xEX, 7xBS4, 27xBS3, 17xBS2, 39xBS1, 67xBS0, 5xAF

[Kurt (OP)]

Colonial Union Update, Month 195
Total Income (All Sources): 82,208 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 42,653 MCr’s (52%)

United Colonial Defense Fleet Dispositions:
1st Battle Group (Sligo): 3xSD, 3xBB, 9xBC, 6xCA, 6xDD

Kowloon Patrol Group: 3xCA, 1xFGS, 1xEXS (trade contact point with the Bjering)
Managua Patrol Group: 2xFGS, 6xCT, 1xEXS (suspected closed warp point in the system)
Sandhurst Patrol Group: 3xDD, 2xFGS, 6xES, 3xEXS (known contact point with the Alliance beyond this system)
Zephrain Patrol Group: 1xCT, 6xES, 3xEX (Known contact point with the Bjering)
Galloway’s Star Patrol Group: 4xEXS (Known contact point with the Alliance)
Centaurus Patrol Group: 13xEXS (Known contact point with the Alliance)

Epsilon Eridani Squadron: 3xSD, 7xCA, 2xCL, 6xDD, 1xFGS, 3xCT, 2xFT(supply)
Sigma Draconis Squadron: 3xBC, 1xDDC, 1xFGS, 5xEXS
Sligo Squadron: 12xBC, 3xCA, 6xDD, 8xES, 2xEX, 2xFT(Supply)
Sol Squadron: 6xSD, 3xCA, 3xCL, 3xDD, 1xFGS, 2xFT(supply)
Kirov Squadron (Border Defense): 6xBC, 3xCA, 3xDD, 4xFGS, 3xCT, 5xEXS
Redwing Squadron (Tlatelolco Watch): 3xBC, 1xCVE(proto), 12xDD, 3xFGS, 1xEXS
Union Assault Corps (Redwing System): 7xCA, 34xCL

Under Construction: 30xCVE(proto), 1xAF(599 HS), 1xCVS(proto)

The New Dawn Party has been on the defensive for the last few months, and has been losing popularity on several key planets.  This has largely been due to their mishandling of the situation with the Tomsk Union, and the ongoing issues with the Tlatelolco and the Tarek.  The situation on the Tlatelolco home planet in the Redwing system has become particularly volatile, and there has been much debate and acrimony in the Senate over the current government’s handling of the Tlatelolco and the ongoing colonization of their planet.  The controversy and extra scrutiny have forced the government to end the massive population transfers between Earth and the Tlatelolco home planet.  Unfortunately, they were forced to stop mostly because the transfers were absorbing so much of the government’s budget and were causing the overall colonization effort to falter, not because they were ethically wrong. 

The situation in the Redwing system is complex.  Redwing is just one jump from the Sligo system, and is, in essence, a dead-end system.  Although its warp chain does extend one jump further out, that warp line terminates in a starless nexus of no conceivable use to anyone.  After seizing control of the system, the Colonial Union government declared the system a red zone, off limits to civilian travel, due to the presence of the Tlatelolco and the establishment of a top-secret naval presence in the system.  The naval presence was built around the orbital shipyards seized from the Tlatelolco, and, in the documents turned over to the Senate as part of their oversight function, the Navy described its efforts in the system as a R&D construction area, where experimental hulls would be tested far from prying eyes.   Since its establishment, Naval Base Redwing has been seriously expanded, and it now includes seven shipyards, and has recently been named the home port of the Union Assault Corps.  The Colonial Union’s Navy is in nearly complete control of the system, however, the situation on Tlatelolco Prime, or New Terra, as the human colonists call it, is complex. 

The human presence on Tlatelolco Prime started as a technological assistance outpost, intended to help uplift the Tlatelolco to human technology levels.  With ascendancy of the New Dawn Party the technological assistance ended, and the role of the outpost changed to once of governance once the Colonial Union seized control of the planet.  Subsequent to that the Colonial Union began shipping in large numbers of refugees from the devastated areas of Earth, dramatically swelling the population of the human colony on the Tlatelolco home planet.  Most of these new colonists were fervent New Dawn Party members, originating as they did in the devastated areas of Earth, and as such were more than willing to take active roles in ‘civilizing’ the Tlatelolco.  Only the fact that the Tlatelolco were so even tempered, and that they realized their untenable strategic situation, has kept the peace on the planet as the number of humans on the planet swelled.  Fortunately, the Tlatelolco had allies in the Union Senate, among the New Conservative Party, and those allies have fought tirelessly to bring the plight of the Tlatelolco to the attention of the rest of the Union.  In spite of the Union Navy’s control of the system, the New Conservatives have consistently been able to get information out of the system, either from supporters in the colony itself, or from supporters in the Naval forces assigned to the system, and they have been increasingly effective over time in highlighting the questionable policies that the Union government has taken with the Tlatelolco.  Currently, the human population in the system has grown to one hundred and twenty-one million, while the Tlatelolco population is one hundred and seventy-one million.  This is a shocking level of growth on the home planet of another race, and has allowed the Conservatives to call into question the New Dawn Party’s motives as there are other, better, colony sites located closer to Earth, if their only motive was to move people off of Earth.  Although the New Dawn Party hasn’t openly admitted it, their goal of outnumbering the Tlatelolco on their own planet was as obvious as it was unseemly and the Conservative’s revelations over the last several months have gone a long way towards weakening the New Dawn Party ahead of the next elections. 

The Colonial Union’s relationships with its two subject races continues to be a point of contention within both the Senate and in the public forums.  While the Tlatelolco situation has caused the ruling party significant problems, so too have the Tarek been a continuing thorn in the side of the government.  The government’s claim of rebellion on the Tarek home world came under significant scrutiny over the following months, and the facts did not bear out the government’s claim, causing additional attention to be paid to the Tomsk incident, which put the administration on the defensive.  The facts revealed about the ongoing situation on Tarek Prime made no one happy.  While the situation did not rise to the level of a rebellion, or open combat, there have been nearly continuous losses to the occupying forces and it is completely obvious to everyone that the Tarek do not like humans and do not want them on their planet.  Unlike the Tlatelolco, though, the Tarek have few advocates within the Senate or the government.  As much as the New Conservatives had decried the government’s treatment of the two subject races, they have no real alternative to ongoing occupation, given the fact that the Tarek were hostile to humanity from first contact, and continue to be so to this day.  This means that while the New Conservative Party is working towards a more constructive relationship with the Tlatelolco as part of their campaign to retake the majority in the Senate, they have no real plan as regards to the Tarek. 

The Colonial Union has been focused on internal issues for the last ten months, and it cares little for what has been going on beyond its borders.  Aside from the establishment of trade with the D’Bringi Alliance, little has changed in its relationships with the other races. 

The Colonial Union recently reached HT-8 and has begun development of systems at that level, including fighters.  The Union has successfully prototyped an escort carrier class, although the prototype mounts holds in place of its fighter bays as the designs for those bays have yet to be finalized.  Construction of a large number of prototype CVE’s has begun, and these prototype hulls will have to be refitted once the requisite technology has been developed. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Bjering Alliance Update, Month 195

Bjering
Total Income (All Sources): 40,005 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 31,789 Mcr’s (66%)

Primary Fleet Deployments
Alpha Fleet (Gunnar System): 3xML, 3xBC, 11xCVS, 3xDD, 5xCT, 162xF0, 36xF1
Beta Fleet (Gunnar System): 4xCV,3xBC, 1xCVS, 1xCVE, 6xCT, 174xF0
Delta Fleet (Home System): 3xBC, 1xCVS, 3xDD, 1xCVE, 8xCT, 30xF1
Epsilon Fleet (Tomsk): 3xBC, 2xCVS, 2xCVE, 8xCT, 60xF0
Gamma Fleet (Gunnar System): 6xBC, 1xCV, 1xCVL, 1xCVE, 8xCT, 12xF0, 54xF1
Strategic Reserve (Home System): 10xFT(Supply)

Refits: 3xBS4, 3xBC, 132xSBMHAWK(am), 120xIDEW-E

The Bjering are HT-9, and have begun research into HT-10, but have not made much progress yet.  The upgrade of the fleet to HT-9 standards has been interrupted by the Bedu situation, and aside from a few refits of ships and bases in the home system, the program has been halted until the crisis is resolved.  The fleet’s carriers are still mostly loaded with F0 fighters, and most of the fleet’s ships have not been upgraded to the latest standards. 

The Bedu situation has led to the bulk of the fleet being redeployed to the Gunnar system, with the exception of the units assigned to the Tomsk capital, and a single fleet deployed to the home system for refits.  The latest results of the ongoing efforts to decipher the Mintek language have led Alpha Admiral to call for additional reinforcements to be sent to the Gunnar system.  Epsilon Fleet will complete its refits next month, at which time it will be redeployed to the Gunnar system, and the Tomsk Union has promised additional ships. 

Based on the information received from the Bedu refugees, it is apparent to Alpha Admiral and his advisors that the Mintek are untrustworthy, and that they will use any peaceful trade treaty to infiltrate Bjering space with their ‘missionaries’.  It is clear from both the D’Bringi and the Bedu that the Mintek did not launch an unprovoked attack in either case, but rather, only attacked after their missionaries were detected and efforts were made to expel them.  This gives Alpha Admiral some hope that the situation with the Mintek can be resolved peacefully, at least for now.  The Bedu refugees had no missionaries among them, and if the Bjering don’t allow any Mintek into their territory there will be no points of dispute.   While Alpha Admiral is ready to respond militarily to any Mintek threat, he would much rather resolve this situation peacefully. 

Tomsk Union
Total Income (All Sources): 43,921 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 12,113 MCr’s (28%)

Fleet Dispositions
Home Fleet (Tomsk): 3xCL, 1xCVE(proto), 13xDD, 10xES
Assistance Fleet (Gunnar): 6xBC, 3xDD, 2xFT(supply)
Contact Fleet (Port Louis): 3xBC, 6xCL, 6xDD
Fortress Moon (over the Capital): 6xOffensive PDC (196 HS)
Planetary Defenses (Capital): 7xPDC (anti-msl, 84 HS), 5,000 PCF (some based in the PDC’s and thus hidden)
Orbital Defenses (Capital): 2xArmed SS (6xSY each, 1,057 HS), 380xMF, 720xIDEW-E, 180xDSB-L, 300xIDEW-P
Warp Point Defenses (WP to Colonial Union): 12xBS2

Under Construction: 18xCVE(proto), 1xCVS(proto)

Note: The Union has not developed hangar bays yet, but they are under development and are expected to be available in the next month or two.  In the meantime, the Union has deployed a proto-type CVE hull with holds in place of its hangar bays.  Once the hangars are available, the existing prototype CVE’s will be refitted and loaded with fighters. 

The Union has just recently succeeded in signing a trade and military alliance with the Tolan Trade Federation.  This has freed the force sent to picket the border with the Tolani, and this force will now be transferred to the Bjering Gunnar system to reinforce the fleets there.  There has been some debate in the Union’s government over the idea of asking the Tolani for ships to help defend the Gunnar system, but the decision has been made to avoid making the request until and unless hostilities actually break out, because of the newness of their relationship. 

The Union has previously focused on fortifying their home system, as it is the lynchpin to the entire Union, and is the critical contact point with the Colonial Union.  With the continued peace with the Colonial Union, and the new threat in the Bjering Consolidate, the focus of the Union is now moving away from the Tomsk system and thus construction assets are being tasked with enlarging the navy, particularly in the area of carriers, now that the technology is nearly available. 

The Tomsk Union is facing a critical shortage of populations large enough to support colonization.  The Union currently boasts four planets large enough to support colonization without severely depleting themselves, but three of those populations are barely over the critical number and can only support very limited colonization efforts.  This situation is unlikely to change any time soon as the poor relations with the Colonial Union have cut off access to Earth and its wellspring of refugees.  Only the colony of Budapest can currently support colonization efforts, and their excess population will not hold up under current colonization efforts. 

Tolan Trade Federation
Total Income (All Sources): 9,022 MCr’s
Total Upkeep: 5,044 MCr’s (56%)

Fleet Dispositions
Home Fleet: 6xBC, 2xCAV, 5xCVS, 9xCL, 102xF0

The Tolani are a race of bipeds, short and squat, with two arms and two legs.  The average Tolani’s skin is chitinous and a coppery color, and they have spiky protrusions running down their backs.  Their heads are disturbingly insect-like, with large mandibles and large, glowing blue eyes.  For all of that, the Tolani were surprisingly reasonable and friendly. Based on information obtained after the signing of the treaty, the Tolani economy is approximately one quarter the size of the Union’s economy, and their fleet, while smaller, appears to be professional and well-trained.  The Tolani are at the same tech level as the Union, and discussions with the Bjering have begun about the possibility of a technology transfer to bring them up to the Consolidate’s standard. 

The Tolani government is a dictatorship that was imposed by a former military leader after the last corporate trade council, which had more or less governed the Tolani home planet, collapsed in corruption and recrimination.  To stabilize the planet, the new ruler of the Tolan Trade Federation has reimposed older forms harkening back to the days when the great nomadic clans ruled the planet, before the rise of the corporations.  This is an ongoing process, but the Tolani seem to be a relatively easygoing and accepting people, and the transition has been more or less orderly and painless. 

The Tolani rejoiced when the Tomsk Union made contact, and almost immediately began searching for warp points in their home system.  By the time the alliance was signed with the Tomsk Union the Tolani had found a single new warp point in their system.  Thinking that it might be the Tomsk Union’s entry point they had stayed away from it during the negotiations, however, after the signing of the treaty the Tomsk Union’s closed warp point was revealed and the Tolani have realized that they have a route out of their home system independent of the Tomsk Union.  Exploration of the new warp point will begin next month. 

Aldrean Contemplative Association
Income (All sources): 198 MCr’s

The Aldreans are bipedal humanoids with grey skin and broad, oval heads.  Humans with the Bjering contact teams commented that the Aldreans looked somewhat demonic and that their resting facial expression was alarming, however, the Aldreans are actually a quite mild and inoffensive people.  The Aldreans are at a preindustrial tech level, and have started R&D to raise their level with Bjering support, now that they have agreed to an alliance.  In exchange for the assistance, the Aldreans have agreed to allow the Bjering to begin colonizing the type T planets in their system, as they have no use for them.

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 195 Update

Total Income: 40,412 MCr’s
Occupation Income (Bedu): 19,601 (In abeyance until freight network issues resolved)
Total Upkeep: 40,101 MCr’s  99%

Current Fleet Deployments:
Home System Defense:
2nd Carrier Strike Group: 2xCV, 3xCVL, 1xCVS, 3xDD, 15xCVE, 354xF1, 5xApin, 2xFT4 (Supply ship)
Mintek Prime Defenses: 1xAF(267 HS), 2xSS(CV)(100 HS), 3xPDC(AM)(75xHS), 186xF1, 3xApin
Mintek Secundus Defenses: 2xSS(CV)(100 HS), 3xPDC(AM)(75xHS)
Mintek Tertius Defenses: none
Mintek System WP#1(Phyriseq System) Defenses: 1xAF (267 HS), 1xAF(223 HS), 9xBS5
Strategic Reserve: 1xBC, 2xFT(Pod Carrier), 8xFT4(Supply ship)

Bedu Attack Force
1st Assault Group: 9xSD, 3xCV, 2xCA, 3xDD, 126xF1
1st Carrier Strike Group: 1xCV, 6xCVL, 1xCVS, 3xDD, 5xCVE, 1xCT, 240xF1, 7xApin
Fast Attack Group: 15xBC, 13xDD, 3xCT

Ephesos System Fortifications (Alliance contact point)
1xAsteroid Fort (267 HS), 30xF0

Alowan Home system Defenses
6xDD, 3xBS5, 2xSSCV, 156 F1

Bedu System Defenses
4xBS5

Under Construction (Alowan Home System): 1sSSCV, 78xF1

The conquest of the Bedu provided a large initial influx of resources, however, the Bedu economy was crippled when their former ruler absconded with most of their freight network.  High level officials from the government are poised to negotiate for the return of the freighters with the Bjering, once their language is deciphered.  Until that happens the Bedu economy will remain unproductive, and the bulk of the Mintek fleet will have to remain in Bedu space to provide a credible backdrop for the negotiations. 

The resource shortage is critical.  Without the production of the Bedu state, the Mintek are barely breaking even.  If it were not for the resources received after the conquest of the Bedu the Mintek government would have had to begin mothballing ships to reduce expenses, but thanks to those resources their economy can continue limping along.  This makes it of critical importance for the Mintek to recover the freighters that the former Bedu leader stole when she absconded and abandoned her people.  The Curia is demanding war if the Bjering don’t comply, and while the Chancellor would like to avoid open conflict, he has reluctantly agreed that if the Bjering do not agree to return the freighters war may be their only option.  There is no way that the Mintek can afford to pay to replace the freighters, and the Bedu state, with its economy crippled by the absence of the freighters, cannot pay for anything.   

The incorporation of the Alowan home world into the Universal Union was a political triumph for the Chancellor, however, several critical items came to light during the incorporation.  First, the Alowan home system, which now provides approximately 25% of the Universal Union’s income, is critically underdefended.  There were only two destroyer squadrons and several bases captured from the old Alowan state to defend the system.  Although resources have been limited, and no ships are available to divert to the system, the Curia decided to invest some of the windfall from the Bedu conquest into improving the system’s defenses.  This decision was made before the extent of the damage to the Bedu economy was known, and new construction has been delayed until the situation can be resolved.  The second, and perhaps more important, thing that came to light was that the system’s warp point survey had never been completed.  The survey was started during the conquest of the Alowan, but the survey ships had been called away by a more critical need elsewhere and they never returned.  Having an unknown number of warp points in a system that contained 25% of the Mintek’s productivity was a significant security concern, and an exploration fleet was diverted to complete the survey of the system.  The fleet arrived in Month 194 and finished the nearly complete survey in the middle of Month 195.  The survey revealed one additional warp point located in the outer system.  The exploration group set out to probe the warp point, but when they entered sensor range of the warp point they detected a drive field located in the general area of the new warp point.  The drive field briefly appeared and then disappeared, as if jumping out through the warp point.  After conferring with his senior officers, the survey group commander decided to picket the warp point and sent messages back to the home system asking for instructions. 

The Mintek government has not yet decided what to do about this new situation in the Alowan system, but, until the fleet is freed from duty in the Bedu home system they are unlikely to authorize making contact with a new race. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 197, Chirq Cooperative Space, Grand Alliance
The Chirq were an Industrial-2 race on the verge of discovering drive-field tech, but still largely planet-bound, when they were discovered by the D’Bringi during their conquest phase approximately seventy-two months ago.  The Chirq were overrun by D’Bringi clan troops and, to be honest, didn’t put up much of a fight.  While they are fearsome in appearance, the Chirq are very un-militaristic and much prefer talking over fighting.  A human would have compared the Chirq to a centaur, as they had a large abdomen with four large legs, although that portion of their body appeared more like a spider than a traditional horse or centaur.  Their thorax was set forward on their abdomen, and had two large, strong arms for grasping and manipulating, and two additional smaller arms set below the main set of arms.  These smaller arms ended in vicious barbs, and appeared to be used mainly for spearing and impaling their food.  The Chirq head was a nightmare of multiple eyes and a large mouth that appeared quite capable of tearing apart live prey. 

The D’Bringi conquest of the Chirq was so easy that the D’Bringi came to regard them as a project.  They clearly needed help to survive in a dangerous universe, and the D’Bringi decided that they would provide that help in the form of toughening them up and teaching them about what an uncaring universe would do to people who would rather talk than defend themselves. 

The Chirq were released from direct control by the D’Bringi during the formation of the Alliance, and since then have labored to raise their tech, with Alliance assistance.  At the current time the Chirq have reached HT-3, and are developing systems at that level.  The Chirq have established small populations on three habitable planets in two systems, and are surveying for more.  The Chirq have built a small patrol fleet consisting of seven escorts, and have built one cruiser-sized base to defend their planet.  For their defense, the Chirq actually depend more on the Alliance than their own fleet, which they know to be miniscule on the scale of the Alliance or the other known powers.  Currently, the Alliance has a squadron of D’Bringi corvette-carriers assigned to the Chirq home system.  Because of the disappearance of some freighters in the past year, the Alliance ships are often out of the Chirq home system, patrolling Chirq territory. 

Some time ago, the Chirq found an alien race positioned three jumps from their home world.  The initial reports from the survey ship that found them were that the aliens were low tech and planet-bound.  The Chirq, being a cautious and inoffensive race, decided to withdraw from the alien’s system until their government decided what do to about the contact.  On the advice of their Alliance Coordinator, they agreed to defer contact until they were better established.  Since then, they have ignored the alien race, in the belief that they cannot pose a threat as they are planet-bound. 

The race the Chirq discovered was the Khozun Empire.  The Khozuni have ruled their home planet for several decades, being the last surviving nation state after a series of nuclear wars that united (or destroyed) their planet.  Their planet had actually achieved HT-1 prior to the wars, and although the Khozun can no longer support that level of technology, they know of the existence of drive field tech, and still possess some working artifacts.  Indeed, the ruling family of the Empire is maintained in its position by the control of high-tech artifacts, and its guard corps is lavishly equipped with technology that the Khozuni could no longer make for itself. 

The Khozun home planet is a type ST world, and the Khozuni are large and heavily muscled to withstand the greater gravity of their planet.  The Khozun have thick, leathery skin and are saurian, with a forward thrusting head with a large mouth with numerous sharp teeth, perched on top of a heavily muscled body with four arms and two legs. 

Because the Khozun still possessed high tech sensors on their planet, they detected the ship (Not the Chirq) that approached their planet eleven months ago.  That ship rapidly established communications with the Khozun, without ever revealing themselves or their identity.  The aliens told the Khozun that in exchange for some resources, they would turn over several medium shipyards and several high tech offensive and defensive systems, enough for the Khozun to build a fleet.  In addition, the aliens told the Khozun that there was a system nearby that held an alien race that was ripe for conquest. 

The Khozuni Emperor lusted for a return to the old days of Khozun glory, and quickly agreed to the terms the aliens insisted upon.  He didn’t trust the aliens, but felt that he didn’t need to.  Once launched on their war to conquer the universe, nothing would be able to stop the Khozun!  He was sure the aliens were up to something, but in the end, if they wanted to give the Khozun weapons, the Khozun would happily take them. 

For over a year the Khozun labored, building their fleet both in space and on the ground.  Several months ago, the aliens delivered several freighters full of ground-force weapons far in advance of those available to the Khozun, even the Imperial Guard.  Now, finally, the Conquest Fleet was ready.  After devoting the full resources of their planet to the effort, they had twenty corvette class raiders ready to go.  Thanks to their alien benefactors, they also had complete intelligence on the disposition of the Chirq defenses.  Once again, the help promised by their mysterious benefactors materialized, this time in the form of a group of transports that lifted the Khozuni Imperial Guard off of their home planet, something the Khozun didn’t have enough transport to accomplish.  The Khozuni troops were sealed in their ship board barracks, had no access to the crew spaces of the transports. 

The Conquest Fleet set out on the 1st, bound for the Chirq colony in the Modi system.  The colony had no defenses and fell immediately when Imperial Khozun transports landed and began disgorging Khozuni legions.  The Khozuni looted and pillaged to their hearts content, even as their fleet continued on, towards the Chirq home system.  On their way out of the Chirq colony system the Khozuni warships destroyed the sensor and comms buoys emplaced by the Alliance, for which they handily had the precise locations. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 197, Day 19, Chirq Home System
As expected, there was no opposition when the Khozuni force entered the Chirq Home system.  The Khozuni ships efficiently hunted down and killed the sensor and comms buoys at the warp point and then set out for the inner system. 

The Chirq home system was a binary system, with two habitable planets orbiting the yellow primary star and three orbiting the yellow secondary star.  Four of the habitable planets were type T, including the Chirq home world orbiting the primary star.  The Alliance had colonized the other four habitable planets while the Chirq were conquered, giving the system a respectable population, although none of the colonies had grown large enough yet to support colonies from their populations.  In spite of the plethora of habitable planets, only Chirq Prime was rated rich, while one of the other planets was rated normal and the other three were rated poor, making this somewhat of a backwater system in the Alliance.  That would change as the population grew, however, for now there were other areas that the Alliance was more focused on. 

The Khozuni fleet set out directly for the largest population in the system, Chirq Prime.  They had received dire warnings against touching any of the other planets, warnings they fully intended to ignore, but for now they were content to focus on their primary target, the Chirq home planet. 

Two days later the Khozuni force crossed an invisible line in space and became visible to Chirq Prime.  Unknown to them, the Khozuni fleet was on a course and arriving at a time consistent with expected freighters, and so no real notice was taken of the approaching contact, at least until it got close enough that the Chirq sensors could discern the number of ships in the approaching contact.  At twelve light minutes the Chirq sensors were able to see that the contact consisted of dozens of ships and alarms were sounded.  The Chirq fleet went to alert status, and the Chirq government sent pleas for help to the Alliance comm buoy in their system, and to the other colonies.  Unfortunately, the Alliance Navy Guard Squadron was elsewhere in the Chirq Territories, guarding freight networks and visiting their various colonies. 

For six hours they watched as the unknown fleet approached, ignoring all messages sent its way.  In desperation, the Chirq government dispatched CD’s to all possible locations that the Alliance Guard squadron could be at, summoning them to their defense.  They knew it wouldn’t change what was happening, but it might save them in the long run. 

Finally, the alien force approached to within eight light seconds of Chirq Prime and came to a halt.  The Chirq patrol force was vastly outnumbered and out-massed by the twenty corvettes they faced, even if their single defensive base was included.  The Chirq escorts hung back, clustered protectively around the base, as they waited for the aliens to act.  Finally, the alien corvettes charged ahead at full speed towards the defenders.  After a minute, the alien attackers were at four light seconds and the Chirq base opened fire with its eleven missile launchers, punching three missiles through a corvette’s weak defenses, knocking down its light shields and punching through its armor. 

The alien corvettes charged ahead, continuing their plunge towards the defenders.  The base reloaded its launchers and fired again as the alien corvettes reached two light minutes, and this time it launched its XO mounted missiles as well.  Out of the twenty-one missiles launched at a fresh corvette, eleven punched through its defenses and gutted the small ship.  In response, another corvette fired its laser and salvoed three standard missiles from its XO racks, scoring a hit with the laser and with a missile on the base’s shields.  The battle turned confusing after that, as Khozuni corvettes launched attacks at various Chirq ships, or the base, seemingly without much coordination or sense.  Neither of the sides in the battle had datalink tech, so the ships of both sides were fighting on their own, and the Khozuni seemingly had little understanding of their weaponry or how to coordinate with their fellow ships.  Still, they had a significant numerical advantage.  The end result of the exchange of fire was that every Chirq ES, all of which were detuning their engines to make themselves harder targets, suffered some damage, but not enough to impair their combat effectiveness.  The base, however, which was a big, immobile target, suffered heavy damage from the attacker’s lasers.  The attackers lost a corvette, with another heavily damaged. 

The alien attackers plunged to point blank range, while the Chirq escorts moved away to try to maneuver into the attacker’s blind spots.  The attacking corvettes were just as maneuverable as the defenders, though, so the Chirq attempt failed and they ended up facing each other at a quarter light second.  The damaged Chirq base fired first, firing its launchers in sprint mode.  The base’s five remaining launchers all scored hits, destroying the already damaged alien corvette.  The Chirq escorts managed to reduce a third attacking corvette to little more than a hulk, but the hail of point-blank laser fire from the aliens destroyed all of the Chirq escorts and reduced the base to impotence.  Thirty seconds later the base was gone and the alien transport fleet moved in to begin unloading its assault force on the planet. 

The Chirq, having little in the way of defenses, were completely overwhelmed almost from the start.  The Khozuni Imperial Guard were veteran units, and were used to the brutal and uncompromising warfare on their home planet.  The Chirq, on the other hand, had little more than police and paramilitary forces with which to defend themselves, and were not at home in combat under any but the most extreme circumstances.  The Chirq planetary government surrendered two days after the Khozuni troops landed. 

In response, the Khozuni troops rampaged across the planet, looting to their hearts content.  Many Chirq were killed during the rampage, and the Chirq planetary leaders appealed to the Khozuni Guard leaders for help, only to be laughed at.  Instead of respite, the Guard officers ordered the Chirq to begin gathering the tribute the Khozun Emperor required.  As the Chirq died in droves, appeals were beamed to the other planets in the system, but there was little they could do.  They had no ships, and while their militias had been fully mobilized, they were needed at home, to defend their own people.  The Chirq were on their own. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 198, Chirq Home system
The Khozuni treasure fleet left Chirq Prime on Day 1, headed out of the system.  It was escorted by the bulk of the Imperial Guard fleet, which left just three corvettes in orbit over Chirq Prime to watch over their ground forces.  The transports and freighters which had brought the landing force to the Chirq home world, was loaded with everything that wasn’t nailed down, so to speak, along with numerous Chirq engineers, scientists, and technicians.  The Khozuni were determined to jump start their Empire, and Chirq slaves would do just fine to educate their people to use the technology they had stolen or bought.  It would take the Khozuni ships five days to get to the warp point out of the system, and a total of twenty-three days to get home. 

Eight days later, the Khozuni force was deep within the Hymir system, en route for the warp point to the former Chirq colony world, beyond which lay their own system.  Suddenly, alarms began ringing on the fourteen corvettes that made up the escort group.  Small objects had been detected racing up behind the treasure fleet and the guard force.  The myopic Khozuni ships couldn’t see the incoming objects until they were five light seconds away, and they were closing fast.  They would be upon the Khozuni force in just seventy-five seconds.  The objects were too small to be ships, but were obviously a threat.  The Khozuni may have been new to the ships they had ‘built’, but they were experienced fighters and didn’t panic.  The guard force, fourteen corvettes strong, turned to meet the threat even as the green Khozuni crews raced to their stations. 

One minute after detecting the small attackers, ten of the Khozuni corvettes were at battle stations, while four struggled to get their crews to their stations.  There sensors had managed to determine the number of attackers, and the fact that forty-eight small craft of some sort were racing towards the Imperial Guard fleet was disconcerting, to say the least.  The small attackers were racing toward the Khozuni corvettes at the corvette’s maximum speed.  The Guard commander briefly considered trying to maintain the range from these strange threats, but dismissed the thought immediately.  His corvettes could maintain the range to the small objects, but the transports couldn’t.  And he couldn’t leave them behind.  So instead, the corvettes began modulating their engines to make themselves a harder target. 

The approaching objects slowed abruptly, creeping forward to two light seconds as the Khozuni commander yelled at the two corvette commanders whose ships were still not ready for combat.  Suddenly, the small attackers sped up again, racing to point blank range of the Khozuni fleet.  They split up to come at the Khozuni corvettes from different angles, obviously trying to get into their blind spots, and they partially succeeded.  The Khozuni corvettes were sluggish compared to the small attack ships, and turned slowly.  Only four corvettes managed to get their weapons to bear on the attackers, which had closed to a quarter of a light second before unleashing their weapons on the bigger corvettes.  The corvettes were perfect targets, having had to drop their engine modulations to try and keep the approaching attack craft out of their blind spots. 

The Khozuni commander watched in horror as the small attack craft, in groups of six, lined up and salvoed their weapons at his precious warships.  One by one his corvettes exploded under the alien weapons fire, but the commander’s dismay was short-lived as his corvette joined the other seven that had been swatted from space.  The alien attack craft curved away from the Khozuni corvettes, having apparently expended their weapons in their devastating attack.  They left behind one of their number, destroyed by Khozuni laser fire as it made its attack run. 

The Khozuni quickly rallied as the deputy Guard commander took over, but by then the alien attack craft were out of weapons range and moving faster than the remaining corvettes.  A minute and a half after they destroyed the heart of the Imperial Guard Fleet, the attack craft faded from Khozuni sensors.  The deputy commander spent his time rallying his troops and preparing them for the next attack, which he was sure was on its way.  He was right.  Five minutes after they disappeared, the forty-seven attack-craft reappeared on the corvette’s sensors.  This time the Khozuni were ready for them.  All six remaining corvettes were at combat stations, and this time they were ready.  They were out-matched, and out-gunned, but they were determined to take out as many of their attackers as they could.  The Khozuni never considered surrendering, and their attackers never offered quarter. 

The Khozuni corvette’s willingness to do battle seemed to catch the attack craft by surprise, and the charge of the Khozuni ships brought them into engagement range of their lasers far beyond the range at which the attack craft could respond.  Unfortunately, while the Khozuni were excellent warriors, they were only so-so spacecraft crews.  All of their laser fire missed the tiny attackers.  The two forces then plunged together in a furball that could have only one outcome.  Two small attack craft were destroyed by the basic point defense emplacements on the Khozuni corvettes, but when the attack craft pulled away, there were no corvettes left. 

The attack craft raced back to their invisible bases, rearmed, and then swooped on the life pods littering the battle area.  Their mass-driver cannon made short work of the pods, and then they turned to the transports sitting a short distance away.  By that point there were no Khozuni left to see what they did, except for the troops that had been loaded into the transports to guard the treasure they were taking back home.  And there was little that they could do about any of this. 

Day 17, Khozuni home system, warp point to Chirq colony system
The Khozuni had posted a single ship at the warp point to watch for the returning treasure fleet, and to monitor traffic into and out of their system.  The raider class corvette didn’t have long-range sensors, as the Khozuni didn’t have that tech yet, but it was located close enough to the warp point to see whoever came through.  The corvette at the warp point was one of two raiders that had been built since the main fleet had left for the Chirq system, with the other still shaking down in orbit over the home world. 

A CD appeared on the warp point, and the Khozuni warship stripped the messages.  The ship’s commander was relieved, because the messages indicated that their benefactors had scheduled another drop off of technology and equipment to help modernize the Khozuni nation.  The ship’s commander sent the reports off to the home world, then settled in to wait.  The benefactor’s freighters would be arriving at the warp point within hours of the returning treasure fleet, an interesting coincidence. 

Day 18, Khozuni home system, warp point to the Chirq colony system
Right on schedule, three freighters appeared on the warp point.  The Khozuni ship’s sensors were limited, but they were close enough to confirm that the light cruiser sized ships were indeed the freighters that they had been waiting for. 

The Khozuni corvette watched as the freighters moved away from the warp point and towards the inner system.  The freighter’s course would take them past the watching corvette at a range of two light seconds.  As the freighters approached, they began turning, curving towards the corvette, not directly towards it but in its general direction.  Seeing this deviation, the corvette’s commander opened a comms channel to the freighters, demanding an explanation.  A response came immediately, claiming navigation problems, and promising to put the captain onto the channel. 

Before that happened, the freighters made their closest approach.  At point seven-five light seconds, a tractor beam speared out from one of the freighters, latching onto the Khozuni corvette.  The tractor beam was followed immediately by an energy beam, which slammed through the hapless corvette’s shields, bypassed her armor and holds, and destroyed most of her engines.  The other two freighters each fired an energy beam as well, doing further damage to the corvette, leaving only the ship’s weapon and a few other systems intact.  The Khozuni crew were struggling to get the weapon activated, but the freighters continued their barrage, firing a weapon that projected a pinpoint energy beam that was precisely targeted on the corvette’s remaining systems.  The battle, such as it was, was over in thirty seconds.  The Khozuni corvette didn’t manage to get a message off.   The ‘freighters’ spent some time destroying the few life pods that had escaped from the doomed corvette as additional ships entered the system behind them.

Day 21, Khozuni Prime
The drive field contact approaching the planet had been detected a day and a half ago, but matched the projected course and time for the benefactor freighters and the returning fleet and treasure transports, which had joined the freighters en route to the home planet.  When the contact reached twelve light minutes from the home planet, the planetary sensors could determine the number of contacts, and the number was slightly off.  Several ships appeared to be missing.  A query was beamed to the approaching group requesting further information.  A reply came promptly, informing the HQ that several corvettes had been left in orbit of the Chirq colony planet, to help the garrison there put down trouble that had arisen since the main invasion force left for the Chirq home planet.  Guard Marshal Quintal promised a full report on his return.  The response included a rough inventory of the loot the treasure fleet was carrying, and that list distracted nearly everyone from the rest of the message.  After all, the fleet was carrying better than twenty times the Empire’s monthly production in its holds. 

It was only as the fleet approached the planet that things began to go wrong.  The Guard commander of the lone raider class corvette in orbit over Khozun Prime ordered his ship to meet the incoming fleet just short of the planet and escort them in, to honor the conquerors, but as the corvette approached the fleet it was met by a swarm of small attack craft.  The corvette was caught completely by surprise and destroyed before it could get a shot off, and then the attack craft moved on to the planet.  A group of six of the tiny craft peeled off and swarmed over the lone shipyard in orbit over the planet, destroying it in an orgy of nuclear fire.  Even as the shipyard burned, a second group of attackers salvoed their close attack missiles at the Imperial capital, obliterating it and all its inhabitants, including the Emperor, his family, the Imperial Guard, and most of the government.  And, coincidentally, almost all of the evidence of Khozuni cooperation with their ‘benefactors’. 

Month 198, Day 28, Alliance, Core Sector Capital
Although there was much debate on the subject, and great political battles, in the end the Core Sector Capital was located on Rehorish Prime for the simple reason that around 60% of the sector’s population was Rehorish, and for the even more simple reason that it was centrally located.  Being Sector Capital meant that the various Alliance systems in the sector reported to the Rehorish home planet, and that the various Alliance government agencies that operated within the Sector all reported to the Sector Council at Rehorish Prime. 

The Grand Alliance didn’t maintain sector navies.  Instead, each racial home world had a numbered fleet assigned to it, and this fleet was basically a training unit for ships constructed at that location.  From the home world fleets, these units would be deployed to the various locations throughout the Alliance where they might be needed.  The Alliance Navy did maintain administrative commands in each Sector, headquartered at the Sector Capital.  These commands collated information gathered within the Sector’s systems, acted as a clearinghouse for intelligence developed within the sector, and coordinated any actual operation that took place within the Sector.  In addition, the Sector Naval Command coordinated between the navy and the various colonies and population centers within the sector, communicating naval priorities, disseminating information, and handling requests for naval units from Alliance colonies.  Naval units posted within the sector were not under the command of this administrative unit, but were expected to copy the sector command center with operational reports. 

The Core Sector was the Alliance’s most populous and economically prosperous sector, and covered thirty-four systems with over two hundred and forty-four populations.  The Chirq home system and its growing territories were not officially part of the Core Sector, but they did border on it and the largest Chirq colony world was five jumps from Rehorish Prime.  The Core Sector HQ had the responsibility for oversight of the naval squadron assigned to the Chirq home system, and for intelligence developed from that race. 

The Core Sector Naval Intelligence Coordination Team (CSNICT) had been set up to look for anomalies within the sector that might rise to the level of a threat, and to sift through information being sent into the HQ.  Typically, most of their time was spent producing reports that collated facts and figures from across the Core Sector, reports that almost no one read any further than the synopsis.  Now, though, one of team’s analysists were pretty sure that something serious was going on, so she contacted her shift supervisor and flagged the information she had developed.  It seemed that for the last seven weeks or so all communications into and out of the Chirq home system had been answered by what appeared to be automated systems.  Information requests had been fulfilled, but all messages were obviously machine generated.  There were no notes from the intel people assigned to the squadron in the Chirq home system, no personal reports, nothing.  When she checked, the other analysts reported the same. 

The supervisor, sensing that something was wrong, contacted his counterpart in the civil intelligence side of the sector government, to see if they were seeing the same thing in their data feeds.  After checking, the response came back confirming that they hadn’t had any direct contact with their people for at least a month, perhaps longer.  The supervisor began sounding the alarm up the chain of command. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 199, Day 1, Rehorish Home System
The alert from Fleet Intelligence about the anomalous situation in the Chirq home system had risen to the attention of the 1st Fleet Command, based in the Rehorish Home System.  By now the fact that something was going on had been largely confirmed, as all requests for information were answered by what was clearly an automated system, promising that the requested information would be sent back, but otherwise not responding.  Worse, contact with the squadron of corvette-carriers guarding the Chirq territories had been lost as well, with all queries being answered by the same clearly automated system. 

In response, the 1st Fleet dispatched a small force to the Chirq territories to probe the system and determine the true state of affairs on the Chirq frontier.  The force was composed of nine ships, three light cruisers, three destroyers, and three corvette-carriers.  It was a two-month trip to the Chirq home system for the cruisers and destroyers, but the corvette-carriers could make the trip in six weeks at cruising speed, or three weeks at maximum speed, risking burnout.  By order of the fleet commander, the cruisers and destroyers proceeded at maximum cruising speed, but the corvette-carriers were authorized to risk burnout of their engines to get to the Chirq territories sooner. 

The scouts raced ahead, leaving the larger ships behind.  To reduce the likelihood of burnouts, they traveled at 75% of their maximum speed, which would get them to Chirq Prime by the end of the month.

Month 199, Day 5, Chirq Home System
The Khozuni Imperial Guard commander in charge of the three corvettes left behind to guard their ground forces on the Chirq home world was worried.  The freighter with their maintenance supplies hadn’t arrived from home world, and their supplies were low.  Soon, systems would start failing on his ships, and if that happened, they wouldn’t be able to support the forces on the ground.  Worse, there had been no replies to the message he had sent via CD’s when the freighter hadn’t arrived.  Therefore, he did the only thing he could do.  He ordered his officers to stuff his ship’s holds with as much loot as they could carry, and set out for home to discover what had happened to the supply ship.  The angry accusations of the ground force commander were left behind as the ships sped away from the Chirq home planet.  The Chirq ground forces were now on their own.  On Day 27 the Khozuni corvettes would arrive over their home world, only to discover that their fleet had been destroyed by mysterious attackers and that their Empire had fallen after their capital was destroyed by orbital bombardment.  Their home world was in the grip of a vicious civil war, and there were no supplies to be had. 

Month 199, Day 22.5, warp point from System 353(Alliance territory) to Sivor System (Chirq territory)
The three Alliance corvette scouts approached the warp point carefully, as they had done every warp point during their journey out.  Every one of those warp points had been clear and normal, with the comms and detection buoys in-place and operating. 

One corvette hung back, out of range of the warp point, while two carefully closed.  All three had their fighters out on patrol.  After ensuring space around the warp point was clear, they stripped the comms buoy on the Alliance side of the warp point.  Intel specialists went to work on the download while the corvettes kept a careful watch.  It only took the analysts a short time to determine that the automated messages hadn’t originated in this buoy, but rather had come from one of the systems down-chain, towards the Chirq Home system.  One of the scouts pulled in her fighters and jumped through to probe the far side of the warp point.  After a few minutes the scout returned – the far side was clear. 

The three scouts jumped through and began searching the area around the warp point.  They immediately determined that the buoy pair that was supposed to be at the warp point was missing.  Searching their deployment area revealed debris, and rather more than should have been there.  Some of the debris was warmer than the rest, indicating that it had likely been destroyed relatively recently.  All of the debris was collected for analysis before the scouts continued on towards the Chirq home system. 

Month 199, Day 27.5, Sivor system, warp point to Chirq Home
The corvettes were closing on the last warp point before reaching their destination.  Analysis of the debris found at the last warp point had revealed that there had been a buoy pair at their entrance warp point, but that they had self-destructed either shortly before the corvettes entered the system, or possibly just as the probe ship entered the system.  It was possible that the buoy pair had self-destructed after they detected the probe ship entering the system, while the ship’s sensors were still transit-addled.  In addition, there was a fairly large amount of debris that didn’t belong to the buoy-pair, and instead appeared to be the remnants of an indeterminant number of courier drones.   

Now, as they approached the warp point to the Chirq home system, the corvettes detected a small group of courier drones leaving the warp point, headed for the warp point to System-353.  The squadron commander ordered the drone’s messages be downloaded, and in short order they had good information about the situation in the Chirq Home System.  The buoys were from the three Rehorish and one D’Bringi colony in the system, all reporting an attack on Chirq Prime and requesting help. 

The scout squadron commander immediately dispatched several CD’s back along their course, to warn the rest of the probe group of the intelligence they had gathered, and then probed the warp point to Chirq Home.  The warp point proved to be clear, and the buoy pairs were missing on both sides, as expected.  The corvettes jumped through the warp point and spread out.  One of the corvettes headed for Chirq Prime, while one of the others headed for the secondary system, where three of the Alliance colonies resided, and the last corvette arced around the primary system, looking for anything that might be lurking on the outer edges of the system. 

By the end of the month the lead corvette had reached Chirq Prime, while the other two had also reached their destinations.  None of them detected any ships.  In spite of running the risk of burning out their engines, the elite crews of the corvettes managed to limit the damage to one engine on one of the corvettes, which finally gave out at the end of the month. 

The situation on the ground on Chirq Prime was confused.  No one responded to the Alliance corvette’s transmissions, but it was apparent that something was going on.  More CD’s were dispatched to the rest of the group, and intel teams were sent to the other Alliance colonies in the system to gather whatever data they had. 

Month 200, Day 5, Chirq Prime
Over the last several days it had become clear that Chirq Prime was occupied by a foreign force, and communications had been established with a group of Chirq military units that were holding out in a remote area, but there was little the carriers could do aside from send demands to the occupiers to surrender.  The rest of the battle group would arrive by the end of the month, but even with more ships in orbit there was little they could do to affect events on the group without resorting to planetary bombardment, and they would not do that to an Alliance ally, so they were stuck.  The commander of the corvette-carrier group had already sent a request to Rehorish Prime for a ground force, and had sent along their appreciation of the foreign forces on the planet, but it would be at least six weeks before troops could arrive. 

Month 201, Day 15, Chirq Prime
The Alliance detachment of three light cruisers and three destroyers, escorting a group of transports carrying a large number of ground troops, arrives in orbit over Chirq Prime.  The troops are almost completely composed of Rehorish soldiers, but the Torqual and Doraz states contributed the funding to pay for their transportation and equipment costs.  This was made necessary by the large-scale colonization efforts the Alliance has undertaken in the last few months, coupled with the massive investment in building up the defenses in the Zir Villiers system. 

The transports immediately begin landing troops in a remote location, where they secure a beachhead and begin building landing pads, defenses, and supply dumps.  Other transports follow, and soon the growing number of troops on the ground are able to begin forward patrols and localized offensive actions to disrupt the alien occupiers.  The occupiers fight aggressively and skillfully, but are outmatched by the veteran Rehorish troops.  It immediately becomes clear to the Rehorish ground force commander, General Arata, that the weapons used by the aliens who invaded the Chirq home world are extremely outdated, even backwards.  After a few days General Arata has enough troops on the ground, and enough confidence in his superiority over the aliens, now identified as the Khozun, to begin decisive operations to first disrupt, then overrun the occupiers.  Within a week the fighting is all but over.  The Khozun, although brave, have no effective counters to Rehorish air power and long-range weaponry, while the Rehorish have effective counters for almost all of the Khozuni arsenal.  By the end of the month the Khozuni occupation forces are forced to surrender and Chirq Prime is freed. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 197, Bedu Home System, Warp Point to Bjering Space
For several months the Mintek had been struggling to establish communications with the Bjering Consolidate.  The path forward had been slow.  If it weren’t for the assistance of former Consul Thrack and a team of former naval personnel he had put together to assist the Mintek in their contact efforts, the contact effort likely would have broken down several times.  The Mintek were having a hard time understanding the mindset of the Bjering, and it seemed that the Bjering were having an equally hard time understanding the Mintek.  Additionally, it was clear that the Bjering knew a fair amount about the Mintek, and were not well disposed towards what they already knew. 

By mid-month, partial communications between the two had been established.  It was enough for the Mintek to present, through their Bedu interpreters, a politely worded demand for the return of the Bedu transports ‘stolen’ by former Consul Virena.  Minister Turval made it clear to former Consul Thrack, that if the Bjering refused the Mintek would be forced to attack the Bjering to regain the means to make the Bedu economy work again.  The transports and freighters were of prime importance.  All other things could be negotiated, but the Bedu CFN must be restored. 

The Bjering had actually been prepared for this demand.  They had been shocked that Virena had managed to get that much of the Bedu state’s shipping out of their home system before the Mintek took control, and Alpha Admiral’s economic advisors had been clear, the Bedu economy would be in shambles until the transports were returned.  As tempting as it was to deprive the Mintek of the fruits of their conquest, keeping the transports would be giving the Mintek a credible cause for war against the Bjering, something Alpha Admiral wanted to avoid if at all possible.  And, the former Bedu transports weren’t actually boosting the Bjering economy all that much, so it wouldn’t be that much of a hardship to return them and perhaps gain some goodwill from the Mintek.  After some consideration, Alpha Admiral agreed to return the Bedu transports by the end of the month. 

Minister Turval was overjoyed.  The return of the transports was quite the coup, and, perhaps more importantly, it indicated that the Bjering were willing to be reasonable.  Given the fact that the Bedu refugees had almost certainly tried to poison the Bjering against the Mintek, the fact that they could now be reasonable spoke well for them. 

Month 199, Mintek controlled Territory, Bedu Home System
The Mintek achieve full communications with the Bjering and immediately begin pressing for a trade treaty.  The Mintek are earnest and eager, apparently overjoyed to meet new friends.  The Bjering, having received information from the Alliance and the Bedu refugees, marvel at the apparent disconnect between what the Mintek seem to believe they are doing, and what would likely happen if they allow the Mintek into their systems through any sort of agreement.  Alpha Admiral is unsure of how to proceed.  It is clear that they cannot allow the Mintek into their territory at all, in spite of their apparent honesty and eagerness.  However, Alpha Admiral is concerned that flatly turning the Mintek down will provoke them. 

At this point, the Bjering have assembled the bulk of their fleet in the Gunnar system, which is their contact point with Mintek territory.  In addition, a Tomsk Union fleet had arrived to assist should the Mintek invade.

Gunnar System
Alpha Fleet: 3xML, 3xBC, 1xCV, 4xCVS, 3xDD, 5xCT, 72xF0, 36xF1
Beta Fleet: 3xCV, 3xBC, 1xCVL, 4xCVS, 1xCVE, 6xCT, 156xF0, 54xF1
Delta Fleet: 1xCV, 3xBC, 5xCVS, 3xDD, 1xCVE, 8xCT, 108xF0, 30xF1

Tomsk Fleet of Assistance:
9xBC, 6xCL, 9xDD, 2xSupply Ship

In addition to the assembled fleets, the Consolidate’s first run of SBM pods had been deployed to the system to help guard the warp point, along with some automated weapons.  Finally, the next system back towards the Consolidate’s inner systems was the Ymir fortress system, which was guarded by fortresses and a minefield. 

In the end, after consulting with the other admirals and the Tomsk representative, Alpha Admiral decided that sooner or later he was going to have to shut down negotiations with the Mintek.  He couldn’t keep the fleet in the Gunnar system forever, therefore, if he was going to have to risk war with the Mintek when he shut down all contact with them, it might as well be now, with the fleet assembled and ready.  Therefore, on the 20th, Alpha Admiral informed the Mintek delegation that negotiations would be ending in five days, and that from then on the Bjering wished to have no contact with the Mintek, aside from limited communications via courier drones.  After sending this message Alpha Admiral brought his fleet to readiness for combat. 

Alpha Admiral needn’t have worried.  The Mintek Union’s primary concern at this time was the return of the freighters and transports, which had been accomplished last month.  They were saddened that the Bjering rejected enlightenment, but sincerely believed that forcing their beliefs on the Bjering was wrong.  Therefore, when Alpha Admiral rejected further negotiations and limited future contact to CD’s through the Bedu Home-Gunnar warp point, Minister Turval sadly agreed.  Unknown to the Bjering, the Mintek Fleet was needed elsewhere too, and the Mintek economy, which had been staggering, needed time to recover.  Both sides heaved a sigh of relief and ended negotiations.  Four days later the Bjering departed the Bedu home system, and contact was broken. 

Month 199, Mintek Occupied Bedu Prime
Life under Mintek occupation hadn’t really changed much for most Bedu.  The biggest change for many was the constant sense of uncertainty that hung over them, not because of anything the Mintek had done, but just because of the fear of change.  For some, of course, there had been very large changes in their lives. 

In the upper reaches of Bedu society, many people had simply disappeared.  Some had fled with the Consul’s daughter before the fall.  Most had disappeared since the surrender.  The heads of government agencies, corporations, cities, states, and most of the higher-level elected officials had been taken over the week following the occupation of Bedu Prime.  This had caused widespread fear, but that had settled down when the Mintek announced that those taken were being sent to re-education camps to learn Mintek ways and beliefs, to better help their nation adjust to the reality of joining the Mintek Union.  Mostly the fear evaporated when it became clear that the only people that were being taken were in the upper classes.  Periodically, over the next several months, the Mintek would parade one of these individuals before the press on Bedu Prime, and release information that they had discovered of his crimes, usually corruption of some sort.  They would then be given over to Bedu custody, along with the evidence, for trial under Bedu laws.  The positions of those taken, if critical to the day to day running of Bedu society, were filled by Mintek, or by their allies the Alowan.  For the most part the rich and powerful of Bedu society flocked to the Mintek cause.  This was expected by the Mintek, as they had much experience in converting societies, and the rich and powerful always were most concerned with maintaining their wealth and power, and would, in many cases, do whatever it took to hold on to their positions.  The Mintek knew that their professed conversions were false, but this was all part of the Mintek plan. 

For the lower class, things rapidly changed.  The Mintek set up missions across the planet, initially staffed by Mintek and Alowan personnel that had been specially trained to assist the Bedu.  Food, shelter, remedial care, and education were freely given to those that would accept it.  After a short period of time, the Mintek and Alowan staff began to be supplemented by Bedu who had accepted the Mintek beliefs and were willing to help.  In the depressed areas where these missions were set up, the Mintek staff began organizing social events where everyone was welcomed.  These events always included short classes on the Mintek beliefs, but they were short and relatively painless.  Mintek control of Bedu society allowed them to cut through red tape in ways that no one had been able to do in the past.  Slums were rapidly cleared by work teams made of up mixed Bedu and Mintek crews, and the poor and dispossessed of Bedu society were given a purpose and support to go along with it.  These changes were slow at first, but rapidly gained steam as more and more Bedu realized the Mintek really believed what they preached. 

For the middle class little changed.  They still went to their jobs and paid their taxes.  The Mintek, having had experience with converting civilization, knew that the middle class would tend to be the most conservative and resistant to change.  And so, they were reassured by their news sources that nothing the Mintek were doing would threaten their families, or their jobs, and slowly, over the months, were introduced to the principles of Mintek belief.  First among those principles was the sacredness of life, and the near absolute mandate to preserve life.  The only thing that could rival that mandate was the other, absolute, mandate that the Mintek spread their beliefs to all sentient races.  Only this second mandate could cause the Mintek to contemplate killing another sentient being.  Consigning some to eternal darkness was a horror, but if it was necessary to do so to bring many more to the light, then the Mintek were driven to fight and perhaps kill out of necessity.  Many within Bedu society found this belief reassuring, as it was always comforting to know that your conquerors valued your life as they valued their own. 

Slowly, but surely, the Bedu were being converted to Mintek beliefs.

[Kurt (OP)]

Okay, just a little update on the behind-the-scenes stuff here at Cold War.

Currently the campaign has reached month 203, which is unprecedented for me personally, in terms of published large-scale starfire campaigns.  Neither the Phoenix Campaign or the Terran Campaign went on this long, and it is entirely because I've limited the income, population growth rates, and build rates for my campaign. Having said that, here is a snapshot of the state of the campaign:

Active Races: 23
Total Inhabited Systems: 220
Highest Income: 146,502 MCr's (Alliance)
Total # of Ships: 3,573
Total Hull Spaces: 157,000 (approximate)
Discovered Systems: 945

Now, on a different subject.  The campaign has grown to the point that my poor note-keeping is threatening the continuity and story-telling.  I quite often feel like I've lost track of characters or story threads, and it is entirely because I've focused on writing and moving forward, not documenting what has happened in a useable format, and world-building so that my characters and races have a consistent universe to act within.  Therefore, I am going to take a bit of a break to go through and organize what I have so that moving forward I'll know who my characters are, where they are at, and what the continuing story lines are.  It should just be a couple of weeks or so.  Hopefully. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 200, Mintek Union Territory, Gobabis System
The Gobabis system was located adjacent to the Mintek home system.  It was not a very interesting system, as it had a small, dim, red star primary, and had no habitable planets.  It was, however, fairly important to the Mintek.  Firstly, as noted above, it was adjacent to their home system, and so considered a part of the defense zone around their home system.  Secondly, one of its warp points connected to the Ephesos system, which had a warp point that led to the Alliance.  That warp point was closed on the Alliance side, and they had never discovered its location, even after the raid conducted by the Mintek navy into their Kure system.  Fortifications had been built in the Ephesos system, against the possibility that the Alliance had discovered, or might discover in the future, the location of the warp point in the Kure system, but so far there had been no sign of that.  Because the Gobabis system was the supply route for the fortifications in the Ephesos system, and so close to the Mintek home system, they had deployed a system wide sensor network, along with communications buoys at all of the warp points, to watch for intruders. 

That network paid for itself when it detected a ship appearing close to the primary star.  There was a short pause, and then additional ships entered the system and began spreading out across the system in what appeared to be a standard probe pattern.  After a short time, the ships spread out across the system in what was obviously a survey effort. 

Alerts were sent back to the Mintek home world, and they responded quickly.  The 2nd Carrier Strike Group, bolstered by carriers sent back from the 1st Carrier Strike Group for repairs or the replacement of their fighters, was dispatched from Mintek Prime, where it had been standing guard duty against the reappearance of the alien ship that had probed their home system from a close warp point some time ago.  The strike group was composed of two carriers, four light carriers, a strike carrier, fifteen escort carriers, three escort destroyers, and three hundred and fifty-four first generation fighters. 

Eight days later, as the 2nd Carrier Strike Group moved into the Gobabis system, they encountered one of the alien ships.  The Mintek force immediately began beaming contact messages to the unknown ship, and it replied.  Much to their relief, the Mintek could see that this appeared to a new race, not one of their enemies.  The new aliens were furred bipeds, with protruding noses.  Soon thereafter, the alien ships in the system were withdrawing towards their entry point, all except the one that was in contact with the 2nd Carrier Strike Group.  Both sides settled down to the hard work of establishing contact.   

Alien Survey fleet: 3xCVE, 14xDD (3xDD have LR scanners)

Month 202, Gobabis System, Mintek Universal Union
There is a breakthrough in communications early in the month, and full communications are established.  The Mintek are overjoyed and immediately offer a trade and military agreement.  The Shiba, as the new race calls themselves, politely refuse, countering with an offer of cultural exchange that would allow the two sides to get to know each other more before committing to an alliance.  The Mintek immediately accept, and a cultural mission is put together on Mintek Prime.  Each race agrees to send a group of representatives to the other sides nearest colony, to learn about how the other lives. 

The Shiba are a small race, averaging just over a meter in height, bipedal and covered in fur.  A human would say that they were vaguely foxlike in appearance.   Every Shiba encountered by the Mintek so far has a technological implant of some sort in the side of their head.  The Shiba, when asked, explained that this is an assistive implant enabling the individual to download documents to long term memory, communicate over short distances, and integrate with the local area networks that the Shiba set up everywhere they go.  The Mintek find this technology extremely interesting, and their cultural mission plans on exploring the possibility of trade relating to this technology as one of the first things they do. 

The Shiba state is called the Ascendancy, and from what little has been communicated to date the Mintek have found some comforting similarities to their own nation.     

[Kurt (OP)]

The Tomsk Union discovered the Tolani in month 187, and contacted them in Month 188.  The Tolani were, to put it lightly, physically hideous.  They were uniformly a rusty, coppery color, bipedal, and vaguely humanoid, but with armored skin with numerous protrusions on the arms and along the back.  Their eyes were deep set and a disquietingly blue color that almost appeared to glow.  Their faces were a horror of serrated pincers over a gaping maw with a long, twisting tongue that protruded in random twisting patterns.  For all of that the Tolani proved to be friendly and agreed to sign a trade and military treaty with the Tolani Trade Federation in Month 194. 

Month 196, Tolan Trade Federation
A Tolani survey ship jumps through the newly discovered warp point in their home system.  This warp point was discovered by means of their survey efforts, and is the only warp point in their system aside from the one leading to the Tomsk Union.  A Tolani survey cruiser jumps through the warp point and materializes in a binary orange/orange system.  The system contains twelve planets of various types and two asteroid belts.  Excitingly, one of the secondary star’s planets is a habitable type T planet, perfect for Tolani habitation.  The survey cruiser sends CD’s back to its companions, and soon all three Tolani survey cruisers are in the system.   The survey cruiser’s entry point into the system is deep within the inner system of the primary star, just twelve light minutes from the orange star at the center of the system.  One cruiser sets out to probe the primary stars planets, although they can already tell there are no major settlements on any of the non-habitable worlds in the system.  A second cruiser sets out for the secondary companion star, to probe that star’s planets.  The third cruiser remains on station, guarding the warp point.  The secondary star is 349 light minutes away, so it will take some time for the probe ship to get there and return. 

Five days later the Tolani ship halts and sends a message back to its companions.  They have detected a small population on the habitable world.  This is both a disappointment, as they had hoped that the world would be the Federation’s first out-system colony, and an exciting discovery, as this is the first Tolani contact with any race outside of the Bjering Alliance.  A short observation period is sufficient to determine that the EM emissions of the colony match a race in the contact database provided to the Tolani by the Tomsk Union.  The emissions match those of the Alliance, a group of races the Tomsk Union and their Bjering allies have had contact with in the past.  A message is relayed back to the home world, reporting the discovery, and a response is sent back ordering the cruiser to establish contact. 

The Tolani ship moves within detection range of the colony and begins sending out contact messages.  Soon thereafter the colony responds and mutual efforts to decipher their respective languages are underway. 

Month 197, Tolani Trade Federation
The Tolani shared the contact information relating to the newly discovered race with the Tomsk Union, and they immediately recognized the aliens as the Rehorish, an Alliance race.  The Tomsk Union gives the Tolani all of the information they have on the Alliance, and, at the request of the Tolani Trade Federation’s government, agrees to assist their contact efforts. 

Month 198, Tolani Trade Federation
Contact teams from the Tomsk Union have arrived at the Tolani contact point with the Alliance to assist with the contact process.  With their assistance the Tolani achieve partial communications with the Alliance. 

In addition to the assistance with the Alliance contact efforts, the Tolani send a delegation to the Tomsk Union to request access to some of their systems, and perhaps a portion of territory that would allow them access to open, unexplored, warp points.  Their system has proven to have only two warp points, one to the Tomsk Union and the other to the Alliance, leaving the Tolani nowhere to expand. 

The Tomsk Union responds quickly.  Now that the Tolani are in contact with the Alliance, it is entirely possible that once they establish a relationship with them, the Alliance will be willing to give them access to their territory, drawing the Tolani into to their sphere, away from the Tomsk-Bjering alliance.  Just four jumps from the Tolani system is an uninhabited system that Tomsk Union exploration ships just finished surveying.  They have found no less than nine open, unexplored, warp points.  The Tomsk Union, which has seen its colonization efforts drop off significantly over the last year due to the lack of population centers capable of supporting colonization, finds the decision easy to make.  The Tolani are granted access to the intervening systems, and sole control of the nexus in the St. Johns system. 

Month 199, Tolani Trade Federation
Tolani negotiators, working through the Tomsk Union, have established a trade and military alliance with the Bedu Empire (refugees).  This development overjoys the Tomsk Union, which sees this as further cementing the Tolani into their sphere of influence. 

In addition, the Tolani successfully establish communications with the Alliance, who immediately offer them a trade and military treaty.  On the advice of the Tomsk negotiators, the Tolani counter-offer a simple trade treaty, which the Alliance accepts.