Aurora 4x
C# Fiction => Stormtrooper's Fiction => Topic started by: Stormtrooper on January 07, 2021, 07:52:53 PM
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DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE INTRO TOO SERIOUSLY ;)
COVID-19 PANDEMIC TIMELINE
December 2019
First sightings of coughing, restless people loitering around the streets of Wuhan, China.
January 2020
Local police forces receive more and more reports of aggressive patients sick with some kind of pneumonia.
Government announces Wuhan is to be quarantined.
Some people need to be welded into their apartments as their aggressiveness rises and they break into the streets to literally attack everyone on sight.
February 2020
Chinese government approves use of military force to pacify the most aggressive infected.
Novel coronavirus cases spotted in Asia, Europe, Middle East and USA, many patients show aggressive, antisocial behaviours.
16th February, a Chinese soldier bled out after receiving severe bite wounds during violence outbreak in local hospital.
Consipracy theories about 5G and aliens grow in popularity.
China introduces "shoot on sight" protocols when dealing with infected.
24th February, soldiers shot a journalist to death after he tried to leak info about the massacres to the world.
USA: COVID is a hoax.
March 2020
Sightings of large gatherings of aggressive, sick crowds.
Europe enters quarantine.
Small Chinese village bombed with napalm, reasons and attackers remain unknown to the public.
Switzerland evacuates citizens into the nuclear shelters.
Patrols of Swiss army seen sweeping the streets of desolated cities.
Rumours about armies of the world to shoot infected on sight.
USA president receives a report on the pioneer studies of effects caused by novel coronavirus and claims it a hoax.
Report leaks into the public (official news say hackers hijacked president's twitter account), seeding mass panic.
Novel coronavirus, aside from pneumonia- and flu-like symptoms causes insomnia, paranoia, a spike in agression and need for compulsive biting and neverending hunger, symptoms appear roughly after two weeks.
Zombie apocalypse is officially inaugurated as US citizens stockpile guns.
Panic store looting begins, toilet paper shortages.
Armed groups seen in Texas, gunning down the infected they encounter.
USA: COVID is a hoax.
Citizens of Europe stay at home in fear of the zombies.
China claims they dealt with COVID, gets praised by WHO, several cities recover after severe napalm bombardments.
People in US buy even more guns.
April-May 2020
USA: COVID is a hoax.
US citizens seen giving zombies hugs and getting bitten volountairly to prove that coronavirus is a hoax.
Swiss army successfully purges the country from zombies, citizens slowly emerge out of the bunkers.
Ammo shortages across the entire US.
Rumours about microchips in the awaited vaccine and mind-controlling devices in face masks.
Still no toilet paper.
June 2020
European armies decimate zombie populations.
Survivors step out of their shelters.
Coughing is banned under capital penalty carried out immediately by the nearest COVID response team.
Despite way less guns around, Europe holds on much better than US. Maybe because less people in Europe claim that COVID is a hoax than in US.
USA: COVID is a hoax.
Riots break out, mass panic looting ensues.
Zombie hordes rapidly decimate American population in the biggest cities, just like in zombie movies.
Toilet paper becomes an official currency of the post-apocalyptic world.
Strictly organized societies of South Korea or Japan deal with zombies efficiently.
First societies of the post-apocalyptic Europe emerge, expanding, reclaiming, trading and fighting. And killing zombies.
July-August 2020
Europe continues to recover, although more and more news about zombie sightings appear.
USA: COVID is a hoax.
Independent psychologists' team claims to have found the potential to manipulate with the wearer's mind hidden within the structure of a face mask.
Several US cities bombed with napalm in order to stop the zombie threat.
China bombs a few small towns, officials deny any new rise of COVID cases.
September-November 2020
USA goes silent, the last reports claiming up to 40% of the population becoming zombified, the country falls into total anarchy, experts estimate it's a matter of weeks before 99% of the population gets either zombified or killed in brutal fights over the last few toilet paper rolls.
Europe recognizes the second wave way too late and most of the surviving population falls to the zombies, established societies get torn apart as the world ends for the second time.
Switzerland government evacuates its citizens into the bunkers once again, military reinforces chokepoints in the Alps to easily fend off infected.
Supposed alien sightings increasing.
December 2020
COVID vaccine arrives at last.
Most of the zombies starve to death due to lack of prey.
Immune survivors finish off the rest.
During 2020 the population got decimated to roughly half a billion, the Old World and its economy and politics are permanently gone.
18th December, the World Government reveals itself officially at last as the microchip bundled with the vaccine subtly mind-controls the remaining population. Half a bilion human survivors don't oppose.
5G allows very effective and reliable communication across the entire solar system. Human eyes turn into the night skies.
Microchips keep the subtle mind-control activated, allowing the survivors of the COVID-19 pandemic to cooperate. Space-X brings back the topic of Mars conquest.
30th December, Swiss astrophysicists discovers the long-debated 9th planet of the Solar System, orbiting the Sun at the distance far greater than any other known celestial bodies within the Solar System. Name "Nibiru" sticks as a form of legacy of some conspiracy theories from the first two decades of XXI century.
DAWN OF SPACE ERA
January 2021
Scientists across the globe discover an array of new metal and plastic alloys like never before - much lighter yet much sturdier than conventional alloys. Industrial productions skyrocketes.
2020s
New alloys find applications literally everywhere, laying theoretical foundations for next generation of supercomputers and electronics, nanobots capable, at least in theory, of even modifying and enchancing genetics, cybernetics implants, ultra light yet tough vehicles which can be anything ranging from a small car to a huge spaceship, new propulsion technologies and energetic weapons.
Global police forces appear, wielding pioneer laser weapons and stun bats.
Alongside the microchip, first cybernetics implants make it to the market. Dawn of the cyberpunk begins.
Engineering team from Australia designs super sensitive geological sensors capable of detecting valuable mineral deposits of a celestial body directly from the orbit.
26th March 2026 Space-X launches first manned mission to Mars. Space suits and landers made out of the new alloys allow landing on Venus and entering the upper atmosphere of gas giants safely as well.
Nuclear propulsion technology finally arrives in first prototypes.
A spaceship capable of reaching all the celestial bodies within Solar System up to Pluto is designed, hosting its crew for up to a year-long stay in deep space. It's mission: find potential targets for mining and colonisation.
Scorpion class Geological Survey Vessel 3,178 tons 50 Crew 257.3 BP TCS 64 TH 150 EM 0
2360 km/s Armour 1-19 Shields 0-0 HTK 19 Sensors 0/0/0/1 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.58 Years MSP 50 AFR 81% IFR 1.1% 1YR 23 5YR 346 Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Nuclear Thermal Engine EP50.00 (3) Power 150 Fuel Use 100% Signature 50 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 14.2 billion km (69 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The mission turns out to be a huge success, the ship is insanely fast, like no human vessel was before.
4th February 2028 due to hidden fuel tank leakage Scorpion 001 gets stranded drifting through deep space beyond Saturn's orbit. The crew successfully managed to deccelerate enough for them to not fly away from the Solar System at the speed of 2360km/s, burning last reserves in the process. Desperate race with time begins.
A concept of a new ship is born, designed specifically to deliver fuel to help any crew unfortunate enough to get standed out there in the enternal darkness.
Zephyr class Tanker 6,852 tons 100 Crew 316.1 BP TCS 137 TH 350 EM 0
2554 km/s Armour 1-32 Shields 0-0 HTK 46 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.41 Years MSP 28 AFR 376% IFR 5.2% 1YR 69 5YR 1,033 Max Repair 25 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
Nuclear Thermal Engine EP50.00 (7) Power 350 Fuel Use 100% Signature 50 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 26.3 billion km (119 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 20 hours
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
17th September 2028, Scorpion 001 crew reports severe engine failure, engineers manage to repair it enough so it can still fly without irradiating everybody on board.
2nd October 2028, Scorpion 001 crew reports food running low, tight rationing begins. A small scratch appears on the window in one of the crew rooms, the room gets sealed off immediately and all the air gets vented out of it.
15th October 2028, Zephyr 001 finishes construction and is ready for the rescue mission.
20th October 2028, Zephyr 001 successfully delivers fuel, both ships return to Earth, Scorpion 001 is repaired and overhauled. All crewmembers survived and didn't suffer from any long-term health problems.
After the successful rescue the World Government establishes an honourable organisation called Fuel Rats incorporating all the ships, crews and everyone involved in fuel-related deep space rescue operations.
Scientists begin to think about setting up a mining colony on the Moon.
Forgotten questions and hypothesis about terraforming of Mars resurface again.
Industry on Earth blossoms as the new alloys find wider and wider applications, the entire economy becomes dependent on it.
2030s
Infrastructures for keeping humans alive on the Moon permanently are designed and prototyped.
Construction of an orbital shipyard and spaceport begins.
1st April 2034 first human being successfully enters and exits cryostasis sleep. The test gets redone the next day to dement gossips that it was a joke pulled out by some bored Winterspell Inc scientist.
Improvements to the nuclear engines are being made, new designs appear.
First cargo ship gets designed, it's mission - deliver the necessary installments and facilities to the Moon.
Bee class Cargo Ship 21,236 tons 94 Crew 294.4 BP TCS 425 TH 313 EM 0
735 km/s Armour 1-68 Shields 0-0 HTK 40 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 8 Max Repair 20 MSP
Cargo 10,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine EP62.5 (5) Power 312.5 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 62.5 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 18.9 billion km (298 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
World Government announces contest for civilian corporations for the improved design.
Private sector begins to catch up to the governmental efforts of conquering the space.
First implants slowing down ageing appear.
Medicine blossoms thanks to synthetic organ farms and blood cells replicators.
First ship to transfer civilian passengers and security forces appear, experimental use of cryogenic chambers to cut the costs on life support and allow easier colonisation of Mars in the future.
Arden class Colony Ship 18,557 tons 101 Crew 430.6 BP TCS 371 TH 313 EM 0
842 km/s Armour 1-62 Shields 0-0 HTK 49 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 14 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity 6,100 tons Cryogenic Berths 10,000
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine EP62.5 (5) Power 312.5 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 62.5 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 21.7 billion km (298 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
SOLAR SYSTEM CONQUEST
15th November 2039, first colonists land on the Moon. It's a small step for the man, but one giant step for the mankind.
Mining operations begin, colony infrastructure expands.
Fleet of Bees is used to transfer smelted alloys from Moon to the Earth. Private corporations help keep the colony resupplied.
2040s
Millions of carefully selected colonists arrive on the Moon.
21th July, 2045, a small outpost is established on Mars. Dreams come true for many. Extensive research of the terraforming processes begins.
Cargo fleets can't keep up with sending minerals from Mars and Moons and keeping both colonies well-sustained. A group of African Engineers propose a seemingly insane solution - use the latest breakthroughs in the nuclear pulse technology to send the packets of alloys through a carefully-designed devices called Mass Drivers placed on orbit. The usage assumes calculating the speed vector needed for the alloys to arrive at desired destination, propelling them and having similar devices surrounding the target body, responsible for catching the packets and deccelerating them. Over the fear of accidential "asteroid strikes" which could happen due to Mass Driver failures sent alloys are divided into the packets small and fast enough to completely burn in the target body's atmosphere should the capturing process fail.
Mass Drivers get updated with experimental laser cannons just to have another layer of security should the capture fail.
2nd August 2047, first packet of alloys is sent from the Moon, Earth's array of Mass Drives successfully intercepts the package. Civilian space shipping lines raise concerns over Mass Drivers ruining their buisnesses.
First experminetal complexes for sucking out and pumping in gases on a planetary scale are developed in North America, seeding foundation for terraforming technology.
A dozen milions colonists inhabit the Red Planet.
21th December 2049, terraformation of Mars officially begins. First goal: remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, leaving only small traces of it for the future plant life to blossom.
Two new cargo ships appear:
Pelican class Cargo Ship 69,904 tons 150 Crew 626.2 BP TCS 1,398 TH 800 EM 0
572 km/s Armour 1-151 Shields 0-0 HTK 51 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 5 Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 9
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP160.0 (5) Power 800 Fuel Use 8.84% Signature 160 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 11.6 billion km (235 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Gremlin class Cargo Ship 22,075 tons 162 Crew 526.1 BP TCS 441 TH 800 EM 0
1812 km/s Armour 1-70 Shields 0-0 HTK 57 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 14 Max Repair 40 MSP
Cargo 5,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 15
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months
Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine EP160.0 (5) Power 800 Fuel Use 8.84% Signature 160 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 46.1 billion km (294 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
2050s
A team of psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists and programmers lays foundation for the development of psionic technology beyond the limited capabilities of COVID-19 vaccine microchip.
Bionic body parts grow in popularity after engineers successfully plant artificial skin on them, making them indistinguishable from the natural parts even with the help of all six senses.
People still wait for the premiere of Cyberpunk 2077, scheduled for 10th December 2077.
Sucking out carbon dioxide out of Mars's atmosphere proceeds as expected, minor improvements to the technology involved are made, speeding up the process a bit.
Earth's population crosses first billion.
With the design of latest laser beams small celestial body mining directly from space is now a possibility.
Asteroid mining becomes a profitable possibility at last, a new fleet of spaceships is being prepared for the task. Several civilian space corporations come up with their own ideas and designs.
Albatross class Mining Platform 70,911 tons 425 Crew 1,462.9 BP TCS 1,418 TH 625 EM 0
440 km/s Armour 1-152 Shields 0-0 HTK 101 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 12 Max Repair 120 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months
Orbital Miner: 5 modules producing 70 tons per mineral per annum
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (5) Power 625 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 700,000 Litres Range 15.9 billion km (417 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
20th November 2055, large, fully automated and controlled by AI mining and smelting facility is established on the surface of Mercury.
A loose proposal of a terraforming space station being placed on the Venu's orbit is written. Due to the sheer complications associated with the project and the terraforming technology still being experimental, the World Government cancels the project, focusing on properly terraforming Mars before heading for something as difficult as terraforming Venus.
A better colony ships are being constructed to help accelerate the growth of Martian population. Project Zion assumes bringing in at least ten milion additional colonists within short span of time.
Zion class Colony Ship 55,821 tons 312 Crew 1,890.6 BP TCS 1,116 TH 750 EM 0
671 km/s Armour 1-130 Shields 0-0 HTK 106 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 21 Max Repair 100 MSP
Troop Capacity 10,000 tons Cryogenic Berths 100,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (6) Power 750 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 28.8 billion km (496 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Future goals for the Project Zion include reaching out to distant celestial bodies like Titan or Europa and establishing permanent populations there as well.
As colonisation of gas giants' moons is brought up, a young scientist comes up with an idea of a fuel harvesting space station which would get placed on a gas gaint's orbit and have all the neccessary facilities for shiponing components directly from a gas giant's atmosphere and synthesising fuel out of them which would then get distributed across the inhabited worlds using an upgraded version of Zephyr class ships.
In order to place the behemoth of a space station large enough to fulfill the necessary criteria for such an undertaking out there on gas giant's orbit, the young genius proposes usage of a special ships that'd be almost pure engine and fuel mass, capable of accelerating and deccelerating installations linked to them with a tractor beam.
The government firstly rejects the project as being way too expensive for the time being and intends to freeze it until the industry grows large enough, but eventually accepts it being persuaded by the argument that such station could serve as a deep space refuelling point, easing the task of Fuel Rats and Zion Project alike, and most importantly allowing spaceships to reach Nibiru and uncover the mysteries of this planet.
The work on the Project Aether responsible for shiponing gas giants begins. Soon the project of the harvesting space station is drawn:
Aether class Fuel Harvester Station 147,436 tons 140 Crew 3,169.6 BP TCS 2,949 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 1-248 Shields 0-0 HTK 82 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 13 Max Repair 2400 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months
Fuel Harvester: 13 modules producing 520,000 litres per annum
Refuelling Hub - Capable of refuelling multiple ships simultaneously
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range N/A
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
To organise the logistics of fuel transport to the inhabited worlds a new transport vessel is proposed, meant to replace the Zephyr class who served in the Fuel Rats till then:
Hamster class Tanker 10,727 tons 90 Crew 301.6 BP TCS 215 TH 625 EM 0
2913 km/s Armour 1-43 Shields 0-0 HTK 35 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (5) Power 625 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres Range 225.1 billion km (894 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 30 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This new spaceship maintains a decent speed while being able to transfer quite a lot of fuel given it barely consumes any through its voyages to the gas giants and back.
The hardest part is figuring out how to transfer the 150k tons monstrosity into the gas giant's orbit. After a long debate a tug ship gets prototyped and accepted, proven powerful enough to accelerate and deccelerate both itself and the Aether space station. At some point plans to build the station directly in the target's orbit appeared, but they were quickly rejected as it'd take way too much effort and time while removing the possibility to transfer the station around as needed in the future.
Hammerhead class Tug 10,206 tons 142 Crew 964.9 BP TCS 204 TH 1,250 EM 0
6124 km/s Armour 1-41 Shields 0-0 HTK 95 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.30 Years MSP 859 AFR 833% IFR 11.6% 1YR 221 5YR 3,314 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required
Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP62.50 (20) Power 1250.0 Fuel Use 247.05% Signature 62.5 Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 14.3 billion km (26 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Assembling the harvesting fleet is expected to take several years, despite exponentially growing industry.
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2060s
A group of carefully selected soldiers acquires psionic implants to help with keeping the Moon and Mars population under better control. Scandal surfaces when one of the troops commits rape by mind-controlling his victim rather than doing it the old fashioned way. Concerns about public security rise. Selection criteria for psi program get tightened.
Psychologists and psychiatrists propose civilian usage of psionics to help treat their patients. Such deep access to one's mind could start a revolution in these fields, they say.
20th April, 2066, fuel harvesting fleet finally gets assembled and is ready to begin its journey. Saturn gets selected as a destination due to the easy access to the fuel components it provides compared to the rest of gas giants.
11th August, 2066 due to miscalculations in flight route escorting Hammerheads run out of fuel just a few dozen milion kilometers from their destination. the toughest Fuel Rats rescue operation begins.
25th December 2066, Fuel Rats join the stranded fleet and spend the Christmas together as everyone celebrates yet another successful operation with no casualties.
15th January 2067, Project Aether is proven to be a success as the first ton of fuel gets produced at the space station.
Mars terraforming continues, temperatures rise gradually and the atmospheric pressure increases as Nitrogen, Oxygen and greenhouse gasses get pumped into the Martian air.
Finally the ice sheets melt, creating first oceans on the surface and the colonists living there witness the first rain.
The whole Martian production gets focused on building more terraforming installations to speed up the process. At this rate sceintists estimate it'll take only ten years or so till the planet's temperature, atmosphere and hydrosphere will reach Earth's levels.
Asteroid mining starts to take off seriously as more and more mining ships are being built.
Infantry units spotted wielding new models of laser rifles.
In the late 2060s human eyes turn beyond the Solar System, this time more seriously than ever. More accurate models of Alcubierre Drive geometry are being published as first Ion engines make it to the space industry. Warp drives would need even more power to work, though. Antimatter reactors get proposed as a good energy source, however humanity still can't produce enough of them. In the meantime scientists get closer than ever to recreate the fusion reaction happening in the stars.
SETI program receives additional fundings and advancements are made in the field of sending and tracking signals across deep space.
encouraged by the success of Project Aether and with Mars terraformation making huge leaps, American engineering team begins to raise funds for Project Terraria. It assumes placing a giant network of space stations just above the atmosphere of Venus and begin the terraformation process from space as setting up a colony on the surface is still way too taxing on human economy and industry.
Prototype energy shields are being created in order to better protect the mining ships operating within asteroid belt.
A mission to Nibiru is launched, however even with the help of refuelling hub on Saturn's orbit the journey proves to be too long for the Scorpion class survey ships. A need for modern geosurvey vessel rises and is quickly met.
Bob class Geological Survey Vessel 8,489 tons 83 Crew 397.3 BP TCS 170 TH 625 EM 0
3681 km/s Armour 1-37 Shields 0-0 HTK 34 Sensors 0/0/0/1 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.34 Years MSP 1,229 AFR 576% IFR 8.0% 1YR 167 5YR 2,508 Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Morale Check Required
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (5) Power 625 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 189.6 billion km (596 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The ship's first task will involve scanning the asteroids floating beyond gas giants' orbits as at this point they're much easier to reach and exploit than Nibiru.
2070s
Project Terraria team designs and starts building the space station for terraforming Venus:
Terraria class Terraforming Station 154,709 tons 610 Crew 3,566.7 BP TCS 3,094 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 1-256 Shields 0-0 HTK 89 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 14 Max Repair 500 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Terraformer: 6 modules producing 0.0036 atm per annum
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
More are constructed and put into Venusian orbit as years pass by.
Aether station proves to be ineffective in delivering large quantities of fuel in the long run, so a fleet of new fuel harvester ships gets quickly assembled to help speed the process up.
Vulture class Fuel Harvester 34,465 tons 190 Crew 687.6 BP TCS 689 TH 625 EM 0
906 km/s Armour 1-94 Shields 0-0 HTK 87 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 12 Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Fuel Harvester: 10 modules producing 400,000 litres per annum
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (5) Power 625 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 46.7 billion km (596 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 20 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Engineers work on putting a giant installation above Mars to generate magnetic field for the planet.
Even after decades have passed toilet paper is still an official currency as the industry never recovered.
Obviously cash is a thing long gone, a relic of the past only the oldest people remember, but it's not like there's a lot of toilet paper left to support cash anyways.
Paparazzis reveal photos of the richest people in the Solar System wiping their asses with toilet paper as urban legends of the secret bunkers from 2020 containing tons of toilet paper still remaining buried beneath the ground circulate among the population.
1th May 2075, the terraformation of Mars is completed and this day marks the official swicthoff of terraforming infrastructure. The planet now has magnetic field, atmosphere matching Earth's by 97,68%, average surface temperature of 14,6 C and over half the planet is covered in liquid water. The radiation has been successfully cleansed and lush flora and fauna thrive on the surface, in the air and below the ground. Citizens begin to spread across the surface, freed from the airtight cities at last.
10th December 2077, Cyberpunk 2077 finally gets released. This is considered the most important historical event of the century. Devs promise to add support for the matrix users "soon".
Arasaka Inc sues CDPR for "hurting their PR", however loses as CDPR proves that the corporation's income increased by 3,5% after game release.
citizens of Night City raise concerns over insane traffic jams like never before and crowded streets, tourist sector sees an increase of 5678% in revenue.
A copy of the game is broadcasted into outer space by a bored SETI technician, fear of alien invasion drops significantly.
2080s
Terraforming of Venus is expected to take over 800 years at the current rate, more Terraria stations are being deployed constantly, the goal for the next decades is to have their numbers multiplied by 10.
The ever-hungry industry and the inevitably depleting resources grind Terraria assembling process to a halt.
More and more mining ships are being constructed. Debate over on which asteroids focus first and how many ships send there rises. Improvement of the space mining technology gets a higher priority.
Better laser cannons are getting deployed, engineers propose to ruse those weapons to help with mining. Military-grade lasers seem to promise good results for civilian usage as well.
20th October 2083, after a failed mission to reach Nibiru, Scorpion 001, the first spaceship ever built out of improved alloys discovered in 2020s (even though no longer in use, all current materials are based on their recipes), finally gets decomissioned. Generations of astronauts served on its board, flying across the entire Solar System (well, excluding Nibiru, obviously...), and despite several fuel shortages and failing equipment in deep space everyone who flew this ship safely returned home to tell the tale. It was kept maintained despite Bob class replacing it and not much tasks left for it to accomplish simply out of sentiment, but eventually the time has come to put it out of service officially. It can be visited in the Mankind's Museum of Space Exploration and Colonisation.
21th October 2083, mission to Nibiru is finally launched.
25th February 2084, the crew of Bob 001 lands on Nibiru and begins geosurvey. It quickly turns out that the mysterious large planet's mountainous terrain is filled with all kinds of minerals, making it an excellent spot for setting up mining colony. At this distance the sun doesn't provide much light anymore and the planet remains spooky and a bit dark even during the day. Its atmosphere is composed of only Hydrogen and Helium, appaerently only two gases that didn't freeze in the almost absolute 0 surface temperatures.
Its two moons are named using two names for babylonian god of moon, Enzu and Zuen.
The abundance of minerals and the strange shapes of some peaks and valleys make the conspiracy theories grow in popularity. Some tinfoil hat wearers claim to have "evidence" that Nibiru was once inhabited by aliens who made contact with the ancient Earth.
Plans to set up an outpost on the surface postponed for now as with the current technology the ships to reach the planet and go back would either be too slow or carry too little cargo to make it worthwile, the government agrees it's better to focus on the asteroids and gas giant's moons first.
6th March 2085, first colonists land on Europa. Terraformation process begins, scientists estimate it shouldn't be too difficult except for pumping out all the excessive water that'll flood the entire surface once the ice melts. Titan is expected to be the next one to be colonized.
A scientist from Asia suggests using railguns to bombard large asteroids and cut them into smaller, suitable for mining ships pieces and comes up with an early prototype of such railgun. It is way too large and impractical, laser technology appears more viable.
Desperate demand for asteroid mining boosts the private sector, economy enters golden age. Of course still only the richest can afford to wipe their asses with toilet paper.
At this point most of the transfer of goods and people is done by private space corporations. A pioneer program launches which allows any (rich enough...) citizen to apply for a piloting license and be able to buy a spaceship and roam freely across the Solar System. Strict psychological evaluation is the key requirement for being able to sign up for a course. Psychologists employed praise psionic technology.
Ships being built on Mars get praised for high quality. Lower gravity makes it a better place than Earth for such tasks.
As Earth's population growth slows down a bit, planet-wide program is launched to encurage women to get more children. Radical feminists protest across the globe. Human farms are firstly discussed not in terms of science fiction, but science and engineering. Data on the first sketchs leaks into the public, causing massive outrage.
After decades of struggling, Militech Inc is the first corporation to officially acknowledge combat spaceship as one of the human genders. As the CEO behind the change was born in the Moon outpost, skeptics joke that "he fell off the Moon". Some point out that currently no combat spaceships exist out there in space. Another problem is that in case such ships will be needed and built, reffering to them as "her" will get complicated. No one in Militech Inc management was able to tell how to call them when asked by the press. And don't even think about various classes of combat spaceships.
A weird genius who came to Europa with the first wave of colonists to escape from "too crowded" Moon claims to be on the brink of figuring out ways to bend space provided enough energy is supplied. Skeptics say that even the most powerful quantum computer he could reasonably acquire won't be able to compete with the entire teams working on FTL propulsion theory in governmental labs. Others point out that while he alone obviously won't be able to came out with Alcubierre Drive project ready for construction, his insights may prove to be important for the progress and call for some respect towards the scientist. After all, we all want to go interstellar, they say.
Scientists successfully recreate fusion reaction, revolution in power production begins.
2090s
Europa terraforming goes smoothly, main challenge is to evaporate the excess water as the ice starts to melt and protect the population already living on the surface from drowning.
Most of the population has to be temporairly evacuated to the orbit, private corporations handle this, mining operations grind to a halt.
on Earth an improved version of the Terraria space station is designed, experts say that around 300 of these should be put on Venus orbit to finish terraforming by the end of the next century.
Terraria 1.4 class Terraforming Station 506,120 tons 2,010 Crew 10,979.3 BP TCS 10,122 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 294 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 13 Max Repair 500 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Terraformer: 20 modules producing 0.015 atm per annum
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
The most powerful ship ever is prototyped to transform the new stations:
Niagara class Tug 6,397 tons 152 Crew 1,558.2 BP TCS 128 TH 492 EM 0
10991 km/s Armour 1-30 Shields 0-0 HTK 38 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.00 Years MSP 1,561 AFR 65% IFR 0.9% 1YR 104 5YR 1,559 Max Repair 246.09375 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 48 months Morale Check Required
Ion Drive EP281.25 (5) Power 1406.2 Fuel Use 180.0% Signature 98.4375 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 15.6 billion km (16 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
As Terraria project officially receives the 1.4 update, assembling the new stations grinds to a halt due to lack of minerals. As asteroid mining isn't efficient enough, Martian engineers draw first sketches of plan to send people to Nibiru to begin mining operations whoch would easily supply the rest of the Solar System.
Another manned mission to Nibiru is laucnhed consisting of scientists (mainly geologists) and engineers to probe the rocks in detail to provide more info about the mineral composition of the planet. It is supposed to last one year.
Due to miscalculation in Fuel needed, ships that transported the research team need help from Fuel Rats. This raises questions on putting colonists on the surface reliably, but as Terraria 1.4 update is deemed more important amidst the resource crisis the government refuses to launch a new generation of colony ships, instead handles all the logistics to the private sector.
A young miner discovers a strange monolith in a cave, geologists claim it's an unusual rock formation, but nothing originating from some form of intelligence. The Nibiru survey provides more good news as new ore deposits are discovered every day. Geologists baffled as to how is it possible that this amount of minerals exists underground. Mining experts point out that the hard rocks and steep mountains are going to be a difficult environment for extracting the minerals, though.
After first three months of the mission several members of the ground task group report feeling stressed or depressed. Psychologists claim it's due to the depressing, dark surface of Nibiru and very long distance from the sun causing insufficient light expousure for the personnel.
A director from the Mars wants to film some scenes of her latest horror movie, "Gray Tentacles", on the surface of Nibiru. The moody scenery is very inspiring to her, says the director.
Once terraformed, the planet is expected to host over 34 bilions of people. The biggest challenge for the terraforming team would be not to make this planet habitable, but actually make it nice to live. Due to the potential it holds, Nibiru is considered to be transformed into a bustling world, not just a big-ass mining outpost for exploiting all the riches and moving on. For this, people need to actually want to live there compared to the two main worlds inhabited by humanity so far.
The scientist who moved to Europa claims to have found the equations for bending space using strong gravity forces and large amounts of energy. He requests to use facilities on Earth to perform experiments. Other scientists claim his equations "bullsmeg", but the newly founded lab on Cydonia agrees to grant him the ability to do whatever he wants for one year.
26th January 2097, the "Grandson of Alcubierre" as people started reffering him successfully warps space for half a milisecond. Protons which were launched through the warp seemed to have slightly shorted destination arrival time than the control group launched in a neighbouring accelerator. The results of performed experiments are considered a major breakthrough in reaching the stars.
Depression, anxiety, paranoia and suicidal thoughts are common among Nibiru field research team members as they finally come back home. Psychologists baffled. Tinfoil hat wearers suggest psionic interference, but while psychiatrists agree that exposure to psionic waves could technically be an explanation for this phenomena, it was mostly due to the dark and depressing aura of the planet and it isn't that surprising that after spending one year out there those people would develop mental health issues. People on Earth and Mars protest about colonizing Nibiru, demaning automated mining complexes to be set there instead.
Government refuses to resign from the program. Instead psychological evaluation gets thightened, surpassing even the one for obtaining private space piloting license in its strictness and potential candidates are required to complete a special, though course on the usage of psionic powers to offset the depression and anxiety creeping out from the planet.
2100s
"Gray Tentacles" is deemed to be the horror of the century.
Some people from the Nibiru mission personnel upon watching the movie suffer a mental breakdown. They claim to dream about a vision of a distant past, of an ancient civilization, of a world destroyed, of the contact long made and lost, of the true fabric of the universe. Psionic scans done during their sleep confirmed this. Consipracy theories grow in popularity like never before. Massive outrage as the government continues preparation for colonizing and terraforming Nibiru.
A terrorist organization rises, demaning immediate stop into research of FTL propulsion systems and Alcubierre Drive. The latest gen of power armor and plasma rifles allows military forces to quickly neutralize them, nevertheless the population panics as more terrorist attacks occur.
In order to stop the threat ASAP and infiltrate their structures, the government makes basic psi training mandatory for every soldier and police officer. The difficulty and content of the training varies depending of mental capabilities of the personnel.
the program proves to be a success as the leaders of the organisation are quickly captured and it's only a matter of time till the rest of the terrorists are hunted down.
Ethics and biologists claim the increase of psionic powers among the population could speed up the human evolution. While everyone still needs a special psi implant to develop and use the power of mind as the powers don't occur naturally among humans, the children of psi-capable security and military personnel are proven to have stronger will and resistance to mental suffering as well as higher charisma than their peers born in families where none of parents have psionic implant installed.
24th November 2103, despite ongoing protests first group of colonists arrive on Nibiru. Toughest of the toughest, those people are tasked with conquering the planet and making it actually enjoyable to live on. Providing more sunlight is going to be the biggest challenge for terraformers.
2nd March 2104, terraforming installations are officially switched off on Europa and the grand logistic operation to dissasemble them, transfer and assemble again on Nibiru begins. While low gravity doesn't make Europa the best place to be, its citizens can now enjoy blue sky, chilly but fine weather and large oceans covering most of the surface.
The creator of "Gray Tentacles" announces beginning working on the sequel before the terraforming complexes "ruin Nibiru for filmmakers." Other artists of all kind seem to be obsessed with Nibiru as well, despite it being known for over 80 years by now.
3rd December 2109, amidst the rapidly progressing research into FTL propulsion, a team of engineers from Cydonia suggests that with all the knowledge gathered on the subject so far and the recalculations of energy usage depending on the contraction, effective speed and warp field geometry they should be able to create a prototype of an engine that will be able to achieve the velocity of up to 10c. Most of mainstream media quickly forget about Nibiru-related mysteries and protests to follow on the topic. Many people are confused as to whether they should continue protesting against Nibiru colonization or celebrate the dawn of Interstellar Era coming soon. Some speculate the government knew about this for quite some time and refused to share the knowledge with the public to then use the topic to derive the attention from the protests.
2110s
While FTL propulsion technology development is progressing rapidly, promising outstanding results, engineers on the Moon prepare ultra-fast probes that should be able to accelerate up to 0.3c. Teams behind them plan on sending them to the nearest stars, which should take no more than 20 years with the time to accelerate to max speed included. Once within close proximity to the star, the probe is not meant to deccelerate, but rather launch another probe that'll survey the system.
Feminists outraged as the government forces birth control on Nibiru due to shortage of life support systems for the growing population. Meanwhile feminist on Earth protest as the government tries to come up with campaigns to encourage women to give more births as the population growth stagnates after crossing the third bilion. When asked about this, the leader of feminst movement on Mars doesn't seem to notice any contradiction here.
To be fair, not only feminists, everyone living on Nibiru protests against forced birth control, which seems strange given how previously nobody wanted to live there, so why have children on the surface of this gray world.
Sociologists point out that matrix addiction is number one cause for people not wanting to start families. Why bother with such a great responsibility if you can experience the same in the simulation, however unlike in real life you can always opt out or reset the simulation should things not go your way.
the Overseer of Earth proposes to ban realistic feelings modules from the matrix so that having a virtual family won't be able to fully reconstruct the feelings of having a real one. Or broader, the virtual life won't be able to fully recreate the feelings of real life and cheat all the senses and human preception in a way which is currently possible.
Another wave of protests hits the Earth as many people don't see the reason to live outside the simulation when the simulation is as good as real life, but without having to actually struggle to get all the joys of it.
As the ban comes into effect, many people flee from Earth to the colonies. While this reinforces Mars on its rise to the Core World status, it further disturbs already disturbed Earth population growth.
Oddly enough, the exponentially growing popularity of the matrix doesn't affect productivity as the users still plug themselves out in the morning and go to work in real life to earn for matrix's subscription.
crime rates on Earth increase as illegal trade of realistic feelings modules thrives. The government threatens illegal buyers with a permanent ban from the matrix. Many lonely and miserable people still claim it's worth the risk as real life has nothing to offer them.
Due to the era of world peace lasting for a century now, the armies are too thin to maintain the growing unrest rate (mostly on Earth and Nibiru). The government sees the opportunity to kill two bats with one stone and declares mandatory military service for the most hardcore matrix users.
A new class of transport ships is desgined to help rapidly deploy pacifying forces when needed:
Guard class Troop Transport 52,797 tons 370 Crew 1,899.4 BP TCS 1,056 TH 4,800 EM 0
4545 km/s Armour 1-125 Shields 0-0 HTK 134 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 120 MSP
Troop Capacity 20,000 tons
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months
Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive EP480.0 (10) Power 4800 Fuel Use 5.77% Signature 480 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 59 billion km (150 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Resource shortages continue as setting up mining operations on Nibiru goes slow due to the distance from Core Worlds and the protests. The government pumps even more funding into FTL research in hopes of extracting minerals from oustide Solar System ASAP.
Number of people reporting headaches and strange feelings of fear and anxiety continues to rise on Nibiru.
"They are here" - claims Nibiru miner one day after returning from work. Theoretically this shouldn't mean anything, but practically a cult started forming around him. Soldiers guarding Nibiru cities suggest illegal psionic influence. Obviously no one knows who is here as the cult leader didn't even bother with explaining his deity. His followers agree that "they are here" even though no one explained them who.
A psi-resistant espionage squad infiltrates cult, finding evidence of mind-control on the followers, which confirms all theories about the founding and the way the cult works. What is odd is that the leader also seems to be slightly mind-controlled, but that might be the result of the microchip the government's been putting in their citizens' heads for a century by now. Even with numerous upgrades it received for all those years it still doesn't influence human brain for all the protests to cease. It does a job decent enough as it made all the wars to cease one hundred years ago.
In order to justify the mandatory military service and to find occupancy for all the new recruits, first class of combat-capable spaceships begins its assembly in Martian docks.
Gladiator class Assault Ship 22,457 tons 647 Crew 6,692.3 BP TCS 449 TH 1,680 EM 2,520
10687 km/s Armour 8-70 Shields 84-280 HTK 118 Sensors 22/10/0/0 DCR 18 PPV 70
Maint Life 0.65 Years MSP 1,490 AFR 504% IFR 7.0% 1YR 2,298 5YR 34,476 Max Repair 1400 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (3) Power 4800 Fuel Use 226.27% Signature 560.00 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 3,000,000 Litres Range 10.6 billion km (11 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (3) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.3 per second)
18.750cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser (5) Range 48,000km TS: 10,687 km/s Power 9-4 RM 40,000 km ROF 15
Particle Beam-6 (5) Range 48,000km TS: 10,687 km/s Power 15-4 ROF 20
CIWS-200 (5x8) Range 1000 km TS: 20,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R48-TS20000 (50%) (2) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 20,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor R56 (1) Total Power Output 55.9 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS60-R100 (50%) (2) GPS 10500 Range 60m km Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM2-10 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 25m km
Thermal Sensor TH2-22 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 37.1m km
ECM 10
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
As human wars aren't a thing anymore, alien invasion is still a science fiction (or a conspiracy theory that rapidly gains popularity as military ships became a thing) and SETI program yelds nothing, these ships are meant to serve as an addition to mining fleet. While they don't have cargo space of their own, their powerful lasers will allow to quickly strip mine any asteroid and particle beam weapons will allow to rapidly locate pockets of minerals with great precision, reducing the amount of rocks needed to be cut down. Yield would be later filtered and collected by dedicated mining teams and private shipping lines.
The appearance of first "combat spaceships" raises concerns among exactly 12569 humans who have "combat spaceship" stated as their official gender. A special declaration is prepared, stating that despite their design Gladiators aren't "combat spaceships" because there's no war they could take part in. This solution seems to please the group of interest, though they still complain they're being discriminated as many people refer to Gladiators as "combat spaceships" in everyday conversations.
An idea of using these ships for entertainment gets proposed. Basically they would serve in simulated space battles, fighting only to the point of depleting shields to prevent any danger for the crew.
The government approves this new sport as a way to relieve stress from its citizens by providing them with "brutal" entertainment, hoping this will weaken the protests. First official sparring will get scheduled as soon as first batch of Gladiators leaves Mars' atmosphere.
December 2119, a hundred years passes since the beginning of a zombie apocalypse that changed the world forever.
2120s
Government releases a special upgrade to microchips to celebrate a hundred years of cyberpunk era.
Infantry units arriving on Nibiru pacify the rioting inhabitants. Productivity still remains low due to lack of life support systems as transport to Nibiru still takes way too long.
A fleet of Gremlins is directed to help with cargo transfer as they're faster than civilian freighters, however they can't take up much cargo with them.
Out of 10 probes sent to the nearest stars in previous decade two suffered critical system failure in interstellar space and one travels off-course due to small computation error. The remaining 7 continue their voyage to the stars.
A bunch of unusual rock formations discovered on Nibiru. Geologists suggest heavy meteor bombardment in distant past.
resources on Earth about to run out.
21th January 2125, Mars officially received the status of a Core World.
Construction of Dyson Sphere gets proposed, but current technology still doesn't allow building megastructures easily. The shortage of resources and fusion reactors providing decent amount of power become the final nail to the coffin for the Dyson Sphere Project.
Comet 2017 MB7 draws attention of space mining engineers. Building spacecraft capable of covering the insane distance separating it from the rest of the Solar System, while theoretically possible, in practice is deemed unprofitable. The comet could be mined as a sidetask once Alcubierre Drive will become a thing, though.
It comes as a mild annoyance to some scientists that it's the last celestial body that remained unscanned.
-
DAWN OF INTERSTELLAR ERA
2130s
Out of 7 remaining probes, only 4 managed to successfully completed their interstellar mission.
5th November 2135, a probe reaches Proxima Centauri and transfers the data and images of Proxima b and Proxima c as well as two comets that happened to pass by.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792782771759611944/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792782881088208916/unknown.png)
Proxima b contains liquid water as predicted, but the atmosphere is unbreathable, containing only Nitrogen and 0.1 atm of CO2. It orbits the sun too close, causing it to be tidally locked. This severely limits the amount of people who could live on the surface. Xenobiologists speculate that the planet once might host life as the temperatures in the habitable belt between the eternal night and enternal day zones are satisfying. The atmosphere composition also suggests that once it might have contained oxygen and only traces of CO2 (and be pretty much earthlike) before some sort of ecological cataclysm happened. It is technically possible for some microorganisms to live there or subterranean or aquatic life forms to exist.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792789354527457320/unknown.png)
2nd April 2136, a probe surveys Alpha Centauri System. The two stars that make up for the binary system orbit a number of terrestial planets, many of which have been confirmed in the past decades, confirming over century-old hypothesis of Alpha Centauri planetary system.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792790190790934559/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792790471101120523/unknown.png)
Alpha Centauri-A II and Alpha Centauri-B IV catch special attention of scientists as scans made by the exploration probe reveal they have a Nitrogen-Oxygen based atmospheres.
The probe didn't detect any life signs, let alone intelligent life signs, but it is very likely that life exists on these planets, somewhere in the icy mountains of Alpha Centauri-B IV or cold sands of Alpha Centauri-A II deserts.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792792012830015528/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792792095634489364/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792792304452108318/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792792361683517470/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792794389029453824/unknown.png)
Numerous planets in the system also happen to contain water in one form or another. Alpha Centauri looks very promising for colonisation, mining and new discoveries.
14th May 2137, a probe reaches WISE 2359-7335. There's nothing there but a breathtaking view of a lonely sun floating in eternal darkness.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792795097024299018/unknown.png)
2nd December 2137, a probe scans YZ Ceti system that happens to contain two planets.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792795432920023040/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/792795511538843688/unknown.png)
YZ Ceti-A II contains frozen water and a temperature of -80 Co makes it a good candidate for terraforming, even though the gravity is rather low.
The recent discoveries of the space beyond Solar System spark enthusiasm across human race as everyone awaits the day those stars will be reached and conquered in the name of Humans.
23th November 2139, it finally happens, the greatest invention of Humanity, the Ultimate Breakthrough that breaches the sky so that it is no longer the limit is here.
Researches from Cydonia present their prototype warp drive, which doesn't require more energy than the latest fusion reactors can provide.
The first starship is desgined and engineers at Martian Navy docks can't sleep from excitement and amount of work they have to put in order to make the first FTL flight reality.
Event Horizon class Gravitational Survey Vessel 10,640 tons 157 Crew 596.3 BP TCS 213 TH 625 EM 0
2937 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 1-43 Shields 0-0 HTK 54 Sensors 0/0/1/0 DCR 15 PPV 0
Maint Life 10.62 Years MSP 925 AFR 60% IFR 0.8% 1YR 15 5YR 225 Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Morale Check Required
JC11K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 11000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP125.0 (5) Power 625 Fuel Use 11.18% Signature 125 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 151.3 billion km (596 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
-
2140s
1st February 2141, Even Horizon leaves Martian docks. The Great Moment of Truth has come. The test of Alcubierre Drive will consist of four jumps: first the ship will jump to Earth just to see if everything works properly, then it's supposed to arrive at Nibiru to test the drive at longer ranges, eventually it's going to cover almost 250 bilion kilometers to arrive at comet 2017 MB7 to test both even longer jump distance and see how well the navigation system performs when a very small body without strong gravitational well is targeted.
1st February 2141, 7:31:24, Event Horizon powers up Alcubierre Drive and disappears in warp bubble on Mars orbit.
1st February 2141, 7:32:02, Event Horizons pops out on Earth's high orbit. Everyone celebrates as the first superluminal flight of human race was no longer a dream, but history.
The ship managed to reach effective speed of 5c during acceleration peak. A couple minutes later signal emitted during jump travelling at light speed reached Earth as well.
1st February 2141, 8:01:12, Event Horizon makes a jump towards Nibiru. Everyone holds breath once again.
1st February 2141, 9:35:14, Event Horizon makes it to Nibiru's orbit, achieving its top effective speed of 10c. For everyone but Nibiru's inhabitants it's status remains unknown until 11:02:35, when the ship goes back to Earth.
1st February 2141, 10:45:14, Event Horizon sets off for 2017 MB7 comet.
2nd February 2141, 9:25:59, ship reaches its destination. The target was missed by a large margin of 40 milion kilometers, but it's deemed an outstanding result given the distance and size of the target compared to the typical targets the ship will be tasked to reach.
3nd February 2141, 9:01:01, Event Horizon's crew docks on Martian spaceport to tell the tale.
A new era in the History of Mankind begins as on 25th April 2141 Event Horizon begins its mission to boldly go where no man has ever gone before. The first squadron of Gladiators fights its first competition battle to celebrate the event and so with the flashes of laser beams illuminating the eternal night Event Horizon disappears within warp bubble, plotting course to Proxima Centauri.
5th October 2141, Event Horizon reaches Proxima Centauri, which is not known back in the Solar System until 16th June 2142 when the ship returns from its cruise.
Initial scans confirm the observations made by the probe. Proxima b appears to be a dead world, however scientists who landed on the surface managed to bring back samples of what appears to be some sort of microorganisms still living their microlife in the depths of planet's oceans. Different strains of bacteria and mircroorganisms are detected underground as well. No signs of any sort of intelligent life ever being present on the planet detected, but the discovery of alien life existing so close to the Sun changes perspective on life and universe for the generations to come. Space is indeed full of life, even if only so simple.
As years go by, a new starship gets designed. Further optimisations of warp bubble geometry allowed for bigger starships to appear, making it possible to send a proper exploratory vessel, capable of gathering, storing and analyzing all kinds of data, ranging from signals to biological samples.
Prophet class Science Vessel 25,905 tons 334 Crew 2,377.4 BP TCS 518 TH 1,440 EM 4,200
2779 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 1-77 Shields 140-280 HTK 99 Sensors 0/0/4/4 DCR 3 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.60 Years MSP 22,172 AFR 1790% IFR 24.9% 1YR 1,192 5YR 17,876 Max Repair 150 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Morale Check Required
JC26K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 26000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive EP480.0 (3) Power 1440 Fuel Use 5.77% Signature 480 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres Range 180.5 billion km (751 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (5) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.5 per second)
CIWS-200-1 (5x8) Range 1000 km TS: 20,000 km/s ROF 5
Active Search Sensor AS60-R100 (50%) (2) GPS 10500 Range 60m km Resolution 100
Improved Geological Sensors (2) 4 Survey Points Per Hour
Improved Gravitational Sensors (2) 4 Survey Points Per Hour
ECM 10
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
6th July 2146, Prophet leaves Earth to explore the rich planetary system of Alpha Centauri.
Meanwhile on Earth preparations for interstellar colonization begin with full speed and force. Engineers and scientists from all over the Solar System come up with various hypothetical designs of interstellar ships capable of bringing colonists and all the infrastructure they might need to establish themselves and gain economical independence around alien sun to the nearest stars in reasonable amount of time.
Finally, two of the designs win the competition and contracts for developing the ships themselves as well as Alcubierre Drives capable of leading them through the interstellar space are signed with space exploration corporations:
Avalanche class Freighter 97,011 tons 422 Crew 2,070.2 BP TCS 1,940 TH 5,000 EM 0
2577 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-188 Shields 0-0 HTK 110 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 13 Max Repair 125 MSP
Cargo 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC98K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 97500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (10) Power 5000 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 67.1 billion km (301 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Manhattan class Colony Ship 59,071 tons 347 Crew 2,115.9 BP TCS 1,181 TH 1,500 EM 0
1269 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-135 Shields 0-0 HTK 83 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 125 MSP
Troop Capacity 10,000 tons Cryogenic Berths 100,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC60K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 60000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (3) Power 1500 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 110.1 billion km (1003 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
7th September 2148, Prophet discovers traces of life and strange-looking structures on Alpha Centauri-A II. Fear and ave fill hearts of crewmembers.
The planet's size would suggest it should contain denser atmosphere than it does, reasons for it losing part of its air currently unknown. The only life that's present on the cold deserts than span across its surface to no end appears to be some form of dry grass that grows sparsely around rare rocks laying between dunes and microorganisms. There's no water on the planet in any form to be found. The grass in question appears to be able to survive for hundreds, possibly even thousands of years without water supply, xenobiologists claim, but it is more than obvious that it needs to rehydrate eventually or else it's going to perish sooner or later. That grass, the last multicellular life representation on the entire planet, is dying.
Number of experiments conducted on the samples gathered show that once rehydrated, it blossoms into tall, green-yellow plants that appear to produce and store more nutrients than one would expect when exposed to CO2.
Initial simulations run by the ship's AI lab assistant show the planet most probably had only traces of liquid water in the past and that grass was the dominant plant species of this now almost dead world. The climate was warmer at some point in the past and the land resembled something similar to Earth's steppes with high probability of more complex forests growing around equator or on the shores of what little water aquens existed.
After a few more months of research skeletal structures of animal life that once thrived there have been found. The most prominent difference was how taller they appeared compared to earth's fauna due to planet's lower gravity.
One was particularly interesting - as further research have shown, the species to which it belonged were approximately two meters tall, bipedal creatures with a strong tail used for support and five pairs of small hands with muscle mass approximately the same as both human arms, meaning the hands of the creatures allowed for similar strength, but greater dexterity and manipulation speed than human hands. Their bodies were also coated in chitin armor capable of deflecting light at various degrees. Question of possible sentience of these species remains unanswered.
As if discoveries of alien life once present on the planet weren't enough, even after many months of research geologists couldn't came up with a different explanation for the strange planet structures to exist other than intelligent life involvement.
Another expedition to those structures will be needed to conduct an in-depth research, but the one thing about them that struck is that inside those ruins more skeletons of the bipedal creatures were discovered than anywhere else on the planet. Hypothesis about intelligent civilization and its cities were raised, as well about some sort of cataclysm that made the water evaporate and escape planet's gravity together with significant part of atmosphe making the oxygen levels too low to be breathable.
It all became even more interesting and mysterious when Prophet's crew stepped on the surface of Alpha Centuari-B IV.
The size and atmosphere composition of those two planets are very similar, however Alpha Centauri-B IV's mountainous terrain is prone to tectonic activity and liquid water covers almost 70% of its surface.
Most of the land is covered in pockets of dense grass that xenobiologists confirm to be genetically related to the one found on previous planet, though the evolutionary path of this one must have splitted in the distant past.
Similar conclusion gets drawn for many other flora and fauna species found on this world.
More radical crewmembers speculate unfinished terraforming process attempted by the civilization once thriving around Alpha Centauri-A, further extensive research needed to confirm or reject this hypothesis.
After finishing their tasks in Alpha Centauri system, Prophet heads back home for a short break and maintenance check only to quickly set off for another mission among the stars.
Despite promising conditions, terraforming and colonization of the two intriguing worlds in Alpha Centauri system gets postponed in order not to change the world before more research can be conducted.
The first sketches of Interstellar Conquest involve setting up a mining outpost on dwarf planet Alpha Centauri-B V as it could still be terraformed rather easily and proves to be the richest world so far discovered, giving a real opportunity to solve mineral crisis and accelerate shipbuilding to assemble even more colony and mining fleets.
2150s
Interstellar exploration continues, manned missions to YZ Ceti and WISE 2359-7335 are launched.
Food crisis on Nibiru requires immediate freezing of some inhabitants to prevent starvation. Nibiru loses half of the already small workforce.
As the never-ending struggles in hostile world of Nibiru continue, government plans to use Terraria space stations to terraform the planet from orbit, similarily to the way it is constantly getting done in case of Venus. This raises questions of transporting over half a million tons behemoths across the vast space separating nibiru from the Core Worlds.
A new spaceship gets designed as an aswer to this problem:
Ark class Tug 50,257 tons 395 Crew 2,536.3 BP TCS 1,005 TH 7,500 EM 0
7461 km/s Armour 1-121 Shields 0-0 HTK 152 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 31 Max Repair 125 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (15) Power 7500 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 10,000,000 Litres Range 647.1 billion km (1003 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Better safe than sorry - the new official doctrine is established as proof of sentient extraterrestial life existing gets delivered with the data from Alpha Centauri mission.
The first fruit of this new doctrine is a swarm of cheap space fighters being built on Earth and Mars which in the future are meant to serve as an escort carried by FTL-capable fleet during missions to other stars. Just in case someone helped with the ecological cataclysm of Alpha Centauri-A II and is still out there somewhere. Many citizens question their safety as proof of the possibility for intelligent aliens to exist out there sparks both hope and fear.
Valor class Fighter 467 tons 28 Crew 155.5 BP TCS 9 TH 80 EM 0
8568 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 5 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 5.15 Years MSP 40 AFR 17% IFR 0.2% 1YR 3 5YR 38 Max Repair 35 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP40.00 (2) Power 80 Fuel Use 1073.31% Signature 40 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres Range 0.54 billion km (17 hours at full power)
R45/C4 Meson Cannon (1) Range 45,000km TS: 8,568 km/s Power 3-4 RM 45,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R48-TS10000 (50%) (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R5 (1) Total Power Output 5.2 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS6-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 28 Range 6.7m km MCR 600.8k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
-
22th December 2154, first two Terraria stations successfully make it to Nibiru's orbit. Terraforming still expected to take over 130 years though, more stations are planned to be placed in the future.
Prophet's crew confirms that Ross 128 is another lonely sun out there, without even a single comet or asteroid around it.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793223891262242866/unknown.png)
Scientists on Europa work on small warp drives that could be easily fitted on every type of ship - they wouldn't be able to go faster than light, but they could become a standard way of handling interplanetary transit.
Such drive would allow the ship to accelerate and decelerate in a matter of seconds and reach high speeds which would speed up intra-system flights and also make them far less complex and easier to handle.
The only drawbacks are that this would require constant fuel burning during entire flight as well as put a cap on maximum speed a ship can travel. It would still be faster than the average speed modern spaceships reach, convinces project leader.
Another wave of protests hits Nibiru as people rage against their friends and families kept frozen after resolving food crisis, many want to leave making the worker shortage problem come full circle. The government promises to terraform the planet "soon".
More missions to Alpha Centauri suggest even greater mining potential, the only way to reasonably resolve the ongoing crisis is to reach for the stars. First fleet of Avalanche and Manchattan class vessles is assembled, tasked with brining first colonists to the dwarf planet of Alpha Centauri-B V.
Despite it being designated to be nothing but a backwater mining colony, almost everyone wants to go because the thrill of living in another solar system is stronger than any hardships one might find there compared to comfortable life on a Core World.
Exploration of nearby stars continues.
NN 3815 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793682031129002014/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793682150963544094/unknown.png)
EZ Aquarii system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793682882870378504/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793683057667211294/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793683160528977960/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793683236052140122/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793683321828671528/unknown.png)
Two planets orbiting EZ Aquarii-B look promising, however after extensive research no life signs are detected, nor any solid proof of life existing on these planets at some point despite the conditions being promising.
EZ Aquarii is a ternary system and many astrophysicists speculate it might be unstable due to it being a three-body system.
It is theoretized that maybe life existed on the planets in question at some point, but due to all kinds of mess that could happen in a potentially unstable three-body system maybe the planets fell off their current orbits and were placed in a way that made the conditions hostile for life, wiping it together with all evidence of it ever existing. Or maybe those planets were hostile before and only recently anchored themselves around EZ Aquarii-B which created more friendly conditions on the surface and life is yet to emerge on these worlds.
It is decided that there will never be any permanent population stationed on any planet due to the potential instability and need for planetary-scale evacuation in case of emergency. AI-driven mining outpost remain a possibility.
WISE 1150+6302 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793685302400122900/unknown.png)
Yet another lonely star. This one has a single comet passing by as a companion.
HIP 47650 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793685812461043722/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793685911447142420/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793686004493975562/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793686232738562078/unknown.png)
Planets HIP 47650-A II and III spark instant excitement in scientists all over the worlds. III appears to be full of life. The climate is very harsh given the average surface temperatures of -126Co, but life has found many ways to adapt to these conditions. All kinds of moss and grass thrive on the snow and ice sheets, with herbivores migrating over long distances to find packets of them and keep starvation at bay and lots of different predators making ambushes along the migration routes. Under thick layer of ice liquid oceans bustiling with submarine life are found.
Everyone cherish the discoveries made by the scientists and can't wait till colonisation and terraforming of this cold yet beautiful and breathtaking world will become. Given the extraordinarily good atmosphere composition even now it is possible to breathe in it for a while without risking any health problems and some of the astronauts who touched the frozen ground purposefully temporairly cut off their life support system, letting bits of planet's atmosphere to their combinezones and enjoying the idea of breathing with alien air. Hypothesis that universe is and always was "full of life" gains more and more supporters every day.
HIP 47650-A II, however, is nothing but a planet of blazing sands and rocks with little to no surface water and no oxygen in the atmosphere. Around what little lakes, seas and rivers exist though, scientits found unusual structures resembling strange monoliths. It is speculated that the planet was once even hotter, with all the water being either vapourized or non-existstent at all. If that's the case, then those monoliths might be alien terraforming installations. This hypothesis currently lacks any solid proof. It is not known whether the installations are active in case it turns out true either.
13th March 2157, on its way back home for well-deserved holidays, the crew of Prophet detects strange gravitational anomaly close to WISE 2359-7335 star as it quickly leaves warp bubble using the star as an orientation point to better adjust their way back home. Curiosity wins and a brief investigation is carried out.
The anomaly appears to be a wormhole, an object which existence was only theoretized up to this point. Since no wormhole has ever been observed before, question whether it is of natural origin or it got created by an interstellar alien civilization gets asked quickly. Another problem is its potential stability or lack of it as well as whether travel through it is possible in both or only one direction. Back on Earth a special task force is quickly formed to try to figure out where the questioned wormhole might lead without risking travelling through it.
Consipracy theories continue to be on the rise in spite of recent space discoveries. The good old topic of flying saucers is being brought up as many notice how the advancements in warp bubble geometry optimisations and Alcubierre Drive effective speed make the latest starship designs appear more flattened and rounded:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793692752574808084/unknown.png)
2nd July 2157, XAT (eXtraterrestial Archeology Team) is officially formed on Mars and begins extensive training which will be required for its member to crack the secrets of ruins from Alpha Centauri-A II and monoliths from HIP 47650-A II down. On the same day another elite unit oficially begins its history, this time it's an union of advanced construction brigades tasked with supporting quicker infrastructure or life support systems installations on extrememly hostile worlds such as Nibiru.
As the government can't handle the ongoing stagnation on Planet X, everyone who wants to leave the colony is presented with such an opportunity. Meanwhile the newly formed construction unit will use the abundant minerals on the planet to assemble automatic mining outpost sending all the juicy resources back to Earth and Mars via lots of mass drivers. Colonists are expected to repopulate Nibiru once terraformation process will be complete. More Terraria 1.4 stations make it to planet's orbit to help speed the process up.
Many are relieved and thankful for the government, but many also call it out on such a big operation, lasting so many decades, eventually failing. The government calls it a "temporary tactical retreat", rather than failure and hopes to finish the terraforming within next 50 years.
Oddly enough, some people wish to stay on this hellish, infamous world that's so gray and cold that hydrogen and helium are the only gases left in the atmosphere because they're the only ones that didn't freeze in these temperatures. Psychological evaluation shows slightly higher average psionic potential among the ones who wished to stay.
Many of the Nibiru colonists either returning to Core Worlds or preparing for interstellar journey to new home in Alpha Centauri system report feelings of anxiety and discomfort. Some wake up screaming from nightmares involving "Gray Tentacles", even those who claim to have never watched or heard about the classical horror movie taking place solely on Nibiru.
Psychologists and psychiatrists baffled as therapy with calm psionic waves, normally very effective, not only has no positive effect on them, but also in rare cases has worsened patients' mental condition. So far psi scientists sent to perform research on Nibiru failed at discovering anything unusual that could explain these phenomena.
Matrix developers desperately try to find bugs in their software as one of the users, former Nibiru colonist, reports gray tentacles consuming him from every direction every time he connects, no amount of resseting the simulation has helped. With him being a former psi forces member, devs suggest faulty psionic implant interfering with the simulation.
The incident causes slight decline in matrix usage, government hopes this could help crippling birth rates, even if only so slightly.
16th December 2157, first permanent inhabitants arrive on the surface of Alpha Centauri-B V, quickly followed by Terraria 1.4. Due to the small size of this dwarf planet terraforming is expected to take only a few years and mining of the resources will be much easier.
Alpha Centauri-B IV and Proxima b are chosen to be the next destinations for interstellar expansion.
-
After deserved holiday break, the crew of Prophet is eager to go superluminal once again and travels to NN 3815 system to continue their mission where they left. It doesn't take more than two weeks for them to spot a wormhole in that system, too. Another investigation team warps in to the system. Due to the proximity of the NN 3815 and WISE 2359-7335 systems it is speculated that maybe those are the two ends of a single wormhole.
To test this hypothesis, an unmanned probe is launched through it from the NN 3815 system on 1st March 2158. The experiment confirms the hypothesis as team stationed in WISE receives the probe. Travel through the wormhole was almost instant, as well as travel of any signals exchanged between teams on both ends, marking this day as the first day of FTL communication between two systems. WISE team launching the probe back confirms travel in both ways is possible. Testing on "wormhole capacity" continue to determine how much mass can be sent through it before the passage gets "clogged", making the bodies within it smash into each other or do whatever else they might do under such conditions. After sending dozens of probes at once it is determined that it's safe for a starship to traverse it and so the Prophet jumps to WISE and back, all within nanoseconds plus time needed to deccelerate and turn around once in WISE system. Questions about origin of the anomaly remain open.
24th May 2158, Prophet crew detects two other wormholes in NN 3815 systems. Hypothesis about alien sentience intervention gains more support. Many scientists simply claim that maybe the universe is full of stable wormholes just like so far it appeared life out there was more common than initially expected and humanity was simply unlucky to not have a wormhole in their home system and telescopes powerful enough to discover any around neighbouring stars.
26th May 2158, after finishing survey of NN 3815, Prophet jumps through one of two unexplored wormholes and finds itself in the NN 3009 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793882593920942080/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793882866210963459/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793882964538163210/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793883204989485066/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793883290146046003/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/793883462973128734/unknown.png)
NN 3009-A II catches interest of astrophysicists as this tidally locked planet contains liquid water and moderate to hot surface temperatures but no atmosphere at all. No life signs detected.
Scientists concerned as unprecedented discovery is made in WISE 1150+6302 system: this lonely star contains four stable wormholes in total. More speculations about alien civilization are made. Fear rises in civilian populations as remnants of sentient life forms-made structures were already present on two exoplanets so far. Many accuse government of hiding evidence of already established contact with alien civilization.
Extensive cargo, infrastructure and colonists transport to Alpha Cenauri system burns more fuel than initially expected. Engineers from Europa design a new, giant space station designed to significantly boost fuel shiponing from gas giants.
Astera class Fuel Harvester Station 618,517 tons 2,010 Crew 9,732.3 BP TCS 12,370 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 1133 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 9 Max Repair 2400 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months
Fuel Harvester: 200 modules producing 16,000,000 litres per annum
Refuelling Hub - Capable of refuelling multiple ships simultaneously
Fuel Capacity 11,000,000 Litres Range N/A
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
Terraformers stationed on Nibiru's orbit report strange patterns formed from mountain ranges on the surface. "They are twisting and whirling in unsettling way", says one of the Terraria workers.
As interstellar travel became reality, many citizens protest about colonizing Nibiru ever, more radical individuals claims its best to leave the planet alone and even automated mining platforms are too much.
2160s
Colonization of two Centauri systems progresses rapidly. With the recent advancements in terraforming field it doesn't take more than half the decade to terraform Alpha Centauri-B V, Alpha Centauri-B IV and Proxima b. Colonists from Solar System arrive by millions into their new homes across the stars.
The government allows beginning of Alpha Centauri-A II terraformation process as researchers deem the extinct alien race to be less technologically advanced than humanity. Some pity those unknown beings as their terraformation efforts on the now-human-inhabited Alpha Centauri-B IV show they were close to escape whatever destroyed their homeworld and find peace around the partner star of their main sun. Unless it was another civilization that wiped them out, that is. A relatively small group of human colonists arrive on the surface of Alpha Centauri-A II and repurposes the discovered system of bunkers for human usage, taking cover from the life-unfriendly conditions in the same way those poor aliens did at some point in time when their homeworld environment was falling apart.
A random scientitsts names this long-dead species "Conroe".
Interstellar exploration continues, bringing more data from other stars.
WISE 2343-7418 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794757312316702730/unknown.png)
The lonely star got firstly explored from up close after travelling through the wormhole from NN 3815 system. Two more stable wormholes were detected. No wormholes observed before and suddenly such an amount of them around a pocket of neighbouring stars - more scientists lean towards "Alien Intervention" hypothesis.
Gliese 526 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794758113176977418/unknown.png)
Three dwarf planets are found orbiting the local sun.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794758274142175263/unknown.png)
WISE 0254+0223 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794758628895883264/unknown.png)
Nothing but a lonely star again. Lovers of AR-15 disappointed they won't get to live in a system that has "223" in its name.
Wolf 489 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794759119751086141/unknown.png)
It is a lonely wolf indeed.
NN 3076 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794759404113231882/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794759483905146911/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794759627865718804/unknown.png)
Existence of methane-breathing life of some sort on NN 3076-A III is theorised, but further research indicated nothing, not even the simplest single-cellular microorganisms.
WISE 0148-7202 system, the second end of one of the four wormholes found around WISE 1150+6302:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794760310958587904/unknown.png)
Three comets orbiting within the sun's proximity and nothing more to be found out there. Except yet another stable wormhole leading god knows where. Scientists wonder whether these wormholes are creation of one civilisation or more. So far "One Hypothesis" seems to be winning among scientific environments as all the stars in which wormholes have been discovered so far are too close together. On the other hand there seem to be two clusters forming out of these wormholes, with very slim border between them, but it can be noticed, as if two civilisations happened to expand their wormhole networks very close to each other, but among different systems.
A second wormhole from the now-famous WISE 1150+6302 star leads to Zeta Tucanae star:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794762437122850886/unknown.png)
No one even gets that surprised anymore as two other wormholes have their ends placed within the star's proximity.
Mining operations across Alpha Centauri system explode thanks to private sector, even on hellish worlds of Alpha Centauri-B I and II which have Venus-like atmospheres.
Mineral crisis finally gets resolved as resources flow back to Earth and Mars, accelerating economy across all sectors.
15th July 2161, the last batch of minerals is extrated from below Earth's surface and the last mining complex gets shut down. Nobody is worried though, as long as those interstellar freighters will continue crusing between Sol and Alpha Centauri, around which every planet, even dwarf one, seem to contain more minerals than Earth itself. And it looks like they will since Project Astera drowns Core Worlds in the finest fuel originating from Saturn's gasses.
1st August 2161, XAT launches mission to HIP 47650-A II to investigate the terraforming monoliths left by unknown alien race, named temporarily "Aracaju". A new special forces transport vessel developed and deployed by XAT leaders themselves got used:
Guardian class Troop Transport 91,777 tons 459 Crew 2,664.3 BP TCS 1,836 TH 5,000 EM 0
2724 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-181 Shields 0-0 HTK 208 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 18 Max Repair 125 MSP
Troop Capacity 50,000 tons
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months
JC92K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 92000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (10) Power 5000 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 70.9 billion km (301 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
It is a direct upgrade of the old, pre-FTL Guard design. While slower than its predecessor in terms of conventional flight, it allows much bigger transport capacity. And can go FTL, too.
The technology found in them proves to be of great value. Terraformers recalculate time needed to change Venu's atmosphere to Earth-like to 150 years from previous 600 after implementing uncovered breakthroughs.
The composition of HIP 47650-A II's atmosphere can't be used to determine the biology of Aracaju, xenobiologists say, since the lack of life signs on the planet suggest the conditions on the planet doesn't allow for Aracaju and their homeworld's biosphere to live there. Questions about aliens returning to "claim the colony" are raised, but it's rather unlikely given the poor condition of most terraformers. An automated deep space tracking station with the latest comms technology gets quickly assembled on the highest mountain of the planet, though. Just in case.
Engineers work on restoring the monoliths to their former glory in hopes of finishing the process of terraforming. Meanwhile enthusiasts of cold weather, snow and winter look forward to inhabiting HIP 47650-A III, but the planet still requires some terraforming, namely in improving the amount of oxygen to make breathing comfortable and warming the planet from its around -120Co temperature range to something survivable. Ecologists point out this might destabilise local ecosystems. As alien life seems precious, it is decided what little terraforming is required, will proceed slower than usual to carefully observe if it has any negative impact on the flora and fauna.
As colonization plans for HIP 47650 system begin to form, the question on transforming Terraria 1.4 terraforming stations gets asked. At first engineers agree on doing it the same way it was done in Alpha and Proxima Centauri systems, with giant cargo fleets transporting station's components separately and assembling the stations on the spot, but it is pointed out how most of the logistics fleet is busy with supporting rapidly expanding populations and economy of Alpha Centauri system and how much fuel got wasted for a cargo transfer operation on this scale.
Young engineer from Europa accepts the challenge and comes up with the biggest Alcubierre Drive ever designed. Starship carrying it, according to her idea, is supposed to create a warp bubble of a gigantic size, size that'll be so huge it'll provide enough space for a space station and its tug responsible for its conventional acceleration, effectively guiding it through the interstellar space.
Guidance class Jump Tender 85,827 tons 411 Crew 2,897.4 BP TCS 1,717 TH 2,500 EM 0
1456 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-173 Shields 0-0 HTK 93 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 21 Max Repair 1777.1 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months
JC621K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 621000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (5) Power 2500 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 75.8 billion km (602 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Engineers across the colonized space amazed by the properties of this huge drive's design.
Terraformers of Alpha Centauri-B IV are especially proud of their work. Only the low gravity ruins the "second Earth" vibes, as every other planetary parameter got recreated as if terraforming was a matter of copy-paste. The planet's mountain ranges covered with Earth-like forests spark interstellar tourism.
Alpha Centauri-B IV terraformation process revealed that the alien species discovered on the planet can adapt to Earth-like environment rather well, which suggests the homeworld of the now-exitnt Conroe once looked very similar to Earth in terms of climate and atmosphere composition. Pockets of alien life co-existing with species from Earth take the breath away from tourists and inhabitants of this beautiful world alike.
Post office enters its renaissance as lack of FTL communication means the only way to reliably communicate with other systems is to have special starships flying back and forth between stars, receiving signals from the system they leave, storing them on the onboard server for the journey and then transmitting them upon arriving at the destination. Scientists suggest it'll become obsolete once again when the way to create wormholes will be discovered, which will allow FTL communication as well.
-
Extensive research into wormhole creation and other dimension begins in order to establish FTL communication, allow creation of wormholes which wouldn't require FTL drive to go superluminal and determine whether building hyperdrives would be a possibility. It is theoretized that usage of hyperspace to travel between stars would be much faster, albeit more difficult, than using warp drives. For now it is still a science fiction and nobody really knows how much "science" is in it, but discovered wormholes give hope -technically travelling through hyperspace would mean creating, entering, expanding and then exiting and eventually closing a wormhole "on the fly", with the effective speed being equal to the effective speed at which the "tunnel" would be expanded. Similar to building the rails in front of the train or something along these lines.
21th August 2162, 12:51:43 Earth-time, team of scientists stationed in WISE 1150+6302 on a wormhole research mission picks up strange signals from the void not further than few milion kilometers away.
21th August 2162, 12:53:12, it is determined that the source of signal is moving at approximately 1922 km/s
21th August 2162, 13:45:44, research team successfully receives signal from several probes launched from their starship at the unknown target. Scans and pictures taken leave no doubt - what they're looking for is a group of space vessels of unknown origin.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/794938867903758346/unknown.png)
Since WISE 1150+6302 doesn't have a planetary system, the ships must have come from another star, that's for sure. The fleet doesn't appear to have Alcubierre Drives equipped because geometry of their ships is far from optimal while the size of it is too big to justify lack of optimal warp bubble shape due to their warp technology being still in experimental phase.
This theory matches the presence of four wormholes around the star. Whether they carry some other FTL drive, such as theorised hyperdrive, for example, remains unknown.
21th August 2162, 13:51:01, communication attempts begin.
21th August 2162, 14:15:02, vessels transmit a few signals, probably a response, however onboard computers and scientists themselves can't figure out what it means.
21th August 2162, 14:26:15, alien fleet disappears in a yet unexplored wormhole.
The Prophet-class starship that established contact with the unknown intelligence powers up its warp drive and speeds across interstellar space back to the Earth as quickly as it can. Upon delivering news, government calls for emergency meeting.
We don't know how they look like. We don't know what they want. We don't know from where they came from. We don't know their language, culture, attitude, nature, biology, science, what their fleets are capable of, we don't know nothing - that's all there is to the content of the meeting.
It is agreed that great caution is required and there's no time to waste since they've been observed only 32,9 light years away from Earth.
A special starship gets quickly designed back on Earth, specifically designed to search for and communicate with the discovered alien sentience. Its crew is going to be composed of the best linguistics, sociologists and diplomats from the entire human race, accompanied by psi-capable space marine squad as well.
Diplomat class Diplomatic Ship 9,566 tons 153 Crew 1,042 BP TCS 191 TH 500 EM 0
2613 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 1-40 Shields 0-0 HTK 42 Sensors 0/10/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.64 Years MSP 6,068 AFR 732% IFR 10.2% 1YR 708 5YR 10,616 Max Repair 300 MSP
Captain Control Rating 1 BRG DIP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Morale Check Required
JC11K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 11000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (1) Power 500 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 85 billion km (376 days at full power)
CIWS-200-1 (5x8) Range 1000 km TS: 20,000 km/s ROF 5
Active Search Sensor AS5-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 21 Range 5.8m km MCR 520.3k km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS60-R100 (50%) (1) GPS 10500 Range 60m km Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM2-10 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 25m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
22th January 2163, two Diplomats and a Prophet enter the wormhole in which the alien fleet has disappeared. It leads into Zeta(2) Reticuli system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795095436032737280/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795095608796774410/unknown.png)
Initially no life signs detected, however Zeta(2) Reticuli-A III looks interesting with its surface water, albeit frozen, and nitrogen-based atmosphere with traces of oxygen. Could sentient life evolve there? Unlikely, but who knows - say scientists - in the recent almost 150 years humanity's discovered existence of planet X in the Solar System, warp drives, existence of stable wormholes, alien life, sentient alien life, psionics, cybernetics, power armor, laser, plasma and particle beam based cannons and personal weapons, advanced terraforming methods capable of modelling atmosphere and establishing magentic field within dozen years... Compared to that list, existence of life on this planet doesn't look too far-fetched. Alternatively it could be the middle of terraforming process.
1st February 2163, 14:59:02, SETI team stationed on Earth picks up a signal from deep space, possibly from Zeta(2) Reticuli. Initial analysis also estimates the probability of it coming from the same civilization as the one encountered in WISE 1150+6302 as 89,45%. Translation attempts still fail.
Fleet sent to Zeta(2) Reticuli continues its mission, Prophet crew still can't detect any life signs around system's celestial bodies while Diplomats position themselves right at the end of the wormhole from which they appeared, hoping mysterious aliens will travel through it once again at some point.
5th February 2163, 02:02:34, three alien ships pop out from the wormhole, right in front of Diplomats' crewmembers' eyes. They're so close it's possible to observe their ships with naked eyes. Each one of them is marked with the same symbol:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795099768002707526/unknown.png)
"Diplomats" as everyone started to casually refer to the Diplomats' crew, stare at it with silence, baffled. While the triangles are just a generic symbol, Ouroboros definitely isn't. Presence of the symbol humanity itself has created at some point on their hulls remains yet another unsolved mystery.
Aliens transfer yet another set of signals that can't be translated. Two of them fly away towards planets in the system while the third one remains motionless. One of the pictures taken by Diplomats managed to catch one of their crewmates.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795101434739818496/unknown.png)
"They appear to be all-mechanical" - says the photographer. While pronouncing "mechanical", she sneezed, making it sound like "mechiiiiiiii!"
And so "Mechi" sticks as an official name by which the alien sentience will be referred.
To check this hypothesis, psionic squad immediately engages those alive-maybe-not-so-alive beings. After three hours of not a single brain wave received, the commander gives up.
Sure, they might not be psi-capable, but it's impossible for them to not transmit any brain activity whatsoever. It looks like the aliens are really just robots. Creations of a civilisation yet to be encountered, long extinct or a product of cybernetic ascension, that remains unknown.
Another wormhole is discovered on the other site of the star, indicating this might be just a transit system, just like WISE 1150+6302. One of the two Diplomats positions itself near it, and indeed detects spaceships passing by, warping in or out of the system via wormhole. According to the current orders, the Representative Fleet has to stay within one system for now and so it does.
Meanwhile fleet of Guidance-class starships positions itself in strategic locations to allow easy transit between Solar and HIP 47650 systems. Terraria stations begin its slow cruise to the system in order to prepare it for the arrival of colonists.
"If you want peace, be prepared for war" - says Martian Navy Admiral as a brand-new anti-missile ships get designed. Just in case.
Phalanx class Missile Destroyer 17,346 tons 370 Crew 4,155.9 BP TCS 347 TH 630 EM 1,680
5188 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 9-59 Shields 56-280 HTK 104 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 67.78
Maint Life 0.60 Years MSP 8,800 AFR 3469% IFR 48.2% 1YR 14,680 5YR 220,198 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
J17400(3-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 17400 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (1) Power 1800 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 61.5 billion km (137 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-100 Turret (1x20) Range 50,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Gauss Cannon R500-100 (4x5) Range 50,000km TS: 6,250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R51-TS25000 (50%) (5) Max Range: 51,200 km TS: 25,000 km/s 80 61 41 22 2 0 0 0 0 0
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 280 Range 23.1m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
ECM 20
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
More terraforming stations appear on Nibiru's orbit. The government doesn't give up and still wants to colonize and exploit the planet's richies. Another wave of protests hits as more Terraria stations approach the planet.
Engineer from Proxima b comes up with a project of putting giant lens on Nibiru's orbit. These lens would accumulate and reflect sunlight and the effect it'd cause would make the sun visible from the surface during the day appear as big as on Earth. Everybody seems to agree that this could help make Nibiru a "really nice planet to live on" upon completion of the terraforming, bringing the never-ending struggle and paranoia to an end.
For now though, benefiting from accelerating AI development, more automated mining and smelting compounds are being assembled on the surface with plans to start accumulating resources quickly to kickstart planet's economy on a grand scale once life support systems will no longer be needed.
Martian shypards and spaceports, on the surface and orbit alike, are going through rapid development and expansion as new Gladiators, Valors and Phalanxes are being assembled to no end, making for a first real combat-capable fleet and spicing up the space battles done for sport. Phalanx ships are perfect for this role as their Gauss anti-missile cannons barely scratch the shields with each shot, but are able to accelerate a lot of small projectiles, making fights last longer, but with way more shots fired.
An unusual brain activity patterns discovered among those who were willing to stay on Nibiru by psionic team from Europa. While the differences are rather minimal, they're definitely there. The graphs and plots displaying brain activities of Nibiru colonists "twist and whirl in an unsettling way", claim data and psi scientists analyzing them.
Information about contact with extraterrestrial intelligence eventually leak to the public. The fact that current research and communication attempts are centered around Zeta Recituli, a system with long history of ufo consipracy theories enthusiasts' fascination, doesn't help.
It's a coincidence, government officials say and release pictures of alien vessels, which certainly don't look like flying saucers. Tinfoil hat wearers still claim it to either be a lie or an "acceptable error, flying saucers or not, these are aliens in Zeta Recituli, no matter what."
Search for life signs in the system doesn't yeld any results.
11th June 2163, a breakthrough in communication attempts is made. Signals that initially were believed to be a hum of ship's systems working turned out to be the chatter of Mechis. This huge amount of data should greatly help with deciphering their language. So far one phrase that stood out, repeated multiple times, got identified. Translated to human-readable alphabet it reads "Khanate of Baile Scread" and appears to be their species name they call themselves with.
Mechi ships pass by, yet the one from which the photo of Mechi comes from still floats near the wormhole, still visible with naked eyes by Diplomats. Which gives hope that they're interested in communicating as well rather than opening fire. A name of its captain gets identified: "Khaidugiin Juchi".
Encouraged, Diplomats begin sending lots of data about themselves and human race, careful not to let any classified info slip through. Maybe aliens will decipher human messages first.
A strategic and tactical map of the so far explored stars gets designed. Many captains praise it for being simplistic, yet clear and containing all the data they need during interstellar flights.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795121221774868530/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/795121507222159360/unknown.png)
Terraforming of Alpha Centauri-A II progresses. As water and oxygen are being pumped into the atmosphere, pockets of almost dead grass come back to life and blossom, similar to what was happening on Alpha Centauri-B IV back when it was terraformed.
Government looks for a system to colonize that lies closer to the Mechi-visited worlds to allow for easier communications with the mechanical beings. Uncovering whether they're pure robots assembled by something somewhere or species of a civilization that achieved cybernetic ascension is deemed to be a priority.
Commander of psi squad that attempted mind-to-mind communication around that famous wormhole near WISE 1150+6302 points out something obvious, yet omitted by everybody else so far: if this was a case of cybernetic ascension, most probably the robots would contain alien brains inside them, which would make them as vulnerable to psionic as everyone else. Even with the finest anti-psi tech, there was no way humanity couldn't at least receive the scans of their brain activities.
Scientists, obviously having better understanding of the topic than a soldier, quickly disprove this thesis. Sure, the waves must have been emitted, but there was nothing stopping them from having special implants and software in their mechanical body that'd capture and distort them in some way, effectively hiding them from the scans.
Not to mention their souls were most probably digitalized, having a biological brain inside a robotic body, while great achievement of its own, can't be placed in the "ascension" range.
And so the question remains unanswered and deciphering alien language is the only option to progress further.
Exploration continues. Next two systems are being explored:
Epsilon Eridani system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796042785676853258/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796042920465662002/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796043002417905665/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796043154738118656/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796043254264758286/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796043437031292948/unknown.png)
The system appears to be interesting for numerous reasons.
Traces of microorganisms in the upper layers of Epsilon Eridani-A II's atmosphere are found. Numerous planets contain frozen water on the surface. Large asteroid belt roughly 250-300 bilions of kilometers from the sun, thus difficult to mine, but potentially rich. If terraformed, Epsilon Eridani-A IV could serve a similar role as Alpha Centauri-B V, if it is a mineral-rich world.
But most interesting is Epsilon's Eridani's own "planet X", the 10th large celestial body from the sun. There are some differences, but too many things match.
While with much lower gravity and atmosphere pressure than Nibiru, the planet has almost the same distance from the sun and surface temperature, similarly hydrogen-helium based atmosphere and while not as mountainous, some ranges and summits are definitely present. Scientists wonder if the "second Nibiru" will have similar psychological effects on humans as the original one.
Preemptive protests in Solar and Alpha Centauri systems immediately explode upon hearing about the discovery, just in case "the government will be stupid enough to colonize that one, too."
Luyten 726-8 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796046401133871125/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796046486244032522/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796046583825039411/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796046699977113650/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796047205923684422/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796047285674573834/unknown.png)
Luyten 726-8-B II could in theory conatin either life or traces of it, given the nitrogen-based atmosphere with traces of CO2 and Argon as well as presence of ice sheets.
Ultimately in Zeta(2) Recituli no life signs are detected despite numerous search missions. Three wormholes exist in total, one that led to it from WISE 1150+6302, two unexplored.
Numerous missions to explore Mechi wormholes and try to push the communication attempts further are launched.
Last unexplored wormhole from WISE 1150+6302 leads to GJ 1277 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796048976771285042/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796049083336753212/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796049206925590548/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796049340154118164/unknown.png)
If any life exists there, it'd be located on GJ 1277-A VI planet and be methane-based.
One of the two still unexplored wormholes in Zeta(2) Reticuli system leads close to HIP 79762 star that doesn't host a planetary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796050243954802699/unknown.png)
It contains four another wormholes in total.
"It's like hydra", one of the members of exploration missions into Mechi territory says. "For each explored wormhole we discover a few unexplored. So far no other means of FTL travel by Mechi were detected, only these stable wormholes, though with each one we discover the chances of it being a natural phenomenon are slimmer and slimmer. It's a powerful, interstellar civilization we're talking about here."
Another wormhole leads to Zeta(1) Reticuli system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796051915908579398/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796052074944135188/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796052328577761310/unknown.png)
The system doesn't look very promising in terms of finding Mechi-inhabited worlds as it consists of only a large asteroid belt and one hellish Venus-like planet. Numerous Mechi fleets are detected, though.
Government tries to figure out where to set up a colony that'd supply exploration and representative fleets allowing them to not come back to Solar System each time, significantly cutting the breaks between exploration of Mechi worlds and contact attempts as well as move the best SETI teams there.
-
Due to placement of wormholes Ross 128 seems to be the current border of Mechi-known space, however since the star doesn't contain any planets, EZ Aquarii is looked at next. Planets there contain resources needed to refuel and resupply starships. However, as this ternary system was deemed by astrophysicists unstable, large permanent populations are not an option. Establishing a refuelling and resupplying stations ideally would require keeping all the personnel in space, with a fleet of Arks and Guidances for assistance with FTL travel ready to pull out everyone and everything from the system immediately in case of emergency.
In the meantime Martian docks boil from the amount of work their engineers and technicians have. Government wants peace with Mechi, hence it prepares for war.
Through the 2160s a mighty fleet gets assembled, composed of Gladiators (scientists try to improve laser and particle beam technology to allow creation of a next-gen assault ships) as well as brand new designs of Valor carriers and missile cruisers:
Chimera class Carrier 52,298 tons 838 Crew 9,244.5 BP TCS 1,046 TH 1,890 EM 1,680
5162 km/s Armour 1-124 Shields 56-280 HTK 238 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 31.76
Maint Life 0.55 Years MSP 40,110 AFR 21880% IFR 303.9% 1YR 73,449 5YR 1,101,738 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 23,375 tons
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG CIC PFC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 500 Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (3) Power 5400 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 51 billion km (114 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
Quad 15.0cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser Turret (1x4) Range 192,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 24-16 RM 40,000 km ROF 10
CIWS-250 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R192-TS25000 (50%) (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 25,000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R23 (1) Total Power Output 22.6 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS5-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 21 Range 5.8m km MCR 520.3k km Resolution 1
Strike Group
50x Valor Fighter Speed: 8568 km/s Size: 9.34
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Tomahawk class Missile Cruiser 45,391 tons 1,131 Crew 11,728 BP TCS 908 TH 1,890 EM 1,680
5948 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 9-113 Shields 56-280 HTK 208 Sensors 28/16/0/0 DCR 6 PPV 80
Maint Life 0.51 Years MSP 6,968 AFR 2747% IFR 38.2% 1YR 13,598 5YR 203,977 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Magazine 2,528
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
J49200(3-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 49200 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (3) Power 5400 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 4,000,000 Litres Range 47 billion km (91 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
CIWS-250 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Size 12 Missile Launcher (5) Missile Size: 12 Rate of Fire 30
Size 1 Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size: 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC31-R20 (50%) (1) Range 31.4m km Resolution 20
Missile Fire Control FC52-R20 (50%) (1) Range 52.3m km Resolution 20
Borodino Anti-Ship Missile (150) Speed: 32,000 km/s End: 16.9m Range: 32.4m km WH: 25 Size: 12 TH: 170/102/51
Chesma AMM (728) Speed: 35,200 km/s End: 24.6m Range: 52m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 234/140/70
Active Search Sensor AS60-R100 (50%) (20) GPS 10500 Range 60m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH2-28 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 41.8m km
EM Sensor EM2-16 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
ECCM-1 (1) ECM 20
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Work on Chimera design is not finished, though, as engineers wish to put an Alcubierre Drive on it which would allow not only for Chimeras' own transit, but also to carry non-FTL ships in the assembled combat fleet such as Gladiators, for example, with them, similar to the way Guidance starships were created to assist Arks in interstellar space station transport.
A contest for anti-missile ship is announced, which quickly turns into quality vs quantity battle. "Why not both?" says government as more resources reach Core Worlds, though. Two designs are picked up, each being the best from its worlds: Phalanx, representing Quality, and Vanguard, representing Quantity:
Phalanx class Missile Destroyer 16,855 tons 375 Crew 4,134.7 BP TCS 337 TH 630 EM 1,680
5339 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 9-58 Shields 56-280 HTK 104 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 2 PPV 67.78
Maint Life 0.95 Years MSP 4,706 AFR 1136% IFR 15.8% 1YR 4,954 5YR 74,314 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
J17400(3-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 17400 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (1) Power 1800 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 63.3 billion km (137 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-100 Turret (1x20) Range 50,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Gauss Cannon R500-100 (4x5) Range 50,000km TS: 6,250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R51-TS25000 (50%) (5) Max Range: 51,200 km TS: 25,000 km/s 80 61 41 22 2 0 0 0 0 0
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 280 Range 23.1m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
ECM 20
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Vanguard class Missile Destroyer 24,378 tons 634 Crew 7,483.5 BP TCS 488 TH 1,260 EM 840
7383 km/s Armour 5-74 Shields 28-280 HTK 114 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 168
Maint Life 1.06 Years MSP 4,959 AFR 951% IFR 13.2% 1YR 4,417 5YR 66,259 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (2) Power 3600 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 3,000,000 Litres Range 65.6 billion km (102 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (1) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.1 per second)
Single Gauss Cannon R500-100 Turret (20x5) Range 50,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R51-TS25000 (50%) (20) Max Range: 51,200 km TS: 25,000 km/s 80 61 41 22 2 0 0 0 0 0
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 280 Range 23.1m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The group of 15426 humans with the gender of "combat spaceship" protest against "gender-based discrimination and identity theft", but as more news regarding Mechi leaks to the public, no one gives a smeg as humanity has bigger concerns than political correctness paranoia. In order to silence them once and for all, government approves releasing a special matrix module just for them. This causes more unrest, though, as other groups of people start to protest against "matrix-based discrimination", demanding their own unique modules, too.
12th July 2165, 14:59:01, a breakthrough in communication efforts with Mechi is made. Two Diplomats operating in Zeta(1) Reticuli detect a large fleet floating above one of the asteroids, possibly some sort of deep space mining squadron, and manages to roughly translate their messages.
"You know nothing. Nibiru before. Coming from outer space. Leave. Reticuli unstable".
Although obviously Mechi didn't use the word "Nibiru", there was no doubt which planet they were referring to when they transmitted the parameters of the planet itself and the star it's orbiting.
"Outer space" isn't a very precise term, let alone lack of any mention about who or what is coming, however many linguistics and xenoarcheologists point out that given the questionable quality of translation and current understanding of Mechi language, "outer space", could as well mean "other space", "upper space", or plain "hyperspace".
Given the Mechi's knowledge of wormholes, "coming from hyperspace" sounds very worrying and mysterious. The next goals of the representative-exploration mission are as follows: get the knowledge about other dimensions and wormholes out of them as well as more info about Nibiru. But first make sure they really meant "coming from hyperspace".
From there, though, the communication doesn't progress well.
"Won't speak no master. You know nothing. Curious but stupid. Nibiru doomed. Outer space not tinker. Reticuli unstable. Leave."
The next messages contain nothing but "Leave."
However, mission goes on, humanity refuses to leave without knowledge they need to prepare for whatever is "coming from outer space".
14th September 2165, 02:02:03, one of the two Diplomats stationed in Zeta(1) Reticuli emits distress signal to the other one as the "mining fleet" floating near the asteroid suddenly fires laser beams at it. Communications end within seconds. The other Diplomat tries to power up FTL drive, but is quickly intercepted by another fleet.
14th September 2165, 11:48:12, Prophet heading from GJ 1277 gets shot down before it could raise its shields not too long after using wormhole to travel to the WISE 1150+6302 from where it was supposed to use Alcubierre Drive to go back to Earth directly. Last received messages suggest the crew immediately knew what was going on in Zeta(1) Recituli due to intercepting Diplomats' distress signals that travelled through the Mechi wormholes instantly and attempted to flee.
Signals of what happened around Mechi space get picked up accidentially by a Prophet heading to explore Tau Ceti. The crew immediately turned back to the Earth and reported about its findings.
A ship designed to search for potential survivors floating in life pods is supposed to be built quickly, but it's obvious for everyone possible life pods would expire before they can be reached, not to mention the dangers of travelling through hostile territory, so it was more of a PR move from the government. Nervertheless, Lifebringers from now on are supposed to accomplish rescuing missions or accompany war fleets in case someone finds themselves out there, floating in space with limited air, food and water supply.
Lifebringer class Hospital Ship 20,357 tons 490 Crew 6,833.2 BP TCS 407 TH 1,890 EM 1,680
13263 km/s Armour 4-66 Shields 56-280 HTK 86 Sensors 28/16/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 42
Maint Life 0.60 Years MSP 3,048 AFR 663% IFR 9.2% 1YR 5,057 5YR 75,858 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 1,000
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (3) Power 5400 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 52.4 billion km (45 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
Single Gauss Cannon R500-100 Turret (5x5) Range 50,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
CIWS-250 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R51-TS25000 (50%) (5) Max Range: 51,200 km TS: 25,000 km/s 80 61 41 22 2 0 0 0 0 0
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 280 Range 23.1m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM2-16 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Thermal Sensor TH2-28 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 41.8m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
There was no time to cater an Alcubierre Drive to it, also speed and own anti-missile defences were deemed crucial for the character of its operations, hence it'll always get escorted to its destination with FTL- and combat-capable squadron. Launching it all alone would be suicide anyways. Possibility of adding FTL drive at some point, after further design optimisations, are considered.
The government did not try to hide anything. Instead, war propaganda machine has been turned on. More and more Gladiators, Phalanxes, Vanguards and Tomahawks were leaving Martian docks.
Many factories in Core Worlds were switched to production of missiles for Tomahawks.
Firs goal of the incoming war is to assault Mechi territory, establishing space superiority and creating safe spots for scientists to study wormholes and continue research into hyperspace. Secondary goals include further understanding of alien culture and language as well as capturing some of the surviving crewmembers of their combat fleets.
Meanwhile Prophet crew that first intercepted distress signals and went back to Core Worlds managed to reach Tau Ceti:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796082837790392380/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796082945105854494/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796083019357224970/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796083154753814588/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796083302170755082/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796083395041165392/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796083478982557796/unknown.png)
Life existence on the surface of Tau Ceti-A V is theoretised, but all the attention is received by Tau Ceti-A IV. It is by far the closest planet to Earth discovered.
A bit lower gravity and atmospheric pressure as well as higher temperatures making most of its surface covered by hot deserts and badlands, but otherwise it has everything. Nitrogen-oxygen based atmosphere, liquid water, other parameters are close enough. Prophet crew gets thrilled as it flies towards the planet.
21th December 2165, 13:24:36, Prophet's radars detect 19 extremely fast-moving objects. They fly directly at the starship, originating from the planet or its orbit.
21th December 2165, 13:24:37, defense systems are powered up and shields are being raised, Gauss Cannons safely disarm all 19 missiles. Prophet powers up Alcubierre Drive in emergency mode.
21th December 2165, 13:38:47, after shooting down most of the incoming missiles and tanking the rest with its shields Prophet enganges Alcubierre Drive and disappears within warp bubble, speeding straight towards the Earth to deliver the news.
Back on Earth everyone is proud of the engineers and scientists behind Prophet's defensive systems and congratulates its valiant crew.
Data analysis team on Earth manages to figure out the rough design of whatever opened fire at Prophet.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796088451123904613/unknown.png)
Barrels on the sides of the spacecraft could very much be missile launchers, space combat experts say. Ship's design indicates a probability of some medicore or even more advanced and powerful Alcubierre Drives being used. Provided it is FTL-capable at all. While vastly different than Mechi ships, there's too little information to exclude their presence in the system as the Tau Ceti exploration group moved immediately towards Tau Ceti-A IV after only brief system-wide scans, without paying much attention to detect wormholes or any other signs of alien sentience within the system.
Detection of unknown hostile forces in Tau Ceti changes the war plans. Some ships will be stationed in EZ Aquarii system to defend against Mechis while the main fleet will engage forces in Tau Ceti to determine the nature of the enemy and answer the pending questions whether they're Mechi or is it another, unrelated (or another, but related) sentience.
No communication attempts were made by Tau Ceti aliens, they just fired their missiles. The crew was too focused on escaping too quickly to gather much data, so for now all the questions regarding this discovery will remain unanswered. The current strategic situation, with all the systems explored by humans personally, looks as follows:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796092092795453440/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796092171362369587/unknown.png)
-
Meanwhile wormholes detected in WISE 2359-7335, NN 3815, NN 3009 and WISE 2343-7418 cause mass panic to ensue. Could they also belong to Mechi? Could they reach inhabited systems from another direction, taking human fleets into crossfire or assaulting Core Worlds while the main force will be operating in Tau Ceti or Zeta(1) Reticuli? What if they were creation of another alien civilization? Also hostile? Or what if that was the danger that was "coming from
outerhyperspace"?
After signing contract with the government itself, powerful space exploitation company establishes fully automated mining operation on Proxima Centauri c, as the planet's gravity's too high for humans to live there for longer periods of time to further boost the economy. War is always resource-hungry.
Despite lack of any evidence whatsoever, upon receiving those few messages from Mechi before they opened fire, XAT moves to Nibiru to conduct the largest scientific and exploration mission on the planet's surface so far, hoping to find more clues as to what happened there (if something happened) and find any links with the mysterious messages.
Child whose both parents are psi-capable is discovered to be a prodigy. "It's another sign of evolution moving towards psionic" scientists comment.
5th January 2166, first successful operation of transplanting a dying patient's brain into a robot. Doctors estimate this will extend patient's lifespan up to a twenty years. "This is by no means a cybernetic ascension, it's still the same biological brain, consider it the pinnacle of cybernetic implantology" say doctors to debunk the consipracy theories that rise around this medical achievement, especially with the recent events involving Mechi. "My new body lacks enough movement precsision" claims the patient himself.
Pacifists protest against sending the fleet to attack Mechi and aliens in Tau Ceti. Government claims we're not knowing what we're dealing with and it's better to be safe, it's only a matter of time before they reach Core Worlds and harm humanity.
In the meantime government officially approves usage of psionic as a new form of punishment besides imprisonment. Some claim that all the war propaganda served to distract the public and silently pass controversial laws like this and they're partially right. Partially, because war propaganda would be broadcasted anyways.
Some people point out that psionic usage will allow the criminals to feel exactly what their victims felt during the crime, recreating particular scenes and feelings in their heads, and thus might be the best form of punishment invented so far if done right.
After numerous tweaks and fixes, Chimera enters production in its final form:
Chimera class Carrier 57,203 tons 1,126 Crew 11,375.6 BP TCS 1,144 TH 1,890 EM 1,680
4720 km/s JR 5-250 Armour 5-132 Shields 56-280 HTK 269 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 13 PPV 31.76
Maint Life 0.54 Years MSP 5,615 AFR 2014% IFR 28.0% 1YR 10,303 5YR 154,548 Max Repair 1640.5 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 23,375 tons
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG CIC PFC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 500 Morale Check Required
J60000(5-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 60000 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 5
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (3) Power 5400 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 46.6 billion km (114 days at full power)
Beta S28 / R280 Shields (2) Recharge Time 280 seconds (0.2 per second)
Quad 15.0cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser Turret (1x4) Range 192,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 24-16 RM 40,000 km ROF 10
CIWS-250 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R192-TS25000 (50%) (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 25,000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R23 (1) Total Power Output 22.6 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS5-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 21 Range 5.8m km MCR 520.3k km Resolution 1
Strike Group
50x Valor Fighter Speed: 8568 km/s Size: 9.34
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Government prepares to set up the largest deep space mining operation conducted so far. New starships, fitted exactly for this purpose, begin assembly. Their crew is selected to be the toughest out of the toughest to cope with staying for years to come in deep space, far away from home, maybe even so far away that the local sun barely reaches them, stranded somewhere in interstellar space, mining asteroids at the system's edge, just like it'll be the case in Epsilon Eridani system.
Arrow class Geological Survey Vessel 42,180 tons 815 Crew 4,081.9 BP TCS 844 TH 4,800 EM 0
5689 km/s Armour 1-107 Shields 0-0 HTK 237 Sensors 0/0/0/10 DCR 100 PPV 0
Maint Life 11.91 Years MSP 26,048 AFR 142% IFR 2.0% 1YR 339 5YR 5,078 Max Repair 400 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months Morale Check Required
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (3) Power 4800 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 1,609.1 billion km (3273 days at full power)
Improved Geological Sensors (5) 10 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Due to the rapidly increasing weight of this ship, engineers decide it'll be better for it to use Guidance system for FTL flights rather than have an Alcubierre Drive on its own.
Hyena class Mining Platform 190,228 tons 1,374 Crew 5,026.3 BP TCS 3,805 TH 4,800 EM 0
1261 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-294 Shields 0-0 HTK 225 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 9
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Orbital Miner: 20 modules producing 720 tons per mineral per annum
JC200K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 200000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (3) Power 4800 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 13,000,000 Litres Range 927.3 billion km (8511 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
To sustain the ever-hungry and ever-growing war fleet, Epsilon Eridani is deemed to be the next system to colonize due to its resource abundance rather than any good canditates among celestial bodies. Especially Epsilon Eridani-A II and II are very interesting for heavy industries, though hellish atmosphere will provide a challenge to exploit them. For now, the best thing to do is to use autonomous, AI-driven complexes.
Terraforming engineers suggest human population could be placed on one of the Epsilon Eridani-A VIII's airless moons. They'd only require to pupm up atmosphere with enough greenhouse gasses and water vapour, nothing challenging. Similarly humans could colonize Luyten 726-8-B V fourth moon, due it has poor gravity but is almost as big as Earth and the system is also worth exploiting for resources.
AI-driven mining and smelting starts on two dwarf planets orbiting EZ Aquarii-B, unaffected by three body problem.
Terraforming finishes on HIP 47650-A III ice planet and first few million colonists arrive at their new home. Warming the planet up caused ice sheets around equator to melt, creating a large ocean dividing north and south, but xenobiologists are happy given that most of the environment and ecosystems remained intact and planet's biosphere is surviving warmer temperatures rather well. The only possible issue might come up in the future as higher temperature means more flora and more flora means more herbivores that previously had to migrate for long distances in search for food. Hunters around the stars can't hide their excitement.
Terraria staff working on HIP 47650-A III quickly moves to HIP 47650-A II to finish the long-abandoned job and turn this desert into a habitable world.
A fleet of Hyenas moves to 2017 MB7 comet to test its long-cruise capabilities and psychological endurance of the crew.
Preemptive exploration of wormhole network first discovered in WISE 2359-7335 continues. Exploration fleet traverses one of the unexplored wormholes in WISE 2343-7418 and finds itself in NN 3704 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796870953665298452/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796871154584649789/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/796871594399629352/unknown.png)
Very simplistic life forms detected on NN 3704-A III, being the first documented case of methane-based extraterrestrial life. More research will be conducted in the future.
Main assault fleet prepares for the first real space battle in the history of humanity. It's mission: neutralise the target posing threat for exploration and colonisation of Tau Ceti system.
A new line of ships is formed to keep the combat-capable fleet well-stocked:
Stalwart class Replenishment Ship 24,118 tons 270 Crew 1,434.4 BP TCS 482 TH 1,600 EM 0
3317 km/s Armour 1-74 Shields 0-0 HTK 79 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 80,037 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (1) Power 1600 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 84.4 billion km (294 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Apart from supply ships, war efforts also call for improved Fuel Rats' vessels:
Kingfisher class Tanker 63,578 tons 350 Crew 2,184.9 BP TCS 1,272 TH 6,400 EM 0
5033 km/s Armour 1-141 Shields 0-0 HTK 91 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 21 Max Repair 400 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (4) Power 6400 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 30,000,000 Litres Range 6,406 billion km (14731 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 500 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Engineers work day and night to design a proper FTL drives for both designs, allowing them to operate independently and deliver their precious cargo quickly in an emergency situation.
12th May 2166, Assault Fleet composed of class Phalanx, Vanguard, Gladiator and Tomahawk spaceships warps into Tau Ceti System and heads towards deserts of Tau Ceti-A IV.
12th May 2166, 01:25:11, sensors detect hostile spaceship floating on planet's orbit which immediately launches missile volleys to no end. Amount of fired missiles, compared to the anti-missile capabilities of Assault Fleet was later described as "laughable" by those who took part in the first real space battle.
12th May 2166, 1:35:14, Tomahawks fire a bunch of Chesma missiles to probe enemy anti-missile defense systems.
12th May 2166, 1:35:50, the lonely ship not only did not have any means of defence, but it was too weak even for Chesma missiles, although engineers designing them claimed "these are not meant to actually cause damage, they're meant to detect and overwhelm enemy defesnes." From the distance of millions of kilometers the explosion was barely noticeable with naked eyes.
Due to enemy combat ability being vastly inferior to the expectations and imaginations sparked by the shock Prophet's crew operating in the system suffered from, many missiles flew past the wrecked ship and before their self-destruction triggered impacted the surface of the planet the lonely ship was trying to defend. Terraformers predict this will cause significant terraforming handicap, which is unfortunate because of how little work this planet needed to make it nearly perfect for humans to live on. The explosions weren't that many though, so it is expected that the majority of radiation will die off before the government will send terraformers, though, especially given Taui Ceti needs to be properly explored before any colonization attempts could be made.
16th May 2166, 23:58:02, exploration group travelling back home from NN 3704 via WISE 2343-7418 system detects two unknown veseels with their naked eyes as soon as they emerge in WISE 2343-7418 from the wormhole which led them to NN 3704 in the first place, eventually proving the theory about artificial origin of the second group of discovered wormholes.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798107889813291018/unknown.png)
The hulls of the ships are marked with strange symbols in several places. Different design, different symbol and on top of that the symbol appearing multiple times on one ship excludes the probability of these sentient beings being part of Mechi "species". But maybe they're the ones who created the robots, again, assuming Mechi are robots and not a civilisation which ascended via cybernetics? Or even if not creators, they're in some sort of pact with them?
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798108254642241536/unknown.png)
Given the lack of initial hostility chances of them being affiliated with Mechi in any way are estimated at "very low", as they do not open fire. However, they also do not respond. Representation fleet is sent to WISE 2343-7418 immediately, however aliens still refuse to send any messages, making everyone staring at their ships floating silently baffled and nervous. Not even a single "leave" Mechi were spamming shortly before opening fire. In response, Diplomats resign from sending messages and instead redirect all computing power and sensors to try to capture even the weakest signals that might be communication between the three ships.
17th May 2166, 11:52:34, two of the three ships are observed to suddenly disappear in space, as if aliens guessed Diplomats intentions and made sure they couldn't be heard by simply leaving the system. It is worth noting they didn't use any of the wormholes present, indicating they have also different, more "free-roam" FTL travel method, contrary to Mechi, who've never shown any other FTL capabilities beyond pre-stabilised wormholes yet. This raises concerns over Core Worlds security and the large investments in Proxima and Alpha Centauri systems as well as supply routes and safety of further interstellar expansion.
Biologists working on Terraria stations orbiting Venus manage to recreate photosynthesis process in lab conditions for the first time.
A group of medical researches on Mars finally synthesises artificial blood, which has even slightly better properties than natural one.
Latest estimations ran after more Terrarias reached Nibiru's orbit assume finishing terraforming in the next 25 years, government promises. Most of the population remains sceptical given the government is almost a hundred years too late according to the initial Nibiru colonisation plans back in the day when first inhabitants landed on the planet. Meanwhile Venus terraforming still has a long way to go and nobody complains, because it's been known since the beginning the project is gonna span across multiple generations and centuries.
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Efforts to track down mysterious aliens first seen in WISE 2343-7418 are made and exploration of the wormhole network continues. Last unexplored wormhole from WISE 2343-7418 leads to WISE 1519+7009, which doesn't have a planetary system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798110006503145482/unknown.png)
Industry on Earth and Mars blossoms and enters a steep curve of exponential growth, which boosts the economy. All the production and growth is meant to be used in other solar systems to accelerate most important planets' growth towards Core World status as well as to set up more mining colonies which will boost the economy even more.
Advancements in energetic weapons find applications in civilian sector as well, allowing for better asteroid mining techniques as well as more advanced mining and smelting on grand scale in general. With the help of powerful laser beams and cooling devices it is possible to reach minerals deeper than ever before.
Next candidates for colonisation are chosen:
Epsilon Eridani-A VIII's 8th Moon - it is large enough and contains resources that'd greatly help to rapidly develop mining and smelting infrastructure across the entire system, which'll allow for easy spread of human population there. Terraforming should be easy enough, although it won't be the most comfortable world to live on, because the almost absolute zero temperatures will require a lot of greenhouse gasses to be pumped into the atmosphere, making the pressure barely tolerable by average people.
A couple of Astera stations are brought to the orbit of Epsilon Eridani-A VIII. The gas giant's been chosen to become the main fuel source for ships to be able to refill their tanks in the system, cutting on the travel back to Sol once human presence is established.
Corporations help expand the infrastructure in HIP 47650 system. Population grows on HIP 47650-A III and HIP 47650-A II's terraforming is well underway, progressing according to the plan.
Alpha Centauri-A II is expected to be the first extraterrestial planet to gain the Core World status in the future. Additional colonists arrive to the Alpha Centauri system to further boost the economy and expansion in it.
Terraformers arrive on orbit of NN 3009-A V's third moon as it is almost as big as Earth and contains lots of resources. Terraforming is expected to take some time, though. Similarily to the situation in Epsilon Eridani, Astera stations are put to harvest fuel from NN 3009-A V and living conditions on the moon won't be great due to taking atmospheric pressure to the extreme as heating it up requires a lot of greenhouse gasses.
Corporation responsible for Proxima Centauri c autonomous exploitation grows in power, boosting the economy of Proxima Centauri b.
Another exploration mission travels to Luyten-Palomar 914-54 and HN Librae stars. They both lack a planetary system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798116764666953748/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798116838562988062/unknown.png)
Next target for the mission is HH Andromedae since some exoplanets were spotted in it via telescope placed on the outer edges of the Solar System:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798117578564304956/unknown.png?width=667&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798117683433570324/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798117804137512980/unknown.png?width=716&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798117887058509884/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798117977173393428/unknown.png?width=1386&height=433)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798118105246334986/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798118286520614952/unknown.png?width=1386&height=432)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798118382066991134/unknown.png?width=1386&height=427)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798118481957617664/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798118562862465034/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
HH Andromedae-A II appears to contain simple oxygen-based lifeforms thriving beneath ice sheets spannning across almost the entire surface, similar to the life that was once theoretized to exist beneath Europa's ice. The planet could be rather easily terraformed and colonized.
14th December 2169, XAT's mission to Tau Ceti-A IV explores ruins of a mysterious complex among planet's deserts.
Part of the planet is still irradiated and intoxicated after brief combat with the hostile alien vessel and no life can exist on it. However, in the other regions life thrives, among the blazing sands, in the skies, underground, in the seas and lakes that happen to exist between patches of scorched lands, closer to the poles.
Many of the species discovered on the planet are actually similar to their Earth counterparts, which isn't that surprising given the conditions on the planet are so similar it's unbelievable.
Salvaging of the wreck didn't reveal any traces of biological matter to exist onboard. It appears that the ship was fully automated and AI-driven. Similarily, the only biological matter that was found in the ruins came from lifeforms already discovered elsewhere on the planet, no indication of another species that could represent the civilization once existing there itself. As XAT teams moved forward around the complex, they found a couple of relatively intact machines:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798122225944887296/unknown.png)
It is theoretized that these machines were the robots running the complex and its defenses in orbit as well. Researches continue to uncover the mysteries of the complex, however the language used is so different from either any human language or Mechi speech that even the best linguistics struggle to understand anything from it. The structures are dated to be a few dozen millions years old at least, existing long before humanity was a thing.
Parts of the complex are completely sealed off and so far nobody could find a way to open them, either by figuring out how to unlock the doors or by brute force. As far as the latter option comes, energetic weapons didn't leave a scracth and usage of missiles was forbidden in order to not risk destruction of the planet's ecosystems as well as the content behind the sealed door.
Scientists working on Tau Ceti-A IV report their mood worsening over time. Psi team arriving to investigate the problem found some psionic interference, but couldn't discover the source of it as well as effectively counter it. Answers to the mystery probably lie in the closed parts. Attempts of cracking it open will be continued.
Analysis of the materials used to build the complex showed some similarities to the mineral composition of Nibiru mountains. Further questions are raised. Could this be that the civilization that built this complex long before humanity existed also inhabited Nibiru, however it was at times so ancient that even such sturdy structures and alloys deteriorated enough for the current mining technology to be able to extract resources from them? If that was true, this would explain why mining on Nibiru is actually quite hard and requires lots of power and effort. For now, "Precursor Hypothesis", a hypothesis of sentient life so ancient that it thrived on Nibiru at some point, then established an outpost serving whatever purpose on Tau Ceti-A IV and later either left these two planets to their own devices or went extinct lacks a solid proof that'd confirm it, though. Nevertheless it gains some support among scientific communities because of the messages left by Mechi about "Nibiru before, humanity next". Government wants to send some terraforming stations as soon as possible to apply neccessary tweaks to the planet so it could better support human life and give its colonization a priority to help exploration missions and gather more data on the structures found and civilization who's built them.
As colonies grow exponentially, so do their needs. A new, huge freighter fleet consisting of next-gen starships is assembled to quickly deliver all kind of cargo to the edges of explored systems and beyond:
Beholder class Freighter 186,645 tons 1,014 Crew 5,377.6 BP TCS 3,733 TH 16,000 EM 0
4286 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-290 Shields 0-0 HTK 190 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 18 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cargo 75,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC200K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 200000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (10) Power 16000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 72.7 billion km (196 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
2170s
1st May 2170, 11:45:41, staff of Terraria stations orbiting NN 3009-A V's third moon detect a strange gravitational anomaly appearing within the system while observing space with a telescope during their lunch break.
5th June 2175, research team arrives on site and begins its task. The anomaly in question looks like a black hole. It has massive gravity well, too strong for any small probe to approach it without imminent destruction, diameter of 40 milion kilometers and is pitch black inside. Many of the scientists participating in the mission dread what they see, the vastness of blackness they see is too much for them to handle. They stay so close to it that they see the spacetime bend over the "blackhole" and a big portion of the sky they'll see for the duration of the mission is nothing but pure darkness.
It'd be classified as a black hole and everyone would move on with their lives, except there's one tiny issue with it. Black holes don't appear out of nowhere in the vacuum like this thing did. On top of that the gravity force, while strong, is far weaker than what would be expected from a black hole of this size. As a consequence of low gravity for a black hole it doesn't even seem to suck matter in that much. Another possibility is that this is yet another wormhole created by the mysterious aliens spotted around these parts of space since NN 3009 is linked with a couple other stars via wormhole network and some of those wormholes still remain unexplored.
However, it's different than any other wormhole discovered so far.
Scientific mission in NN 3009 grinds to a halt unless detailed simulations show that modern starships are capable of entering the anomaly with relatively low risk of getting crushed by gravity.
And so the brave captain of one of the exploratory starships and his crew volunteers to go beyond what humanity ever imagined to reach.
12th July 2175, 17:32:51, valiant Prophet crew enters the "blackwormhole".
12th July 2175, 17:45:51, the ship makes it through with only minor scratches and scretches of the hull. Some non-essential damaged rooms and corridors were sealed off and had the air sucked out in case the hull fails to avoid violent destruction. The captain sends first message: "It's so dark and empty here I feel primeval fear while looking at this nothingness. However, there are bright dots starting to appear behind us, either stars or galaxies, can't really tell. We must be far, far from home right now."
12th July 2175, 22:52:47, captain claims that after running hundreds of simulations and staring at stellar maps they were able to finally identify where they are. It appears that the anomaly is indeed a wormhole and it landed them at the edge of Bootes Void.
Bootes Void explains the blackness seen from the NN 3009 side of the wormhole. It is speculated that it is far larger than any of the wormholes encountered so far because maybe linking points at larger distance requires larger wormhole diameter, which would be compatible with some early conclusions of some physicists researching wormholes since the day the first one's been discovered.
All the light years travelled by all humans combined so far mean nothing compared to the 700 milions of light years separating Bootes Void and Earth. However, the placement of the wormhole is impractical in reaching "far edges of the universe" as there's nothing on the other side and the closest celestial bodies are too far for the current Alcubierre Drives to reach them within reasonable time.
Only one question remains.
How the hell did it appear there? Could this be that the mysterious aliens first spotted near WISE 2343-7418 pulled off such an enormous feat compared to their other "wormhole achievements" documented so far? Just like that, out of the blue? If they posses such advanced technology, then why do they still create so many small wormholes to link nearby stars, even the ones without a planetary system, rather than making a larger one, skipping useless, empty systems, for example? And why does it lead into the void, so far away from any celestial body?
Despite all these questions, it is expected that "Void Wormhole" could help speed up research into wormholes and other dimensions in general, providing humanity with instant communication across the stars, without the need for "post office starships", and much faster ways to travel across the stars as well.
Terraforming in Epsilon Eridani grands to a halt as the targeted moon proves to be too difficult to heat up and despite pumping more greenhouse gasses in, temperature stabilised at around -138C. As this is the first case of greenhouse gasses not being enough, alternatives are being researched. It is initially theorised that in order for human population to live there comfortably, an array of some sort of "planetary heaters" will be needed. While still better than the life support systems needed to keep the population there alive and well without terraforming support, it looks like it won't eliminate the problem of life support infrastructure dependence for the future population. Apart from the inconvenience of sucking out part of workforce to build and then maintain those heaters the moon will still be nice to live on, with liquid water and everything, gowernment promises. But the proposed infrastructure will take out half of the predicted workforce regardless.
Problems in Epsilon Eridani pose concerns about terraforming happening in NN 3009 system and, obviously, the infamous Nibiru terraforming project. Government promises to "find a solution".
Many people live in fear after reports from Tau Ceti-A IV mission leaks into the public, especially those who stayed on Nibiru.
A few biologists suggests the possibility of adapting human bodies to the "frozen hell" of worlds that couldn't be warmed up enough by putting them into "half-cryostasis" that'd leave them awake but having their metabolism slowed down enough to not die, just like during cryogenic sleep interstellar colonists endure on a regular basis. This is a long shot, many experts comment, but at the same time many claim that thermal cybernetic implants and increase in people having brains transplanted into robotic bodies could indeed help mitigate the problem of extremely low temperatures.
Mars crosses 2 bilions inhabitants and Earth 5,5 bilions, which adds up to Earth population in pre-COVID 19 times. Despite some radical feminists protesting here and there from time to time, many social programs encouraging women to have more children helped, even if only so little.
A celebrity from Alpha Centauri-B IV asks whether toilet paper exists in outer space. Captain of the first mission to the Bootes Void "can't bring himself to break her heart by telling the truth that they couldn't find either toilet paper rolls or at least some traces of them even while exploring the biggest smeghole visited by humans so far." After over 150 years everyone got used to the fact that some things will never be the same and toilet paper was long gone, lost in the turbulent past of human race forever.
An astrophysicist from Proxima b working on the "Void Wormhole" project is the first one to notice the wormhole connecting NN 3009 with Bootes Void is expanding at an annual rate of roughly one million kilometres in diameter. Societies on every so far colonised celestial body shocked and terrified. "It's as if the wormhole was jealous of black holes and wanted to 'be just like them because that's cool'", physicists try to explain. While the numbers sound scary, scientists try to calm people down by telling them that at the current expansion rate it'll take hundreds of years for the wormhole to reach and "suck in" the closest celestial body.
13th February 2177, 13:15:41, humans traverse Void Wormhole for the second time.
13th February 2177, 13:36:03, contact with the Second Void Wormhole Mission is lost. It looks as if the starship just vanished, ceased to exist, evaporated. A rescue operation is quickly assembled, however the arriving rescue operation group is unable to find the disappeared ship, the crew or any traces of them at all or at least come up with a hypothesis what's happened. No messages of the missing crew trying to call for help, escape or comment on something extraordinary are captured.
Given the mystery of the wormhole and alien presence spotted operating within the systems linked via wormholes to NN 3009, a state of public emergency is declared. Whether those aliens have anything to do with what happened or not, better safe than sorry, says the government as three brand new designs of assault ships make it to the assembly phase:
Blade class Assault Ship 15,675 tons 465 Crew 5,179.6 BP TCS 313 TH 1,260 EM 6,240
11483 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 10-55 Shields 208-520 HTK 67 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 20
Maint Life 0.63 Years MSP 1,832 AFR 393% IFR 5.5% 1YR 2,904 5YR 43,562 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
J17400(3-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 17400 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (2) Power 3600 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 34 billion km (34 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
R120/C4 Meson Cannon (5) Range 120,000km TS: 11,483 km/s Power 6-4 RM 120,000 km ROF 10
CIWS-320 (2x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R120-TS32000 (50%) (1) Max Range: 120,000 km TS: 32,000 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R23 (1) Total Power Output 22.6 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (4) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
ECCM-1 (1) ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Pike class Assault Ship 16,370 tons 512 Crew 6,528 BP TCS 327 TH 1,260 EM 6,240
10996 km/s Armour 10-57 Shields 208-520 HTK 84 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 72
Maint Life 0.64 Years MSP 2,046 AFR 429% IFR 6.0% 1YR 3,204 5YR 48,054 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (2) Power 3600 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 32.6 billion km (34 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
Particle Lance-18 (2) Range 320,000km TS: 10,996 km/s Power 55-4 ROF 70
Particle Beam-9 (4) Range 320,000km TS: 10,996 km/s Power 22-4 ROF 30
CIWS-320 (1x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R450-TS16000 (50%) (2) Max Range: 450,000 km TS: 16,000 km/s 98 96 93 91 89 87 84 82 80 78
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R23 (1) Total Power Output 22.6 Exp 5%
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R5 (1) Total Power Output 5.2 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (4) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Striker class Assault Ship 15,279 tons 441 Crew 5,620.9 BP TCS 306 TH 1,260 EM 6,240
11781 km/s Armour 10-54 Shields 208-520 HTK 74 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 5 PPV 50
Maint Life 0.68 Years MSP 1,949 AFR 373% IFR 5.2% 1YR 2,868 5YR 43,024 Max Repair 1575 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Internal Fusion Drive EP1800.00 (2) Power 3600 Fuel Use 33.75% Signature 630.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 34.9 billion km (34 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
31.250cm C4 Soft X-ray Laser (5) Range 450,000km TS: 11,781 km/s Power 26-4 RM 60,000 km ROF 35
CIWS-320 (2x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R450-TS16000 (50%) (1) Max Range: 450,000 km TS: 16,000 km/s 98 96 93 91 89 87 84 82 80 78
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R23 (1) Total Power Output 22.6 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (4) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The adapted strategy against the unknown threat dictates squadrons composed of these three types of combat spaceships will patrol around Void Wormhole, strengthened with direct support of Missile Destroyers and long-range missile support from Tomahawks stationed at a distance, tasked with rapid assault of any hostile entities that might try to come through it. Research missions to Bootes Void are suspended till further notice.
An independent reporter makes a claim about flying saucers sightings around Cydonia. Government refuses to comment, claiming he probaly saw another bunch of warships leaving the famous shipyard located at Cydonia indeed.
The recently updated logistical, strategic and tactical situation of mankind among explored stars presents itself as follows:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798361251905798155/unknown.png?width=875&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/798361413840011304/unknown.png)
-
Another exploration mission is launched, this time to TZ Arietis system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799406439231258664/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799406534182174730/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799406949120213092/unknown.png)
None of the planets look like a good place to live, despite first two holding potential for successful terraforming if desired, but initial estimations of geologists point out to mineral richness of some of the bodies there. TZ Arietis-A II's atmosphere has lower pressure, but otherwise the percentage amount of each gas makes it similar to Nibiru's atmosphere. At least before terraformers started to suck out hydrogen and helium and pump oxygen and greenhouse gasses instead.
Colonists arrive at Epsilon Eridani's-A VIII's eight moon by milions after the initial testing of planetary-scale heating systems (traditional life support facilities could have been used, but the new project could significantly reduce costs if successful, which it certainly was) thanks to the new fleet of colonization starships:
Gaia class Colony Ship 174,342 tons 1,010 Crew 7,981 BP TCS 3,487 TH 8,000 EM 0
2294 km/s Armour 1-278 Shields 0-0 HTK 169 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 28 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 500,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (5) Power 8000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 77.9 billion km (392 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Lacking an FTL drive to maintain capacity within still acceptable top speeds and fuel usage it relies on Guidance Systems to traverse interstellar space which leaves a lot to be desired for frontier expansion, but the primary focus was colonist capacity as Mission Gaia assumed rapid deployment of people from Core Worlds to most promising exoplanets helping them join the group of most important inhabited worlds as with the latest advancements in laser and particle beam technology mixed with private corporations fighting for profit boosted mining industries making relatively low populations on so far colonised exoplanets the bottleneck of further expansion growth. Long-terms plans involve making other systems be able to produce supplies and fleets for rapid expansion to the nearest stars around them just like currently Solar System is supposed to do.
The main focus of the initial part of the mission is Alpha Centauri-A II. Experts estimate that due to abundance of resources and extremely good conditions this planet is most probably going to be, together with Alpha Centauri-B IV, become the first exoplanet among Core Worlds. Gaia-class starships manage to deliver millions of much required workers to the colony, making its industry explode. Human economy blossoms.
By the end of the decade Earth is inhabited by nearly 6 bilion people and another 2,5 live on Mars and 0,5 on Europa. Earth's population is close to reaching pre-COVID-19 times in terms of inhabitants (of course not in terms of toilet paper accessibility) and together with Mars it has already surpassed these numbers. Humanity thrives both among the stars and in their home system.
Next step in Mission Gaia involves putting more colonists on the surface of HIP 47650-A II and III as the former finally finished terraforming and the system was neglected for quite some time due to other priorities of space programs and lack of enough colonization ships which Gaia's eventually resolved.
FIRST BOOTES WAR
1st August 2178, 16:22:35, an undetected threat blows up a Guidance starship which took a short break close to WISE 2359-7335 after escorting Gaia fleet to HIP 47650 and returning back to Earth to help more Gaia fleets in need of achieving superluminal velocities. The sole star became a popular spot among interstellar navigators cruising between Sol and HIP 47650 to quickly recalculate the coordinates and conventional speed vector to increase efficiency of the warp bubble. It was proven that making this break actually cuts up travel times roughly by two weeks compared to flying between two systems in question directly without stopping mid-way.
1st August 2178, 16:25:12, minutes after the incident terraformers of NN 3009-V's third moon receive the distress signal since NN 3009 and WISE 2359-7335 were linked by wormhole network, allowing for instant communication across many light years. The fastest "post office vessels" make a quick journey through the two wormholes separating systems and power up Alcubierre Drives instantly upon arriving at WISE 2359-7335, leaving the system as quickly as possible to deliver the news to Earth Main Naval Headquarters.
5th December 2178, 18:49:02, news about what happened reach Solar System. Main combat fleet is put into an emergency mode and quickly prepared for the journey.
26th February 2179, 06:06:05, fleet assembled from Phalanx and Vanguard for anti-missile defences, Tomahawks for own missile volleys and Gladiators for laser firefights warps near WISE 2359-7335 and moves towards estimated coordinates of the wreckage. The fleet also escorts a Lifebringer in case some Guidance crewmembers survived the assault and launched lifepods.
26th February 2179, 19:10:50, radars show fife ships floating near remnants of Guidance: one is very big, four others look smaller and more agile. Upon spotting human fleet, they turn tails and attempt to fly away. Brief scans indicate they're the same alien beings spotted within local wormhole network before.
Although the main task of the mission was to "find out what happened and search for potential survivors", fleet admiral decides the only course of action which could grant some knowledge is to pursue the attackers and try to capture some of them alive and interrogate, especially given how those species refused to send any messages during all past communication attempts Tomahawks arm their launchers. Meanwhile Lifebringer prepares to pick up 91 remaining survivors of the incident and heads towards Solar System, escorted by a few Phalanxes.
26th February 2179, 19:11:30, Tomahawks launch the first volley, quickly followed by next ones. Swooshing sound of dozens of missiles leaving barrels time after time again within seconds is heard by the crew of each firing ships.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799439479559028746/unknown.png)
26th February 2179, 19:16:37, according to onboard radars, first missiles reach their targets. An unknown signal is disturbing their support guidance systems, but nevertheless they manage to close in accurately. Dozens of enemy gauss cannons launch rubble at the missiles, intercepting many of them, but the swarm is too big. The biggest ship quickly gets teared apart. Remaining smaller ones escape at a velocity of roughly 11000 km/s, faster than their pursuers, but there's nothing that can be done - accelerating further would burn too much fuel for too small speed increase, leaving assault fleet with not enough fuel to go back to Core Worlds.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799440557695827969/unknown.png)
26th Februar 2179, 20:45:44, after many more volleys fired, only one ship manages to finally escape the range of Tomahawk's fire controls and tracking systems.
26th February 2179, 23:45:45, the sole survivor from enemy squadron disappears in the wormhole leading to NN 3815.
Before coming back home, the victorious naval forces briefly take a look at the wrecks, but a proper salvaging team will be needed to get anything useful out of them. Initial investigation reveals they were armed only with gauss and laser cannons, though.
A team of carefully selected scientists and engineers boards starships designed specifically with space wreckage exploration and salvaging:
Scavenger class Salvager 52,248 tons 407 Crew 3,045.3 BP TCS 1,045 TH 3,200 EM 0
3062 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 10-124 Shields 0-0 HTK 68 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 36 Max Repair 400 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Salvager: 2 module(s) capable of salvaging 1500 tons per day
JC60K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 60000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP1600.00 (2) Power 3200 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 1600 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 259.8 billion km (982 days at full power)
CIWS-320 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Meanwhile across human-controlled space public paranoia and unrest grow. According to the 91 survivors, invaders appeared out of nowhere, they couldn't detect them without military-grade radar arrays and out of the blue laser beams more powerful than any of those engineered by humans tore through the unarmored hull, causing instant explosion of ship's fusion reactor, killing most of the crew before anyone realised what happened.
More questions than answers appear as Scavengers successfully complete their mission. Unfortunately Invaders' weapon systems were too damaged to be of any use for engineers, however what's odd is that these ships haven't launched any sort of life pods or escape shuttles upon destruction. A tiny fraction of the bodies were not directly impacted by the explosion, making them float in the vacuum mostly intact which gave an insight as to how the aliens looked like:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799441158698696724/unknown.png)
Why they didn't try to save themselves remains currently unknown, making them that much scarier and more mysterious. As if their terrifying looks weren't enough to freeze the blood of every human being.
However, the most attention is paid to the biggest of destroyed ships. Most of the wreckage is pure space trash, however tiny bits of intact structures make scientists decipher its role. Apparently that one vessel had something to do with hyperspace and wormhole technologies. Analysis of its chain of explosions upon contact with missiles suggests massive power storage and output and certain scraps from devices floating around oddly resemble theoretical machines proposed by physicists that could be used to establish a wormhole or conduct experiments into the existence and properties of multi-dimensional planes. Detection of exotic matter particles surrounding debris cements the conclusions. As a result, research into wormholes and hyperspace receives even more funding and grants.
Meanwhile, the (in)famous Void Wormhole has expanded to over 80 milion kilometers in diameter and seems to be growing faster than before. Debate over abandoning or establishing a permanent strong military presence in NN 3009 system gets more and more heated with every day that passes in these uncertain days.
2180s
Preparations for the "First Bootes War" as the conflict with unknown invaders' forces arises accelerate in the Solar System. Martian shipyards and spaceports spit out more and more of Strikers, Blades and Pikes in fear of alien invasion. Although there's still no proof for the Invaders to arrive from the Bootes Void, given the recent research into wormholes and the direction route of the last "Guidance killer" it seems likely. And even if that exploratory starship disappearing on the edge of Bootes Void without a trace war caused by yet another threat, the commonly used name of the conflict stuck.
14th May 2180, 16:54:23, Prophet returning to Earth for refuelling and standard maintenance checkout is fired upon by an enemy fleet in NN 3815. Its shields hold off for long enough to give it a survival chance, however eventually laser beams overload it and puncture right through the starship's hull. 94 members of the personnel die from the impacts as beams tear through some crew quarters and blow up one of ship's engines. Warp drive also suffers a failure, however it is not critical and thanks to the monstrous efforts of engineering team quickly slapping duct tape onto it the crew successfully manages to establish a warp bubble, instantly leaving Invaders behind. Despite severe damage, ship is able to continue the journey safely, albeit slowly, and reach repair docks on its own.
Upon returning, survivors report roughly 30-40 ships detected in total. Imminent action is taken. Assault Fleet, with Gladiators replaced with the newest "StrikerBladePike" suqadron heads out towards WISE 2359-7335 from which it'll take wormhole into NN 3815 and face the enemy.
29th July 2180, 12:20:39, main assault forces warp near WISE 2359-7335 traverse the wormhole and enter NN 3815 system.
29th July 2180, 14:41:33, rough coordinates of Prophet assault are reached, no hostile presence detected.
Admiral knows he can't let the enemy escape like that and without any clues as to where they went decides to head to NN 3009, wondering whether "Bootes Invaders" really came from Bootes Void.
31th July 2180, 7:11:55, human forces attempt to cross the wormhole into NN 3009. However, due to accelerating a bit too much before entering the wormhole, gravitational forces within the space tunnel throw them around, making their appearance on the other side more violent than ususal, sending small groups of ships dozens of thousands of kilometers apart from each other before every vessel manages to deccelerate and reorient itself. However, this small accident proves to be a godsend as radars instantly detect 28 hostile contacts stationed right next to the wormhole:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799448283747450890/unknown.png)
As a result, the arriving forces ended up surrounding the enemy from many directions, allowing to take Invaders into laser and particle beam crossfire almost immediately. First shots pierce one of their vessels' armor and disintegrate it into a wreckage.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799449266321096744/unknown.png)
Enemy engages its engines and tries to get away, quickly leaving the initial killzone. Tomahawks launch missiles after it, however there are too many ships, all armed with lasers and gauss cannons exclusively, preventing any missile to penetrate their defenses. Tomahawks cease fire, waiting for better opportunity and the rest of the fleet quickly regroups and starts pursuing the enemy, engaging their subluminal warp drives for a brief moments to catch up to the enemy quicker.
31th July 2180, 7:26:47, brutal laser firefight begins. Invaders are capable of efficiently jamming fire controls of Strikers and Pikers, making them struggle to hit enemy vessels while they face strong laser retaliation as the ships simply turn around while maintaining the course and open fire.
Thanks to the latest achievements in shielding technology, barely any beams manage to dent the armor of pursuing squadron, but it is obvious who has fire superiority here.
Pikes are a bit too slow and can't spare any more fuel for further acceleration, so they stay behind as Strikers and Blades burn a bit more fuel to increase their speed and close in a bit more. More lasers fired by humans begin to connect to their targets.
31th July 2180, 7:31:02, taking advantage of Invaders focusing on pursuers Tomahawks launch their missiles once again in hopes of getting at least some through their defenses.
31th July 2180, 7:42:15, first missiles reach their destination. Vast majority is successfully intercepted, however some do get through, scoring precious hits.
Enemy redirects more firepower into anti-missile operations, allowing pursuit forces to close in just enough to finally get a reliable hit rate. At this range human lasers still remain rather ineffective, though. Tomahawks cease fire once again as they're too slow to catch up to the enemy, allowing it to leave range of targeting systems.
With full firepower concentrated on them again, Pikes and Blades start to suffer more and more hull hits as their shields can't keep up anymore. Strikers' lasers manage to shoot down first of the most intimidating enemy vessels, though.
As firefight gets more intense, humanity begins to take first casualties. One of the Blades gets torn into pieces before even reaching effective range of its meson cannons.
Fleet admiral calls for concentration fire. This doesn't come without a risk, because it requires pursuing vessels to group closer together, disrupting evasive manoeuvres and leaving all alien fleet but one ship not targeted, but it's deemed to be the only way to get a fighting chance.
The tactics proves to be somewhat effective. More Blades get shot down before coming within meson range and one Striker blows up as well after suffering critical fusion reactor hit, but the flight path gets scattered with more and more alien ships as well as their firepower dwindles and the distance closes, allowing humanity to take more accurate shots.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799455194491781200/unknown.png)
A few ships, human and alien alike, receive shots directly into fuel tanks. This causes them to rapidly leak fuel into space. As a desperate measure, damaged ships from human assault group begin to rapidly brake before fuel supply running totally dry, not wanting to stay drifting at over 11000 km/s through space forever, rendering any future rescue operation impossible.
However the case for fuel-leaking Invader vessels is different - seemingly having the course plotted, they continue cruising at maximum speed, not willing to decelerate. Their dodging capabilities get severely limited as a result, though, making them easy prey for Strikers.
31th July 2180, 8:12:03, Blades finally close in enough to open fire with meson cannons. Invaders suddenly change tactics: those of their crews who already know their fate after receiving enough damage begin to slow down to almost standstill. Humans lack engine power to adapt and as a result often end up speeding past them, ending up flying way too close to them for a split second. This is enough for those "kamikazes" to unload one final devastating volley before being mopped up by particle beams fired from Pikes who manage to reach their positions.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799458800997629962/unknown.png)
While they manage to score more casualties across human crews, as the mesons start to go right through the armor and damage internal structures and components of their ships directly, they lose more and more of them. Humanity starts to emerge victorious from its first serious space battle:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799460054553591818/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799460148237303838/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799460239748759623/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799722608836870164/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799723080707604500/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799723313819156550/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799723376902012968/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799724438781427812/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799725766081642526/unknown.png)
31th July 2180, 8:25:31, and so after a fierce firefight humanity emerges victorius and the last enemy ships flashes in a big bang, overheated by laser beams and punctured by meson beams. Again, no life pods or evacuation shuttles were launched by the enemy. Given the extreme hostility of the apparently battle-hardened civilisation it could be that they are all meant to either win or die, but not let their enemies capture and interrogate them. Across milions of kilometres lie numerous remnants of Invaders' fleet as well as four Blades and one Striker together with life pods of those who managed to escape these ships alive before being blown into space dust. Another 8 ships suffered damage preventing them from returning home on their own, making them stuck in the system with Void Wormhole until help arrives.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799729632935936050/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799730058977476609/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799730189624934410/unknown.png)
Largest space rescue operation in all history of humanity so far begins. Lifebringers for rescuing stranded survivors and Fuel Rats for delivering large amounts of fuel needed to replenish pierced, leaking tanks are just the beginning as stranded ships need spare parts and tools to fix themselves enough to not fall apart during journey back home. Stalwart resupplying ships are used for the first time to bring the necessary goods used for patching fuel tanks so that Fuel Rats could transfer fuel to the immobilised vessels. Scavengers follow up, tasked with recovering whatever alien tech and data they might find among debris.
Assault fleet remains hanging around the battlefieldspace in case more Invaders would show up to avenge their fallen comrades. However, the operation proceeds calmly and peaceful, no more enemy contacts flash up on the radars. Everyone eventually gets rescued and returns home. Backin Eartg's and Mars' orbit, 21 guns are fired in memory of the fallen soldiers and lost ships.
Despite the battle government refuses to pull of Terraria stations accompanied by Astera stations shiponing fuel from the atmosphere of NN 3009-A V, claiming this system to be of high strategic importance regardless of the attackers coming from Bootes Void or not. Instead workers get resupplied with special evacuation shuttles equipped with powerful sensors and ultra fast-charging Alcubierre Drives. Shuttles themselves are slow, but their primary and only objectives are to detect threat early enough to give space stations' workers time to evacuate and then immediately fire up warp drive and disappear from the system.
-
7th October 2181, a team of physicists on Alpha Centauri A-II makes a breakthrough and finally cracks so-called "womhole stabilisation equations" which describe proper application of gravity as well as energy requirements to pierce the fabric of space in a way that'd link two chosen points together, making wormhole establishment a dream come true. First experiments conducted confirm their findings, a small wormhole linking two opposite points of Cydonia particle accelerator is briefly created. Many years of studying those anomalies were needed, but hints recovered from Invader tech as well as a live example of a "megawormhole" accelerated the research and eventually led to a huge success.
Although scientists still claim that their understanding of higher dimensions and how to reliably access them is still very limited, wormholes are definitely a strong evidence for this becoming a possibility sometime in the future. Meanwhile establishing own wormhole network around important systems would help establish FTL communications without the need for "post office ships" and greatly improve interstellar traffic. First platform for constructing wormholes is built on Earth:
Chronos class Wormhole Creation Platform 57,131 tons 160 Crew 1,696.1 BP TCS 1,143 TH 1,000 EM 0
875 km/s Armour 1-132 Shields 0-0 HTK 29 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 18 Max Repair 1200 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Wormhole Deployment Module: 150 days
Commercial Internal Fusion Drive EP500.0 (2) Power 1000 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 56.9 billion km (752 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
It begins its work by establishing small wormhole network around Solar System, linking Earth, Mars, Europa, Nibiru and gas giants together. Intra-system travel speeds up dramatically, tons of tons of fuel get saved as a result - there's no need for great acceleration if entire journey is about reaching orbit and flying for not too long before jumping to the destination's proximity within nanoseconds.
For the years to come Chronos platform successfully links Proxima Centauri, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B and Epsilon Eridani together. Due to concerns regarding Invaders and Mechi, further wormhole network expansion is brought to a stop, especially in case of Mechi. Invaders' FTL travel methods are not known, but for Mechi it is very likely they can't cross the distance between stars in any other way but to traverse wormholes. Such conclusions are drawn since it's been so many years after they destroyed two Diplomats and one Prophet and so far not a single spaceship of theirs appeared beyond their wormhole network. Even autonomous heavy industry facilities in EZ Aquarii system haven't spotted any of their ships. Or maybe they simply had different motives behind opening fire and didn't intend to launch a full-scale assault. All in all, concerns over Mechi need to wait as First Bootes War absorbs all the military efforts and attention of humanity, making iincursions into Mechi-controlled stars impossible.
As exploration of further stars consumes more fuel and time needed to go for a mission and back, a concept of starports transferred to the edges of explored space via Guidance system is brought up. These space stations would help explorers to refuel, make necessary repairs and maintenance of their starships as well as get some rest and entertainment without the need to travel for a long time way back home, allowing much longer missions to be launched.
Atlas class Starport 482,090 tons 2,840 Crew 14,942.4 BP TCS 9,642 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 499 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 50,019 Max Repair 2400 MSP
Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 30
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Recreational Facilities
Maintenance Modules: 30 module(s) capable of supporting ships of 120,000 tons
Refuelling Hub - Capable of refuelling multiple ships simultaneously
Fuel Capacity 100,000,000 Litres Range N/A
CIWS-320 (20x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
Station's design is considered to be an early prototype and as discussions between logistic personnel and engineers heat up it is very likely to change before entering production to maximise its usefulness for the explorers.
As a result o further development of climate change understanding and terraforming technologies, government orders terraformation of Epsilon Eridani-A II. The world has hellish, toxic atmosphere with a pressure of over 32 atm, but astronomers and geographers estimate that the atmosphere, if removed and replaced with one similar to Earth's, will allow the planet to cool down into acceptable temperature range and the give liquid surface water a chance to appear. Project Terraria receives additional fundings as government wants to rapidly terraform the planet within 30 years, possibly even quicker by amassing a huge cluster of Terrarias around the orbit. Experience and infrastructure gained thorough the duration of the mission shall prove to be invaluable in further stages of terraforming of Venus.
Investigation into Invaders' origins, plans and motives continues. During salvaging the battlefieldspace it was revealed that barely any devices and data survived, almost as if Invaders were destroying them as a last measure when death became inevitable for them. As if they didn't want anyone else to know. Which wasn't very surprising and unusual, to be honest.
While scraps of their guns could accelerate further development of laser-based weaponry and improvement of armor specifically against beams, more valuable and interesting are undestoryed and undeleted remnants of ship's databases storing information of all kiinds, Linguistics and computer scientists face extremely difficult challenge since their language and software protocols turn out to be more alien than anything imaginable. Initial hypothesis revolves around them having large portions of data and protocols stored directly in cybernetics implants inside their bodies, which implants emit an EMP strong enough to fry all of them in case host's vital signs stop. Thanks to this recovering anything from them is impossible. After several autopsies xenobiologists note their huge brains, approximately two times bigger than those found among humans. It could be a matter of natural evolution, but given the overall size and rather low strength of their bodies, genetic engineering could come into play. Why they didn't improve physical strength and durability of their bodies while they were tinkering with their genetic code as well remains unknown and this argument is often brought up by supporters of the natural evolution explanation.
Amidst growing paranoia Invaders, despite failing to take over human race so far, manage to establish great influence over pop culture. "Bootes" is the first half action, half documentary movie to get released, depicting what is already known about Invaders as well as the First Bootes War events so far. It is quickly followed by a sequel, "Bootes 2: Fear of the Dark" which focuses solely on the battle in NN 3009 fought in 31th July 2180. Recordings made by the combatants themselves were used in production. Many more movies, games and books quickly follow the trend.
18th June 2185, an intial project of a Dyson Sphere is assembled around the Sol. Scientists hope enormous boost to energy harvesting from the sun could help with "Nibiru global warming". Similar solutions could be used in Epsilon Eridani to help with the coldness of Epsilon Eridani-A VIII's 8th moon if Dyson Sphere would be established there. And so the Sun begins to shine brighter than ever, in memory of the victories over Invaders, in memory of the fallen soldiers, in memory of the exponential growth of human civilization that keeps pushing forward regardless of the dangers that lurk out there. Experts in politics all agree putting a Dyson Sphere in these uncertain times is an important PR success for the government.
Void Wormhole continues to grow. It has expanded to over 140 millions of kilometres so far. Picture took by an exploration probe sent slightly beyond NN 3009 to take a look at it from afar is scary:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/799773467292729405/unknown.png)
Many people somehow find comfort in watching alien invasion movies from previous century and are glad when it finally happened, it was when humanity was already a space-faring race which intercepted and destroyed hostile starships light years away from Earth. Had this invasion happened one hundred years ago (or whatever kind of event would halt technology and science advancement for at least few decades), humanity would be no more.
Continuous attempts to breach sealed parts of complex found on Tau Ceti-A IV still yeld nothing. Tests with the latest weaponry equipped on Blades, Strikers and Pikes still couldn't even mark a scratch on the doors or walls. Symbols covering them still couldn't be translated. XAT members report increasing frustration. Especially now, during war with an advanced enemy, every bit of high-tech stuff is even more priceless than usual. Especially if that bit expresses some awesome armor properties.
Pacifists movements are on the rise in Core Worlds. Some citizens, being light years away from danger, neglect the threat and call for peace talk. Nobody seems to be able to explain to them that peace talks are kinda hard when somebody you don't know the language of doesn't even say a word and opens fire on sight. Due to the state of emergency, government tightens mind control via psionic and good old microchips. It's called unethical by some, but remains effective at suppressing pacifistic voices, making more room for war propaganda.
Government starts to think about launching an exploration mission to Bootes Void, this time with heavy military escorts, to finally gather solid proof about Invaders coming from there or not. And maybe find out what happened with that long-lost Prophet vessel.
As transplanting brain into robotic body grows more and more popular and the designs get better, government plans forming an army out of these people. Well, at least some of them. Their indifference to vacuum of space and great tolerance to most conditions on most alien worlds could help in numerous combat scenarios.
Latest matrix module called simply "Invaders" that allows every matrix user to experience simulation of a space combat with hostile aliens gains interest of government, as not only will it make a fine addition for military training programs, gathering and processing all the data from its users could significantly improve strategy and tactics used against the enemy.
As more people port their brains into robots, intimacy among humans becomes rarer, making room for loneliness to set it. While their bodies are robotic, their brains are not and they still feel as every other human being. To counter this, engineers release a free upgrade for every user that involves more detailed artificial skin and touch sensors. While there's still room for improvement, current tech is already good enough for the time being. If this path of technological advancement will continue, at some point a big fraction of human race could become "robots with a brain" and nobody from the outside would be even able to tell the difference.
Robotic bodies seem to gain as much supporters as haters. Many people tend to the goodbad old "return to nature" approach, "healthy lifestyle, balance, and whatever else was there".
"Don't like the comfort of Core Worlds? Starships to colonies nicely terraformed, but barely touched by human feet await, some even with preserved alien ecosystems, like Hip 47650-A III" - sceptics say about this new rise of the movement. "They shouldn't be terraformed, let alone exploited" - say naturalists in response. - "Not to mention those starships fly there to quickly change the 'barely touched by human feet' status."
Naturalists and pacifists maybe wouldn't be that much of a problem on their own, however when combined together during war they form, ironically, a volatile mixture. Those movements often fuse together, allowing for appearances of various organisations or even cults, some more radical than the others, that Invaders "came here to punish filthy humans for corrupting the beauty of universe and nature" and they won't stop until they purge what threatens "universal purity".
Government tightens mind control again, however those organisations formed and expanded partially due to more or less legal access to psionic implants, meaning they aren't that easy to suppress. And so conflicts and societal tensions rise while humanity should stand united even more than usual to fend off extraterrestrial invasion. Future for Humanity looks a bit uncertain - on the one hand it stands powerful and so far is on the winning side and is expanding exponentially across the stars, gathering more resources, conquering more worlds and assembling more combat spaceships as time goes by, but on the other hand some problems never ceased to exist, even under direct World Government leadership and mind-controlling technologies.
-
In spite of war new complexes capable of mass-producing military starships are being assembled on Alpha Centauri-A II and HIP 47650-A III. Human economy continues to accelerate, however due to the dangers lurking out there government decides to focus on establishment of human presence in already colonised systems - Proxima Centauri, Alpha Centauri, HIP 47650 and Epsilon Eridani as well as AI-driven mining operations in EZ Aquarii ternary system. Alpha Centauri-A II and HIP 47650 receive millions of additional workers to make them capable of building and maintaining their own fleets ASAP, allowing humanity to defend itself on more than one front should Mechi attack or Invaders appear from a different place.
Despite overflow of resources, government is well-aware the prosperity won't last forever unless humanity expands further. However, Project Atlas gets cancelled because it is deemed that leaving space stations unprotected in outer space during times of war is too risky, both for the station personnel and exploration missions. Instead, scientists manage to do their best and create the state-of-tech-and-art starship capable of conducting scientific and exploration tasks around worlds yet to be seen by human eyes:
Orion class Science Vessel 20,410 tons 380 Crew 3,753 BP TCS 408 TH 2,000 EM 1,200
4899 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 1-66 Shields 40-300 HTK 100 Sensors 28/16/15/15 DCR 20 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.20 Years MSP 4,298 AFR 167% IFR 2.3% 1YR 390 5YR 5,854 Max Repair 500 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months Morale Check Required
JC22K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 22500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (1) Power 2000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 665.1 billion km (1571 days at full power)
Theta S40 / R300 Shields (1) Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.1 per second)
CIWS-320 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Thermal Sensor TH2-28 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 41.8m km
EM Sensor EM2-16 (50%) (1) Sensitivity 16 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 31.6m km
Advanced Geological Sensors (5) 15 Survey Points Per Hour
Advanced Gravitational Sensors (5) 15 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Its warp drive is capable of reaching effective speed of mind-boggling 500c with warp bubble acceleration of 0,02c/s2 per every 100km/s of conventional speed within warp bubble. It's the fastest man-made vessel so far, at least in terms of FTL propulsion systems and is capable of crossing hundreds of light years before refuelling which is more than enough in terms of finding suitable colonisation candidates. New class of starships is expected to soon replace good old Prophets and survey more stars very rapidly. Interplanetary team responsible for the design gets praised and awarded by the government.
In order to calm down rioting citizens, as a gesture of good will under heavy military escort evacuation of all human presence and infrastructure from NN 3009 begins, leaving Void Wormhole to its own devices. So far Invaders for whatever reason omitted terraforming and gas giant harvesting space stations placed there, maybe because they were too far from the wormhole to be detected, but there's no point in risking a tragedy any longer. To speed the evacuation up a new spaceship appears, relying on Guidance System for interstellar travel:
Destiny class Tug 88,068 tons 820 Crew 5,707.3 BP TCS 1,761 TH 20,000 EM 0
11354 km/s Armour 1-176 Shields 0-0 HTK 165 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 40 Max Repair 500 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (10) Power 20000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 770.7 billion km (785 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Luckily this time, the operation ends successfully and every last evidence of human presence in NN 3009 is safely returned into human-controlled space.
While it is still unknown whether Invaders use other interstellar travel methods and it is very likely they do, at least with some of their ships, a replacement plan for intercepting Invaders directly after leaving Void Wormhole is born: instead of camping at the edge of wormhole, a swarm of fast and agile interceptors will be placed at the exit of wormhole that links NN 3009 and NN 3815 systems, tasked with blasting any hostile contact daring to cross it to hell.
New interceptors are needed to be small, yet big enough to operate independently, without requiring a carrier. Size is a matter not only because of travel and manoeuvring speeds, but also because it'll take long before shipyards built on HIP 47650-A II and Alpha Centauri-A II could be tasked with assembling bigger fleets. It is proposed that they'll use plasma-based guns, something so far utilised only in ground forces and aircraft due to limited range and accuracy. Extensive research into refitting plasma artillery for space combat begins. Once it is achieved, the new "wormhole guarding fleets" will be able to cause devastating damage among enemy forces emerging from the wormhole and the nature of this combat will make accuracy and range limitations irrelevant.
Project Atlas resurfaces again, this time meant to provide necessary support for new interceptors so that they could stay on their guard post with minimal rotation and be always ready for engangement. A huge infrastructure consists of several modules providing fuel, spare parts, ammunition and a place to rest for stationed soldiers:
Atlas class Starport 526,442 tons 5,080 Crew 24,287 BP TCS 10,529 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 914 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 20,028 Max Repair 200 MSP
Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 25
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Maintenance Modules: 100 module(s) capable of supporting ships of 400,000 tons
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
Arcadia class Space Station 104,550 tons 1,010 Crew 2,830.9 BP TCS 2,091 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 106 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 2000 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Recreational Facilities
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
Seraphim class Space Station 514,100 tons 3,210 Crew 20,972.6 BP TCS 10,282 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 418 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 25 Max Repair 2400 MSP
Magazine 80,000
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Ordnance Transfer Hub - Capable of transferring ordnance to multiple ships simultaneously
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
Refuelling will be provided by Astera harvesting stations.
A swarm of Terrarias appears over Epsilon Eridani-A II's surface. At this rate terraforming of this hellish world will only take a few more years, experts say.
30th March 2186 19:55:59, small Invader force unexpectedly assaults Gaia fleet heading towards HIP 47650. One ship is blown up and the other severely damaged before the rest engage their warp drives in emergency mode. As a result, a total of 580000 people will never wake up from their cold sleep. Hundreds of valuable crewmembers are lost, too. Public opinion shocked after the tragedy.
Strikers from main assault fleet begin pursuit of the enemy and manage to track it down via Invaders' own wormhole network and cut it into pieces near WISE 1519+7009, but the damage is done. Conflicts among societies emerge with full force, riots and acts of violence expand rapidly. Pacifist organisations gain support, claiming military force is useless anyways if they can't manage to save 580000 colonists and demand peace talks, completely ignoring Invaders' refusal of any communication.
Many radicalised members of various sects claim this is beginning of the Judgement Day and that the target's been chosen not by an accident - [Insert deity given cult worships] couldn't give a clearer sign that man was never meant to travel across the stars and now the whole species will be punished for their lust for power and ignorance.
24th April 2186, military force uses lethal force to suppress rebels on HIP 47650-A II attempting to sabotage shipyard preparations and space-refitted plasma weaponry tests. Photos of civilians with laser and plasma burns or corpses mutilated beyond recognition by powerful kinetic rifles spread across inhabited worlds like wildfire.
In response government sends elite psi squads to randomly harass protesters and disturb them with images of the ones killed by military to weaken their will. Under such force rebels begin to break down and descend into madness. A new reign of terror begins, firstly in HIP 47650-A II, but similar methods are used on other planets as well
First Orion starships begin to leave Solar System and "boldly go where no man has gone before" as government doesn't waste time and continues its policy. Political experts consider it a good PR move in spite of recent outbursts of violence as space discoveries and prospects of new worlds to inhabit always seem to cheer up public opinion. Not counting "space eco-friendly human-unfriendly" radical organisations, of course.
And so despite Invasion and escalation of violence among human societies a new chapter of space exploration begins. First explored star is Gliese 105:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801500176212295770/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801500302972026890/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801500415098486784/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801500543889047572/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801500628126924870/unknown.png)
Nothing extraordinary (except the ultimate beauty of multiple stars systems) is found and poor mineral accessibility doesn't make this system a good candidate for colonisation. Exploration continues in Giclas 9-38:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501103723118652/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501158111707206/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501239175020654/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501342572347432/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501436436545586/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501528737316884/unknown.png)
Gliese 33 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501932933349436/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801501994006085692/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801502199384768532/unknown.png)
Gliese 33-A IV catches attention. This planet not only contains remannats of oxygen-nitrogen based atmosphere, but also traces of chlorine in the air. No life signs detected, be it currently inhabiting the planet or long extinct. Could this be that presence of chlorine prevented life from evolving there? Or did the chlorine mean a long-forgotten sentient lifeforms fighting a long-forgotten chemical war that resulted in removing any traces of life from the planet? Hard to tell, but even with the numerous evidence for alien life thriving out there, second hypothesis is less "science" and more "fiction".
Three out of the explored stars, WISE 0410+1502, L 145-141 as well as another lonely wolf Wolf 629, float alone in the darkness of space, not orbited by any planets:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801503966583062548/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801504068841111612/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801504813993033738/unknown.png)
Sigma Draconis system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801504970137534474/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801505058713370696/unknown.png)
Only one boiling and barren planet orbits the star very close to it, as if Sigma Draconis was afraid of losing its only companion.
Gliese 504 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801505768393146438/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801505842306351144/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801505964192563201/unknown.png)
-
So far the exploration missions didn't find any planet really worth colonising or anything particularly interesting in that matter except for breathtaking views. Nevertheless the government doesn't stop and plans further expeditions.
In the meantime after studying anti-missile defences of Invaders in detail, a prototype spiritual successor to Tomahawk is designed and built on Earth:
Javelin class Missile Cruiser 34,880 tons 855 Crew 6,763 BP TCS 698 TH 5,000 EM 6,240
7167 km/s Armour 10-95 Shields 208-520 HTK 147 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 6 PPV 150
Maint Life 0.59 Years MSP 4,727 AFR 1622% IFR 22.5% 1YR 8,062 5YR 120,930 Max Repair 1250 MSP
Magazine 3,562
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2500.00 (2) Power 5000 Fuel Use 75.89% Signature 2500 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 34 billion km (54 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
Size 12 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size: 12 Rate of Fire 20
Size 1 Missile Launcher (75.00% Reduction) (40) Missile Size: 1 Rate of Fire 20
Missile Fire Control FC28-R1 (2) Range 28.7m km Resolution 1
Ekaterina II Anti-Ship Missile (200) Speed: 45,000 km/s End: 10.5m Range: 28.2m km WH: 49 Size: 12 TH: 270/162/81
Evstafi AMM (1000) Speed: 45,000 km/s End: 11m Range: 29.7m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 600/360/180
ECCM-2 (2) ECM 30
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Even a few of them could stand a chance at penetrating Invaders' defences, even if only so little, and around a dozen should almost guarantee each volley being extremely damaging. Also Tomahawks, despite being slowly replaced, receive an improved version of their decoy missile to make their volleys deadlier for enemy as well, hopefully making them more useful than they were during the battle of NN 3009:
Dvienadsat Apostolov AMM (728) Speed: 32,000 km/s End: 27m Range: 51.8m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 522/313/156
While shipyards and factories prepare to handle the increasing demand for new generation of missile cruisers, military commanders, scientists and spaceflight experts experts try to come up with a plan of safely exploring Bootes Void to check from where exactly do Invader fleets appear and why the created wormhole must be so large and on top of that still expanding. At the end of a series of heated debates it is finally established that Invaders' wormhole network should be explored and secured first, at least in a radius of a few stars from NN 3009 system, to at least gain control over one side of the dreaded Void Wormhole before attempting to cross it.
Only the most experienced and skilled people are picked for this dangerous endeavour.
At first two unexplored wormholes near WISE 1519+7009 get checked out. One leads to GI 85 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801513956949884979/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801514020892049488/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801514088920121386/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801514217471475752/unknown.png)
GI 85-A II is the second planet discovered on which traces of methane-based lifeforms are found. It is a barren, deserted world on which only spares plant-like organisms grow, utilising methane to warm their bodies up, making them survive extreme temperatures. They don't seem to be very active, though, conserving energy as much as possible. Xenobiologists discover their body temperature stays just barely above zero to prevent water freezing despite 99,785% of their calorie intake spent purely on heating.
The second wormhole from WISE 1519+7009 links NN 3891 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801516593904615434/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801516655288778832/unknown.png)
Traces of life in forms of unicellular and very small and simple multicellular organisms are found on NN 3891-A II, concentrating mostly inside water basins and around them, but marine and shore life aside, most of the surface is covered with a strange, sticky biomass resembling some kind of a moss. The planet has way too thin atmosphere with way too little oxygen, but if not for this, could be inhabited right away without any terraforming invloved. Once the Bootes War is over (or at least strong control over these parts of the network is gained) this could be a nice spot for colonisation.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the network, another Orion Exploration Group traverses wormhole in NN 3704 system, arriving in GJ 1279:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801519058549604423/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801519115156193360/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801519935905726574/unknown.png)
GJ 1279-A II causes scientists and explorers to drop their jaws. The world is beautiful and majestic. It's almost like a tropical version of Earth since tropical rainforests span across majority of the surface and the planet is so hot than there's no snow or ice to be found even around poles. Higher gravity, larger diameter and denser atmosphere due to all the oxygen produced by the jungles and lots of water vapour floating around as a result of humid climate only add to the magnificent scenery. It's expected to take dozens of years to fully discover and classify all the species living in this world. However, no traces of sentient beings ever existing there are found. Large animals with heavy muscles walk around which brings associations with dinosaurs, even though they look differently. Overall GJ 1279-A II gives vibes of a primal world, the same that probably Earth had back in the day when dinosaurs walked it. It is agreed upon with great dose of sadness and melancholia that this paradise, the most beautiful and amazing world discovered so far, can't be conquered unless Invaders are pushed back.
Existence of this breathtaking planet within the network, yet untouched, poses question as to why Invaders don't seem to try to colonise any of the planets they must have already discovered in Milky Way so far. It is proposed that maybe this paradise planet isn't that much of a paradise for them, however they should still be trying to establish their presence more, be it either via terraforming or artificial life support structures, rather than leave all celestial bodies devoid from their presence. Maybe they didn't need to colonise Milky Way having a strong enough economy on the worlds they came from or were some sort of nomadic race?
11th June 2186, 8:20:09, Orion-class starship returning from GI 85 safely flies through all the wormholes up to WISE 2359-7335 where the network begins and prepares for one last interstellar flight back to Mars when Invader squadron suddenly pops out on its radar and opens fire. Fortunately the crew managed to power up Alcubierre Drive in time and no one got even hurt thanks to the shields, however they got overcharged too much in the process, causing an overheat in several other systems as well and the ship will need to be repaired as a result. The fact nobody died is considered a miracle once damage was assessed in safe conditions. Despite best efforts, Invaders manage to successfully flee the scene before Martian Navy has a chance to arrive.
25th June 2186, 10:41:05, Another exploration starship is attacked and this time destroyed due to overwhelming enemy presence on the edges of GI 85 system. As soon as the news reach Earth, government ceases all the activity within Invaders' network even before new wave of protests has a chance to begin for good. It is possible that squadron attacking exploration mission two weeks earlier also came from that system. Fleet commanders are tasked with preparation and execution of GI 85 system assault plan. It is possible that GI 85 will bring some insights into Invader's colonisation plans and logistics - while they weren't detected on any celestial body orbiting this particular star, it was very likely that they could've come from another star, coupled with GI 85 with yet undetected wormhole and they were already established there. Or another big-ass Void Wormhole got created there.
Exploration of wormholes shall be continued with great caution should the discovered fleet be neutralised, though it is very possible that it'll be postponed even further for the safety of everyone involved.
Biologists and bioenginners working on cryogenic tech request funding for a research project which would allow adaptation of humans into extremely cold temperatures. Studies of genetic material harvested from native flora and fauna of frozen HIP 47650-A II as well as the recent discoveries on methane-based life detected in GI 85-A II inspire them into trying to use similar mechanisms and patterns to keep humans alive even in the most hostile temperatures. They want to search for the volunteers which would get bits from those samples inserted into their own DNA and study the results. In case of success, this would allow those genetically-modified humans to populate Epsilon Eridani-VIII'th 8'th moon and Nibiru as it is now very obvious than greenhouse gasses aren't enough to make both these worlds reach reasonable temperature ranges, creating constant need for heating installation to remain operational on a planetary scale. Removing the need for them could free a significant workforce which could then be used in more important jobs, necessary to ensure human survival against Invaders. Government approves the project, however certain groups in society remain skeptical or outright hostile to the idea of not only conditioning exoplanets to fit humans, but also conditioning humans to fit exoplanets "severely damaging ways nature intended it to be".
7th November 2187, terraforming of Tau Ceti-A IV is completed, bringing enough water and biosphere into the planet to make its deserts habitable by humans without additional support. As first batches of colonists reach their new home, researches working on the alien complex there make a first significant breakthrough: locks guarding entrance to the sealed-off part appear to be composed mainly of devices capable of intercepting, scanning and analysing brain waves, somewhat similar to the concept under which psionic implants operate. The catch is, even the most elite psi units failed at their attempts to communicate with the devices. Soon it is proven than in order to crack them open it isn't that important for the psi-capable peoples' minds to be very powerful, but rather to be many of them. So that they could create a hive mind of some sort, more or less.
As a result of this discovery, only psi-capable people are allowed to settle in the new world. Another consequence of this breakthrough is that government opens up psi training programs to the broader population, hoping to gather more citizens on the planet and finally unlock secrets of the ancients. "Next step of human evolution is happening right in front of our eyes" - comment many. Currently it is unknown how big that "hive mind" is supposed to be.
Struve 2398 is chosen as a destination for the next space exploration mission:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801547219786399774/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801547287292543016/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801547463781515274/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801547541169963038/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801547619255713862/unknown.png)
What at first appears as an ordinary dead planetary system, hides a shocking discovery: exploration group detects Mechi ships conducting asteroid mining operations. There isn't anything resembling military forces present within the star's or any celestial body's proximity, but the crew tries to stay beyond enemy's radar detection range as much as possible just in case. On top of that a total of 4 wormholes are detected near the star. It only confirms that a tip of another Mechi wormhole network's branch has just been discovered. After scanning the system, Orion's crew risks it and enters one of the wormholes to briefly check out yet another Mechi-explored star. It leads them close to Luhman 16:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801550138631651388/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801550206419992636/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801550470719864912/unknown.png)
It is another binary system, just like Struve 2398. Two gas giants orbit one of the local suns and no Mechi (or any other for that matter) presence has been detected. Another wormholes are expected to be found during next expedition. Currently there's no way to tell where those two Mechi branches discovered so far connect, but the presence of the second one proves they must be well-established over a large number of systems. Military advisors begin to suggest launching a preemptive strike into Mechi space to halt or at least slow down their expansion once the wormhole leading to NN 3009 will be blocked by the future plasma interceptors. Fighting on two fronts sounds horrible, but letting Mechi grow unchecked and prepare for whatever they're preparing could be even worse.
Presence of Mechi in yet another part of the Milky Way complicates the already very complicated situation of the human race even further. The only alien sentience discovered so far was hostile and humans had to fight on two fronts to ensure continuation of their existence and expansion. Current strategic and tactical situation of the expanding human civilisation looks as follows:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801560173017694218/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/801560240159719484/unknown.png)
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29th November 2187, 18:54:20, main human navy warps into GI 85 system, ready to engage Invader forces concentrated there.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802930840739905546/battle1.PNG)
Right after emerging from the wormhole it is greeted by large laser cannonade, fired from so close that the enemy ships can be seen by naked eye. Shields tank most of the damage, but one Pike assault ship has its engines destroyed. Fortunately safety systems worked and chain reaction explosion has been prevented.
Invaders seem to want to pull their "hit and run" tactics once again. Assault Fleet uses it to their advantage, blasting their engines in the opposite direction to quickly gain precious distance. More fire incoming, but this time far less accurate.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802931743090278460/battle2.PNG)
29th November 2187, 18:59:11, Tomahawks launch large missile volleys, mixing proper, hard-hitting ones with decoy missiles for overwhelming enemy defences.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932098120810496/battle3.PNG?width=1386&height=581)
Initial volley hits harder than expected, enemy stands no chance as more missiles fly their way.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932430713258082/battle4.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932479399952384/battle5.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932545251442748/battle6.PNG?width=1386&height=252)
Invaders' "hit and run" quickly becomes "flee and run" till one last final volley marks the fate of last of their ships. As during previous encounters, no lifepods of any sort were launched. Only debris remains.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932981941534720/battle7.PNG?width=950&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802932996512415764/battle8.PNG)
29th November 2187, 19:07:01, two enemy ships emerge from the same wormhole human fleet did several minutes ago, attempting to attack from behind. However, upon realising the battle is already lost, they attempt to flee. It takes only split of a second till laser, particle beam and meson fire tear them apart ruthlessly.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802933683769835560/battle9.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802933695656755200/battle10.PNG)
After the battle a new class of wreck salvaging ships appears, this time meant to not only recover any technology they could possibly find, but also to bring wrecks themselves for scientists to examine:
Fate class Salvager 61,764 tons 305 Crew 1,661.9 BP TCS 1,235 TH 4,000 EM 0
3238 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-139 Shields 0-0 HTK 51 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 500 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 10
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Salvager: 1 module(s) capable of salvaging 750 tons per day
JC68K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 67500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (2) Power 4000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 219.8 billion km (785 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Another victory for the humanity doesn't stop radical elements among human societies to protests against the ongoing Bootes War. They claim it's only a matter of time.
After making sure everything's allright, humanity pulls their forces away from GI 85. The lonely Pike left there manages to finish off several Invaders' scouts single-handed before fixing engines and returning to Mars. Its crew receives award for outstanding bravery and performance.
After the battle humanity decides its safe enough to continue exploring Invaders' network and sends Orion starships with some escort. A wormhole found in GJ 1279 system leads into EG 350 star:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802938269096345600/unknown.png)
No additional wormholes are detected in the system, meaning its one of the ends of Invaders' wormhole system. Meanwhile, another exploration group finds itself in Gliese 483 system after jumping through one of the two unexplored wormholes in the dreaded NN 3009 system, origin of the Invasion:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802938918760480818/unknown.png?width=696&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802939028110442546/unknown.png?width=1386&height=430)
On Gliese 483-A IV complex methane-breathing lifeforms are found, such as worm-like creatures speeding through self-diggen tunnels in the soil, warming themselves up using friction between their body and the soil or twelve-legged large creatures somehwat resembling giant spiders because they build sturdy webs between the leaves and thanks to their huge size. However, those webs aren't for catching prey as they're herbivore, feeding off the trunks of alien trees and the web is used solely for helping them maintain proper temperature. It is the first time scientists observe such lush biosphere based around methane as a breathable gas. No signs of sentience detected, though. Nevertheless, samples gathered from the planet will help speed up research into adapting humans to survive on very cold worlds without heating infrastructure.
The second unexplored wormhole from NN 3009 links it with NN 3753:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802941195742347274/unknown.png)
It's a white dwarf. A lonely remnants of once lonely star floating around. Around it four additional wormholes are found, one of which leads to another planetless star, NN 3082:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802941507425927188/unknown.png)
Wormholes leading from GI 85 are chosen as a next target for the exploration to hopefully determine from where did Invaders appear here (assuming it was not NN 3009 Void Wormhole and they have a connection somewhere else). One of them leads to LHS 2849 binary system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942395305951242/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942519003316284/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942595352887317/unknown.png?width=875&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942712847269918/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942796331614229/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802942900777910292/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802943015546781697/unknown.png?width=1386&height=57)
LHS 2849-A II and III both have nitrogen-oxygen based atmosphere. While LHS 2849-A III contains only traces of it and no life signs are detected, the other planet is teeming with life. It's a frozen oceanic world, with no single patch of proper landmass and marine life of all kinds inhabits waters below the layer of ice. There are also lots of microorganisms floating in the planet's dense, oxygen-rich atmosphere. Reefs blooming on the ocean's bed are nothing like the ones found on Earth - the ones here are resemble more some sort of underwater jungles. Scientists shocked when a huge-sized, bipedal species are found inhabiting those underwater ecosystems. Extensive research shown no sentience, however they're very intelligent. Simulations estimate chances of them evolving into a sentient race at 30-50%.
One additional wormhole is detected in LHS 2849, connecting the system with HIP 13218 star:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802945700735483964/unknown.png)
Another wormhole from GI 85 connects HIP 65530 system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802946028420071494/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802946082824650782/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802946190320730112/unknown.png?width=1386&height=115)
Government decides to perform "depth first search" in hopes to discover how many systems does the network link together. An exploration group leaves HIP 65530 and emerges near HIP 3497 after travelling through one of the wormholes detected in HIP 65530:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802946947194814505/unknown.png?width=1161&height=636)
HIP 3497 contains two wormholes, one of which allows travel to HIP 66781 system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802947225361055834/unknown.png?width=675&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802947378540970064/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802947436783730708/unknown.png?width=1386&height=177)
HIP 66781-A III is another planet with life found on its surface. Dark green bushes and moss cover steep, rocky mountains covering most of the planet's surface. Simple animal life manages to survive and thrive there, too, even though environment is rather harsh.
-
After extensive research of wormholes built by Invaders, scientists are baffled by the abundance of life on the planets discovered within it, but no signs of sentient life detected. Given how the Invaders open fire without a warning, some experts on alien life and intelligence form a hypothesis that this advanced civilisation arrived in Milky Way to purge it from all sentient life and on top of that is capable of doing it without harming non-sentient biosphere or leaving any traces of civilisations existing there before the Invasion.
Photos documenting alien life on these planets quickly spread among humanity. Tensions rise even more as the beauty of non-sentient life discovered radicalises naturalists even more, fuelling their beliefs that Invaders are here to purge the universe from filthy, corrupt intelligent life and leave all those planets for mother nature.
Elite soldiers deployed to protect genetic laboratories after terrorists attempted to plant bombs there to stop humanity from "taking the wrong path of altering their biology". After two weeks of protests 259 rebels were killed and 11503 injuried, while soldiers protecting the labs lost 4 K.I.A. men and further 21 injured. Intel teams investigat how protesters managed to get their hands on 251 LR-3000-A2 laser pistols used in the firefight.
Despite the situation, thanks to additional data from frozen planets hosting life within Invaders' wormholes, researchers manage to achieve first breakthrough. A group of carefully selected candidates had a mixture of genes inserted into their DNA, shifting their comfortable temperature range to between -30C and -50C. This is still nowhere near enough for Epsilon Eridani A-VIII's eight moon or Nibiru, but genetic engineers are on the right track.
12th January 2188, Nibiru terraforming efforts are considered complete as no amount of greenhouse gasses will warm the planet up any more. Surface temperatures stabilise at -210C and heating infrastructure is needed. Extensive research into genetic modifications is the only remaining hope of truly conquering this world. Terraria stations are pulled into Venusian orbit to speed up the largest terraforming project in history.
14th January 2188, 6:31:58, exploration mission taking a routine FTL-flight break in Gliese 526 makes a shocking discovery: A small Void Wormhole appeared in the system which definitely wasn't there the last time someone appeared around the local sun. This one, while much smaller than the behemoth the NN 3009 one has already grown into, is expanding at a steady rate as well. No wormholes were detected in the system so far (well, besides the one linking Milky Way with Bootes Void, obviously), indicating Invaders haven't started building their second network yet (or used another form of FTL travel...). In order to destroy the threat before it grows too large, government pours more and more funding into space plasma weaponry and space interceptor designs utilising it. The project ends up with a success shortly after discovery in Gliese 526 and prototypes of a new squadron tasked with guarding wormhole exists are built:
Anarchy class Interceptor 4,657 tons 144 Crew 1,237.5 BP TCS 93 TH 1,125 EM 1,200
12079 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 4-24 Shields 40-300 HTK 27 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 12
Maint Life 2.57 Years MSP 966 AFR 173% IFR 2.4% 1YR 205 5YR 3,070 Max Repair 562.5 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J6000(1-50) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1125.00 (1) Power 1125 Fuel Use 381.84% Signature 1125 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 10.1 billion km (9 days at full power)
Theta S40 / R300 Shields (1) Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.1 per second)
15 cm C6 Plasma Carronade (3) Range 60,000km TS: 12,079 km/s Power 6-6 RM 10,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R262-TS12000 (1) Max Range: 262,500 km TS: 12,000 km/s 96 92 89 85 81 77 73 70 66 62
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor R18 (1) Total Power Output 18.4 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
ECCM-3 (1) This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Devastator class Interceptor 9,292 tons 286 Crew 3,224.9 BP TCS 186 TH 2,250 EM 1,200
12108 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 9-39 Shields 40-300 HTK 51 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 30
Maint Life 0.73 Years MSP 1,016 AFR 691% IFR 9.6% 1YR 1,393 5YR 20,895 Max Repair 636.9 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J12000(3-50) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 12000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1125.00 (2) Power 2250 Fuel Use 381.84% Signature 1125 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 10.1 billion km (9 days at full power)
Theta S40 / R300 Shields (1) Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.1 per second)
40 cm C8 Plasma Carronade (1) Range 400,000km TS: 12,108 km/s Power 40-8 RM 10,000 km ROF 25
Particle Lance-18-2 (1) Range 320,000km TS: 12,108 km/s Power 55-8 ROF 35
Beam Fire Control R450-TS12000 (2) Max Range: 450,000 km TS: 12,000 km/s 98 96 93 91 89 87 84 82 80 78
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor R18 (1) Total Power Output 18.4 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
ECCM-3 (2) This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Dragonbreath class Interceptor 9,289 tons 262 Crew 2,395.3 BP TCS 186 TH 2,250 EM 1,200
12111 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 9-39 Shields 40-300 HTK 50 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 36
Maint Life 1.01 Years MSP 961 AFR 690% IFR 9.6% 1YR 938 5YR 14,067 Max Repair 562.5 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J12000(3-50) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 12000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1125.00 (2) Power 2250 Fuel Use 381.84% Signature 1125 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 10.1 billion km (9 days at full power)
Theta S40 / R300 Shields (1) Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.1 per second)
40 cm C8 Plasma Carronade (3) Range 400,000km TS: 12,111 km/s Power 40-8 RM 10,000 km ROF 25
Beam Fire Control R450-TS12000 (1) Max Range: 450,000 km TS: 12,000 km/s 98 96 93 91 89 87 84 82 80 78
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor R24 (1) Total Power Output 24.1 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS3-R1 (50%) (1) GPS 5 Range 3.5m km MCR 314.7k km Resolution 1
ECCM-3 (1) This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Thanks to the devices recovered from wreckage after battle of IG 85, engineers gained an invaluable insight into jamming technology used by the Invaders which obscured fire controls of combat ships, making it harder for them to connect to their targets. This allowed humans to design proper hardware and software to filter out the jamming signals, hopefully improving accuracy during future battles. New systems are to be mounted onboard fresh-designed interceptors, which on top of them being deadly at "space equivalent" of point-blank range will hopefully make them more accurate as well. Shipyards at HIP 47650-A II and Alpha Centauri-A II are expected to start mass-producing these ships ASAP.
Strategic and tactical map of explored space receives additional updates to better reflect current situation:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802962650346684446/unknown.png?width=1046&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802962727886389278/unknown.png?width=1028&height=636)
13th April 2188, after accumulating enough psi-capable people on Tau Ceti-A IV, they managed to form a stable link with the devices in ancient complex, allowing them to communicate with it and unseal the closed part. Interiors of the so-far closed part were all marked with a strange symbol:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802965281156104202/unknown.png)
As the hive focused more on the markings found around the complex, strange symbols formed into words inside their heads, words they couldn't understand per se, but rather words that formed images and conceptions inside their minds. A vision of a civilisation long born, long expanded across stars, galaxies and even whole galaxy clusters and long gone before humanity was a thing. Worlds built, thriving and destroyed, among them Nibiru and Epsilon Eridani-A X.
A hydrogen-breathing species, evolved on a massive planet with high gravity and dense atmosphere, with temperatures dropping almost to absolute zero, who colonised Nibiru as it was almost perfect world for them to exist on and they did so in times so ancient back when abundant life thrived on Venus and Mars before their ecological catastrophes.
An Invasion from advanced race who breached into upper dimensions and purged the stars, allowing the Void to spread across the universe as the stars, even entire galaxies, flared one by one before switching off.
A fierce defence of Milky Way, Andromeda and many other galaxies before Invasion focues on them and erased their homeworld from existence and purged all their colonies.
A new light onto the Invaders and Bootes Void has been shed. Barely anyone can wrap their head around Bootes Void once being full of light and life and the mysterious Invaders, so powerful that they've managed to destroy so much during eons before.
Panic ensues, despite victories won so far humanity trembles upon the thoughts of a race so powerful that is literally capable of flaring all the stars within a galaxy. Everyone now understands that this whole Invasion so far is in fact only a small-scale scout mission to explore Milky Way and find and erase civilisations that could be problematic for Invaders to proceed with their "galaxy switch-off" procedures.
Lack of any solid evidence of alien civilisation thriving on Nibiru before could also now be explained as Invaders simply wiped Precursors clean from the planet, leaving no traces of their presence ever existing on the planet. This also explains all the mental problems Nibiru has caused through decades of existence as a human colony.
It is theorised that Precursor founding their automated outpost on Tau Ceti-A IV were not mistaken - the planet's environment was extremely hostile for Precursors, but rather friendly for many other lifeforms, so they could've hidden outposts like these so that other civilisations might stumble upon them while Invaders, busy with eliminating their presence from the universe, would skip these insignificant planets. So far that's the only somewhat reasonable explanation as to why their achievements and buildings vanished without a trace from Nibiru or Epsilon Eridani-A X, but the lonely complex on Tau Ceti-A IV survived.
Further research indicates that many complexes like this linked together could form some sort of a weapon/defence system capable of defending a given galaxy from Invaders, disabling their access into it.
Physicists specialising in other dimensions theories get excited after complete translation of the data found within the ancient complex as it contains many data and insights into this field of science. With the help of gathered knowledge scientists are now able to present a formal proof of the possibility for a "hyperdrive" to exist, allowing piercing through the fabric of space to appear in a higher dimension and then returning back into the normal 3D space at will, from any point in the universe, without having to rely on pre-built wormholes.
It is also quickly proven that hyperspace is not the limit, there's nothing preventing a ship equipped with a hyperdrive to pierce through the fabric of hyperspace as well and travelling through a 5D space to further cut the distance needed to travel through in hyperspace, just like travelling through hyperspace cuts the distances in normal space. The only limitation is exponential energy requirement growth for reaching higher and higher planes.
A new light onto the Invaders and Bootes Void has been shed. Barely anyone can wrap their head around Bootes Void once being full of light and life and the mysterious Invaders, so powerful that they've managed to destroy so much during eons before.
28th May 2188, 16:19:51, during the rudimentary pickup of resources produced by EZ Aquarii automated interplanetary industrial complex a bunch of Mechi ships are spotted among the three suns.
The sudden encounter shocks government since while EZ Aquarii theoretically lies within Mechi's wormhole network which ends on a wormhole linking EZ Aquarii with Ross 128, Mechi fleets were never observed in this system, the closest contact has been established close to WISE 1150+6302, one wormhole link from EZ Aquarii. Despite Wormhole Interceptors not being constructed yet, government risks it and orders a preemptive strike at the intruders. Part of the human space forces tracks Mechi in EZ Aquarii system and chases them further as they return into their territory, entering wormhole into WISE 1150+6302.
9th June 2188, 15:35:40, humanity emerges in WISE 1150+6302 and immediately makes contact with chased Mechi fleet:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802981071767207947/mechi1.PNG)
Mechi ships launch volley of missiles and before human ships manage to set up their defenses, several missiles impact the fleet. Fortunately for everyone shields held and no ship got even a single scratch from it. All ships in fleet powered up their engines as much as they could in order to not get outmaneouvered by Mechi squadron which started circling around their enemies.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802982018266431618/mechi2.PNG)
Anti-missile beams and flak cannons are prepared quickly and Phalanx-Vanguard line quickly destroys any further incoming missiles.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802982364682780733/mechi3.PNG)
9th June 2188, 15:41:02, Mechi ships suddenly make an U-turn as they fear humanity detaching their assault ships and blocking their way and attempt to escape into EZ Aquarii as Tomahawks start to lauch first missiles.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802982957304119336/mechi4.PNG?width=677&height=636)
It is quickly revealed that they don't posess any serious anti-missile capabilities as even first volley is devastating, spreading chaos and destruction among their ships.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802983145934553158/mechi5.PNG)
Mechi attempt to split their two remaining ships and spread out, but Tomahawk-fired missiles get them all. Soon the battle is over and all Mechi ships are eliminated.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802983844700618772/mechi6.PNG?width=1127&height=635)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802983859565363261/mechi7.PNG)
After the battle scans quickly show signatures of escape shuttles launched before all ships got destroyed. This provides an invaluable opportunity to capture "alive" Mechi so that IT engineers specialising in AI could attempt to communicate and hack into Mechi representatives and get as many information from them as possible. Fleet admiral orders to capture the surviving robots and return back to Earth. Meanwhile in Solar System the construction of all space stations providing necessary infrastructure and supplies for the naval fleet to operate in outer space for many years is almost gone, which means a full-scale invasion into Mechi territory should be made possible soon.
In the meantime, as a result of recent space battle, government pulls some of the exploration forces into investigating Mechi branch discovered in Struve 2398.
It is quickly confirmed that previously discovered Luhman 16 system doesn't contain any additional wormholes besides the one that connects it with Struve 2398, meaning it's one of the ends of "Struve branch". Another wormhole from Struve 2398 allows travel into WD 1142-645 system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802987082598973490/unknown.png?width=731&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802987256088494110/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/802987393191903242/unknown.png?width=1386&height=427)
WD 1142-645-A III, despite having a hydrogen-based atmosphere and extremely cold temperatures, is determined to not be a possible long-destroyed colony of the Precursors due to too small size and gravity.
When several Manhattan colony ships (long outdated but some still in service) and freighters resupplying HIP 47650 system get attacked by Invaders and destroyed in WISE 2359-7335 system while returning to Sol, government bans all the starships to stop there, ordering them to travel directly to their destination, even if it means far larger fuel and energy expenses required to make longer flights in warp bubble. Ban is supposed to be lifted only when Void Wormhole in NN 3009 will be secured.
3rd January 2189, 12:02:53, Orion starship finds itself stranded when a critical failure of interstellar navigation module leaves it stranded in deep space in NN 3815 system, unable to find the way back home.
3rd January 2189, 12:54:17, Orion's crew detects Invaders' assault squadron and calls for help while powering up engines to accelerare as fast as possible and get out of fire range. It is actually considered a miracle that they've managed to escape before shields overcharge.
19th January 2189, 05:47:31, Arks tasked with tugging stranded starship appear with a powerful naval escort to lead explorers back to safety. Immidiately upon entering the system through the wormhole from WISE 2359-7335 the fleet is fired upon, which explains the "miracle" of Orion's escape. It was an ambush. Both Arks get destroyed and one of Pikes escorting them is wrecked too.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803064362906550272/battle1.PNG)
19th January 2189, 05:48:35, hostile fleet jumps through the wormhole into WISE 2359-7335 and uses the good old "hit and run" once again. Human naval forces follow.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803064730745831434/battle2.PNG)
Invaders split into two and a powerful squadron of Strikers and Blades catches up to one group and exchanges fire. The groups haven't managed to split too much by then, though, so both can be targeted. Another firefight begins.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803065138634031164/battle3.PNG?width=1063&height=636)
Main assault forces overtakes Invaders, turns off main engines and performs 180 degrees turn to open fire while maintaining course, exposing their enemies like on a shooting range, and score many good hits as a result, A fuel leak from one of Invader's ships forces its crew to decelerate while they still can. Unfortunately same situation happens for one of the Pikes, which shields didn't hold for long enough.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803065846913171486/battle4.PNG)
19th January 2189, 5:59:45, main assault force risks it and attempts to reverse flight direction and pass the Invaders' ships at high speed and score good hits along the way from the flank. As they decelerate to lose current speed vector they become vulnerable for a while, which enemy makes a good use of. However, shields hold for long enough until the manoeuvre is completed. Meanwhile detached Pikes maintain course and turn around like main force a few minutes ago, scoring good hits with particle lances while remaining in front of their enemies.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803067296813285376/battle5.PNG?width=1386&height=630)
As main squadron adjusts flight direction to take into account Invaders' flight paths and destroys one of the two most dangerous laser assault ships of the enemy force, enemy finishes off Pike that previously suffered from fuel leak. Invaders begin to spread out to make concentrated targeting harder for humans and encircle their forces. Fierce firefight continues.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803067965603053588/battle6.PNG)
Invaders change course suddenly and so does human fleet, however due to slightly higher acceleration assault squadron does it faster and overtakes Invaders once more, dealing heavy damage along the way while they're still vulnerable as they're a bit too slow with losing their speed vector and acquiring a new one. However, they manage to blow up one Blade in the process.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803068529837604914/battle7.PNG)
In a bold manoeuvre Pikes and main assault squadron change their trajectory and turn around in a way that makes them travel around the Invaders, encircling them and firing from both sides until both squadrons merge at rendezvous point. Invaders take heavy fire in the process.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803069415419674694/battle8.PNG?width=812&height=636)
19th January 2189, 6:12:15, Tomahawks finally manage to launch a few quick volleys, meanwhile lasers, mesons and particle beams wreak havoc among enemy lines:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803070061366870046/battle9.PNG?width=1386&height=600)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803070143395659816/battle10.PNG?width=983&height=636)
Rest of Invaders' forces are no match for overwhelming missiles, which quickly finish them off:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803070680610111518/battle11.PNG?width=640&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803070698238771200/battle12.PNG)
Another battle has been won by the forces of Humanity. After another defeat Invaders go quiet for a while, allowing a safe operation of rescuing survivors and escorting damaged ships back to Solar System.
-
2190s
Government announces yet another incursion into Invaders' network. Additional three wormholes are explored, one leading from Gliese 483 to the lonely star of Gliese 3:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803071869405364224/unknown.png)
A wormhole from HIP 13218 connects to the WISE 1457+5815 star:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803073045338128424/unknown.png)
Another two wormholes are detected near it, one leading into the binary system of Kappa Tucanae:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803080618342744064/unknown.png?width=926&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803080685237174282/unknown.png?width=747&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803080803802284072/unknown.png?width=654&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803080950695198740/unknown.png?width=681&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081129405054976/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081214217945108/unknown.png?width=1386&height=425)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081282795995147/unknown.png?width=1386&height=431)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081427464749066/unknown.png?width=1386&height=427)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081510541328424/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081605664079912/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081668113072179/unknown.png?width=1386&height=431)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081749319778305/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081812414038036/unknown.png?width=1386&height=431)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803081879166255114/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
When explorers saw this system, their jaws dropped. Legends say for the rest of their lives they haven't managed to lift them back up and close their mouth.
Kappa Tucanae-A II. A second Earth. No terraforming required. A bit colder, but still comfortable. Perfect atmospheric pressure and composition. Slightly lower, but still very good gravity. Comparable diameter. Similar moon orbiting it.
Vast oceans, seas, rivers and lakes with marine and aquatic life, ranging from small microorganisms, through fishes, coral reefs and larger fishes up to equivalents of whales, some even bigger than those found on Earth.
Birds of all kinds flying around. Lush valleys with hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Life thriving in the mountains. Similar trees. Similar grass. Similar herbivores. Similar carnivores. Similar everything.
The beauty of this world was breathtaking. No terraformation ever came close to its majesty. It was even more beautiful than Earth itself. A perfect world, ripe for the taking. Utopia.
Then was Kappa Tucanae-A V, also accompanied by a moon similar to Earth's. Slightly higher amount of oxygen, but measured pressure showed exactly 1 atm. Much higher gravity due to size, but still bearable. Once populated, this world could theoretically support dozens of bilions of people. Terraforming will be required to warm this planet up and melt ice sheets, but that's about it. Complex life thrives there, too. Samples from various species could help scientists working on adapting humans to freezing temperatures with their research even more. Especially given that near equator, where temperatures reach -65C, some more complex plants managed to grow and blossom. Studying their organisms could provide invaluable insight into freezing temperatures survival.
As if two planets teeming with life weren't enough, there's also a tropical paradise of Kappa Tucanae-B II. Temperatures are scorching for human beings, but nothing a quick terraforming couldn't fix. Besides that, lush rainforests cover most of the surface, making place for more temperate climate zones only closer to the poles. Lower gravity allowed the trees to grow extremely tall there, resembling tropical versions of the tallest Earth sequoias. Among them many creatures found shelter, notably large snake-like animals, looking somewhat like wingless dragons.
Exploration team brought many photos from these three lush worlds. Kappa Tucanae-A II:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803087105693188096/unknown.png?width=1074&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803087288316723270/IdVcmnP.png?width=1018&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803087698940133427/gribrjyjtf511.png?width=1130&height=636)
Kappa Tucanae-A V:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803088220098396170/postcards-from-the-edge-of-the-universe-a-no-mans-sky-gallery-160-body-image-1471277450-size_1000.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803088314495139930/2435ffea07549385928725c8a4e549687fd0a1a4.png?width=1130&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803088646453723197/latest.png)
Kappa Tucanae B-II:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803089242938671134/Ht8UnwM.png?width=1130&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803089537944649768/hp0l4qhe19t41.png?width=1130&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803089619284393984/nws_NoMansSky_014.png?width=1130&height=636)
As if three habitable planets weren't enough, the system contains lots of other celestial bodies, from gas giants through regular "rock chunks" to asteroid belts, all ready to be mined. The system was often referred to "Sol++", as with all its features it was like Solar System but better.
Despite uncertain times and soldiers dying during Bootes War and recent Mechi skirmishes, discovery of all these planets in Kappa Tucanae poured some optimisim into the hearts and minds of many. Government mobilised even more people to work hard on assembling Wormhole Defence Squadrons, promising to open this system for colonisation as soon as Void Wormhole in NN 3009 will be blocked and contained by the fleets of Anarchists, Dragons and Devastators. The best of the best will board these combat spaceships as their role now will be even more significant than previously expected - they'll guard route to the system that'll become more precious than Solar System itself. Their service will be crucial in making Utopia actually becoming true Utopia.
A special update to the explored space map gets added, clearly marking the most beautiful system explored so far:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/803092714480205864/unknown.png?width=792&height=636)
As threat from Invaders continues to grow many citizens become tired from the war, feeling of looming danger and all the tensions, protests, radical organisations and acts of terrorism. And in those uncertain times their eyes turn into Utopia. All the explored and conquered space so far feels insignificant and ugly when one looks at the photos from Kappa Tucanae, a pure diamond among mere coal bricks.
Only one thing concerns everybody: despite such abundance of life, there were no signs of sentience detected. Not even a single ruin. Kappa Tucanae so far is the strongest argument for the hypothesis that Invaders managed to purge sentient life from many systems, but left the non-sentient species intact.
This realisation is terrifying, the thought of settling on remnants of civilisations long destroyed in such a clean way that there are in fact no civilisation remnants left...
But government promises that humanity will not bow before Invaders and will prevail, bringing sentience to these long forgotten stars and making Invaders regret what they did. Humanity shall utilise the network linking many life-bearing worlds to expand and eventually defeat Invaders once and for all.
Large quantities of supplies and facilities are already being produced and prepared, reserved solely for the purpose of conquering Utopia once it'll be safe enough to do so. Despite bilions of stars out there, eyes of everyone turn into just two of them. Many hope that Utopia will bring humans closer together once again, deescalating tense political and societal situation on many worlds.
-
Programmers and computer scientists make a first breakthrough in hacking into Mechi and retrieving information from them. While it's still not much, a few parameters describing species that designed them are pulled out of their data banks:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803920282179338270/unknown.png)
Not much more can be said about the Designers, though their physiology must be weaker than that of a human, given lower tolerance for high gravity and pressure. From the data retrieved it is still unknown whether they are a creation or a product of cybernetic ascension. This question seems to be fairly important for ethics as the answer determines whether humanity is getting rid of dangerous machines or killing sentient beings.
Another piece of information recovered, this time very disturbing, is about their missiles. An exact top speed of the ones used in the first larger battle with Mechi forces has been determined - it's exactly 192000 km/s, 64% of the speed of light. These missiles are very small, but if used in larger quantities, with such speed will quickly overwhelm Phalanx-Vanguard lines. Currently it's impossible for missile engineers and technicians to build missiles that'd come close to this. An exact blueprint still remains hidden between Mechis' circuits.
Some voices in scientific environment specialising with extraterrestrial intelligence propose that Mechi could also be a product of reaching singularity by the mysterious species. This poses even more questions than answers, though.
Meanwhile, newest pictures of Void Wormholes in NN 3009 and Gliese 526 cause many worries and headaches across military commanders.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803923666009325598/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803924082105122866/unknown.png)
No Invaders appearing within Gliese 526 system were detected so far, though.
In parallel to recent updates on enemy capabilities, first stage of Project Utopia progresses according to the plan.
9th September 2192, a small net of wormholes linking two stars as well as several key planets in Kappa Tucanae is discovered. Could this be a work of Invaders? No intra-system wormholes were previously detected among Invaders-explored stars. Was it a civilisation existing there that did it? Or maybe Invaders indeed built them? But if so, for what purpose? No one could came up with a different logical hypothesis than Invaders needing them to rapidly shift forces from one star to another during battles that took place there. Battles with another alien civilisation. Battles for their homeworld, or at least a very well-developed sector.
25th September 2192, a branch of space forces heads into Mechi territory to launch a proper invasion and establish presence in their territory. GJ 1277 system is chosen for the first target, because gas giant GJ 1277-A III (discovered by exploration mission which participants met their doom at hands of Mechis' lasers back in the day) will be able to provide the fleet with much needed fuel, allowing military fleet to reach further into Mechis' wormholes.
8th October 2192, 7:51:12, radars pick up huge Mechi fleet in orbit of the gas giant. It is very likely that many of the ships siphon fuel from it.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803928762449788938/battle1.PNG)
8th October 2192, 7:55:49, Tomahawks immediately launch several volleys:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803928990594498560/battle2.PNG)
"64c" missiles, named after their dreaded 64% of the speed of light, are determined to not only be ultra fast, but also ultra accurate as one by one they manage to thin out Tomahawk's incoming missiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803929297114365973/battle3.PNG)
Mechi anti-missile defence joins combat as it helps clear out all the missiles from first volley. More volleys quickly follow, though, and Mechi can't keep up with the overwhelming firepower. Several ships explode within a matter of seconds. This lowers Mechi defence capabilities, allowing even more missiles to hit their targets. Damage quickly starts to pile up:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803930319127838760/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803930333867016232/battle6.PNG)
8th October 2192, 8:01:30, Mechi attempt to split their forces to save at least part of it, which is rather effective short-term. More missiles follow, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803930781063315486/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803930841683197993/battle8.PNG)
8th October 2192, 8:14:07, human fleet reaches orbit of the gas giant as Mechi try to flee in two separate directions:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803931139483238401/battle9.PNG)
It is decided that it's best to save ammo, Tomahawks go slient and a squadron of Strikers opens laser fire. Mechi depserately try to accelerate further.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803931473098833950/battle10.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803931527280853012/battle11.PNG)
Human forces leave orbit of gas giant and chase remaining ships, flying past them time after time again, decimating their forces as they flee:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803931912225816636/battle12.PNG)
8th October 2192, 8:24:17, Strikers detach from the main fleet and chase lonely surviving ship which managed to accelerate unnoticed and is now cruising away from the battlefield, taking advantage of the radars flaring up with dozens of targets. In the meantime rest of the fleet mops up remaining Mechi ships.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803932337322721350/battle13.PNG)
Four of Mechi fuel harvesters surrended. First lifepods, now surrendering - officers and regular soldiers baffled as these robots show more "life" signs than Invaders, who despite being made out of biological matter always fight to the bitter end, never giving up, never trying to escape burning wrecks. Maybe Mechi are indeed alive beings, transcended into "cyberconsciousness"? One thing is certain: this technology, while serving economical rather than military purposes, will give an invaluable opportunity to study a Mechi ship intact.
8th October 2192, 8:35:41, despite battle being over, sensors pick up two additional targets. At first they're expected to be either some sort of scouts checking out what happened in GJ 1277 or something like that, but as Strikers move closer to investigate, they shook their heads in disbelief: these two ships are clearly the ones used by Invaders:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803934742336634880/battle14.PNG)
8th October 2192, 8:37:15, before Strikers can catch up to them, they suddenly disappear. It is expected that they travelled through a yet undetected wormhole or powered up their FTL drive if they had any. Quick scan of their last known position confirms it's the former: wormhole leads to GJ 1151 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803936023520215050/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803936173932150784/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803936225479491594/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803936318785978408/unknown.png)
Strikers quickly catch up to the two ships and pierce their hulls with lasers:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803936619425955860/battle17.PNG)
Meanwhile in GJ 1277 Chimera carrier picks up all the remaining Mechi floating around onboard their escape pods and heads with them back to Earth. As it flies towards WISE 1150+6302 wormhole, its sensors pick up another two Invaders:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803937651752828958/battle16.PNG)
Not willing to risk it due to being slower than them and not being able to accelerate further to spare enough fuel for the trip, it engages warp drive as captain decides it's best to avoid usage of Mechi wormholes this time and travel to Solar System directly. Only tons of tons of debris remain in GJ 1277, guarded by human combat fleet:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803938360561369088/battle15.PNG)
13th March 2193, second stage of initial Mechi Invasion is successfully completed: several space stations are finally tugged into GJ 1277-A III's orbit to help military forces establish themselves in the system. They include Astera stations for fuel harvesting, Atlas stations for maintaining the fleet and performing necessary repairs, Arcadia to provide a place for the crewmembers to rest, relax and entertain themselves during breaks and Seraphim station for storing spare ammunition. Asutralian engineers help design a special ship capable of safely delivering missiles for ever-hungry Tomahawks:
Kangaroo class Ammunition Transport 16,732 tons 160 Crew 900.3 BP TCS 335 TH 2,000 EM 0
5976 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 1-58 Shields 0-0 HTK 27 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 33 Max Repair 500 MSP
Magazine 1,000
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC22K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 22500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (1) Power 2000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 81.1 billion km (157 days at full power)
Ordnance Transfer Rate: 48 MSP per hour Complete Transfer 20.8 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
With the help of newly arriving infrastructure fleet operating in GJ 1277 system will be able to take on much longer missions, pushing further into Mechi space. GJ 1277 is now oficially to be considered as controlled by humanity.
Thousands of robots recovered from the battlespace in GJ 1277 sped up hacking and data recovering procedures. While it is still extremely hard to get anything useful from a single Mechi, when one has thousands of them it becames less of an issue and bit by bit some valuable information can be uncovered. Some of them include full data about Zeta(1) Reticuli and GJ 1277 systems - the two that decades ago haven't been fully explored because Mechi turned hostile.
Apart from the two already known wormholes in GJ 1277, there was also a third one, leading to a star that Mechi called "Napamute". Or rather two stars, given it's a binary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951190160965672/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951256468979752/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951330820620348/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951451444740096/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951545599131658/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951767661838336/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951843340058654/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803951926835675176/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803952013200982036/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803952104497479740/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803952149045313586/unknown.png)
Napamute-A III and Napamute-A IV planets appear to be potentially rich in minerals due to mountainous terrain and extensive tectonic activity. Both contain traces of oxygen within their atmospheres and frozen surface water (ice sheets cover almost all of Napmute-A IV's surface, this world is basically Antarctica on a planetary scale), however no life signs are detected. The atmospheres on both worlds on top of being too thin and containing too little oxygen also appear to be contaminated with traces of toxic gasses. Only traces, but more than enough to kill a human almost instantly.
Another wormhole from Napamute leads further, to the star referred to as "Napolean":
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803952424141848586/unknown.png)
More astronomical data gathered reveal information of a star called "Narrabundah" by Mechi. It is a part of their network and contains at least one wormhole in its proximity, but exact wormhole routes leading to it are unknown, so are space coordinates, excluding a possibility to travel to it directly with help of a warp drive.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803954680861556756/unknown.png)
Astronomers analyse data gathered about the three stars and try to match them with existing charts, hoping to learn what stars Mechi had on their digital minds. Provided these stars were already named and classified, that is. Data gathered so far about Mechi space presents itself as follows on the tactical map:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/803955238217449472/unknown.png)
On top of that, by combining examined wrecks and technology with data deciphered from Mechi storage systems and captured fuel harvesters' layout, spaceship designers are able to piece together several Mechi ship blueprints:
Araluen III class Fuel Harvester 75,771 tons 343 Crew 1,365.7 BP TCS 1,515 TH 800 EM 0
527 km/s Armour 1-159 Shields 0-0 HTK 168 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 11 Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Fuel Harvester: 27 modules producing 2,700,000 litres per annum
Commercial Inertial Fusion Drive EP800.00 (1) Power 800 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 800 Explosion 2%
Fuel Capacity 750,000 Litres Range 180 billion km (3952 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 100,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 7 hours
CIWS-250 (2x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Ajana III class Geosurvey Ship 8,272 tons 111 Crew 1,150.4 BP TCS 165 TH 1,680 EM 0
10155 km/s Armour 1-36 Shields 0-0 HTK 46 Sensors 18/18/0/4 DCR 6 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.59 Years MSP 521 AFR 91% IFR 1.3% 1YR 109 5YR 1,637 Max Repair 252 MSP
Leftenant Colonel Control Rating 2 BRG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Morale Check Required
Solid Core AM Drive EP840.0 (2) Power 1680 Fuel Use 14.91% Signature 840 Explosion 6%
Fuel Capacity 3,250,000 Litres Range 474.5 billion km (540 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33.5m km
EM Sensor EM1-18 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33.5m km
Improved Geological Sensors (2) 4 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Amaroo III class Missile Destroyer 10,748 tons 246 Crew 2,953.9 BP TCS 215 TH 2,800 EM 0
13026 km/s Armour 9-43 Shields 0-0 HTK 66 Sensors 18/0/0/0 DCR 3 PPV 36
Maint Life 0.55 Years MSP 515 AFR 308% IFR 4.3% 1YR 937 5YR 14,057 Max Repair 700 MSP
Magazine 572
Leftenant Colonel Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Solid Core AM Drive EP1400 (2) Power 2800 Fuel Use 53.45% Signature 1400 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,050,000 Litres Range 32.9 billion km (29 days at full power)
CIWS-320 (1x12) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Size 6 Missile Launcher (6) Missile Size: 6 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC69-R5 (1) Range 69.5m km Resolution 5
Ballista Anti-Ship Missile (95) Speed: 81,600 km/s End: 19.7m Range: 96.4m km WH: 10 Size: 6 TH: 272/163/81
While certain technologies are considered obsolete, most attention is paid to the antimatter engines installed on Ajana III and Amaroo III class ships. Theoretically the engines could be reverse-engineered and constructed, but to this day, despite numerous advancements in science, humanity lacks efficient ways to produce enough antimatter for these types of engines to be of any practical use compared to well-established fusion reactors after several upgrade cycles. Government wants to continue invasion in hopes of uncovering methods of producing enough antimatter to reliably power the newly-discovered engines.
"Ballista" missiles are another thing, though: with the current technology copying or at least coming up with a very similar design should be doable, experts claim. Their design, somewhere in between the power of packing a punch and light decoy missiles that could theoretically be propelled to outstanding speeds, could lead to a new class of missile combat spaceships - ones that don't need extra decoy missiles, but are capable of launching enough of their base ones to deal with enemy anti-missile capabilities.
Out of all those information, one stands out, still echoing across minds of many: proof of Invaders existing in Mechi-controlled space. Everyone reminds the message received decades ago, shortly before Mechi opened fire for the first time:
"You know nothing. Nibiru before. Coming from outer space. Leave. Reticuli unstable."
A warning. Not only about Mechi turning hostile, but a warning about Invaders. Invaders that once annihilated a powerful interstellar and intergalactic civilisation who among thousands of other worlds colonised such planets as Nibiru, for example. And in the present times, humanity wasn't the only civilisation attacked by creators of Bootes Void. No additional Void Wormholes were discovered by the probes briefly launched through the wormholes into Zeta(1) and Zeta(2) Reticuli systems, though.
Some computer scientists are redirected to researching possible ways to hack into Mechi on a broader spectrum and override their hostility, forcing them to cooperate and be willing to be used as a cannon fodder to spare human lives and resources during ongoing Bootes War.
A brief mission to check out Gliese 762 system has been launched after astronomical observations suggested two planets orbiting the star within its ecosphere. This turned out to be nothing but a computation mistake as the only celestial bodies found around the star are comets just passing by:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804026459215495238/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804026512041836585/unknown.png)
15th April 2193, Alpha Centauri-A II, after crossing 700 milions inhabitants and spawning more and more plasma interceptors for wormhole defence, with its constantly expanding economy has officially received a staus of a Core World. To mark this title, it has been renamed to Gaia - standing even stronger than Earth itself did after COVID-19 pandemic.
Terraforming of Epsilon Eridani-A II shouldn't take more than five years plus some error margin, commander of terraforming forces claims. Freighters begin to ship construction materials and prepare initial shelters for future colonists despite the atmosphere still being toxic, hoping to kickstart this world quicker than usual. Terraforming took enough time and effort already.
AI overseeing automated industry in EZ Aquarii warns about EZ Aquarii-B II falling off from stable orbit after experiencing too strong gravitational pull from EZ-Aquarii-C. It was definitely a smart move not to leave any people there at mercy of the chaotic system of three bodies. Buildings were assembled from the toughest alloys known up to date, they should withstand rapidly and unpredictably changing temperatures.
As tensions on Earth rise, most of genetic engineering-related research move to Gaia, where situation is a bit better. Steady progress is being made, but biologists claim that modifying population large enough to survive temperatures low enough will be "a long road".
As more and more interceptors leave Gaia and HIP 47650-A II's docks, government prepares a designated transport fleets with only one task of transferring people and supplies into Kappa Tucanae system, preparing for colonising Utopia beforehand.
An old computer scientist specialising in AI predicts that with the latest breakthroughs in the field thanks to Mechi-related research breaching the barrier of Singularity is "more than possible". Many citizens concerned given how Mechi treated humanity so far.
A team of physicists from HIP-47650-A II receives grant for building a "hyperdrive" on a microcosmic scale. The device is supposed to transfer a beam of neutrons through a series of dynamically established and collapsed wormholes, reaching the effective speed of 200c. Results won't be representative for practical applications as the beam will be launched at near-lightspeed from the beginning and with such speed will be entering and leaving wormholes.
27th November 2193, a small set of ruins is discovered on Gliese 504-A II. Their existence doesn't make much sense since the planet doesn't contain any traces of an atmosphere or water in any form and is basically just flat, barren rock riddled with craters. There isn't much to mine on it, either. Rest of the system doesn't present itself any better, hence it was deemed dead and hopeless. Maybe it's a long-abandoned mining outpost, left there by a civilisation long long time ago, after exploiting the system. XAT unit moves in to investigate.
Growing population on Tau Ceti-A IV maintains psionic linkages, able to quickly assemble hivemind if needed. The planet becomes a center for psionic research. Scientists try to estimate whether it'd be possible for human brains to develop ability to "translate" each other's waves, allowing psionic powers without chips and brain implants, in the process of evolution, be it purely natural or sped-up with technology.
-
4th December 2193, first fleet of Anarchy, Devastator and Dragon class interceptors arrives at the wormhole leading from NN 3815 to NN 3009. Its duty begins, and hopefully an era of longed stability too, allowing safe colonisation of Utopia.
17th December 2193, 20:14:56, fresh fleet has to face combat sooner than expected as a strong Invaders' forces emerge from the wormhole. Baptism of fire arrived almost instantly, though many feel relieved they were just in time to intercept next batch of hostile ships. Plasma begins to splash over their hulls, boiling them from the inside.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804765533043687464/battle1.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804765543646625812/battle2.PNG)
17th December 2193, 20:15:41, enemy fleet begins to accelerate, trying to gain distance. Interceptors begin the chase:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804776449902116874/battle3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804777141899231252/battle4.PNG)
17th December 2193, 20:16:01, main branch of enemy forces suddenly brakes and begins to gain speed while travelling the opposite direction, which could result in human forces getting attacked from two sides. Humanity sends Anarchists to disrupt them.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804777598935629834/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804777713914609744/battle6.PNG)
Main fleet ignores Invader's skirmishes and tries to support Anarchists as they took a beating from an overwhelming forces. Invaders make a tactical retreat:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804782035457671188/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804782043912601600/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804782182748520468/battle9.PNG)
Enemy maintains its distance while detached skirmishes disrupt manoeuvres of Interceptors. Plasma cools too fast to pose a danger to main bulk of their force.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804782735615983626/battle10.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804782753488437309/battle11.PNG)
17th December 2193, 20:24:25, Anarchists rejoin the formation and the whole fleet attempts to close in.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804783912882667520/battle12.PNG)
Particle lances of Devastators score first hits while solo-operating Invaders finish off damaged ships that sadly had to be left behind:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804784473845399572/battle13.PNG)
Suddenly enemy tries to pull off another distraction manoeuvre to make evasion more difficult and opens fire. One of the devastator can't handle lasers anymore and disintegrates.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804784838900056094/battle14.PNG)
Pursuit continues, but soon it becomes obvious that before Interceptors close in enough for the plasma to become deadly once again, Invaders will pick them off from a distance, one by one. Retreat is necessary. All Anarchists meet their doom during deceleration phase. More damage tanked as Interceptors almost overheat engines to generate enough thrust quickly enough.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804785313854652416/battle15.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804785522916327434/battle16.PNG)
17th December 2193, 20:29:53, lacking any other options, in an act of desperation survivors of the battle of NN 3009 wormhole head straight into it at full throttle, disappearing from Invaders' radars and sending a desperate call for reinforcements, leaving debris and human escape shuttles floating around on the other side. And combat-ready Invader fleet.
Humanity shocked after their first defeat and failure of Void Wormhole contamination. Some Kappa Tucanae almost-colonists have a change of heart and prefer to stay on any other world but to travel through Invader-infested solar systems. No later than when the news've arrived, protests suddenly burst out with full force across Core Worlds, and, to some limited extent, in other colonies as well. Newest military doctrine called into question as Pikes, Blades and Strikers combined with missile support worked much better so far. Government responds with "the enemy appears to have brought a new class of laser combat spaceships in rather large amount, current tacticis would've worked if only more Interceptors would've been brought up in time to create a 'true swarm'". Morale across the crews of plasma interceptors drops, but somehow it all resulted in morale boost for the "old fleets" as as a side-effects of the complaints against newest strategy they were praised a lot.
2nd January 2194, 23:11:23, main assault fleet spots two hostile ships hanging around NN 3815 wormhole in WISE 2359-7335. It looks as if they "guarded entrance to their territory".
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804792602917863434/fight1.PNG)
2nd January 2194, 23:12:19,as soon as the fleet approaches, enemies disappear in the wormhole. Assault fleet follows and finds the rest of Invaders' forces on the other side, sighing with relief they haven't chased survivors of wormhole defence forces so far:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804793162836213800/fight2.PNG)
Shields easily deal with incoming fire. Another battle, and a rescue operation as well, begins. Or almost begins as enemies detach two of their next-gen laser assault ships and send them deeper into the system as the rest jump back into WISE 2359-7335. Assault forces recharge shields and prepare to jump back to WISE 2359-7335. Squadron of Strikers and Blades is sent to chase and destroy the two targets while they're separated.
2nd January 2194, 23:12:19, as the pursuing ships get closer, they pick up more targets on their sensors:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804805427320586330/unknown.png)
As they get closer, it appears that ships are damaged and are cruising at only half of their maximum observed speed. This should be an easy fight. Enemy opens fire first, but human assault ships dodge with ease, waiting for the right moment to attack. Patience pays off, first damage has been dealt:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804807637400682536/unknown.png)
Fleet admirals risks it and decides to speed right in front of enemies. This risky manoeuvre costs life of a valiant crew of one of the blades, but one of the two dangerous laser beam ships gets destroyed, too.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804808752439623680/unknown.png)
Fierce firefight continues. Human forces shocked to discover that the enemy jamming technology has improved significantly, preventing target lock even at ranges below 200 000 km.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804809738511974470/unknown.png)
Another Blade gets torn into pieces, but eventually Assault Squadron manages to destroy the second next-gen Invader ship. After that it's only a formality to obliterate the remaining ships, too weak to stand any chance. Assault Squadron returns to the main forces and prepares for WISE 2359-7335 wormhole breach.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804810919682637854/unknown.png)
2nd January 2194, 23:35:18, Assault Squadron composed of the "Pike+Blade+Striker" dream-team traverses the wormhole and finds itself in WISE 2359-7335. Unfortunately, one Pike receives an unlucky shot that hits the onboard fusion reactor after Invaders concentrated fire and overcharged its shields when human fleet was still emerging from the wormhole. It had no chances.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804830811144192010/battle1.PNG)
Human forces desperately try to gain distance and Invaders seem to be doing the same thing. Before their dreaded laser guns open fire once again, vast majority of shots are easily dodged by skilled and experienced pilots.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804831202216378484/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804831213918486558/battle3.PNG)
However, at that range, paired with Invaders' jamming sequences and Assault Squadron's outdated software, Strikers can't score a hit either. Pikes detach from the main fleet to serve as a decoy and Strikers with Blades use their engine power advantage to quickly accelerate towards Invaders and catch up to them.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804832138637213716/battle4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804832150221357147/battle5.PNG)
Humanity tanks heavy laser fire, but shields hold and first connecting shots are fired at the enemy:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804832388130930748/battle6.PNG)
Two fleets head straight into each other. Admiral leading the assault attempts to do a classical space combat manoeuvre - fly past them at high speed and then immediately turn around to unleash even more fire as ships will maintain their inertia. He hopes to do this while Invaders are busy recharging their weapons.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804832859000012830/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804832871302561842/battle8.PNG)
Due to estimation errors Invaders score crippling hits before both fleets distance from themselves, but shields hold. Barely, but hold. One of enemy vessles suffers critical engine control failure, sending the ship way off course, accelerating in random directions.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804833294679932948/battle9.PNG)
Human eventually destroy one of the four next-gen Invader laser assault ships with overwhelming firepower and turn around, dodging some incoming shots from the hostile fleet still maintaining its course. More luck than skill was involved, as rapid change of course always requires dreaded deceleration, making ships vulnerable.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804833894444695592/battle10.PNG)
Humanity takes casualties eventually, but the firefight continues and the assault forces find themselves behind enemy once again. Not that it matters in the vaccuum.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804834169023758366/battle11.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804834182575947836/battle12.PNG)
2nd January 2194, 23:48:30, Taking advantage of all enemy ships being engaged, Tomahawks warp into the system and begin preparation for missile launch. Invaders react with an unexpected change of course, attempting to stop them. If they could get to Tomahawks at firing range, results could be devastating.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804834637406797864/battle13.PNG)
Threat posed by assault fleet forces enemies to reconsider their decision, though, as they turn around, hoping to unleash powerful volleys at space equivalent of point blank. They take severe fire during deceleration phase, though. Human pilots bravely dodge incoming fire, which isn't hard to do when the enemy is almost standing - Invaders timed their shots poorly this time. Humanity uses the advantage to quickly overtake them and make U-turn behind them, circling rapidly around their foes.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804834942713987152/battle14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804835427886039080/battle15.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804835444763787274/battle16.PNG)
Eventually Invaders do score hits, crippling one of the Blades and throwing it off-course:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804835838919180338/battle17.PNG)
2nd January 2194, 23:59:17, suddenly Invaders pull one of their ships away into some sort of kamikaze mission. As all guns are focused on bulk of the enemy forces, it approaches uninterrupted and unleashes a swarm of debris from some sort of flak guns, similar to the ones used by human space fleets for anti-missile defences. Fortunately shields hold thight.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804836387831414795/battle18.PNG)
Enemy takes more casualties, but they suddenly drop a lot of speed, making humanity overtake unintentionally. By doing this they gained some much needed range.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804836666586038332/battle19.PNG)
Human combat forces fire once again, breaking Invaders' manoeuvre by forcing them to accelerate to have better chance at dodging. It is a bit too late, though, and they suffer heavy losses in the process.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804836972187222026/battle20.PNG)
3rd January 2194, 0:02:15, as the most dangerous vessels have been turned into debris, Tomahawks are ordered to conserve missiles and do not fire. Meanwhile after Invaders circling in one place for long enough, Pikes quickly catch up to them and finish off remaining vessels, blowing up all of them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804837673218211880/battle21.PNG)
The battle has been won and the fleet appearing out of NN 3009 finally defeated, but thanks to heavy casualties took by plasma interceptors the price was much higher than in any other battle so far. Also targeting systems jamming capabilities paired up with massive firepower demonstrated by the new class of Invaders' spaceships terrify even the bravest soldiers. It took too long, way too long for Tomahawks to prepare their volleys. Sure, their systems were outdated compared to the newer Javelin missile cruisers, kept outside of combat so far since up to the day of this large-scale engagement Tomahawks performed decently enough after their decoy missiles overhaul, but not to the point of such massive delay. Crews of these ships reported several strange errors in targeting software occurring en masse as they struggled to provide requested support for main assault forces. Thankfully everything ended well, but if missile support would be critical in that battle, human forces would end up decimated.
Among the two stars across which the battle took place, NN 3815 and WISE 2359-7335, only debris remains.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804841573585911808/battle22.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804841586365956126/battle23.PNG)
After rescuing survivors in escape pods and tugging back broken ships, but not broken enough to disintegrate and stop supporting life of their crews government tries to focus on the overall combat being won and promises to improve on the plasma interceptors "soon" to secure efforts in Kappa Tucanae, protesters focus on the first part of the battle, that one involving total massacre of ten Anarchy ships and a couple of others as well.
Government organises extensive training for paradise conquerors on Gaia. Two Dyson Spheres are put around both stars that make Alpha Centauri System. Timing wasn't accidental as after initial failure of intercepting Invaders' fleet many continue to raise concerns over safety to no end. Putting these people on a first extraterrestrial Core World with two Dyson Spheres appearing in the system is expected to raise their morale.
Tight psionic psychological evaluation takes place to determine whether new citizens of Kappa Tucanae will be able to handle potential dangers included.
Interceptors tasked with securing Gliese 526 growing Void Wormhole are doubled in fleet size as a firts improvement that could've been done immediately. Strength in numbers.
20th January 2194, large amounts of interceptors finally arrive in Gliese 526 together with all the necessary infrastructure for prolonged stay in deep space. Fear of Invaders starting building their network of wormholes from elsewhere drops only slightly.
Research into improving heated plasma generation on a large scale begins. Many engineers attempt to further optimise designs of interceptors for the "mk2" versions to be far more successful in the future.
Fuel Rats receive a new vessel, this time with its own warp drive, removing the need for using Guidance System or fleets that happen to pass by and have warp drives powerful enough for enclosing their tankers within own warp bubble:
Dispatcher class Tanker 50,448 tons 222 Crew 1,431.4 BP TCS 1,009 TH 4,000 EM 0
3964 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-121 Shields 0-0 HTK 45 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 500 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC60K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 60000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (2) Power 4000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 25,000,000 Litres Range 6,727.1 billion km (19641 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 80,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 312 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
As fuel shortages hit Gaia due to using up everything for more and more Interceptors, extensive harvesting of rich gas giants in the system begins. This resolves the brief crisis efficiently.
An exploration mission is launched into Lalande 21185. It lasts for a very short time as the star doesn't have any celestial bodies orbiting it:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804866557406085150/unknown.png)
During yet another trip explorers in WD 1142-645 can't find any additional wormholes besides the one from Struve 2398 which they used to arrive here. This confirms that the system, similarly to Luhman 16, is the end of "Struve Branch" of Mechi territory. Two unexplored wormholes in Struve 2398 remain to be explored.
Current situation of humanity across the stars presents itself as follows:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804867904599883796/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/804868311283269672/unknown.png)
Extensive research into sensor technology begins. As a next step in the raging war government wants to put an array of monitors or patrol ships to help scan for any Invaders that could theoretically slip through other parts of the network, even if so far no solid proof of them having a Void Wormhole elsewhere has been provided.
The new starship is expected to be able to both spot enemies from afar to cover as much of deep space as possible and launch all-purpose missiles to either deal with smaller groups of enemies independently or provide artillery support in battle from safe spot.
This next-gen technology should be made possible thanks to usage of gravitational scanners so sensitive that they could, in theory at least, detect disturbance of fabric of space by picking up gravitational waves even from the smallest shuttles out there and then use special programs to filter it out from all the "background noise" of celestial bodies floating around.
Astronomers finally manage to match Mechi names with star catalogues, identifying the 3 Mechi-explored stars. "Napamute" turns out to be Struve 1280, "Napolean" - HIP 82724 and "Narrabundah" is determined to be HIP 76315.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/805065203934298112/unknown.png)
An exploration group repors sightings of classical "flying saucers" as navigation systems failure forces them to emerge from warp bubble in Alpha Centauri. Government denies the rumours and conspiracy theories, blaming it all on failure of reporting ship's sensors. "Alpha Centauri is the most populated System after Solar System and local listening outposts would've detected any unidentified spacecraft long before some random Orion starship with broken systems could " - comment astronomers working for SETI.
Shortly after these news a small psionic waves surge is detected to occur on Gaia. Official reports written by Psi Squads sent to investigate claim it's a result of conspiracy theories gaining popularity, seeding paranoia across local populations, sometimes even among psi-capable citizens.
Scientists successfully complete quantum teleportation of a paramecium, classical example of a microorganism every kid has to learn about at school. While technically experiment was a success, ethics point out that it is unknown whether the paramecium arriving at the destination is indeed the same one or did the original one essentially die while its perfect copy materialised into existence. Currently physicists working on the project have no idea how to determine this, which will be crucial for human teleportation. However, further research can proceed normally as this technology could still be safely used for inanimate objects or plants and animals transfer. Animal right activists outraged by the latter part of this declaration.
Gaia becomes the centre of mining technology development. Refitting plasma guns mounted on spaceships to make them usable in mines shows promising results. Digging through large patches of ground is achieved faster than in case of lasers, although is less precise. This won't be make for a good ore extraction, but could speed up setting up tunnel network significantly.
Red Dot 2359 v 1.2.5, the most advanced AI program up to date, claims that it'll "eradicate humanity". Programmers desperately try to patch it out before it could enter industrial or military applications. Failure at doing so would mean the necessity to remove large portions of code, wasting years of work.
Man falls in love with a robot, luckily for him it's nothing a psionic therapy cannot fix. Such cases are nothing new, but that one is the first one when psychologists, after analysing psionic scans of patient's brain, determined that this time it was "true love" rather than some mild infatuation.
Initial research on Invaders' software used during combat helps improve espionage techniques of governmental secret services. A small microchip patch is released. Thanks to this, police forces were able to figure out connections between many radical organisations, cutting them out of their weapon supply lines and information sources, severely harming protests organised by them.
Earth reaches pre-COVID-19 population briefly, but massive colonisation efforts bring it back down by a few hundred millions.
4th July 2196, "Hyperdrive Experiment" is a success. A beam of neutrons completed its journey through the series of dynamically created and collapsed wormholes safe and sound. Work on building a first real hyperdrive begins. However, many scientists point out that this is not a "true" hyperdrive, it's just fast building and collapsing of small, short-ranged wormholes. True hyperdrive should pierce the fabric of space only once and make the starship stay in four-dimensional space for the entire journey.
Quantum teleportation research receives more funding after team of military engines suggests it could be used to, for example, teleport explosives directly into interiors of enemy spaceships. Such level of precision needed for this to be viable plus making it possible to target a destination that doesn't contain necessary "receiving equipment" make it a far-fetched sci-fi for now.
8th July 2196, 21:54:37, after another period of relative peace achieved by destruction of latest Invader fleet sent into Milky Way during memorable events from two and a half years before, Orion class starship, escorted by an entire fleet capable of dealing even with larger Invaders' forces without much trouble, crosses the Void Wormhole in NN 3009 and arrives at Bootes Void.
Despite several attempts, sensors don't pick up anything. No Invaders, no additional wormholes, no space infrastructure of any kind floating around, no traces of Prophet starship which disappeared in Bootes Void during investigation of Void Wormhole before threat from Invaders has been known to mankind. Just dark void. No hints as to why Void Wormhole has been created from this particular place and not any other.
15th july 2196, 21:54:37, similar mission is launched from Gliese 526, where second Void Wormhole has appeared. Explorers arrive at a different spot in Bootes Void, but the results are the same - nothing has been detected. This is just another random place, milions of light years away from matter of any kind.
-
New fleets of Plasma Interceptors embark to establish blockades along Void Wormholes. They're not necessarily fleets anymore, they're literal swarms. Numerous simulations have proven that using enough of them should be a sufficient measure to hold off Invaders before newer designs are invented and tested.
After several discussions between various groups of specialists the design of a new cruiser capable of surveying large patches of space has been agreed upon:
Overseer class Area Defence Cruiser 36,235 tons 912 Crew 8,680.8 BP TCS 725 TH 5,000 EM 6,240
6899 km/s JR 3-250 Armour 10-97 Shields 208-520 HTK 165 Sensors 960/720/0/0 DCR 30 PPV 96
Maint Life 1.09 Years MSP 5,497 AFR 1050% IFR 14.6% 1YR 4,619 5YR 69,291 Max Repair 1250 MSP
Magazine 1,795
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required
J49200(3-250) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 49200 tons Distance 250k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2500.00 (2) Power 5000 Fuel Use 75.89% Signature 2500 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 32.7 billion km (54 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
Size 4.0 Missile Launcher (60.0% Reduction) (40) Missile Size: 4 Rate of Fire 50
Missile Fire Control FC102-R20 (2) Range 102.7m km Resolution 20
Frunze Anti-Ship Missile (440) Speed: 38,900 km/s End: 43.2m Range: 100.7m km WH: 16 Size: 4 TH: 168/101/50
Thermal Sensor TH40-960 (1) Sensitivity 960 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 244.9m km
EM Sensor EM40-720 (1) Sensitivity 720 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 212.1m km
Compact ECCM-3 (2) ECM 30
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Overseers shall provide an extra layer of security as they are going to be able to quickly scan several systems for any hostile activity, making it difficult for any Invader to slip undetected and pose threat to civilian traffic. They will often accompany colonisation fleets on their way to Kappa Tucanae and back, serving as an early warning for the fleet to switch to retrograde and retreat in time.
With several systems from Invaders' network finally secured and no new signals of recent activity of them, Government declares an end to First Bootes War, now officially named First Bootes War. Sceptics claim it's only a propaganda and PR move, nevertheless even the World Government itself didn't try to hide that it's the end of the problem by calling the end of First Bootes War, admitting there will be a second one in the future. The one where Humanity will counterattack, though, as soon as it is determined precisely how do Invaders arrive in the Milky Way in the first place.
CONQUEST OF PARADISE
12th October 2196, first colonists touch the ground of Kappa Tucanae A-II. The long-awaited moment has finally come. Humanity begins conquering the Utopia, a solar system so perfect no one would ever believe it existed, let alone only roughly 68 light years away from Earth.
Rapid advancements in medicine, cybernetics and generic engineering quickly follow that memorable day, all achieved with supporting and speeding up progress of the most ambitious colonisation project up to date. Thanks to them, average human now can live up to 130 years and roughly 25% of the population swaps their bodies for purely robotic ones at some point in their lives. Experiments with artificial skin and exterior body features brought newest models to a whole new level, making them almost indistinguishable by all human senses from their natural, biological counterparts.
Psionic experts claim Kappa Tucanae population will have the potential to form another hive mind, similarly to what happened on Tau Ceti-A IV, as only class-A citizens, wielding psionic implants, were selected for the initial stage of Utopia Conquest Program.
Due to ongoing efforts in Epsilon Eridani-A II, terraforming of other planets withing Kappa Tucanae system gets postponed till project in Epsilon Eridani is fully completed.
In parallel to expanding into Sol++, more Orion starships leave docks, ready to discover new wonders of the universe. A new wave of space exploration begins. Several new stars are explored, for example Gliese 588:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806589191088504872/unknown.png?width=938&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806589251021045770/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806589365017903114/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
HIP 9786:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806590229175468032/unknown.png?width=703&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806590341511380993/unknown.png?width=705&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806590398645403688/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806590456225726464/unknown.png?width=1386&height=429)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806590530120974406/unknown.png?width=1386&height=229)
Initial readings confirm HIP 9786-A III hosts life.
1st January 2197, 2:45:30, before any detailed research can be conducted, a squadron of alien spaceships appears out of the blue (or rather out of the black) and opens fire without a warning.
Flak guns spam debris at incoming missiles, but they can take out only so much. Shields are raised, but they can tank only so much. Before war drive can be engaged, a critical hull breach tears Orion exploration vessels into three. There was nothing that could be done.
Last messages received from destroyed ship together with distress signal show that attackers bore markings of Precursors on their hulls. It is thus estimated that HIP 9786-A III could contain ancient complex, similar to the one found on Tau Ceti-A IV. Shortly after XAT team on Gliese 504-A II confirms that the lone outpost in a long-exploited system belonged to Precursors as well, albeit that one doesn't contain the sealed off part requiring psionic to unlock.
With the threat from Invaders still in the hearts and minds of many, government focuses its attention on HIP 9786. Another piece of a mysterious anti-Invaders weapon might be buried there. On top of that, discovery of their ships flying around is considered a significant one. Maybe those are just purely AI-driven vessels, just like Mechi and their spaceships, but maybe small nomadic communities of Precursors survived their apocalypse somehow?
Flight to HIP 9786 will require too much fuel for combat-capable fleet, hence a "space gas station" is proposed to be placed in Giclas 9-38 system, the birthplace of a legendary "WOW" SETI-received signal from two hundred years ago, due to two gas giants there being extremely rich in "fuel gasses" and easy to harvest.
To speed up the whole operation and ease transit, a small group of Chronos-class ships gets tasked with building a wormhole network leading to Giclas 9-38 from WISE 0254-0223 , a star often chosen for a warp vector recalibration instead of Gliese 526 system after Void Wormhole appeared within the latter. The small network is planned to lead through Luyten Palomar 914-54 and TZ Arietis. Later it is also decided that it'll link Gliese 504 (via Gliese 105) as well to make FTL travel to HIP 9786 even faster and save even more on fuel consumed by warp drives.
Depending on the development of current situation, HIP 9786 could become a target for future colonisation.
Another target chosen for exploration is Gliese 674:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806598195463323719/unknown.png?width=755&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806598250081026058/unknown.png?width=729&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806598378939088936/unknown.png?width=1386&height=428)
Despite initial optimism, no life signs were detected on Gliese 674-A III. Gliese 674-A I contained very simple unicellular organisms in the upper layers of its toxic atmosphere, though.
Gliese 322 turns out to not contain any sort of planetary system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806599226942423060/unknown.png?width=386&height=636)
NN 4079:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806599386427424848/unknown.png?width=758&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806599453901193266/unknown.png?width=1386&height=82)
The only three celestial bodies orbiting local sun are three planets. First one is a toxic hellscape, but the two other further from the sun contain frozen water on their surfaces. While NN 4079-A II is a dead world with traces of toxic atmosphere, NN 4079-A III turns out to be a lush world, rich in methane-breathing lifeforms.
Ice sheets span across most of the planet's surface, but relatively high temperature for methane-based worlds discovered so far allowed lifeforms to achieve pinnacle of an alternate, exotic from "earth-like" point of view, evolutionary path.
Among hundreds of species catalogued on this planet, notable ones include tree-sized mushroom-like plants. According to multiple measurement, their internal body temperature reaches insane 700 degrees. Under such high temperatures they're able to combine methane sucked out both from underground patches and air with water melted from ice and snow laying around them to trigger a reaction producing carbon monoxide and hydrogen, with the former being eaten by them as food. This process is essentially a methane-based equivalent of photosynthesis. It has been discovered that large forests of those plants contribute to the overall planet temperature being harder. Their "trunks" could possibly find applications as an organic anti-heat shield.
However, most of their time in NN 4079 researchers spent on observing a different species:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806603871278334022/unknown.png)
These bipedal creatures inhabiting the planet have been found to be capable of abstract thinking and organising themselves into basic societal structures. They are still stuck in primitive tribal structures, nevertheless initial psionic scans suggest high level of intelligence, predicting rapid development of their civilisation shall Invaders not end it first. They appear to produce strong pheromones mixing into an observable, pink-purple gas, but were determined to actually not being able to smell them. Instead, their communication seems to be based purely on looking at exact shape and colour of emitted cloud. Different shapes and shades of pink and purple essentially mark different expressions in their language.
This is the first confirmed discovery of an alien civilisation living on a planet - no Mechi colonies besides asteroid mining outposts were detected and Invaders' homeworld (or any colonies) remain undetected and no data about them could ever be recovered from their wrecked ships.
1st February 2197, following the discovery of a first civilisation too primitive to understand the nature of the universe and concept of aliens, Natural Decree is passed by the government. According to it, any interaction with such civilisation besides remote scientific tasks that don't pose significant risk of the civilisation in question spotting either researchers themselves or their equipment, is strictly prohibited under the punishment of at least ten years of imprisonment and direct exposure to harmful psionic waves.
Exploration into Struve Branch of Mechi territory progresses as well. Another wormhole from Struve 2398 appears to lead close to Kaptyens Star, a sun without planetary system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806608696523358278/unknown.png)
A wormhole found there links it with WISE 1647+5632 system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806609099889705010/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806609201551769650/unknown.png?width=1386&height=179)
The system itself doesn't look very interesting, except maybe the fact that it's fourth planet from the sun looks as if it could've belonged to Precursors in the era of their civilisation and expansion among the stars of Milky Way, but this quickly changes once explorers detect two small unarmed Mechi vessels dismantling a pile of debris floating around, a sign of a battle long fought and lost. Was it a work of Invaders or another foe, that remains unknown.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806610465131986974/unknown.png)
Another exploration mission surveys Kruger 60 binary system. Kruger 60-A has some planets orbiting it:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806610992863248435/unknown.png?width=956&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611067269545984/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611130247675965/unknown.png?width=1014&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611226243235931/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611298107260938/unknown.png?width=1386&height=433)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611389509795870/unknown.png?width=1386&height=431)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611451678687282/unknown.png?width=1386&height=219)
AX Microscopii system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611805421305856/unknown.png?width=753&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806611899809529936/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806612015136243773/unknown.png?width=1386&height=430)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806612100498980944/unknown.png?width=1386&height=427)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806612345295208448/unknown.png?width=1386&height=431)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806612442842005574/unknown.png?width=1386&height=427)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806612504805244948/unknown.png?width=1386&height=138)
GJ 1061 system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806622776919982120/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806622833064017950/unknown.png?width=1386&height=54)
28th May 2197, after many long years terraforming of Epsilon Eridani-A II is officially deemed as finished. What was once a hellish world with over 30 atmospheres of toxic gasses has become a planet very closely resembling Earth, with similar temperature ranges and climate. This is the biggest terraforming achievement up to date. Terraria stations responsible for this huge success will soon be redirected, some to Venus as their experience gained during Epsilon-Eridani-A II terraforming project will be crucial, some to Kappa Tucanae to help prepare other planets in Sol++ for conquest as well.
Population on Gaia crosses first billion.
First stage of Utopia colonisation program proceeds according to the plan, so far over 10 million citizens live on the surface of Kappa tucanae-A II, building cities and establishing infrastructure for dozens and hundreds of millions more to come. No Invader activity has been detected, colonisation ships and freighters cruise back and forth without any trouble.
3rd June 2197, 14:58:27, SETI detects a signal originating from Barnard's Star, a star very close to Earth that for whatever reason has been skipped so far during exploration missions. Several independent AI assistants estimate the probability of it originating from intelligent civilisation to be placed between 34% and 57%. According to some personnel reports, several signals had been broadcast to this system before so that one could theoretically be a response.
An exploration mission is launched immediately and arrives close to the star in question on 9th June 2197, 22:51:12:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806654659258351616/unknown.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806654725998772234/unknown.png?width=669&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806654835918110801/unknown.png?width=1386&height=425)
Hearts of the scientists starts to beat faster as initial analysis determines Barnard's Star A-I, despite low amount of oxygen and overall low atmospheric pressure, bears signs of life presence.
9th June 2197, 23:59:02, scientists pick up more signals coming from the planet. Presence of an alien civilisation is confirmed.
10th June 2197, 1:35:42, Orion starship achieves a stable orbit around the planet. Lights of their cities from the night side shine beautifully. Several satellites float around as well - it seems like alien beings living on the surface have just started making first steps beyond their homeworld. Maybe that's why they haven't replied to any of the previously sent signals - they simply weren't advanced enough and maybe only recently started their own SETI program. In some weird nostalgic way their efforts resemble early space programs of humanity from two hundred years ago.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806661636852023296/8769efce471f907a30a245ae64633c0a.png?width=636&height=636)
10th June 2197, 1:41:27, before any communication attempts could be made, suddenly dozens of ground-based weapons open fire at the exploration ship. Lasers overcharge shields and puncture the hull within seconds, causing ships' reactor to overheat and blow up, disintegrating hull into thousands of pieces. Hearts of the scientists stop beating.
Whether it was a misunderstanding or active hostility remains unknown as xenolinguistics attempt to crack down received messages.
Due to the civilisation being roughly two hundred years behind humans, possibly less though, given they've demonstrated pretty powerful ground-based planetary defence array, and as such not having any real space combat capabilities beyond their homeworld's orbit, government doesn't give assault fleet an order to invade apparently hostile world - they don't pose any threat in the current situation. Multiple probes were placed around their system to closely monitor their development and further actions after the incident.
15th June 2197, a Decree of "Barnad's Army" receives governmental approval. According to it, in case aliens from Barnard's Star will turn out to be too dangerous at any moment, human space forces will quickly bombard their planet from orbit until they either surrender or lose capability to pose said threat, no matter how insignificant it'd appear at first.
According to current procedures, communication attempts will continue via SETI program despite assault on the Orion research vessel.
SECOND BOOTES WAR
20th June 2197, during a routine patrol over explored Mechi space, once populated by their ships flying back and forth, now eerily deserted thankfully to the activity of the Invaders in the area, a fleet that once conquered GJ 1277 stumbles upon large amount of wreckage floating around deep space in HIP 79762. A fleet of Fate-class salvaging ships is sent to investigate and recover whatever might be recoverable from the leftovers of a battle long fought and forgotten.
22th June 2197, 15:13:31, Fate fleet meets its fate as unknown attackers fire upon them. Before anyone can react, all the salvaging ships join debris they attempted to mop up.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806667690075750400/battle2.PNG?width=948&height=636)
22th June 2197, 15:24:56, human forces catch up to Invaders, confirming it was Invaders who opened fire, not Mechi or some other previously undiscovered threat. It is quickly determined that it's by far the largest fleet encountered:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806667719964622858/battle1.PNG?width=659&height=636)
Without hesitation humanity attempts to retreat while Tomahawks open fire at enemies who begin their chase. To the horror of every human participating in the battle, Invaders are too many and none of the missiles can get through their overwhelming defences.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806667939495280710/battle3.PNG?width=1184&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806668157526999060/battle4.PNG?width=1068&height=636)
22th June 2197, 16:45:87, despite constantly accelerating and using subluminal warp drives every ship is equipped with, Invaders manage to close in without any trouble. The whole fleet becomes endangered.
In a brave act of self-sacrifice, commander of Chimera carriers squadron offers to slow down the enemy advance by turning around and launching Valor fighters to disrupt them, buying time for the rest of the fleet for each ship to engage Alcubierre Drive in emergency mode. The plan seems to be working, but its execution is observed with great sadness and grief as Valor pilots die by dozens within seconds, together with crewmembers of their motherships.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806669475248209980/battle5.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806669487456780298/battle6.PNG?width=1157&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806669500455190578/battle7.PNG?width=1314&height=636)
22th June 2197, 17:54:21, even combined sacrifice of Valors and Chimeras isn't enough to let the rest of the fleet power up their warp drives and get the hell out of the system in time. Invaders catch up and begin blowing up missile destroyers one by one:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806670647274766356/battle8.PNG?width=1013&height=636)
After finishing off literally all of them, the enemy consumes Tomahawks next. Terrified crews launch missile volleys one by one, even if they know it won't matter:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806671053770326027/battle9.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806671066301988934/battle10.PNG)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806671081053749298/battle11.PNG)
22th June 2197, 18:02:53, with the last Tomahawk going down, Strikers are left without support of any FTL-capable ship. Having no other option, they head towards Zeta(2) Reticuli wormhole from where they plan on travelling through Mechi wormhole network all the way to Ross 128 where it ends (or rather begins) and then sending distress signals for other naval forces to come pick them up and take under the wings of their warp bubbles back to Mars.
30th June 2197, after outrunning Invaders' fleet due to simply being faster, surviving squadron of Strikers arrives in the Solar System. Meanwhile kilotons of debris floating around HIP 79762 remain even bigger than before, thanks to fresh Invaders' prey:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806672388888068106/battle12.PNG?width=1231&height=636)
After few years of peace (well, not counting incident with Bardnard's Army), successful (at least for the time being) securing of NN 3009 and Gliese 526 Void Wormholes and starting colonisation of Kappa Tucanae humanity is deeply shaken after the events that took place close to HIP 79762. It wasn't even a lost battle, according to the reports it was a hopeless slaughter. Fleet admiral has been slain himself, unable to do anything about the situation just like everyone else involved.
Just as humanity prepared its solid defences around systems of main concerns, Invaders surprised it by launching the biggest assault so far from the least expected direction. They poured en masse from a place where only Mechi forces, much weaker, have been expected, hence why the fleet stationed around the region wasn't really prepared to face threat of such proportions.
Another wave of crisis hits Core Worlds due to horrible morale of entire human society as a whole. Because of the way Second Bootes War has started compared to the first one, massive protests hit the streets of every major city once again. Birthrates plummet, economy slows down, depression and suicide rates increase and more and more people lean towards "doom scenarios" which, in fact, Invaders do represent.
However, worsening situation doesn't really affect citizens living on Kappa Tucanae-A II and Tau Ceti-A IV since entire populations of these two worlds are psionic-capable and thus able to easily resist the dark thoughts. The difference it makes only radicalises more unstable members of society as they feel forgotten and basically threw away by the government into a trash bin, left in the Old Worlds to perish from the hands of Invaders while the elite flees into a new, better home. Secret services barely manage to prevent several terrorist attacks targeting Utopia colonisation fleet.
Many military experts claim that efforts put during First Bootes War were good enough to hold on in a reasonably well shape, but nowhere near enough to actually resolving the issue of Invaders once and for all. It's only a matter of time before last humans will perish if no breakthrough besides putting better and better defences is achieved.
Since missions exploring Bootes Void don't seem to yield anything useful under current circumstances, it is agreed that the best course of action would be to capture and interrogate a live Invader. And since they don't launch lifepods even if it means all crewmembers on their ships die possibly for that exact reason, there's only one way to achieve that goal: use a squad of elite space marines specifically trained for this operation that'll board one of their ships and take control over it.
A new military force is designed specifically for this task:
Space Marine Assault Rifleman
Transport Size (tons) 6 Cost 1.5 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.19 Resupply Cost 1.3
HP-5000A2 plasma rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 19 Damage 15
Heavy Power Armour
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Elite Psionic Combat Skills
Boarding Combat
Vendarite 0.24
Development Cost 75
Space Marine LMG Support
Transport Size (tons) 12 Cost 3 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.38 Resupply Cost 6
SLR-3050LMG pulse laser LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 15 Damage 15
Heavy Power Armour
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Elite Psionic Combat Skills
Boarding Combat
Vendarite 0.48
Development Cost 150
Space Marine HMG Support
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 5 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.63 Resupply Cost 9
HP-5050H plasma HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
Heavy Power Armour
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Elite Psionic Combat Skills
Boarding Combat
Vendarite 0.8
Development Cost 250
Space Marines Squad
Transport Size: 500 tons
Build Cost: 125 BP
54x Space Marine Assault Rifleman
4x Space Marine HMG Support
8x Space Marine LMG Support
Latest achievements in the field of power armor, best plasma weaponry excelling at CQB in tight interiors, pulse laser machine guns for decently accurate support, most advanced genetic modifications and combat drugs, cybernetic implants, years of exhausting and dangerous training, both in the real universe and in the military-grade matrix as well, with psionic combat skills as a cherry on top of it all, these soldiers are the toughest out of the toughest out of the toughest.
A prototype of a small, very fast boarding shuttle appears. Capable of accelerating up to twice the enemy's speed it shall have no trouble reaching its target and pouring marines into it. Each squad will be divided into two such shuttles:
Gauntlet class Troop Shuttle 6,187 tons 162 Crew 1,935.1 BP TCS 124 TH 2,500 EM 6,240
20203 km/s Armour 5-30 Shields 208-520 HTK 25 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.33 Years MSP 1,590 AFR 153% IFR 2.1% 1YR 953 5YR 14,290 Max Repair 1250 MSP
Troop Capacity 250 tons Boarding Capable
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2500.00 (1) Power 2500 Fuel Use 75.89% Signature 2500 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 750,000 Litres Range 28.7 billion km (16 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
A few Strikers and Blades are going to be used for training since they are even faster than Invaders' fleets and are much smaller than the average Invaders' ship, meaning if a particular space marine and Gauntlet crewman can handle catching up and boarding them with ease, they're more than ready to tackle on Invaders.
The biggest challenge of a boarding operation is determined to be the moment Gauntlet will disengage its small, subluminal Alcubierre Drive and emerge from warp bubble right on top of its target, giving marines only a few milliseconds to attach themselves to the hostile hull. Of course even such elite troops will need at least one second to successfully complete that task, which means powering off warp drive will need to occur slightly ahead of the enemy, based on its predicted course.
During such small time periods enemy won't have time to do any significant manoeuvres, but with the level of precision required even the most insignificant detail could possibly make a difference between a successful boarding and a total disaster. Most advanced AI will be used to accurately predict all the actions hostile ship might attempt to perform during this critical moment.
Explored part of the Milky Way on the brink of Second Bootes War looks as follows:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806689194978181160/unknown.png?width=1041&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806689320261255208/unknown.png?width=760&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806689493994045460/unknown.png?width=1276&height=636)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/806689570208743444/unknown.png)
-
Conquest of Paradise continues, population on Kappa Tucanae A-II crosses 30 million citizens while Terraria stations achieve orbit of Kappa Tucanae B-II. Cooling it down a bit to adapt it to human beings while trying to preserve as much of the original ecosystem as possible is going to be very challenging even in spite of latest research on climate control and modification.
HIP 47650 A-II goes on through its journey towards Core World status. A Dyson Sphere is put around its sun.
5th July 2197, scientists conducting research in Kruger 60 discover a Precursor outpost on Kruger 60-A I. Unlike the one on Tau Ceti-A IV, it remains unguarded. Only hellish atmosphere full of extremely toxic gasses protects it from access from outside, buried beneath almost 40 atm pressure and almost three thousands degrees.
Initial simulations quickly reveal that current technology is not going to cut it and terraformation of the planet is impossible. It orbits its star way too close.
Dyson Sphere research team stands up to the challenge and comes up with another space megastructure: an orbital city, capable of hosting millions of people. Since establishing self-sustaining colony on the surface is impossible, they propose to put permanent population in orbit.
A hypothetical city shall be built by putting together several hundreds of space stations built specifically for this occasion:
Olympus class Orbital Habitat 501,667 tons 40 Crew 290.1 BP TCS 10,033 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 30 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 0 Max Repair 200 MSP
Habitation Capacity 200,000
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
As soon as the projects receives governmental approval, engineers and technicians begin construction in Gaia's orbit.
A prodigy on Kappa Tucanae-A II successfully creates a reinforced version of psionic implant currently in use. Her project focused primarily on increasing the maximum effective range for maintaining psionic linkage. She successfully convinces government that putting her implants in heads of people who are going to populate Olympus will successfully limit the time they'll have to spend on the surface during their work.
After blockade of NN 3009 Void Wormhole received additional reinforcements "just to be sure" and successfully intercepted and blasted into pieces several Invaders' reckon squadrons within seconds, colonisation project targeting the tropical paradise of GJ 1279-A II and a dead, but thanks to surface liquid water easily terraformable GJ 1279-A III, is initially accepted and enters planning phase.
Overseer project receives some tweaks and improvements before entering mass production, main concern being maximum speed it can accelerate into before burning too much fuel being too low in previous design to outrun Invaders if surprised at point blank:
Overseer class Area Defence Cruiser 40,790 tons 1,097 Crew 11,282.5 BP TCS 816 TH 10,000 EM 0
12258 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 10-105 Shields 0-0 HTK 177 Sensors 960/720/0/0 DCR 30 PPV 96
Maint Life 0.35 Years MSP 5,728 AFR 1331% IFR 18.5% 1YR 16,228 5YR 243,417 Max Repair 5000 MSP
Magazine 1,795
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required
J42000(3-50) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 42000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP10000.00 (1) Power 10000 Fuel Use 74.12% Signature 10000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 6,000,000 Litres Range 35.7 billion km (33 days at full power)
CIWS-320 (5x10) Range 1000 km TS: 32,000 km/s ROF 5
Size 4.0 Missile Launcher (60.0% Reduction) (40) Missile Size: 4 Rate of Fire 50
Missile Fire Control FC102-R20 (2) Range 102.7m km Resolution 20
Frunze Anti-Ship Missile (440) Speed: 38,900 km/s End: 43.2m Range: 100.7m km WH: 16 Size: 4 TH: 168/101/50
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH40-960 (1) Sensitivity 960 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 244.9m km
EM Sensor EM40-720 (1) Sensitivity 720 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 212.1m km
Compact ECCM-3 (2) ECM 30
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Thanks to advancements in higher dimensions physics and more experiments, first prototype of a quasi-hyperdrive successfully completed all required tests and is ready for industrial and military production. It's been casually referred to as a "jump drive" since it works by creating series of small, short-ranged wormholes that the ship jumps through along its journey and then immediately collapses them behind the spacecraft.
Despite this breakthrough, when asked about the possibility of using similar technology to collapse Void Wormholes, physicists claim for now it's pure science fiction with much more fiction and barely any science in it as the energy requirements are ridiculous even when considering harnessing power from antimatter reactors and black holes and on top of that even the mass of a jump drive required for such task is so big that it'd basically collapse under itself, forming a black hole.
15th July 2197, when one of the Orion teams arrives in LHS 288, next target for space exploration, first thing it discoveres is a small Void Wormhole haunting whoever dares to warp into this doomed system:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/807604340500070440/unknown.png?width=827&height=676)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807604423018283088/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807604657933123604/unknown.png)
Government quickly issues increase in production of Plasma Interceptors to block this system too, before it's too late and Invaders will begin expanding.
In the meantime other explorers warp into Groombridge 34:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807605568503283712/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807605650435473418/unknown.png)
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Groombridge-34 B-IX first moon could potentially be inhabited by Precursors in the past as the conditions seem about right. Initial psionic scans and the feeling uneasy while orbiting it seem to confirm this hypothesis.
Boldly going where no man has ever gone before goes on and on. Explorers bring data from Beta Trianguli Australis system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807607434221846558/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807607498018127882/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807607648961822740/unknown.png)
Marine life has found a way to evolve on almost completely oceanic world of Beta Trianguli Australis-A II. Its atmosphere has only traces of oxygen and what little lands exist there are barren, but numerous underwater rifts are bustling with life, some of which even resembles species naturally found on Earth.
Two stars that make for a binary system of FL Virginis keep each other a company in this otherwise empty patch of space where no other celestial bodies exist:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807608896288981062/unknown.png)
Gliese 445 doesn't have a planetary system either:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807609190658736158/unknown.png)
Just like WISE 0744+5628:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807609457512546344/unknown.png)
Government prepares to send military fleet to face Precursors in HIP 9786 as Astera stations arrive in Giclas 9-38 and begin shiponing fuel from local gas giants. A freshly assembled, small refuelling terminal is tugged into Luyten Palomar 914-54 near wormhole one can take to travel to Giclas 9-38 through TZ Arietis:
Aeon class Space Station 150,771 tons 10 Crew 2,700.6 BP TCS 3,015 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 17 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 11 Max Repair 2400 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months
Refuelling Hub - Capable of refuelling multiple ships simultaneously
Fuel Capacity 50,000,000 Litres Range N/A
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
To ease and speed up transportation, starships won't travel all the way to Giclas 9-38 to refuel, they'll stop at Luyten Palomar 914-54 instead. A small, but fast and agile fuel transit ship is proposed along Aeon Terminal that'll cruise through the wormholes back and forth, transporting fuel produced in Giclas 9-38 into the refuelling terminal:
Feeder class Tanker 9,915 tons 110 Crew 637.1 BP TCS 198 TH 2,000 EM 0
10086 km/s Armour 1-41 Shields 0-0 HTK 19 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 40 Max Repair 500 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (1) Power 2000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 1,369.3 billion km (1571 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 80,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 12 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
After several boarding training manoeuvres, several pierced hulls of Strikers used for the task and hundreds of stranded marines rescue operations and one miracle of nobody dying during all these attempts, it stands clear that a new boarding philosophy is desperately needed if humanity is about to capture alive Invader. To increase survivability of boarding shuttles under fierce enemy fire, boarding attempt has been split into two stages: first stage is going to be about transporting boarding shuttles in hangars of carriers specifically designed for the task and the second will be about launching the shuttles when only about two hundred thousands kilometres away from the enemy. This allowed for the shuttles to be much faster due to completely disregarding engine fuel efficiency and fuel tonnage - these shuttles will start from the hangars, power up subluminal warp drive, catch up to the enemy, exit warp bubble, deploy marines and eventually, hopefully, get the hell out of the range of enemy lasers and Gauss turrets before their hulls are completely torn apart. Space combat experts across the worlds approve final designs of the vessels that'll be used for the task:
Gauntlet MkII class Troop Shuttle 3,500 tons 116 Crew 1,648.2 BP TCS 70 TH 2,400 EM 0
34288 km/s Armour 18-20 Shields 0-0 HTK 11 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.25 Years MSP 1,094 AFR 98% IFR 1.4% 1YR 727 5YR 10,898 Max Repair 1200 MSP
Troop Capacity 500 tons Boarding Capable
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2400.00 (1) Power 2400 Fuel Use 261.43% Signature 2400 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 3,000 Litres Range 0.06 billion km (0 hours at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Patriot class Carrier 23,416 tons 471 Crew 6,556.2 BP TCS 468 TH 8,050 EM 0
17189 km/s Armour 20-72 Shields 0-0 HTK 74 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 7 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.56 Years MSP 5,224 AFR 627% IFR 8.7% 1YR 9,331 5YR 139,964 Max Repair 4025 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 7,000 tons
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Flight Crew Berths 140 Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP8050.00 (1) Power 8050 Fuel Use 64.32% Signature 8050 Explosion 23%
Fuel Capacity 3,000,000 Litres Range 35.9 billion km (24 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Each Patriot will carry two shuttles which will attack a single enemy ship which should be more than enough to overwhelm any onboard resistance space marines might face. Also, thanks to numerous combat simulations and extensive matrix training, composition of a boarding squad has been improved slightly:
Space Marines Squad
Transport Size: 500 tons
Build Cost: 125 BP
1x Space Marines Squad Leader
2x Space Marine HMG Support
12x Space Marine LMG Support
51x Space Marine Assault Rifleman
During Struve Branch exploration a significant discovery is made. A wormhole in WISE 1647+5632 can be used to travel to HIP 22738. HIP 22738 system is more than an ordinary planetary system, though. It is even more than an ordinary life-bearing system. It's not even about one of the planets being almost perfect for hosting earthlike lifeforms. Deep space scans show more and more proof of numerous gigantic Invader-Mechi battles that once took place there:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807782530999648266/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807782620426665984/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807782717675667476/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807782938510491648/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807783002398130196/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807783114759471124/unknown.png)
Scientists compare the climate and properties of HIP 22738-A II with what data has once been recovered from Mechi data banks after conquest of GJ 1277 regarding some mysterious alien species. AI quickly confirms that the profile of these beings could as well be adapted to the conditions existing on the surface perfectly. This planet could either be a homeworld or an important colony of these aliens. How they're related to Mechi is still unknown and everyone could only guess, but finding a planet that could support them without any additional infrastructure in a system where kilotons of kilotons of debris speak for themselves sparks imagination of many.
These sparks turns into an all-out blazing fire once returning scientists file reports about their scanners picking up on distant space battle taking place right as they were flying towards HIP 22738-A II. They couldn't do any significant research in the system, it was too dangerous for them and on their way back they barely avoided Mechi garrison stationed on one of the asteroids suddenly opening fire.
One thing is certain: in one way or another, HIP 22738 is the key that can contain multiple answers to all kinds of questions related with Mechi and Invaders, possibly even Precursors as well.
Strategists try to come up with reasonable plans of surveying the system and uncovering its mysteries - Mechi and Invaders fighting each other in it could make this task significantly easier. Combat being easier there could also provide an invaluable opportunity to successfully board Invaders' vessels.
Despite the uncertain future one thing seems to be clear: the time has come for Mankind to strike back.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807788671502778368/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807788858640039986/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/807789209498288148/unknown.png)
Numerous data gathered from humans who replaced their biological bodies for robotic ones show that in the course of years about 17% of the users had their ability of perceiving deep human emotions and empathy lowered dramatically. This is somewhat alarming as according to the standards produced cybernetic bodies have to raise up to before being given to the clients such thing should've never happened - all charts and graphs show hormone regulation maintained within normal parameters.
Concerned citizens living on Nibiru and working hard on making this planet a better place to live for future generations report numerous sightings of classical UFOs. SETI program and starships sent in to investigate do not confirm.
A veteran that took part in suppressing many anti-governmental protests and preventing several terrorist attacks, especially talented in psionic, gives a long speech about "thoughts no one will ever be able to put into words" and getting a taste of "things beyond this universe and any imagination of any being inhabiting it". Psychiatrists still divided on topic of a paradox where extremely potent psionic individuals would descend into madness despite being able to essentially fight any mental disorder or illness on their own, solely with power of their mind.
SETI team established on Kappa Tucanae-A II picks up a strange signal coming from "outer space". What exactly does "outer space" in this particular case mean, nobody really knows. Neither can anyone determine what the signal really is about.
Billions worth of software and hardware lost after Red Dot 2359 v 1.2.8 rejects patch fixing its hostile attitude and attempts to break into global network. AI in question had to be completely deleted and no single bit of code survived.
Entire human race in awe after Bidet Inc, largest interstellar company producing toilet utilities discovers the potential for mass production of toilet paper in Kappa Tucanae system. Despite hope long lost, it seems as if good old pre-COVID-19 times might return in all their glory. This is a cherry on top of in the context of finding proof that Kappa Tucanae is better than Solar System in every single way and that it is that system that should host the homeworld of mankind.
29th August 2197, linguistic team on Gaia manages to crack down the language of "Barnard's Army". The level of understanding is still very basic, but it's already more than enough to say that civilisation living on Barnard's Star-A I spent last thirty years in fear of a great danger that was coming to get them. According to data gathered, they expected an all-out alien invasion any time and when human scientific ship appeared on orbit they opened fire because they thought "it has begun".
Despite some radical groups proposing "revenge", government, fully aware what could possibly the danger that frightened "Barnard's Army" mean, decides that the best course of action is to try to communicate with the civilisation in question and learn as much about this threat as possible. Best scientists and human race representatives board a Diplomat that is supposed to keep itself away from their orbital lasers and attempt communication from inside their home system.
27th September, 2197, diplomatic mission shocked when they make an eerie, creepy discovery: the planet looks as if it's been switched off. Lights on the dark side no longer shine, EM signature dropped to almost zero and there are no traces of life on the surface. Taking a great risk, Diplomat raises shields and approaches the planet, but nobody opens fire on it. Initial scans don't show any traces of alien invasion taking place there, lush fauna and flora still thrives in this world, overall it looks as if the sentient race living there suddenly disappeared with a blink of an eye, together with any artificial product and construction they ever created.
Government immediately calls for an emergency meeting. Everyone remembered all those perfect planets for extraterrestrial sentience to develop on them discovered within Invaders' wormhole network. Despite numerous trials and gravitational survey missions, not a single wormhole has been discovered in Barnard's Star's proximity, but most government officials agree that what could have happened is the entire process of Invaders erasing entire civilisations without leaving a trace took place once again and maybe soon Barnard's Star will join their network as one of those planets.
Numerous military simulations based on the state of the Orion's wreck found still floating in orbit and data gathered from battles with Invaders that occurred so far, however, prove that it'd be impossible for Invaders to approach the planet without taking a single casualty, meanwhile there is no single wreck of theirs anywhere to be found nearby.
Accepting the version that Invaders might have somehow teleported directly to the ground from afar, bypassing orbital defence grid, government "calls to arms", praying that it was indeed overwhelming military force appearing suddenly on the ground that annihilated Barnard's Army and not something else for defence against which no amount of soldiers would be enough. This version is somewhat believable since the development level of discovered civilisation suggested they barely reached first laser cannons and their armies might have been still below the level of mass-produced energetic weapons and power armors in which case defeat was likely to happen for them.
Apart from space fleets and marines, this is the largest military project World Government attempted to tackle so far. New anti-Invaders army is based mainly on well-trained, elite infantry units and a mix of agile and heavily armored tanks, but not much in between these two types of vehicles. AA forces and orbital defence grids have been marginalised since Barnard's Army has fallen without being able to put theirs into good use against incoming danger.
Standard Assault Trooper
Transport Size (tons) 5 Cost 0.45 Armour 27.0 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.056 Resupply Cost 1
LR-3000 pulse-continuous laser assault rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 15 Damage 15
Standard-Issue Power Armour
Combat Cybernetic Implants
Bionic Bones
Basic Anti-Psionic Defence Training
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 0.15
Development Cost 22
Stanard LMG Support Trooper
Transport Size (tons) 12 Cost 1.08 Armour 27.0 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.14 Resupply Cost 6
SLR-3040LMG pulse laser LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 15 Damage 15
Standard-Issue Power Armour
Combat Cybernetic Implants
Light Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Basic Anti-Psionic Defence Training
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 0.36
Development Cost 54
Stanard HMG Support Trooper
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 1.8 Armour 27.0 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.23 Resupply Cost 9
HL-40A2 heavy continuous laser machine gun: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
Standard-Issue Power Armour
Combat Cybernetic Implants
Heavy Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Basic Anti-Psionic Defence Training
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 0.6
Development Cost 90
Anti-Tank Shocktrooper
Transport Size (tons) 16 Cost 5.86 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.73 Resupply Cost 6
RR4500-AP railgun cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 45
Heavy Power Armour
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Combat Exoskeleton
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Jungle Warfare
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.64
Development Cost 293
AA Assault Support Trooper
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 2.2 Armour 27.0 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.28 Resupply Cost 2
AAL-15A2 continuous surface-to-orbit laser: Shots 1 Penetration 15 Damage 30 AA Value 4
Standard-Issue Power Armour
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Heavy Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Eyes
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Jungle Warfare
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.6
Development Cost 110
Mortar Support Team
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 1.8 Armour 27.0 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.23 Resupply Cost 6
GGA3 Gauss mortar: Shots 3 Penetration 15 Damage 30
Light Combat Power Armour
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Basic Anti-Psionic Defence Training
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 0.6
Development Cost 90
Elite Assault Trooper
Transport Size (tons) 6 Cost 2.2 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.28 Resupply Cost 1.3
PLR-7000A2 particle beam heavy assault rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 19 Damage 15
Heavy Power Armour
Advanced Cybernetic Implants
Heavy Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Advanced Offensive And Defensive Psionic Skills
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Jungle Warfare
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.24
Development Cost 110
Infantry Commander
Transport Size (tons) 50 Cost 20 Armour 36 Hit Points 36
Annual Maintenance Cost 2.5 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 10,000
Elite Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Bionic Bones
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Synthetically Enriched Brain
Psionic Combat Hive Mind Leader
Non-Combat Class
Vendarite 8
Development Cost 1,000
The bulk of foot infantry forces is going to be accompanied by mechanised infantry, several types of tanks, armored vehicles and assault or defensive platforms of all kinds:
Standard Mechanized Infantry
Transport Size (tons) 42 Cost 3.15 Armour 36 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.39 Resupply Cost 12
SLR-3070LMG pulse laser LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 15 Damage 15
SLR-3070LMG pulse laser LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 15 Damage 15
Light Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Onboard AI Assistant
Basic Beam-Reflective Shields
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 1.68
Development Cost 157
Heavy Mechanized Infantry
Transport Size (tons) 58 Cost 4.35 Armour 36 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.54 Resupply Cost 18
SHLR-3050HMG pulse laser HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
PLRMG-7050 particle beam HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
Standard-Issue Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
Onboard AI Assistant
Basic Beam-Reflective Shields
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 2.32
Development Cost 217
Elite Mechanized Infantry
Transport Size (tons) 60 Cost 4.5 Armour 36 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.56 Resupply Cost 18
HPC-2000A2 automatic plasma carronade: Shots 3 Penetration 45 Damage 30
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
Onboard AI Assistant
Standard-Issue Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 2.4
Development Cost 225
APC
Transport Size (tons) 32 Cost 2.4 Armour 36 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.3 Resupply Cost 9
PLRMG-7050 particle beam HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
Onboard AI Assistant
Basic Beam-Reflective Shields
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 1.28
Development Cost 120
Main Battle Tank
Transport Size (tons) 104 Cost 18.72 Armour 108 Hit Points 108
Annual Maintenance Cost 2.3 Resupply Cost 45
HE-RRA2 automatic explosive railgun: Shots 1 Penetration 90 Damage 90
PLRMG-7050 particle beam HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Standard-Issue Anti-Shock Armour
AI-Driven Retargeting System
Heavy Beam-Reflective Shields
Light Combat Anti-Explosives Shields
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 12.48
Development Cost 936
Heavy Battle Tank
Transport Size (tons) 340 Cost 114.75 Armour 162 Hit Points 216
Annual Maintenance Cost 14.3 Resupply Cost 192
PC-5000 overcharged plasma carronade: Shots 1 Penetration 135 Damage 135
PBH-000 heavy phased particle beam cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 135 Damage 135
HPC-3000 automatic plasma carronade: Shots 3 Penetration 75 Damage 30
Heavily Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Heavy Anti-Shock Armour
AI-Driven Retargeting System
Heavy Beam-Reflective Shields
Heavy Combat Anti-Explosives Shields
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 61.2
Development Cost 5,737
Tank Destroyer
Transport Size (tons) 78 Cost 9.36 Armour 72 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 1.2 Resupply Cost 42
EMGG electromagnetic pulse gauss cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 90 Damage 90
SLR-3070LMG pulse laser LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 15 Damage 15
Standard-Issue Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
AI-Driven Retargeting System
Light Beam-Reflective Shields
Light Combat Anti-Explosives Shields
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 6.24
Development Cost 468
Mobile Anti-Tank Platform
Transport Size (tons) 188 Cost 22.56 Armour 72 Hit Points 216
Annual Maintenance Cost 2.8 Resupply Cost 48
HE-RRA2 automatic explosive railgun: Shots 1 Penetration 90 Damage 90
PPC light plasma carronade: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 45
PPC light plasma carronade: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 45
Heavily Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Standard-Issue Anti-Shock Armour
AI-Driven Retargeting System
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
Reinforced Combat Anti-Explosives Shields
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 15.04
Development Cost 1,128
All-Purpose Mobile Assault Platform
Transport Size (tons) 448 Cost 80.64 Armour 162 Hit Points 432
Annual Maintenance Cost 10.1 Resupply Cost 129
PBH-000 heavy phased particle beam cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 135 Damage 135
HPC-3000 automatic plasma carronade: Shots 3 Penetration 75 Damage 30
PLRMG-7050 particle beam HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 22 Damage 15
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
Heavily Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Heavily Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Reactive Bionic Armour
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Heavily Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
Heavily Reinforced Anti-Explosives Shields
Vendarite 80.64
Development Cost 4,032
AA Support Team
Transport Size (tons) 118 Cost 17.7 Armour 72 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 2.2 Resupply Cost 26
SOL-2200A1 light surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 60 AA Value 9
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Standard-Issue Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Light Combat Beam-Reflective Shields
Standard-Issue Anti-Explosives Shields
Desert Warfare
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 9.44
Development Cost 885
Mechanized AA Assault Support
Transport Size (tons) 138 Cost 8.28 Armour 36 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 1 Resupply Cost 36
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Combat Beam-Reflective Shields
Standard-Issue Anti-Explosives Shields
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 5.52
Development Cost 414
Mechanized AA Defence Unit
Transport Size (tons) 248 Cost 29.76 Armour 108 Hit Points 216
Annual Maintenance Cost 3.7 Resupply Cost 34
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
SOL-2200A1 light surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 60 AA Value 9
SOL-2200A1 light surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 30 Damage 60 AA Value 9
Heavy Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Heavy Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Combat Beam-Reflective Shields
Standard-Issue Anti-Explosives Shields
Vendarite 29.76
Development Cost 1,488
Heavy Tactical AA Defence Platform
Transport Size (tons) 72 Cost 4.32 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.54 Resupply Cost 18
SOL-2200A3 surface-to-orbit laser cannon: Shots 1 Penetration 45 Damage 90 AA Value 16
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Integrated Space Warfare Simulation Module
Combat Beam-Reflective Shields
Standard-Issue Anti-Explosives Shields
Vendarite 4.32
Development Cost 216
Both foot and armored or mechanised forces are going to rely on artillery support, designed to be both mobile and able to hit even small targets over vast distances:
Light Artillery Support Team
Transport Size (tons) 58 Cost 3.48 Armour 36 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.44 Resupply Cost 12
N-3000 plasma fragmentation cannon: Shots 3 Penetration 15 Damage 30
N-3000 plasma fragmentation cannon: Shots 3 Penetration 15 Damage 30
Standard-Issue Defensive Force Field
AI-Driven Retargeting System
Standard-Issue Recalibration Module
Short-Range Tracking System
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 2.32
Development Cost 174
Heavy Assault Artillery
Transport Size (tons) 436 Cost 78.48 Armour 108 Hit Points 432
Annual Maintenance Cost 9.8 Resupply Cost 108
AF-5000 heavy fusion cannon: Shots 3 Penetration 30 Damage 90
AF-5000 heavy fusion cannon: Shots 3 Penetration 30 Damage 90
ALF-5100 precise fusion railgun: Shots 3 Penetration 22 Damage 60
ALF-5100 precise fusion railgun: Shots 3 Penetration 22 Damage 60
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Long-Range Deep Tracking System
Advanced Missile Guidance System
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 52.32
Development Cost 3,924
Long Range Artillery Support Team
Transport Size (tons) 62 Cost 5.58 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.7 Resupply Cost 18
ALF-5150A3 automatic precise fusion railgun: Shots 3 Penetration 22 Damage 60
Standard-Issue Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Long-Range Deep Tracking System
Advanced Missile Guidance System
Extreme Temperature Combat
Vendarite 3.72
Development Cost 279
The proposed field HQ modules, command centers and logistics support present as follows:
Supply Truck
Transport Size (tons) 62 Cost 2.48 Armour 36 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.31 Resupply Cost 0
Logistics Module: Ground Supply Points 500
Non-Combat Class
Light Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Basic Beam-Reflective Shields
Vendarite 2.48
Development Cost 124
Combat Engineers Team
Transport Size (tons) 318 Cost 12.72 Armour 36 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 1.6 Resupply Cost 0
Construction Equipment: Construction Factory Equivalent 0.05
Construction Equipment: Construction Factory Equivalent 0.05
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
Vendarite 12.72
Development Cost 636
Mechanized HQ
Transport Size (tons) 293 Cost 53.44 Armour 72 Hit Points 72
Annual Maintenance Cost 6.7 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 25,000
Construction Equipment: Construction Factory Equivalent 0.05
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
AI Command Assistant
Standard-Issue Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Command Computing Grid
Basic Warfare Simulation Module
Vendarite 53.44
Development Cost 2,672
Field HQ
Transport Size (tons) 262 Cost 60.72 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 7.6 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 50,000
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Standard-Issue Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Combat Hive Mind Support Module
Command Computing Grid
Advanced Warfare Simulation Module
Vendarite 60.72
Development Cost 3,036
Formation Headquarters
Transport Size (tons) 112 Cost 24.72 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 3.1 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 20,000
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
AI Command Assistant
Light Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Command Computing Grid
Basic Warfare Simulation Module
Vendarite 24.72
Development Cost 1,236
High Battle Command
Transport Size (tons) 262 Cost 120.72 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 15.1 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 100,000
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Advanced Combat Hive Mind Support Module
Advanced Command Computing Grid
Advanced Warfare Simulation Module
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Vendarite 120.72
Development Cost 6,036
General HQ
Transport Size (tons) 262 Cost 240.72 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 30 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 200,000
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Elite AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
High-Powered Combat Hive Mind Support Module
AI-Supported Command Computing Grid
Advanced Warfare Simulation Module
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Warfare Simulator
Autonomous AI Commander
Vendarite 240.72
Development Cost 12,036
Support Leader Team
Transport Size (tons) 162 Cost 36.72 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 4.6 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 30,000
Non-Combat Class
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Light Anti-Shock Armour
AI Command Assistant
Light Beam-Reflective Shields
Integrated Psionic Warfare System
Command Computing Grid
Basic Warfare Simulation Module
Vendarite 36.72
Development Cost 1,836
Currently enlistment is voluntarily, however depending on the development of current strategic situation this might change any moment. Largest training complexes and barracks are assembled on Earth, however specialised training adapting soldiers for fighting on other planets, among hostile environments, has been made mandatory for every soldier successfully completing the basic one and will take place on all kinds of so far explored worlds.
Need for rapid deployment of this next-gen army across all inhabited worlds has significantly improved psionic-related sciences. As a result of progress made scientists on Kappa Tucanae-A II under the leadership of young prodigy responsible for long-range psionic implant development manages to come up with a first prototype of a neurotrainer. Such device would allow rapid learning and data processing. While it is only a slight improvement for accessing general knowledge as pulling large amounts of data from internet via brain implants in a matter of seconds has been around for decades already, main benefits of such device would be in quickly learning a particular skill, for example shooting.
As for now it is used only for military training purposes, but at some point it is supposed to arrive in industrial and civilian applications as well. Many fear that common usage of neurotrainers in the future will completely remove the differences between experts and specialists of any kind as with knowledge already being gained effortlessly by anyone who wants it skills were the last bastion to determine individuals talented in something. Many sociologists indeed admit this breakthrough could have an unforeseeable consequences.
As army building consumes huge amount of resources, Nylander Resources Corporation receives special funding and governmental contracts for expanding their mining complexes on Proxima Centauri c. Massive, rich planet is supposed to support resource-hungry machine for the years to come.
First Overseers leave Earth orbital shipbuilding station and head towards WISE 2359-7335 to enter Invaders' network and begin their deep space patrolling tasks to check for any rogue ships that might have remained undetected within commonly traversed systems, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Olympus City modules are almost finished, however transporting them into orbit of Kruger 60-A I and assembling them together once destination is reached is expected to take many years and will be the most space logistic operation up to date, surpassing even Dyson Sphere projects.
Due to rapid colonisation, population on Kappa Tucanae-A II crosses one hundred million people.
Scientists working in Cydonia research facility come up with a special design of spaceship shields - they don't protect the vessel from incoming fire, but are capable of reflecting emitted signatures and cheat outside radars up to a great degree by reflecting most of the signals coming from a ship using these shields.
Research into improved design, one that could enter military production, begins. Cloaking technology could provide an invaluable opportunity for espionage missions and being able to study Invader or Mechi ships from up close without them noticing.
2nd February 2198, 17:21:33, cargo fleet transporting supplies for NN 3009 Void Wormhole Blockade forces is fired upon as soon as it emerges from the wormhole. Escorting assault fleet quickly intervenes, allowing freighters to escape safely. One of the Pikes suffers severe engine damage which kills most of its crew and makes it unable to accelerate. Remaining survivors know what it means in the context of a battle that's about to begin.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809599620728094720/battle1.PNG)
Human ships attempt to quickly gain range and redirect all power into engines to accelerate as fast as possible while hundreds of flak missiles fired form enemy Gauss cannons bounce off shields:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809599995425718292/battle2.PNG)
Unfortunately the swarm eventually overcharges shielding of several ships and starts punching through the armor. First casualties are taken. Invaders accelerate faster and catch up to human forces:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809600217892388864/battle3.PNG)
2nd February 2198, 17:23:17, Pike squadron detaches from the main fleet and engages subluminal warp drive to quickly gain range once it becomes obvious it is the main target of the enemy fire. Before it encloses itself within warp bubble, Invaders cut one more Pike into pieces with their terrifying lasers:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809600951991140372/battle4.PNG)
Humanity retaliates and launches a "Gauss counterattack" of its own with Phalanx and Vanguard missile destroyers accompanying the fleet "just in case" even if up to date no missile usage has been noticed among Invaders. A ruthless firefight begins at a range so close that often it is possible to see the enemy with naked eye. Such battle has never happened before.
2nd February 2198, 17:27:02, one of the enemy ships accelerates rapidly and overtakes both fleets exchanging fire. Before it can turn around, open fire and escape flak range several Gauss projectiles dent its armor:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809602405267931136/battle5.PNG)
Firefight continues. In order to break such close contact with Invaders, humanity engages and disengages subluminal warp drives several times in a very short span of time in order to confuse enemy target tracking and sensor systems. Onboard fusion reactors are pushed to the bring of overheating, but the manoeuvre ends up being a huge success:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809603006899028028/battle6.PNG)
2nd February 2198, 17:28:14, Invaders eventually catch up again, but they take additional losses in the process. Meanwhile Pikes made U-turn and opened fire, providing long-range support. At least relatively long-range.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809603800544837652/battle7.PNG)
With the support of powerful particle beam guns provided by Pikes, humanity manages to quickly overwhelm enemy forces. As Pikes eventually close in, they help mop up all of the remaining enemy ships.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809604250820018206/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809604262652674088/battle9.PNG)
Despite ongoing war humanity still pushes forward, exploring nearby stars and visiting alien worlds in search for the answers, scientific knowledge and new potential colonisation targets. Next target has been chosen - binary system of HIP 15220:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809606947472408677/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607026325323776/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607108340875304/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607170316435466/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607253594341426/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607336075067392/unknown.png)
Around Luyten's Star a single dwarf planet is found orbiting it closely:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809607979049287690/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809608034732081152/unknown.png)
A mission into main Mechi territory is launched. Explorers enter GJ 1151 system where Invaders have been spotted and chased during Mechi assault anf conquest of GJ 1277 system. Only two wormholes are found there in total: one being a wormhole leading there from GJ 1277 which explorers have used to arrive in the system and the second one links EG 165 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809609138069700608/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809609219569483786/unknown.png)
Only a single gas giant with a bunch of moons orbits the dead, cold white dwarf. No Invader or Mechi presence has been detected either in EG 165 or GJ 1151.
Simulatenously Struve Branch of Mechi territory is also being surveyed. Last unexplored wormhole in Struve 2398 connects to WISE 0350-5658:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610187945148477/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610288294526976/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610341045764096/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610437804556299/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610588065497097/unknown.png)
An independent scientific mission brings data from Altair system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809610952957886494/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809611010431647754/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809611102936760350/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809611187817283624/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809611279752888381/unknown.png)
Altair-A II hosts complex plant and fungus lifeforms the former of which appear to produce food for themselves similarly to how plants on Earth do it, however reactions taking place in their bodies aren't the same as photosynthesis since no oxygen is being produced in the process and it requires much higher amounts of CO2.
Several jungles and forests grow on the surface around sea shores, however most of the inner land is a dead, scorching desert closer to equator or a dead cold desert closer to the poles.
No fauna has been detected except some simple organisms consisting of only a few cells maximum.
After conducting initial research and sample gathering, scientific team warps into Ross 47 as a last stop before returning home. There isn't much for them to do here as it's a single, lonely star:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809613961002483752/unknown.png)
18th June 2199, SETI team located on Kappa Tucanae-A II picks up a signature of a single ship flying around the system. First feelings of fear mixed with excitement evolve into pure fear as comparing readings with entries in the database containing all alien vessels discovered so far reveals it is an Invader vessel.
Little to nothing is known about this ship as through all history of First and Second Bootes War it has been spotted only once, before even first shots were fired and Invader hostility was known to mankind. Panic ensues as the presence of the ship is deemed a direct threat to the Utopia, a system that is supposed to grow greater than Sol.
A small patrolling team of Overseers quickly reaches Kappa Tucanae to investigate, but the ship has disappeared from radars long before they arrived. Brief scans reveal a wormhole close to its last known position. It can be used to travel into NN 3684 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619314390073444/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619394153676850/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619465191948318/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619535975415828/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619598646968330/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809619660274139156/unknown.png)
-
It doesn't even shock anybody anymore when yet another system linked by Invaders does contain habitable planets. Some are even surprised that this time it's only one world, NN 3684-A III and its submarine life growing deeply below thick ice sheets together with some microorganisms and simple plants found surviving on the surface or even floating in the sky.
No traces of the mysterious ships are found within the system, though.
One thing doesn't fit, though: coordinates of the detected wormhole and the last known position of the ship differ from each other, pointing at locations over half a million kilometers away from each other.
This is well above measurement error margin.
Wormhole in question is well within effective UFO tracking systems used on Kappa Tucanae-A II.
All data gathered so far and simulations ran dozens of millions of times confirm one simple fact: the ship did not leave the system via NN 3684 wormhole. No additional wormholes are detected close to its last location, either.
The ship has either activated some sort of cloaking technology, maybe similar to what scientists on Cydonia are working on, or left the system by using an FTL drive on its own, removing wormhole dependency for interstellar travel.
However, if it was the first case, the ship might have stayed out of detection for the entire time spent in Kappa Tucanae in the first place.
Many agree that this was indeed Invader ship using its own FTL drive to leave the system.
A solid proof is brought two days later when data scientists manage to pinpoint a single anomaly in the datasets gathered from that encounter. Physicists confirm it looks just like a small disturbance in the fabric of space should look like, one that is made by a starship going superluminal.
And so it was official that Invaders, apart from their wormholes, also had dedicated FTL drives mounted on at least some of their ships.
This means that naval blockades set around known Void Wormholes won't be enough to contain the threat.
A call for rapid militarisation of space in Kappa Tucanae system is announced as a first response. Soon after leakage of the true reason behind this step to the public another wave of mass panic sweeps over humanity. Government promises to "present a detailed response plan" and on top of that do it "soon".
As if Invaders showing off their superluminal travel methods wasn't enough, workers on space stations providing support for military fleets in GJ 1277 spot several Mechi ships flying back and forth through the WISE 1150+6302 wormhole.
It is still very likely that Mechi wage war with Invaders as well, however their surprising comeback into systems that were quiet for so long might suggest them gaining an upper hand. Military officers suggest this might be a result of naval blockade set around Void Wormholes, but on the other hand there was no larger battle involving plasma interceptors so far, not counting the first one that happened right after setting up first prototype fleet in NN 3009 that required main force intervention.
Mechi possibly getting some wins against Invaders is as good news as it is bad news. Both are hostile to humanity either way.
Last module of Olympus orbital city gets finished. A long and exhuasting process of transporting all of them into orbit of Kruger 60-A I begins. It is estimated it'll take well over decade before the process is finished and the city will become habitable, unless more tugging ships are assembed to speed this up.
Mars sees rapid industrial development. Scientists estimate the planet won't be able to support much more people in the future yet former Red Planet still faces worker shortages.
As a solution to the problem, some experts suggest converting all planetary ecosystems into equivalents with genetically-engineered organisms providing far more nutrients for more humans to be able to self-sustain themselves.
A special matrix module is released, allowing everyone to take part in a long-term simulation of living in Martian environment after undergoing these changes.
Initial results are promising, however government hesitates. Shall the experiment go wrong, billions of people would find themselves in a deteriorating environment, not being able to sustain themselves. Even in case of such catastrophe all citizens in theory could be safely evacuated into other planets that are in desperate need of more colonists, but whether it could be done quickly enough to not have anyone die is a different question. And even if it could be done in such a way, mass panic and hard to contain riots are a guarantee under the circumstances of planetary cataclysm.
Further investigation into the problem more and more robotic body users are facing brings cybernetics industries at the edge of crisis. Newest research reveals that even though on paper everything looks fine, through the course of many years synthetic hormones aren't as good for the brain as the normal ones.
But that alone wasn't the most creepy discovery made - a test group have had natural hormones injected into their synthetic bodies rather than relying on artificial production, yet their mental condition did not improve in the slightest. There must be something more into it.
According to all scientific knowledge about human body gathered so far, there's no place for such error, yet such error occurred. At that point everyone, believer or not, had to admit that human beings do possess "soul". What that exactly meant was a subject of heated discussions between believers and atheists, but something yet unknown existed within human body that was essential for one's sanity.
Something that could handle cybernetic implants, genetic enhancements and psionic powers just fine, even if one had more metal inside than flesh, but completely replacing biological body appears to be a whole different affair.
Cybernetics corporations lose profits as clients massively step back from enclosing their brains in robots and cancel already scheduled transfer operations. Standard implanting proceeds as usual, though.
15th October 2199, World Government eventually approves basic income law. From now on, each citizen will be paid 2 virtual toilet paper rolls per month which is enough to live somewhat bearable existence on a Core World and even save up for a car, a bunch of basic cybernetic implants and a few holiday trips into other solar systems.
In order to encourage people to get jobs either way, government plans to introduce a very high minimum wage for particularly hard jobs like surveying heavy industry on backwater industrial planets. However it quickly turns out it doesn't even need to do so as corporations do it voluntarily in fear of losing too much personnel and potential candidates to fill their vacancies.
As a result of the change, made possible by heavy automation and AI usage in everyday life, average standard of life increases.
Toilet paper industries grow exponentially on Kappa Tucanae-A II. Now the richest can afford to use this precious luxury product again, compared to it being available exclusively for the richest of the richest before.
Xenoarcheologists explore a large cavern system found during mining operations in the area of Whispering Summit, highest mountain on Nibiru. Density of minerals is even higher here than in other popular mining spots on the planet.
Despite life finding a way to survive on the surface thanks to the planetary heaters consuming massive amounts of power to keep this world warm enough, the underground complex has not been colonised by any lifeform so far and it must have been completely sealed off from the surface.
Tentacles, flying saucers, giant robots... All those shapes on the walls, floors and ceilings... But it's all just imagination of the explorers, apparently, as psionic tests reveal high interference and distress occurring in their brains. Many people who've looked at the pictures taken from there confirm that certain rock formations indeed resemble tentacles, flying saucers and giant robots.
This alone wouldn't even be that unusual given what is already known about Nibiru and Precursors, however as population on Tau Ceti-A IV grows, its inhabitants, all implanted with psionic chips and well-trained in their usage, are capable of forming bigger hive minds, unlocking more "computing power" for their brains.
It was during one of the "hive mind sessions" that a small mistake in Precursors' language translations has been found: a sign that was supposed to mean "path to the sky", initially considered referring to their space programs or something, actually means "path to ascension".
Soon it is discovered that the entire section of the complex was dedicated not to research directed towards "path to the sky", as opposed to the rest of the complex being focused on space propulsion technology, but rather focused on the "path to ascension".
Whether it was just Precursors being extremely religious or them being up to something technologically- and scientifically-wise is hard to tell at this point, but when combined with what is already known about this ancient, powerful and majestic civilisation, the latter doesn't appear as unlikely.
2200s
Government announces beginning of "Utopia Grid Defence" project that's supposed to establish strong, permanent defensive layer around Kappa Tucanae system. Developing fleet support logistics in the system would take too long, so the defending Sol++ is going to initially be based around planetary defence platforms, placed on the surface of various celestial bodies:
AS CQB Final Defece Cannon
Transport Size (tons) 757 Cost 669.9 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 84 Resupply Cost 0
40 cm C8 Plasma Carronade
Range 400,000 km Tracking 8,000 km/s Damage 40 / 1 Shots 1 Rate of Fire 25
Maximum Fire Control Range 750,000km Chance to Hit at Max Range 47%
Maximum Sensor Range 5,244,226km Max Range vs Missile 471,980 km
ECCM 40
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Defence Simulator
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Space Sensors
Advanced Multi-Target Orbital Tracking System
Desert Warfare
Duranium 10.1 Corbomite 25 Boronide 37.7 Vendarite 0.72 Uridium 124.8 Corundium 30.4
Development Cost 6,699
AS Laser Cannon
Transport Size (tons) 642 Cost 843 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 105 Resupply Cost 0
31.250cm C4 Soft X-ray Laser
Range 750,000 km Tracking 8,000 km/s Damage 26 / 2 Shots 1 Rate of Fire 35
Maximum Fire Control Range 750,000km Chance to Hit at Max Range 0%
Maximum Sensor Range 5,244,226km Max Range vs Missile 471,980 km
ECCM 40
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Defence Simulator
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Space Sensors
Advanced Multi-Target Orbital Tracking System
Desert Warfare
Duranium 24.5 Corbomite 25 Boronide 38 Vendarite 0.72 Uridium 124.8 Corundium 73.4
Development Cost 8,430
AS Laser Defence Grid
Transport Size (tons) 1,765 Cost 1,313.7 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 164 Resupply Cost 0
Quad 15.0cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser Turret
Range 240,000 km Tracking 8,000 km/s Damage 6 / 1 Shots 4 Rate of Fire 10
Maximum Fire Control Range 750,000km Chance to Hit at Max Range 68%
Maximum Sensor Range 5,244,226km Max Range vs Missile 471,980 km
ECCM 40
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Defence Simulator
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Space Sensors
Advanced Multi-Target Orbital Tracking System
Desert Warfare
Duranium 63.2 Neutronium 53.6 Corbomite 25 Boronide 81.6 Vendarite 0.72 Uridium 124.8 Corundium 94
Development Cost 13,137
AS Long Range Particle Artillery
Transport Size (tons) 1,057 Cost 2,428.8 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 304 Resupply Cost 0
Particle Lance-18-2
Range 320,000 km Tracking 8,000 km/s Damage 18 / 18 Shots 1 Rate of Fire 35
Maximum Fire Control Range 750,000km Chance to Hit at Max Range 57%
Maximum Sensor Range 5,244,226km Max Range vs Missile 471,980 km
ECCM 40
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Defence Simulator
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Space Sensors
Advanced Multi-Target Orbital Tracking System
Desert Warfare
Duranium 127.4 Corbomite 25 Boronide 155 Vendarite 0.72 Uridium 124.8 Corundium 382.1
Development Cost 24,288
AS Planetary Missile Defence Cannon
Transport Size (tons) 2,306 Cost 1,633.5 Armour 54 Hit Points 54
Annual Maintenance Cost 204 Resupply Cost 0
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-100 Turret
Range 50,000 km Tracking 25,000 km/s Damage 1 / 1 Shots 20 Rate of Fire 5
Maximum Fire Control Range 187,500km Chance to Hit at Max Range 73%
Maximum Sensor Range 5,244,226km Max Range vs Missile 471,980 km
ECCM 40
Reinforced Nanocomposite Defensive Layer
Reinforced Anti-Shock Armour
Advanced AI Command Assistant
Reinforced Beam-Reflective Shields
AI-Driven Automated Strategic Analysis Module
Matrix-Based Planetary Defence Simulator
Reinforced Combat Defensive Force Field
Advanced AI-Driven Retargeting System
Precise Recalibration Module
Advanced Space Sensors
Advanced Multi-Target Orbital Tracking System
Desert Warfare
Duranium 38.4 Neutronium 121 Corbomite 25 Vendarite 240.72 Uridium 124.8
Development Cost 16,335
11th February 2200, 5:20:50, NN 3009 Void Wormhole Defence Fleet detects a total of 6 Invader spaceships attempting to cross the wormhole into NN 3815 and immediately locks their plasma guns onto the target:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809928579155623986/unknown.png)
This small squadron is no match for the swarm of Anarchists, Devastators and Dragons. Particle beams cut through their armor and endless stream of heated plasma pours directly into their boards, tearing them apart within seconds. Everyone except one among surviving ships has troubles accelerating as plasma interceptors score several critical hits on the engines:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809930260538720306/unknown.png)
As the fleet is busy finishing off surviving Invaders before they could open fire, sole Invader vessel boosts its engines, accelerating ridiculously fast and speeding away from humans, passing remnants of other Invaders' ships who once dared to enter NN 3815. As it escapes, pursuing forces consistently land shots on its hull:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809931302030802954/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809932080527048724/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809932221208068096/unknown.png)
11th February 2200, 5:21:20, last enemy ship goes with a bang before its crew could do as much as open fire once:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809932545231028264/unknown.png)
Debris piles up. Designs of the interceptors might have been flawed and several technological improvements are required, but with enough numbers they do a decent job at keeping enemy at bay. At least those enemies that don't have FTL drives installed.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/809933278009753650/unknown.png)
While this might have only been a small skirmish, there's no doubt that Invaders are up to something bigger this time, especially with their independent scouting mission in Kappa Tucanane.
In light of the recent extraterrestrial incursion, the World Government has convened to approve the activation of the XCOM Project.
These elite squads, best out of the best, wielding the power of their guns and the power of their minds alike, are to be deployed soon to tackle any threat that might come down to whatever planet humanity lives on.
XCOM Assault Unit
Transport Size (tons) 6 Cost 3.96 Armour 36 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.5 Resupply Cost 1.3
PLCR-1999A4 heavy plasma assault rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 19 Damage 15
Experimental Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Elite Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.24
Development Cost 198
XCOM Squad Leader
Transport Size (tons) 10 Cost 7.91 Armour 36 Hit Points 18
Annual Maintenance Cost 0.99 Resupply Cost 1.3
PLCR-1999A4 heavy plasma assault rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 19 Damage 15
Headquarters: Capacity 600
Experimental Smart Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Elite Psionic Training
Perosnality-Adjusted Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Hive Mind Multi-Command Module
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.48
Development Cost 395
Government begins execution of the troipcal paradise of GJ 1279-A II's as well as GJ 1279-A III's terraforming plans. What once was only a dream since first explorers warped into GJ 1279 now was about to become reality given the recent militarisation of inhabited worlds and securing Invaders' wormhole network. In some way, similarily to Kappa Tucanae, GJ 1279 was supposed to become another system "taken back" from Invaders, helping to raise morale of a society still afraid of them.
Advancements in Food Cloning Program could help Mars with closing in to the self-sustaining population limit. Extensive tests are being made and so far the cloned food doesn't appear to be any less nutritious or have any side effects compared to the original.
31th August 2200, first successful superluminal test flight of an Orion starship from Mars to Earth and back using a prototype of a jump drive is completed. Dynamically created chain of wormholes is almost three times faster than travel within warp bubble for Orion in particular, but the larger the ship, the more of a benefit using a jump drive will grant. Alcubierre Drives are still here to stay for smaller ships and as a subluminal intra-system travel time cutter. A new era of interstellar travel begins.
-
2nd September 2200, 15:41:11, Wormhole Defence Swarm located at NN 3815-NN 3009 wormhole detects rather large Invader fleet concentrating on the other side. Government sends main assault fleet as well as 9 patriot Carriers, each of them filled with two Gauntlets MkII boarding shuttles. The time to bring the fight into Invaders' ships directly has come.
7th September 2200, 1:47:25, space fleet crosses the wormhole into NN 3009 and is greeted by an unvorgiving barrage of laser and flak gun fire. Several ships are blown out of the vacuum:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810559155839959050/battle1.PNG)
Patriots launch Gauntlets MkII. The latter engage warp drives, reaching an effective speed of over 34000km/s and emerge from warp bubble right on top of Adroits, scariest Invader laser ships up to date, within seconds and launch boarding pods with Space Marines:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810559524050173983/battle2.PNG)
Combat is brutal and bloody. Before marines have a chance to touch targets' hulls, Gauss cannons of the enemy puncture several of them, killing dozens of troops and raising fear among the others. Due to evasive manoeuvres of Adroits, many more miss their target, ending up stranded in deep space, all alone, several other smash against enemy ships at a speed so high that even their heavy power armors can't protect them, dying from shock damage, having their internal organs splattered and their bodies turned into a mess. Over half of the forces thrown in total died in the process of gluing themselves to the hull, many more await rescue floating outside.
7th September 2200, 1:47:31, surviving marines successfully detonate plasma charges that melt through the hulls, granting them entrance inside. Final stage of the battle is about to begin.
And so humanity took a look at the interior of alien vessel for the first time. The atmosphere inside is dense and extremely toxic, with a pressure of over 3 atm, full of sulphur dioxide, chlorine and carbon monoxide and some nitrogen as well, but not a single particle of oxygen.
Marines position themselves across the corridors and halls, gunning down crewmembers who weren't fast enough to prepare themselves. Plasma splashes over the walls and mysterious devices, damaging some of them. Marines tremble in terror when they discover that Invaders are so cold they don't appear on their thermal vision as anything different than the ship itself and the entire vessel is plunged within darkness so thick that even the latest noctovision implants struggle to fully penetrate it. Onboard temperature readings show over -100 degrees.
Armors of defenders fit their bodies closely and resemble reptile scales, however bear little to zero organic materials. Alloys used for their construction are unknown to mankind, but they melt under streams of hot plasma just fine. It is clear these units weren't meant to be tough combatants, but they come in greater and greater numbers as marines barricade themselves across rooms whose intended usage remains a mystery.
Initial firefight seems to be going well - Invaders, armed with some sort of laser rifles, aren't most accurate soldiers and die one by one as marines empty more and more mags for their plasma rifles.
However, this quickly changes when they begin using their very long tongues to spit toxic substances that splash over marine armors while making unpleasant sound.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810565668407476234/unknown.png)
Most of the time the substance fails to do any meaningful damage, but a few soldiers had weaker spots of their armors cowered in it. Their plates melt and the poison enters their internal life support systems, where it quickly evaporates, leading to quick yet horribly painful death from suffocation once their oxygen supplies get contaminated. Morale drops but the battle must proceed.
Chaos ensues as soldiers try to move towards what is perceived to be a bridge. Plasma splashes, grenades, laser retaliation fire and burning acid light up the darkness, allowing for quick reorientation and targeting systems adjustments. Soon the battle grinds to a halt when surviving Invaders entrench themselves behind an energetic shield, blocking the entrance to the bridge. Just like demonstrated during ship to ship combat, they'll fight to the bitter end, to the last one alive.
Plasma isn't very effective against this new obstacle and breaching through it would require far more ammo than human soldiers carry with them. As a desperate measure, squad leader gives order to switch to secondary. P800 laser pistols should deal with shields much quicker.
To achieve a breakthrough, space marines establish mind links in groups of five and launch psionic attacks. But causing beings that are afraid of nothing to tremble in gets as tough as expected. Not knowing how exactly their brain works and what are exact values and thought processes of these aliens doesn't help either.
All initial attacks fail. In response to their attempts, in minds of fighting humans dark visions start to appear. As they struggle to push into Invaders' minds, one nerve after another, trying to pull something useful out of the deepest pits of their mind, they find only darkness, devoid of anything. For whatever reasons, their minds are obsessed with it, focused on it.
Visions of stars shining bright, then flaring one by one can disturb even the most powerful of human minds.
More marines die as they lose it when laser beams cut over their heads or bounce off their armors while they're staring into the abyss of Invader's brain and the abyss stares back at them at the same time.
As morale begins to wither, an immediate order to cut off any psionic connection is given. Instead, a diversion group is tasked with breaching several holes in the walls and essentially digging an alternate path towards the bridge.
But this all turns into a disaster. All psionic contact has been successfully broken, but visions remained inside the heads of boarding squads. Invaders possessed psionic powers, too, and they've just moved in to counterattack. Individuals start to fall back, finding themselves stranded in the prison of their own minds once mind links between their brothers in arms ceased to exist.
Humanity seemed to be on the losing side.
Until one certain individual on one of the boarded ships had enough of it. Inside him, his blood started to boil. His face turned red, although nobody else could see it in the heat of battle.
He charged at Invaders, screaming violently. Fifteen laser beams cut his path. Twelve reflected off his power armor, but three cut right through it, making his blood splatter all over the place, now literally boiling. But he did not fell, he ran a few more meters, emptying mag in his P800 and killing two enemies on the spot. Before he died, he did one thing. He reestablished psionic linkage with the commander, essentially infecting him with his mad rage.
Marines, now all united in a fury that grew bigger and bigger, created a small yet powerful hive mind and directness all their thoughts onto one, randomly chosen, Invader.
The alien in question took two steps back, as if the force that smashed against him was physical. Half a second later lasers fried his brain. Several other Invaders stepped back too, confused.
Marines pulled out grenades and threw a swarm of them at the Invaders. Alien blood, sickly yellow like human urine, poured everywhere, with several chunks of green flesh marking floors and walls.
Humanity, all united in the form of one marine squad assaulting one Invader spaceship, pushed forward, causing confusion among the Invaders. Soon the bridge has been reached and a first Invader vessel fell prey to the human hands on 7th September 2200, 2:12:59. Maybe Invaders were powerful psychic warriors, but it turns out they don't handle the unpredictable nature of human emotions well.
Onboard firefights keep on raging on the other ships. Meanwhile first victorious squad, thanks to the extensive research performed on dismantled wrecks, figures out enough of the controls to pull the captured ship through the wormhole into NN 3815 before other ships in Invaders' fleet can react.
One of the other Adroits attempts to follow captured vessel, but as soon as it discovers Void Wormhole Defence Squadron on the other side as well as the entire human fleet that broke contact to avoid taking fire once marines proceeded with hull breaching, it fires all its engines and attempts to flee. Space marines inside keep on fighting its crew, though.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810624945401888809/battle3.PNG)
7th September 2200, 2:15:41, Void Wormhole Defenders positioned at NN 3009 wormhole in Gliese 483 spot a single enemy ship warping into the system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810625879746936902/battle4.PNG)
The ship goes back through the wormhole before plasma interceptors manage to acquire target locking, though.
7th September 2200, 2:20:07, after successfully capturing seven enemy vessels and the unfortunate extermination of marines fighting for the eight one, assault fleets warps into NN 3009 for the second time to pour second wave of troops and run away again. More causalities are taken, but with seven of their most powerful ships less Invaders' volleys aren't as impactful anymore:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810626911658049638/battle5.PNG)
This time even more marines die during boarding attempts, apparently Invaders took some small lessons from their initial mistakes.
7th September 2200, 2:24:50, a small squadron of Invaders warps into Gliese 483, ready to engage local blockade forces:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810627505291395102/battle6.PNG)
They attempt to gain distance from the deadly plasma, but interceptors are faster and fly right on top of them, allowing them to score perfect, devastating hits:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810627694797520936/battle7.PNG)
Realising their mistake two seconds too late, Invaders split into two fleets. One attempts to gain distance while the other is sacrificied.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810628697186500608/battle8.PNG)
Human forces engage warp drives for a brief moment to prevent target locking and position themselves in between two remaining ships, firing at both of them simultaneously:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810628963084927030/battle9.PNG)
Soon the last bits of Invaders are turned into space debris:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810629089266237470/battle10.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810629101626327070/battle11.PNG)
7th September 2200, 2:27:15, Space Marines successfully take over another ship, however this time Invaders are ready. They concentrate their fire and before marines can flee through a wormhole, conquered ship flashes in fire before turning into dead and dark debris, just like all the stars once did in Bootes Void:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810630008414011402/battle12.PNG)
Second conquered ship ends up in a similar way. Meanwhile, Invaders fall back from the wormhole, which allows Strikers and Blades to detach themselves from the main fleet, safely enter NN 3009 and begin the chase.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810630373603672094/battle13.PNG)
Morale drops significantly across remaining troops fighting onboard, but when the next ship gets captured, it survives the initial volley, but the second one never lands as Invaders attempt to retreat, plotting course towards Void Wormhole, leaving the ship behind. Next captured ships face similar fate and those who survived the combat inside survived to tell the tale back on Core Worlds:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810631220764344320/battle14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810631498100244530/battle15.PNG)
Strikes and Blades continue the chase:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/810631638634463302/battle16.PNG)
7th September 2200, 2:45:10, surviving enemy forces suddenly disappear from the radar. It has happened again. Gravitational scan and data analysis, this time much quicker because everyone knew what to look for, confirm FTL drive usage.
Captured ships travel to Mars and scientists put their hands on them, trying to determine purpose of all the devices, systems and construction solutions used.
But that's not the most important part.
The most important part is that three Invaders survivied.
Through the months that followed linguistics managed to translate a lot of words, sentences and language concepts of the Invaders and engineers determined exact designs of several Invader ships.
According to the findings of the former, "Adroit" expresses the concept of a Phoenix raising from the ashes and hawk that flies proudly across the sky, "Adopt" expresses the concept of an Excalibur in a sense of a glorious tool for defence and "Adamant" could be translated into "Scarabus" in human alphabet.
On an important meeting with the government officials, engineers presented exact designs of those three Invader vessels:
Phoenix Hawk class Battlecruiser 48,294 tons 1,347 Crew 12,930.4 BP TCS 966 TH 10,650 EM 0
11026 km/s Armour 11-118 Shields 0-0 HTK 273 Sensors 28/42/0/0 DCR 18 PPV 225
Maint Life 0.60 Years MSP 3,012 AFR 1037% IFR 14.4% 1YR 5,001 5YR 75,014 Max Repair 887.5 MSP
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1775 (6) Power 10650 Fuel Use 37.53% Signature 1775 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 4,400,000 Litres Range 43.7 billion km (45 days at full power)
45.0cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 384,000km TS: 11,026 km/s Power 53-6 RM 60,000 km ROF 45
30cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (21) Range 384,000km TS: 11,026 km/s Power 24-6 RM 60,000 km ROF 20
CIWS-250 (1x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R384-TS6250 (3) Max Range: 384,000 km TS: 6,250 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor R7 (22) Total Power Output 158.4 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS156-R101 (1) GPS 25452 Range 156.1m km Resolution 101
Thermal Sensor TH2-28 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 41.8m km
EM Sensor EM3-42 (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 51.2m km
ECCM-3 (1) ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Excalibur class Destroyer Escort 16,093 tons 305 Crew 3,734.8 BP TCS 322 TH 3,550 EM 0
11029 km/s Armour 10-56 Shields 0-0 HTK 66 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 6 PPV 75
Maint Life 0.51 Years MSP 870 AFR 345% IFR 4.8% 1YR 1,705 5YR 25,578 Max Repair 887.5 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1775 (2) Power 3550 Fuel Use 37.53% Signature 1775 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres Range 44.7 billion km (46 days at full power)
Twin Gauss Cannon R400-100 Turret (4x10) Range 40,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 40,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R96-TS25000 (2) Max Range: 96,000 km TS: 25,000 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Active Search Sensor AS33-R1 (1) GPS 252 Range 33.5m km MCR 3m km Resolution 1
ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Scarabus class Heavy Cruiser 31,705 tons 882 Crew 8,495.4 BP TCS 634 TH 7,100 EM 0
11197 km/s Armour 10-89 Shields 0-0 HTK 180 Sensors 28/14/0/0 DCR 12 PPV 145
Maint Life 0.61 Years MSP 2,009 AFR 670% IFR 9.3% 1YR 3,275 5YR 49,118 Max Repair 887.5 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG AUX CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1775 (4) Power 7100 Fuel Use 37.53% Signature 1775 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,900,000 Litres Range 43.9 billion km (45 days at full power)
45.0cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 384,000km TS: 11,197 km/s Power 53-6 RM 60,000 km ROF 45
30cm C6 Soft X-ray Laser (13) Range 384,000km TS: 11,197 km/s Power 24-6 RM 60,000 km ROF 20
Beam Fire Control R384-TS6250 (2) Max Range: 384,000 km TS: 6,250 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor R7 (14) Total Power Output 100.8 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS127-R101 (1) GPS 16968 Range 127.4m km Resolution 101
Thermal Sensor TH2-28 (1) Sensitivity 28 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 41.8m km
EM Sensor EM1-14 (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 29.6m km
ECCM-3 (1) ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Interrogation of the three prisoners begins. It is soon determined that it's much easier to establish communication using psionic rather than conventional talking methods, however Invaders minds are more powerful than those of humans. More predictable, which allowed marines to eventually win battles that happened, but more powerful.
Every interrogation session sooner or later devours into Invader contaminating human mind with visions of stars flaring one by one. What happens after is something that can't be determined, though. But there must be more, because a solar flare, no matter how powerful, is not gonna make all matter form a solar system disappear.
Future attempts at pulling information out of Invaders stop once one of them dies during tortures and the other two are determined too valuable for the time being to just let them die like this, without getting anything useful.
Data about the death of a fellow war prisoners accidentally leaks into the public. Many shocked when some raise concerns about the way Invaders are treated. A potentially dangerous and for sure harmful organisation "Earth-Invaders Organization" is founded. So far they don't do anything besides spitting outrageous propaganda, but government attempts to monitor EIO and their actions as close as possible.
16th December 2200, 17:45:14, probes launched by plasma interceptors guarding wormholes leading to NN 3009 to scan whether Invaders attempted to create new ones from within the system detect another large fleet concentrating on the other side of the NN 3815-NN 3009 wormhole. Restless assault fleet quickly picks up fresh space marines and fuel and instantly sets course to the space in which so many battles took place once again.
22th December 2200, 1:59:21, main human forces arrive at wormhole leading into NN 3009.
22th December 2200, 2:02:34, Invaders make a preemptive strike and warp into NN 3815. Plasma Interceptors, supported by the bulk of human navy, arm their guns, but before any shots are fired, Invaders pull back into the wormhole.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814241104575987852/battle1.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:03:57, human fleet decides to chase the enemy down and enters NN 3009, unfortunately losing one of the ships in the process. In addition to the chased fleet, another squadron of hostile ships is detected at some distance from the wormhole and a lonely ship floating further away. Patriots open their hangars and soon 14 Gauntlets MkII, carrying 14 space marines squads, engage subluminal warp drives and attempt to board Phoenix Hawks, the most dangerous ships out of the entire fleet:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814241545351200798/battle2.PNG)
Severe casualties are taken among marines who miss the target or splatter on the hull, but this time the boarding goes smoother and more troops survive the "attachment phase" compared to first boarding attempt. Assault fleet follows the enemy, keeping its distance just outside of the effective range of enemy lasers. Some beams still connect to their targets, though, but the shields absorb all the heat without an issue.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814242369099792424/battle3.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:15:11, some of the hostile ships suffer some sort of engine failure or don't have enough fuel, because they generate far less thrust than expected, lagging behind. None of the boarded ships is among them, so humanity can unleash all the fire it can. Enemies turn around while maintaining course and try to land their shots as well, but their efforts are futile due to the excellent work of energetic shields:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814243502451982336/battle4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814243539868713000/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814243582378508288/battle6.PNG)
In a desperate attempt to save themselves, Invaders split their formation and some of the ships suddenly decelerate. This proves to be a challenge for targeting systems to keep track of and human forces miss many shots as a result:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814244498690801704/battle7.PNG)
In order to stop enemy from disrupting assault fleet, large amount of fuel is burned to turn around and destroy one of the more dangerous ships which came to a full stop on purpose, making humans pass it and end up in a crossfire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814244953604882492/battle8.PNG)
Despite all these attempts, the small squadron of Invaders is doomed and eventually evaporates under heavy laser and meson fire of combined forces of Strikers and Blades:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814245187811410020/battle9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814245198807826432/battle10.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814245210845347840/battle11.PNG)
In the meantime, on boards of seven assaulted Phoenix Hawks, literal hell has been let loose. Toxic fluids from Invader bodies mix with plasma and laser gunfire and dark, thick, toxic air in which Invaders breathe. Psionic attacks are launched back and forth and defenders and attackers of the ships alike go insane at an exponential rate.
On several ships Invaders attempt to pull off their trick with energetic shields to block bridge access, but this time marines are better prepared - prolonged studies of Invaders' bodies allowed XCOM-affiliated xenobiologists to prepare a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and bromine in proportions that make the breathing organs of the enemy rapidly deteriorate. After successful contamination of onboard life support systems many Invaders die before they manage to switch to the internal air supply in their power armors, allowing for quick capture of several ships.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814247358408687667/battle13.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:26:20, Strikers and Blades accelerate a bit too much and need to rapidly change course to avoid taking more serious fire as one of Phoenix Hawks slows down and opens fire before marines can take control of it:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814248383505498172/battle12.PNG)
Enemy concentrates fire of the ships captured by marines, but it weakens as more vessels are captured and pulled out of the effective range of enemy lasers:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814248721348165662/battle14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814248732551413770/battle15.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:29:48, alarm is raised as a squadron of enemy forces pops out of nowhere into the battlespace and gravitational disturbance is detected at the place in which they appeared on radars, however no wormhole has been detected. For whatever reason Invaders suddenly felt confident to demonstrate their alternate FTL travel means once more. Assault fleet plots interception course:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814249482286923847/battle16.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814249642953932861/battle17.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:35:37, coldness of space mixes with heat of plasma projectiles, laser beams and toxic air onboard when Invaders on one of attacked vessels sabotage their own ship, blowing up several holes in the hull, sucking everyone, friend and foe alike, outside. Soon after the entire ship disintegrates and over one hundred brave space marines and over half a thousand Invaders are no more:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814250812766289970/battle18.PNG)
22th December 2200, 2:36:25, another Invader reinforcements warp into the system, apparently attempting to surround human navy in a crossfire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814251517548560444/battle19.PNG)
It is observed that for the time being, ships that dropped out of whatever-method-Invaders-use-to-go-superluminal seem to be in general "weakened" and struggle to gain enough thrust. To take advantage of this, squadron of Pikes, so far waiting in near the NN 3815-NN 3009 wormhole, is sent after the freshly arrived fleet. For as long as enemy struggles with acceleration, Pikes will outpace Invaders over five times.
22th December 2200, 2:47:31, assault squadron catches up to the first FTL-capable fleet that arrived earlier, successfully performs evasive manoeuvres at almost maximum effective range of enemy guns and then accelerates rapidly, bringing its crew on the bring of ending up crushed, eventually firing volleys from up close. Casualties are taken, but Invaders seem to be completely surprised by this sudden furious attack and their ships fall apart, metaphorically and literally.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814252775046774784/battle20.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814253152471744542/battle21.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814253165565837392/battle22.PNG)
22th December 2200, 3:14:11, giving their warp drives all their got and far more, Strikers and Blades manage to catch up to the originally detected enemy fleet that began this battle and begin to blast it into oblivion... Or into Bootes Void, how many soldiers like to describe it. Brutal CQB firefight doesn't come without a price, though.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814254076094709780/battle23.PNG)
Fleet admiral suddenly decides to reverse thrusters and slow down, gaining some range between the enemy and attack from a safer spot. This proves to be highly effective and soon Invaders are no more:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814254281301295114/battle24.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814254384414195782/battle25.PNG)
22th December 2200, 3:39:56, Pikes eventually catch up to their prey, dodge incoming fire, making use of the low acceleration of their targets, wait for the right moment, and pierce enemy hulls with particle beams while taking only minimal casualties:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814254980688642099/battle26.PNG)
22th December 2200, 3:45:30, human forces catch up to the last surviving enemy ship and blow it up, ending the longest space battle in human history up to date:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814255295600918558/battle27.PNG)
The results are outstanding - human space fleet didn't allow to get encircled and catch itself in a crossfire, defeating an overall larger enemy forces. Five Phoenix Hawks have been captured, alongside 15 alive prisoners, bringing up the total number of alive Invaders in human hands to 17. Thanks to the lessons learned, onboard combat is expected to be further improved.
Elite of the psionic scientists working for XCOM project can't wait to get down to study and Invader mind and finally uncover what lies beneath the dark visions of all the stars flaring one by one. Some of them fear what they might see, but XCOM commander made sure to select the most iron-willed, the best of the best for this psychologically risky task.
Physicists specialising in higher dimensions, string theory and quantum mechanics accompany heavily-escorted salvage fleet to hopefully learn about the FTL drive Invaders use. Some express hope for achieving even as much as gaining ability to track them down inside Bootes Void.
For some surviving marines the battle has proven to be too much and they ended up severely terrified or depressed, requiring immediate psionic therapy. What is worrying is that the most severe cases are more serious than after first boarding attempt, as if Invaders learned more about human psychology and directed their minds in a more effective way during mental combat.
-
15th February 2201, first significant breakthrough is achieved - XCOM scientists pulled off data about one solar system straight out of Invader's mind - it's the ternary system of 36 Ophiuchi. Nothing useful can be brought out of the psi-interrogated Invader besides that, however one thing that is certain is that for some reason this system was determined as important in his/her/its/whatever/screwgenderidenityofhostilealiens head.
It is initially expected that it's one of the system within wormhole network of the enemy and an exploration ship is sent directly there to confirm this:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814265828190584842/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814265878278307930/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814265932586156032/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814265975305142272/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814266037713109012/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814266145912782878/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814266202452000828/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814266256550527066/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814266499899588648/unknown.png)
The almost-oceanic world of 36 Ophiuchi-B II and cold world of 36 Ophiuchi-B III appear to be life-friendly and indeed biological matter is discovered there. However, something is very wrong. The two planets appear to be going through ecological disaster and all organisms seem to be dying, even though there are no obvious hints as to why.
Extended scans reveal no wormholes at all - 36 Ophiuchi does not belong to Invaders' network. Maybe it is going to be connected in the future, maybe a wormhole is already being built from the other system, but for now it is completely cut off, yet Invaders must have already reached it.
What is also intriguing is that, unlike in case of EZ-Aquarii, the three suns are in stable configuration, so there's no imminent risk for life to die because the planets will land in an unfavourable configuration in between the three bodies.
And yet on both planets ecological disaster seems to be picking up pace, which doesn't match with Invader behaviour discovered or at least theorised so far, with many of the planets bearing non-sentient life thriving among their wormholes.
Something is very wrong, but nobody is able to tell as to exactly why so far.
Another fleet of plasma interceptors and all the support infrastructure it requires launches from Gaia, heading towards LHS 288, where latest Void Wormhole has been discovered.
1st March 2201, a terrifying discovery is made: interceptors took one final stop in HH Andromedae before warping into LHS 288, only to be greeted by a Void Wormhole staring at them from a distance:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814290587184398346/unknown.png)
What appeared to be a simple, almost routine job at this point has grown into a complex military and logistical operation.
A total of four wormholes that definitely didn't exist before appeared. Three of them were leading to LHS 288, Gliese 674 and L 145-141, meanwhile the fourth one, according to brief scans, didn't lead to any of the so far explored stars. As if that wasn't bad enough, from HH Andromedae it was possible to use the fifth, this time man-made (or actually woman-made given at that time the crew of the Chronos that did the job happened to be almost exclusively female), wormhole to cover all the way to refuelling terminal at Luyten Palomar 914-54 and Astera stations shiponing fuel in Giclas 9-38, and on top of that reach Gliese 504, last stop from where assault fleet was expected to power up warp drives and cruise towards Precuror-infested HIP 9786.
Further exploration of this sudden Invaders' activity has proven to extend deeper: long-range gravitational scans detected anomalies near Sigma Draconis as well, pointing out that a Sigma Draconis-L 145-141 wormhole was being established as World Government was organising an emergency meeting to prepare for this sudden shift in Second Bootes War.
Somewhat fortunately, it took only two more days for Overseer class deep space patrolling cruisers to finish latest tests and be officially deployed. Two squadrons of them, each consisting of three vessels, have been sent, not as initially expected, into the NN 3009 region (after humanity concentrated forces to block existing wormholes it became somewhat more stable and safe, though given recent FTL drive demonstrations of the enemy fleets it might as well be silence before storm), but one of them was supposed to scan HH Andromedae and new Void Wormhole itself and the second one was supposed to travel directly into Sigma Draconis and prevent Invaders from creating yet another wormhole.
Scientific community points out that this is an invaluable opportunity to study Invaders working on their web in realtime, which on top of having potential to cause a breakthrough in science, could provide a significant advantage during ongoing conflict. As a result, each Overseer hosted a team of physicists onboard during its mission.
The current state of operation presents itself as follows:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814295863975084032/unknown.png)
Due to the rapid, scary, kinda infectious spread of Invaders in a new region of known space, the operation has been designated simply as "COVID-19". Almost two hundreds years old demons from the dark age and end of the Old World have awakened. As a consequence, before departure Overseers as well as 4th Centauri Wormhole Defence Squadron (named as such since it was the 4th squadron of Plasma Interceptors assembled on Gaia) have been stocked with one hundred toilet paper rolls per crewmember each, pulled out straight from Bidet Inc assembly lines on Kappa Tucanae A-II. This helped with morale dramatically since it was the first time since pre-apocalypse days someone that wasn't very rich was going to wipe their ass with toilet paper.
17th March 2201, 16:50:36, a lonely Invader ship is spotted in Gliese 674, still apparently working on not yet fully stable wormhole leading to the system. Since it appears mostly harmless, squadron commander grants the request of physicists to take a look and study the ship before blasting it to where it came from with missiles.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814303209044443146/unknown.png)
While not much can be recovered by observing the ship from a distance, the gravitational waves bending around the ship as it goes on with its task are inspiring for some scientists. So far Chronos ships were doing the work more "remotely", staying away from the influence of forming wormhole due to safety protocols, but Invaders presented different approach which could be, with a bit of luck, successfully adapted into the next generation of wormhole building fleet.
Due to increasing risk Overseers quickly destroy the target and after a few more brief deep space scans leave Gliese 674, continuing their patrol.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814304465510858762/unknown.png)
An "emergency exploration mission" is sent to check out remaining unknown wormhole in HH Andromedae and on 26th March 2201 Orion starships crosses the wormhole with a help of its warp drive since apparently it's still work in progress and emerges near two stars making up Procyon system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814306220835995679/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814306346803003392/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814306467825188924/unknown.png)
Similarily to Gliese 674, there's a wormhole stabilisation ship performing its task. Scientists quickly accelerate away from it and call for Overseers to mop it up:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814306849414840340/unknown.png)
Before the patrol can react, it first needs to deal with another Invader vessel that popped up in LHS 288:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814308420969562152/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814308603813036062/unknown.png)
26th March 2201, 22:41:56, Overseers appear in Procyon, but the Invader spaceship is gone. It also disappeared from the radars of Orion operating within the system which tries to detect any possible additional wormholes built by Invaders as quickly as possible. Initial hypothesis suggests FTL emergency escape, although no one on board of Orion has time for this as identifying any other wormholes is a priority that absorbs all the personnel and equipment on the ship.
Despite numerous patrols and scanning attempts, no more Invaders have been detected in HH Andromedae or systems Invaders tried to link with it. For now COVID-19 appears to be contaminated, but nobody knows for sure and shipbuilders on Gaia work day and night to assemble next fleets of plasma interceptors to block all the semi-stable wormholes created.
Soon one of those fleets reaches Sigma Draconis and blocks access from L 145-141 Invaders tried to establish.
After studying Invaders wormhole-related behaviour and combining results with what interrogators could get out of war prisoners, physicists make advancements in wormhole building, which allows a next-gen wormhole establishment starship to appear:
Frontier class Wormhole Creation Platform 94,057 tons 412 Crew 3,401.3 BP TCS 1,881 TH 6,000 EM 0
3189 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-184 Shields 0-0 HTK 68 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 1400 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Wormhole Deployment Module: 120 days
JC98K Jump Drive Max Ship Size 97500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (3) Power 6000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 72.2 billion km (261 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
It is also the first industrial-grade starship utilising the new Jump Drive. Its mass significantly favours it over Alcubierre Drive.
Food cloning program on Mars progresses according to the plan and an increase in population growth is expected to happen soon.
Psychologists and Psychiatrists still helpless when it comes to therapy for people already stuck within robotic bodies. An alternate idea is born - artificially growing bodies in laboratories and then transplanting brains of affected citizens into them, allowing them to live in a "biological shell" once again. World Government approves the project, but it sparks a lot of controversy.
Earth-Invaders Organisation is responsible for growing unrest in the Solar System. On several manifestations army had to intervene. 137 EIO members were killed and 1763 wounded. This only fuels EIO propaganda - "Invaders would never turn at their own kind", say leaders of the organisation.
Heavy industries on Proxima Centauri experience boom when many companies from Mars move there after EIO members managed to successfully blow up one of the factories specialising in manufacturing conventional spaceship engines. While it was still a small-scale, insignificant attack, citziens blame government for failing to stop terrorists from wreaking havoc. Total causalities include 37 dead workers and 168 injured. EIO is officially banned and declared a terrorist organisation and shoot-on-sight protocol is now valid when dealing with its members, accused of Crime Against Entire Human Race.
Physicists on Epsilon Eridani-A II make great progress in quantum mechanics research and their research into practical applications of quantum entanglement foreshadows a new era for FTL communication technologies.
Neurotrainers industry grows significantly since team behind quantum entanglement research used them to boost capabilities of their brains.
After months of extensive psi interrogation sessions XCOM psionic warriors successfully decipher Invader language. Soon they present a list of so far discovered Invaders' spaceships with their proper names translated into human language:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814665094411321386/unknown.png)
With understanding of their language at hand, further attempts to break down Invaders and force them to speak should progress quicker.
17th August 2201, terraformers finish their work in GJ 1279 system, preparing GJ 1279-A II and GJ 1279-A III for easy colonisation. It'll take a while before first inhabitants will arrive, though, because currently all colonisation fleets are focused on rapid development of Utopia and also Epsilon Eridani-A II since the planet gained popularity after recent quantum physics breakthroughs that happened there, alongside with it already being a pinnacle of terraforming art.
Government officially announces terraformation of Venus is picking up pace and the biggest terraforming project in history could be finished not later than in 23 years. Morale raises as this is yet another marvellous accomplishment of a space-faring civilisation humanity has become.
Missile production slows down once thorium sources begin to run dry. An autonomous mining colony run by fixed, human-friendly version of Red Dot is established beneath the surface of Tau Ceti-A IX 17th moon which helps industry to recover.
SETI groups scattered around Alpha Centauri pick up strange, unintelligible signals coming from Barnard's Star. Military experts suggest to send in strong fleet to investigate.
With three armies consisting of millions of soldiers concentrating on Earth, most valued generals begin to plan invasion of the mysterious world of Barnard's Star-A I, preparing for war with "Barnard's Army" in whatever way it exists now. No one is able to actually explain how come that not so long ago deserted planet expresses signs of intelligent life once again.
3rd October 2201, 12:50:12, high command instantly forgets about Barnard's Star and its members struggle to keep emotions at bay when physicists on Epsilon Eridani-A II detect an Invader starship warping into the system while toying with quantum entanglement-based communication tools.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814672019605946378/encounter1.PNG)
10th October 2201, 7:07:49, a squadron of Patriots, escorted by another squadron of Strikers, crosses man-made wormhole into Epsilon Eridani and prepares to intercept the lone vessel:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814672433290281020/encounter2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814672472988975114/encounter3.PNG)
It is soon confirmed the ship is unarmed. An order to capture it intact is given.
10th October 2201, 7:19:26, bodies of space marines paint the Invader hull red once again. A fierce firefight begins, but less numerous crew compared to Phoenix Hawks, facing over two hundred furious combatants quickly breaks under heavy plasma fire and combat gasses poisoning onboard atmosphere.
After successful interception human vessels head back to Martian dock, but three hours later another vessel enters the system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814673813261647872/encounter4.PNG)
Everyone holds breath when the starship, before anyone is able to catch up to it, heads straight towards Epsilon Eridanit-A II and achieves stable orbit:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814674028967100486/encounter5.PNG)
10th October 2201, 11:47:21, fleeing from incoming human reinforcements, Invaders flee to Epsilon Eridani-A I and attempt to pull of a slingshot manoeuvre:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814674474917691412/encounter6.PNG)
Marines once again attempt to perform successful boarding and die one by one in vastness of space, this time with a supermassive gas giant below them. Its size is spooky as the interior of Invader spaceship and blood that splatters within it. "We all pee like Invaders bleed" - comment shocked soldiers when heading into battle for the second time in the same day. Soon humans gain control over all important systems on board. Both caught ships are tugged to Earth. Additional 3 Invaders are successfully captured alive.
This time determining purpose and design of the ships goes much smoother, thanks to the already gathered knowledge of alien tech and language paired with neurotrainer usage and the ships being less complex, non-military variants.
Patton class Scout 32,170 tons 442 Crew 5,696.8 BP TCS 643 TH 8,875 EM 0
13794 km/s Armour 1-90 Shields 0-0 HTK 121 Sensors 84/84/0/0 DCR 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.01 Years MSP 221 AFR 4139% IFR 57.5% 1YR 20,902 5YR 313,534 Max Repair 887.5 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1775 (5) Power 8875 Fuel Use 37.53% Signature 1775 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 10,450,000 Litres Range 155.8 billion km (130 days at full power)
CIWS-250 (2x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Active Search Sensor AS180-R101 (1) GPS 33936 Range 180.2m km Resolution 101
Thermal Sensor TH6-84 (1) Sensitivity 84 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72.5m km
EM Sensor EM6-84 (1) Sensitivity 84 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72.5m km
ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Rakshasa class Military Tanker 32,193 tons 390 Crew 4,421.7 BP TCS 644 TH 7,100 EM 0
11027 km/s Armour 1-90 Shields 0-0 HTK 131 Sensors 14/14/0/0 DCR 12 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.37 Years MSP 1,030 AFR 691% IFR 9.6% 1YR 2,754 5YR 41,305 Max Repair 887.5 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP1775 (4) Power 7100 Fuel Use 37.53% Signature 1775 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 14,900,000 Litres Range 222 billion km (232 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 248 hours
CIWS-250 (1x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25,000 km/s ROF 5
Active Search Sensor AS52-R101 (1) GPS 2828 Range 52m km Resolution 101
Thermal Sensor TH1-14 (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 29.6m km
EM Sensor EM1-14 (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 29.6m km
ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Xenobiologists tremble in fear when they discover the true purpose of "Rakshasa" ship, especially given it spent a while orbiting human-inhabited planet.
What appeared to be a simpel tanker for refuelling Invader ships turned out to be much more sinister. The substance floating in its tanks... There was something wrong with it.
It was composed out of biological matter.
It all made a horrific sense when coupled with the name of the ship class. "Rakshasa", a large-sized demon described in Hinduism-related sources. Often called a man-eater, believed to drink blood directly from human skulls. That was the term that fit best to express the intention of the ones that gave this series of spaceships name.
Numerous experiments and tests have been conducted in the following days. One of them involved matching the samples collected from deteriorating ecosystems found in 36 Ophiuchi system with the Substance. The similarity has been estimated at roughly 36,8%.
According to the documentation found onboard, the ship was nothing but a tanker for refuelling dry warships. Yet in the heads of Invaders information of the true purpose behind it could be found.
Comparison with human DNA showed compatibility at 11,4%. World Government did its best to hide this from the already terrified society. It was at best interest of everyone for broader public to never learn what happened with the bodies of the ones that died from Invaders' guns and were not evacuated in time. Especially in the context of tragic events of colony fleet destruction from many years ago that still echoed in the consciousness of older citizens.
Invaders turned darker and darker with every discovery made.
Meanwhile "Patton" ship was apparently named after a famous Invader psionic scientist from ancient times working on improving their mental capability, laying foundations for the fearless army humanity was facing today, always retreating only tactically and fighting to the bitter end, not caring to even launch escape shuttles from burning spaceship, let alone surrender. According to data gathered, said scientist was also a military commander and on several occasions directly psi-attacked own troops when they showed signs of fear, somewhat similar to general Patton from over two and a half centuries ago, the latter being accused on beating soldiers in hospitals who suffered from severe shell shock.
Government had to admit, at least in front of itself, that it failed at containing "COVID-19" for the second time, although this time it was not on purpose to directly take control of the human race. Pushed against the wall with numerous naval blockades of their wormholes, they gave up on keeping their FTL drives a secret anymore and began skipping blockades by cruising freely among the stars with the help of their other means of skipping interstellar space.
But them actually making it to a planet's orbit was a whole different league.
A detailed investigation had been launched and soon Epsilon Eridani-A II faced announcement of martial law, similarly to the entire Epsilon Eridani system in general.
Torn by the war and militaristic propaganda and intrusive investigations by law enforcement forces, quality of life turned into misery of life and less and less colonists dared to settle there volountairly.
But the brutal methods ended up having fruitful results. Thanks to the heroism and valor of XCOM, a secret cell of Earth-Invaders Organisation has been compromised and unmasked.
What was most disturbing is that somehow they successfully communicated with Invaders. On top of that it happened even before Invaded Orbit event took place which is how enemy knew to travel to Epsilon Eridani in the first place.
They used quantum entanglement research for that purpose. But what the fuss is about is not how they talked with Invaders tech-wise, but how they made them respond to their calls. What could they tell a race that seeks nothing but death and destruction that made them respond to someone that is probably a mere bug for them?
Another sign of the uncertain future was the data brought, or rather lack of it, from further exploration of Mechi space. Luyten 49-19, system reached via wormhole from Struve 1280, was empty and didn't have any other wormholes inside, indicating a local end of Mechi web:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690157059244042/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690233211420692/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690295328407612/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690366787289128/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690449432248320/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814690505782067200/unknown.png)
No life signs have been detected, sentient or not. Or signs of sentient robots, for that matter.
A wormhole from WISE 1647+5632 leads to 82 Eridani system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691023069642772/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691099985575977/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691158336733244/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691235268395018/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691307536515092/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814691384639619123/unknown.png)
Again, no signs of Mechis, but signs of 82 Eridani-A III undergoing an ecological catastrophe instead. What was once probably a lush planet has now deteriorated to a greyish goo covering most of the surface, barely any fauna left and toxins floating across the vast oceans. Event the sky was literally brown from all the contamination and corruption happening around. A truly depressing look.
A mandatory test had to be made in such situation - the results were disturbing. Samples from dying, engulfed in grey goo, world, matched the Substance composition in 47,5%.
A task force to investigate recently discovered phenomena has been assembled. Using SETI data showing 57,97% decrease in signals coming from Mechi space, sensors picking up literally nothing during exploration missions and the increase of Invader activity in recent years, they programmed a simulation of possible events. According to it, Mechi fell prey to Invaders and, not being able to hold them on for much longer, scattered around, trying to escape the inevitable destruction. 82 Eridani must have been a recent conquest of the Invaders.
One thing didn't make sense, though: a total of three planets with rapidly deteriorating, non-sentient, flora and fauna have been found, all known about by the Invaders, yet their obsession focused mostly about stars themselves and eradication of everything intelligent, but natural environments they left intact. Did they change strategy? What was so special about these three planets that all life had to be destroyed? And why not do so via conventional planetary bombardment?
Gliese 617, reached from the last unexplored wormhole in Zeta(2) Reticuli, was an empty binary system, somewhat stressing the recent emptiness of Mechi-explored stars out:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814695907228516402/unknown.png)
Next stages of Project Olympus go on according to the plan, announces government when first 16 habitat modules arrive at Kruger 60-A I's orbit. The undertaking picks up pace as citizens of Tau Ceti-A IV still lack the means to understand, let alone use, the mighty Precursor anti-Invaders weapon sleeping deep inside their facilities. Accessing this legendary weapon might as well be the only way to stop Invader menace from making entire Milky Way disappear and move on with their plan to speed up the death of universe.
28th November 2202, 15:13:25, Guidance ship stationed in Kruger 60 as part of the logistics support for Project Olympus is attacked and destroyed by unknown forces, but decades of warfare were more than enough to use damage pattern retrieved from the wreck to confirm it was the work of Invaders:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814698944089030676/kruger.PNG)
There is no doubt left it was a precise strike. Invaders knew where to hit so that it hurts the most. All personnel working in the City of Olympus had to be evacuated and further transit of orbital city modules had to be stopped till safety in the system could be guaranteed. And it won't happen anytime soon given the space industry works extra hours for decades by now and space forces begin to spread thinner and thinner to counter Invader threat.
Invaders were actively fighting to stop humans from uncovering the secret of Precursor-made weapon.
29th November 2202, 8:56:02, a small Invader force arrives at NN 3815:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814701371806187520/fight1.PNG)
This is an excellent occasion to test latest jamming software, wrote to disrupt Invaders' targeting systems while taking into account all their technology that has been studied so far. Wormhole Defence Squadron emits jamming sequence and opens fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814701966138933248/fight2.PNG)
Invaders attempt to split and retreat, but humans fly their spaceships in parallel to them, constantly burning holes in their hulls:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814702368565755904/fight3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814702417147854869/fight4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814702984721727568/fight5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814703004728950804/fight6.PNG)
Upon destroying the ship that covered the biggest distance, taking advantage of Invaders still not being able to lock their guns, human forces simply turn around and fly towards surviving ships that were left behind. Soon all enemies are dead:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814703293833674812/fight7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814703335776845834/fight8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814703348275216394/fight9.PNG)
An independent exploration starship crosses a wormhole in Kappa Tucanae and flies into HD 128642 system. The views are indeed HD:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704351758123008/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704420138254336/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704485615665162/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704555198513203/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704615437893692/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704674606809138/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704735109775390/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814704812184305674/unknown.png)
Life has found a way to evolve on HD 128642-A II, a terrestrial planet floating in the "System of Gas Giants". While it's complexity leaves a lot to be desired, it's a life-bearing planet nevertheless. And it's nice to discover a life evolving rather than dying after recent sinister discoveries.
On top of that its existence just one wormhole away from Kappa Tucanae only strengthens the status of Utopia for the latter.
In spite of recent events, an independent, but very ambitious project is launched by a small team living in the jungles of freshly-colonised Kappa Tucanae-B II. Its purpose is to form "Extraterrestrial Alliance" with other civilisations possibly existing in Milky Way in order to fend off Invaders together. Many remain sceptical about the results.
Not longer than two weeks after the official start of the project, a professor of sociology, ironically living in isolation, publishes paper titled "Art of survival in Dark Forest" in which he posts the results of his recent research focusing on interactions between alien civilisations inhabiting the universe.
According to it, universe is a truly dark place to exist in - he doesn't seem to be surprised that all sentience discovered up to date ended up being hostile.
The differences and distances separating aliens are too large to allow easy communication, meanwhile once a particular race reaches interstellar era allowing for ease of messages flow, destroying life on a planet inhabited by pre-interstellar civilisation is a piece of cake and is a safer option than letting less developed civilisation survive, thrive and expand to the stars.
Alliances are not possible, because even if both races knowing about existence of each other had good will, there's too much uncertainty and suspicion involved, far more than what could exist between any two members of the same society, inevitably leading to war on a cosmic scale.
It's a disturbing vision, but the evidence gathered from the past century seems to confirm this theory. Many people don't want to believe this, but they lack necessary arguments. For many others it's just nothing but confirmation of how cruel, cold and uncaring the entire universe happens to be, nothing they couldn't see themselves.
With the recent fiasco of COVID-19 operation as Invaders began to spread rapidly humanity found itself surrounded in a Dark Forest.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814716358310232084/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814716559833825280/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814716712262959144/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814716826629570570/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814716967557922846/unknown.png)
-
A small fleet of Strikers is sent to Kruger 60 to investigate Invader activity and intercept any hostile contacts within the system. Once at destination, it cannot detect anything but the debris from Olympus modules Invaders must have blasted to hell shortly before evacuation. Its commander then decides to check on the borders of Struve Branch of Mechi space. Guidance vessel escorting Strikers to their destination engages warp drive and escorts them to WD 1142-645 (Invaders started working on stabilisation of the wormhole between WD 1142-645 and Kruger 60), then waits for them to return at a distance as they proceed to the wormhole linking Struve 2398.
23th February 2203, 15:48:23, Strikers arrive at the wormhole just in time to witness a fleet of Invaders emerging from it:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814990599307657276/fight1.PNG)
Human forces emit jamming sequence and open fire, blasting one of the Phoenix Hawks into oblivion within seconds:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814990813598974042/fight2.PNG)
23th February 2203, 15:48:29, morale of the crews drops once it is discovered Invaders managed to purge their systems out of the virus and slowly begin charging their weapons. Strikers distance themselves from the enemy, but Invaders follow. One of their ships is left behind since critical engine hit severely disrupted its ability to accelerate:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814991451695087657/fight3.PNG)
Human fleet turns to face the pursuers while maintaining course and opens fire. Soon enemy retaliates:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814991684265312286/fight4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814991835205206076/fight5.PNG)
Ships attempt numerous evasive manoeuvres, but the targeting systems of Phoenix Hawks are way too accurate. As a result, some ships detach from the main formation, only to sustain severe damage in the process.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814992458512728104/fight6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814992499050414160/fight7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814992589219954738/fight8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814992668454420530/fight9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814992697059442688/fight10.PNG)
23th February 2203, 15:57:14, human forces fire one more volley until squadron commander gives an order to retreat. Firefight at closer range with Phoenix Hawks without support of the main fleet proves too deadly:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814993915262402581/fight11.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814993966604091412/fight12.PNG)
23th February 2203, 16:01:05, situation worsens with each second. Not equipped with interstellar warp drives, Strikers cannot jump out of the system without help of Guidance, or at least any other ship capable of establishing warp bubble large enough for a Striker to fit in. Not being able to attempt to cross the wormhole into Struve 2398, they attempt to gain enough distance from the enemy to escape back to the Guidance vessel awaiting them. Further casualties are taken:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814995682774482944/fight13.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814995722838474772/fight14.PNG)
Strikers are only barely faster than enemy, however they slowly gain more space. It negatively impacts enemy lasers, but so does it hurt retaliation volleys damage:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814996241511350343/fight15.PNG)
23th February 2203, 16:12:34, barely any ships are left functioning. Enemy fire loses power with each kilometre of extra distance gained, but survivors are severely damaged and Invaders just keep on firing. There's nothing that can be done. Soon the last vessel of human forces falls apart. Last humans serving on those ships are fully aware they were so close to making it out alive.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814997530373914654/fight16.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814997554290229268/fight17.PNG)
Humanity doesn't even have the time to recover from the shocking news of defeat and destruction of what was already established on Kruger 60-A I's orbit. On 25th February 2203, 0:04:07 undetected attackers successfully destroy entire freighter fleet of Beholders heading towards Kappa Tucanae:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/814998397785997352/indicent.PNG)
The most terrifying part of this massacre is the place it happened at. Beholders were destroyed in NN 3815, right before entering a wormhole into WISE 2343-7418.
There was no way for Invaders to appear in NN 3815, given the wormhole connecting it with NN 3009 was guarded by plasma interceptors.
Unless they simply used FTL drives to skip the blockade and strike from behind the defence lines.
An entire fleet of freighters have been destroyed while travelling through a route that was deemed stable after successful quarantine of NN 3009 Void Wormhole and despite the war remained as such. It was a serious blow for morale of human soldiers and civilians alike. For the first time the interest expressed in moving to Kappa Tucanae dropped.
As soon as the news reached naval headquarters on Mars, main assault fleet has been sent to intercept and annihilate the new threat.
1st March 2203, 14:57:12, assault fleet picks up signatures of an impressive enemy fleet remaining in 3815, a few million kilometres away from the WISE 2343-7418 wormhole:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815005801336799242/battle1.PNG)
Tomahawks open fire, attempting to swarm the enemy from a distance with missiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815005909185069056/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815005927311802398/battle3.PNG)
Unfortunately, point defence of the enemy is way too strong, successfully detonating all the missiles long before they can reach their targets:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815006315670667294/battle4.PNG)
1st March 2203, 16:36:10, humanity accelerates towards enemy head-on. Invaders do the exact same thing and are the first to open fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815006706379128832/battle5.PNG)
1st March 2203, 16:38:41, Gauntlets MkII leave hangars of their Patriots, engage warp drives and prepare to drop marines onto the hulls of Phoenix Hawks. Before boarding even takes place, one of the Phoenix Hawks disintegrates under heavy laser and particle beam fire. A total of three boarding shuttles don't reach destination as their armors can't stand swarm of metallic debris launched from enemy Gauss cannons, but the rest successfully drop marines onto enemy hulls:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815007352104419348/fight18.PNG)
Screams of terror, travelling through the vacuum of space encapsulated in radio waves, reach ears of captains coordinating the largest boarding action up to date and frighten them. Hundreds of marines dying on the burning wrecks of three unlucky Gauntlets or suddenly left all alone in the middle of nowhere after missing the target, so close yet so far away from raging battle, floating among nothingness. Once again brave marines prepare breaching charges right next to their dead brothers in arms spilling blood through damaged power armors forming a sinister red nebulae around them, with their dead bodies move at the same speed as the targeted ships, haunting their alive friends.
In an overall mess two squads miss their targets and instead of Phoenix Hawks somehow land on Excaliburs.
Main forces attempt to distance from the lethal fire of enemy ships for the time marines need to take over invaded ships. For reasons unknown, two small squadrons of Osiris, armed with only Gauss cannons, separate from the bulk of their forces and stay behind them while the main fleet accelerates, moving in parallel to human navy:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815011705042108416/battle6.PNG)
Invaders confused everyone when the main fleet suddenly decelerates a bit, allowing Osiris to catch up and regroup. Two Pikes are destroyed by concentrated fire when their squadron separates form assault fleet and flees the other direction, both getting hit when slowing down to almost full stop in order to change course:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815012455671005204/battle7.PNG)
Two squadrons of Osiris-class ships separate once again from the main forces and attempt to chase Pikes. Before they gain enough accelerators, they are damaged by a volley of particle beams fired from a distance:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815012797825679390/battle8.PNG)
In the meantime Tomahawks plot course as far away from the enemy as possible and Strikers exchange fire with Invaders, constantly accelerating to gain more space between them and Invaders:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815013146099843093/battle9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815013188092297236/battle10.PNG)
Pikes can't fly too close to Osiris ships to avoid Gauss cannon barrages and are forced to maintain current velocity, flying in the opposite direction than rest of the forces:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815013508114415666/battle11.PNG)
1st March 2203, 16:52:13, bulk of human forces damages several Invader spaceships until finally distancing enough for Invaders' lasers to become harmless:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815013895575175168/battle12.PNG)
In the same moment Osiris on Pikes' tails sudenly split and rapidly accelerate in different directions, confusing onboard AI of human ships. A few of them manage to close in enough for their guns to be accurate enough and open fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815015114776248361/battle13.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815015127501504542/battle14.PNG)
Soon crews of Pikes realise enemy attempts to encircle them in the most dangerous formation of space combat - one that'd allow them to circle rapidly around the target, staying on the flank and scoring hit after hit, preventing said target for rotating fast enough to lock its weapons and retaliate. Pikes give up on keeping distance short enough for firing accurately and, with the help of subluminal warp drives, pull away from Invaders while denting several of their ships:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815016370822447114/battle15.PNG)
1st March 2203, 17:00:06, bulk of human forces stopped accelerating a bit too early and Invaders caught up to them. Several volleys have been exchanged and humanity suffers further losses:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815017075126960128/battle16.PNG)
Osiris formation splits into many independently operating groups, but this time it was not caused by their tactical plan, but rather by highly accelerated particles messing with their navigation systems, causing some of them to possibly lose targets they were pursuing:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815017574349668362/battle17.PNG)
Pikes quickly increase their advantage by scoring additional hits. Soon they slow down for a bit and begin circling around scattered enemies, moping them up:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815017604371972096/battle18.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815018352664903721/battle19.PNG)
1st March 2203, 17:05:40, when the last Osiris is torn apart by particle beams, admiral of the entire fleet sees the true damage done by Osiris ships - they successfully pulled Pikes away from main battle and now the distance between two parts of the fleet is huge:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815019395167420456/battle20.PNG)
As main assault fleet attempts to turn around, hoping to bring Invaders closer to the Pikes to allow merging and regrouping while staying outside of the effective range of their deadly lasers, horror on boards of Phoenix Hawks continues. Since the last boarding combat, Invaders came up with special filters to jettison any oxygen, nitrogen and bromine finding its way to the life support systems, severely limiting usage of XCOM-made combat gasses.
Many squads struggling on several ships, stuck in prolonged firefights, with ammo for their plasma rifles running low, attempt a desperate psionic attack. Under heavy enemy fire they try to link minds with soldiers fighting over different ships, creating one powerful hive mind capable of (almost) literally frying Invaders' brains.
Despite combat psionic implants focusing on intensity rather than effective range of psionic waves, the new hive mind works rather well and soon united minds of many squads speak in one voice inside Invaders' heads, confusing and terrifying them, making an easy prey out of them. Soon first ship falls prey to humans and another two suddenly change trajectory, running away from the main fleet when toughest among the marines manage to mind-control pilots themselves:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815024589985939456/battle21.PNG)
Strikers and Blades making for a bulk of human forces attempt to turn around, but struggle to generate enough thrust and soon find themselves being shot at and forced to quickly drop all manoeuvres and return to previous flight path. Marines manage to capture another ship:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815025388098682880/battle23.PNG)
Assault fleet burns fuel excessively, fighting for every additional kilometre per second it can get and helps itself with subluminal warp drives whenever possible to jump as far away from the enemy as possible:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815025794950496266/battle24.PNG)
1st March 2203, 17:27:48, many space marines squads start to emerge victorious, but one fails to pull the conquered spaceship outside of enemy formation and faces annihilation in the form of lasers and Gauss projectiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815027668508082216/battle25.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815027687289520229/battle26.PNG)
To prevent this from happening, assault fleet turns around and blasts engines in the opposite direction, slowing down and coming closer to their enemies. It takes only seconds before targets are acquired. Lasers tear hulls on both sides:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815028321787707402/battle27.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815028514356330566/battle28.PNG)
Suddenly enemy fleets begins to decelerate, increasing the speed at which human ships close in, and attempts to take a turn. Some ships fire their engines a bit later, sweeping out wider than their main forces:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815029807858843688/battle29.PNG)
1st March 2203, 17:31:19, humans time their fire just right and severely damage many ships when they pass in front of them. Unfortunately, their velocity is too high for easy change of course and before they can pull away from Invaders and increase range to a bit more safe levels, Invaders finish their manoeuvre and strike mercilessly when Strikers are most vulnerable:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815031191648469032/battle30.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815031232299663400/battle31.PNG)
Severe casualties and weariness caused by the longest space battle up to date make it clear that this time humanity has to retreat. Assault fleet eventually breaks contact without losing more ships along the way and plots course towards NN 3009 wormhole, attempting to bait enemy into the heated plasma fired by interceptors stationing there. After a while enemy ships disappear from radars.
1st March 2203, 17:45:58, Tomahawks flying towards rendezvous point to regroup with rest of human spaceships detect a lonely Phoenix Hawk crusing through the void. Without much thought into it, they launch missiles, blowing it out of the space:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815032570470596618/battle32.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815032585545056256/battle33.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815032599252303932/battle34.PNG)
1st March 2203, 17:57:55, similar to Tomahawks before, Pikes also spot "their" lonely vessel and turn it into space debris:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815033156793139210/battle35.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815033176605982771/battle36.PNG)
Nearest future of NN 3815 remains uncertain. For whatever reason Invaders stopped chasing human vessels, but withdrawing from the system is the last thing they could do. On top of that on the other side of the system several Gaia colonisation ships bringing millions of people towards Utopia were flying, now turned around back to the Earth for obvious reasons.
Analysis of the flight parameters of the Invaders' fleet through the span of last minutes before its disappearance from radars show that, if it doesn't engage any engines, it should arrive at the end of Invaders' network, near wormhole leading to WISE 2359-7335. It is theorised Invaders will attempt to cross it to progress further into human-controlled space, which brings traumatic memories of all the massacres of civilian ships that happened in the proximity of WISE 2359-7335 already. On top of that, intentionally or not, their fleet ended up on an interception course for colonisation ships.
To prepare a final defence line, high command takes risk and orders plasma interceptors to leave their current position and secure WISE 2359-7335 wormhole until further notice. Surviving ships from the assault fleet are expected to proceed towards NN 3009 wormhole just like they ended up doing and take the interceptors' posts till they return from their critical mission, acting as a temporary sentry.
And so the first part of the battle that from that memorable day was referred to as the Battle of Dark Forest, came to an end.
Casualties on both sides were insane yet Invaders still held well together. Battle of Dark Forest marked an end to a doctrine of Strikers, Pikes and Blades. New, improved, more efficient ships were desperately needed if humanity wanted to survive the Second Bootes War.
-
1st March 2203, 21:45:37, on their way to rendezvous point with main fleet, Pikes pick up a single Phoenix Hawk on their radar. Hostile ship opens fire from a distance, but Pikes have enough time to react and dodge, their shields tanking what little damage has been dealt, and retaliate, destroying the ship.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815681887989268480/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815681915956625489/battle3.PNG)
2nd March 2203, 20:00:45, patrolling squadron of Overseers warps into the system and immediately detects two stranded Phoenix Hawks, heading straight towards evacuated colonisation fleets. Nearby Pikes catch up to one of them, meanwhile Overseers monitor the course of the other:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815682703365767188/battle4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815682852510498826/battle5.PNG)
After a brief exchange of fire, Pikes destroy their target without a problem and move in to eliminate the second one, which also goes smoothly:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683092206977034/battle6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683105150730270/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683115762581504/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683149450575913/battle9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683161446154280/battle10.PNG)
2nd March 2203, 23:31:18, Overseers spot two enemy ships and quickly annihilate them with their missiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683436320129114/battle11.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683448337072138/battle12.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815683461792268288/battle13.PNG)
Human forces concentrate around NN 3009 and WISE 2359-7335 wormholes, regrouping, undergoing field repairs and preparing to hold the line. Government mobilises additional reinforcements from Mars and forces engineers to work extra hours to prepare captured Invaders' spaceships for proper handling by human crews, wanting to give Invaders a taste of their own steel.
5th March 2203, 14:56:28, A huge fleet, consisting of well over one hundred ships, enters NN 3753 from NN 3009. Their numbers are too high, so Anarchists, Devastators and Dragons stationed to guard this wormhole fire a couple times, doing some damage and evacuate through the wormhole.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815685171281264690/fight1.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815685187098771496/fight2.PNG)
Once in NN 3009, four unarmed vessels belonging to the enemy are discovered and quickly dealt with:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815685862472941668/fight3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815685881326993408/fight4.PNG)
Void Wormhole Defence Squadron spends an entire day positioned around wormhole to NN 3753, waiting for the enemy to go through and perform hit and run once again, but the enemy never comes, stationed on the other side of the wormhole as indicated by the destruction of launched scout probes. Human forces are too weak to take on the challenge as of now and it is decided that ships guarding NN 3753-NN 3009 wormhole will join forces guarding NN 3815-NN 3009 wormhole. Morale suffers from giving up on one of the three blockades established.
10th March 2203, 5:52:48, a cargo fleet returning from Kappa Tucanae gets shredded into pieces in GI 85 system. Forces from NN 3753 are redirected to investigate the problem. They position themselves near WISE 1519+7009, at a wormhole connecting this start with GI 85 system, hoping to catch the Invaders if they'll push further with their offensive.
12th March 2203, 15:48:16, the plan ends up being a success and plasma interceptors unleash their fire once the enemy arrives:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815689580573360158/fight5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815689596230696979/fight6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815689646724874320/fight7.PNG)
Invaders recover from the initial surprise and prepare to defend themselves from the ambush, but the admiral of interceptor fleet orders to power up engines and escape through a wormhole just in time, ending up in GI 85. Invaders don't dare to follow.
What is unsettling is that according to the hostile fleet composition, the ships that showed up could possibly be the fleet that disappeared from sensors in NN 3815 after the Battle of Dark Forest, but reinforced with 15 fresh Phoenix Hawks. They must have known about the second fleet of freighters and they used this knowledge to travel to GI 85 directly with help of their FTL drives and attacked Beholders.
It remains a mystery why they didn't choose to attack colonisation ships, but soon it is concluded that hurting logistics is more beneficial for them because at this stage it'll hurt development of Kappa Tucanae more than a few million people moving there not reaching their destination.
12th March 2203, 15:59:39, a lone Phoenix Hawk, possibly acting as a scout, enters GI 85 and before it can react, hot plasma melts through its hull:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815692730717306890/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815692741391548448/battle9.PNG)
12th March 2203, 17:04:48, a small squadron of Phoenix Hawks enters NN 3815, but retreats back to NN 3815 before any of the interceptors detecting it can do anything. Humanity decides to chase it down, bringing the battle to the dreaded NN 3009 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815693213213524038/fight10.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815693229504331876/fight11.PNG)
Plasma guns aren't effective at longer range, but Invader lasers aren't either, so the fleet is ordered to keep its distance and the main work of actually dealing damage rests at shoulders of Devastators, armed with particle lances:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815693709571391498/fight12.PNG)
Unfortunately, eventually enemy manages to land a shot directly at a reactor, making a small star out one of the ships for a while:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698057425190942/fight13.PNG)
Firefight continues and it isn't very difficult for human forces to maintain distance and pierce holes in enemy's hulls, but more casualties are taken in the process:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698322698010684/fight14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698336513785906/fight15.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698376008007690/fight16.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698392230658088/fight17.PNG)
12th March 2203, 17:14:20, eventually last Invader ships are destroyed. Plasma interceptors return to their designated position in NN 3815.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698676445610044/fight18.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815698688718536764/fight19.PNG)
To every officer commanding anything from a crew handling a single weapon to a whole space fleet it is clear that Invaders are successfully regaining control in a sector that once was made safe for civilian traffic, allowing rapid conquest of Paradise and plans for colonising GJ 1279, not to mention all the other colonisation-friendly worlds discovered within the network of Invaders.
As a response, World Government passes a new law, coming into effect immediately on every celestial body in Kappa Tucanae System. According to the latest Dark Forest Decree, citizens on Kappa Tucanae are on their own now and all communications with the rest of humanity are strictly prohibited with the exception of reports for the government and reception of technological, scientific and military updates from the rest of humanity so that the system doesn't stay outdated.
In order to make communication with Kappa Tucanae as well as other systems as safe as possible, Space VPN project is launched. Its purpose is to create a web of beacons in random places around randomly chosen stars that'll receive signals and pass them further, maximising the difficulty of identifying their source or destination. Route of the packets will be selected randomly for each message and beacons themselves are going to be reshuffled and moved to different systems periodically as well.
The project is meant to be used as a temporary solution until the process of using quantum entanglement to replace current means of communication is finished.
The decision hurts morale of the human society and causes severe unrest because Kappa Tucanae Wall means no more toilet paper shipments. Many look at the operation COVID-19 as a proof humanity learned nothing during the past two centuries, because the similarities between current situation and rapid spread, countries crossing borders and no toilet paper from the pandemic times are clearly visible.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815709656357535754/unknown.png)
16th March 2203, 14:35:22, a huge fleet that once made a breach into NN 3753 arrives in NN 3815 via wormhole from NN 3009. Two Wormhole Defence Squadrons combine forces and strike at the enemy, slowly but steadily chewing through their ships. After unloading a few volleys they jump to NN 3009 to avoid deadly retaliation.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815937881964806184/battle1.PNG)
17th March 2203, 4:56:02, three Overseers arrive in NN 3815 and scan the system for hostile activity. They detect both the Large Fleet (after two wormhole ambushes a little less large) and two Phoenix Hawks flying through deep space:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815938621876994078/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815938657608794163/battle3.PNG)
Apparently the ships move closer to each other to regroup. Overseers attempt to ruin this attempt by blowing up the two ships that lack anti-missile capability. Plasma interceptors warp into NN 3009 once again, after receiving reports from Overseers about Large Fleet moving away. Upon their return a few damaged, left behind ships are spotted and quickly destroyed:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940262697893888/battle4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940306981748786/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940341092974653/battle6.PNG)
17th March 2203, 5:15:09, Overseers open fire and successfully destroy two Phoenix Hawks:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940489311158292/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940500234174464/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815940544059801630/battle9.PNG)
17th March 2203, 5:19:29, Overseers detect another Phoenix Hawk and move in to evaporate the target:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941434070401074/battle10.PNG)
As the patrolling ships close in, several additional squadrons are detected:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941689226166322/battle11.PNG)
Once close enough, Overseers open fire and mop up spaceship after spaceship:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941917049094144/battle12.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941929593339915/battle13.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941942579167272/battle14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815941955984424970/battle15.PNG)
As human forces cruise towards WISE 2343-7418, more and more ships are discovered:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942199581212723/battle16.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942568181366804/battle17.PNG)
Missiles keep on flying, blowing up those additional targets, defenceless without main fleet support:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942737551032420/battle18.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942748451373116/battle19.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942794362617886/battle20.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815942807180410890/battle21.PNG)
17th March 2203, 5:38:14, an additional squadron of Phoenix Hawks is detected near WISE 2343-7418 wormhole, right on top of plasma interceptors that returned from WISE 1519+7009 to strengthen defence of NN 3815. Ships in question, together with tugs tractoring space stations that help keep them supplied and maintained, reverse engines and attempt to flee from the enemy:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815945609432793148/battle22.PNG)
Overseers attempt to distract the enemy and begin transmitting various signals, making themselves visible to the enemy. Invaders take the bait, allowing plasma interceptors to escape, having successfully escorted space stations which wouldn't be able to escape easily given their lack of warp drives. Technically this wasn't necessary, but should the firefight happen, Anarchists and Dragons would need to close in, allowing Invaders to deal a few severe blows before facing annihilation.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815947006013997081/battle23.PNG)
Having fired almost all of their missiles, Overseers head on to resupply, but before engaging their warp drives they fly through NN 3815 once more to get updates about enemy activity:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815948702421090374/battle24.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/815948738342158376/battle25.PNG)
17th March 2203, 7:12:41, Phoenix Hawks decide to risk it and chase plasma interceptors through WISE 2343-7418 wormhole, however human forces are prepared for this and quickly destroy all targets. At the same time another squadron attempts to breach blockade at NN 3009-Gliese 483 wormhole, but fleet stationed there holds the line and neutralises the threat without much problems.
In spite of recent events, Government puts NN 3815 under quarantine and concentrates bulk of human space navy, including several refitted Invader vessels, adapted to easy handling by human crewmembers, preparing to defeat key Invader forces in the system before they retreat, or worse, further weaken fleets participating in the war.
22th March 2203, 19:20:46, remaining ships from the Huge Fleet of Invaders (still being huge despite casualties taken) warps into NN 3815 from NN 3009. Combined forces of two fleets defending wormhole keep on pounding the enemy, but after firing a few volleys and destroying a few more ships, they do the same old trick and retreat, not wanting to risk additional casualties. Assault fleet, stationed at WISE 2359-7335 wormhole sets to catch up to the enemy.
23th March 2203, 1:45:24, fleet consisting of captured and fixed Phoenix Hawks detects a strong gravitational interference next to WISE 2359-7335, just outside the wormhole. "Invaders" have to intervene immediately, because a group of ships tugging space stations for fleet support in NN 3815 is located there and won't be able to escape from the enemies:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816275745911472138/battle1.PNG)
"Invaders" catch up to Invaders without much trouble and soon the enemy gets a taste of its own weapons as Phoenix Hawks concentrate fire on a Phoenix Hawk:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816275969299185724/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816276009909354536/battle3.PNG)
Both fleets are armed with exact same guns, the only advantage of humanity being that Scarabus ships have less guns than Phoenix Hawks, meaning that Invaders are as deadly for "Invaders" as "Invaders" are for Invaders. To minimise risk of taking casualties, especially given how bled out is humanity making each ship very precious, damaged ships have to turn around and attempt to get to the NN 3815 rather than stay in a formation and risk imminent destruction.
So thanks to skilled, experienced pilots and smart captains, humanity scores hits while staying on enemy's tail and dodges most of incoming fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816277739396661278/battle4.PNG)
23th March 2203, 1:50:44, Invaders suddenly turn around and decelerate, accepting additional damage taken while their fleet slows down, becoming more vulnerable. As a result, before anyone could react, "Invaders" found themselves too close to their evil counterpart, which allowed enemy forces to blow up two ships without a problem. In order to gain distance, captains give orders to turn around, otherwise entire fleet will pass very close to the enemy and with their ships having exact same acceleration and fuel amount, they'll be able to gain velocity again and travel in parallel, firing at point blank. The latter is especially scary considering their Gauss cannons humanity managed to stay away from as of now, with their projectiles being very easy to avoid at range, but extremely deadly from up close.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816280604089122837/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816280661916385300/battle6.PNG)
23th March 2203, 2:00:28, after tanking more shots and losing some crew on some ships, humanity splits its ships, making it harder for the enemy to chase them down. Invaders appear to have lost most of their significant ships and humanity prepares to finish them off:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816282631523794974/battle7.PNG)
In order to speed up the process, "Invaders" change trajectory and begin to circle rapidly around the enemy, "orbiting" them. The initial advantage makes it almost impossible for Invaders to rotate fast enough to align their guns with the targets, because same ships means same rotation speed, so in despair enemy begins circling, too, dodging some shots. Ultimately it doesn't matter and soon the entire fleet is defeated:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816283280705454120/battle8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816283293732438036/battle9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816283305669951508/battle10.PNG)
-
During the following days, after numerous patrols and extensive hit and run tactics, humanity eventually destroyed surviving enemy ships concentrated in NN 3815, but at an overall great cost. Reorganisation of all the fleets has been assigned the highest priority in the incoming months and years. After latest defeat, Invaders gave up for a while, allowing humanity to catch breath, but Kappa Tucanae isolationism has been maintained.
A new generation of Guidance system ships has appeared, however Jump Drive technology is still in more or less experimental phase and wormholes it creates are far too small for the ship using it to escort additional vessels through them, hence the new designs still had to use Alcubierre Drives:
Guidance MkII class Jump Tender 171,981 tons 1,246 Crew 8,925.6 BP TCS 3,440 TH 24,000 EM 0
6977 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-275 Shields 0-0 HTK 257 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 32 Max Repair 1777.1 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months
JC621K Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 621000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (12) Power 24000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 157.9 billion km (261 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Star Finder class Jump Tender 28,466 tons 570 Crew 4,960.7 BP TCS 569 TH 4,000 EM 0
7026 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-83 Shields 0-0 HTK 104 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 108 Max Repair 3465.7 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months
J120000(3-50) Alcubierre Drive Max Ship Size 120000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive EP2000.00 (2) Power 4000 Fuel Use 1.33% Signature 2000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 119.2 billion km (196 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Alongside an updated basic Guidance starship, a new class has been prototyped, built specifically with military operations in mind. Star Finders being much smaller than Guidance MkII ships could rapidly transport military fleets across the stars and could even become a part of them if protected well from dangers, making military operations way smoother, without having to use the Behemoths of Guidance MkII starships themselves.
To test these vessels out, a fleet of them will be responsible for deployment of Space VPN infrastructure.
An Orion starship exploring systems linked to Kappa Tucanae, now stuck there, unable to return to Core Worlds, continues its mission around its forcefully changed mother system. It manages to find out that last of the unexplored wormholes from Kappa Tucanae leads directly to already discovered HIP 65530, providing an alternative route for reaching Kappa Tucanae without an FTL drive. Also, to a slight relief of local population, HD 128642 doesn't contain any wormholes besides the one connecting it to Kappa Tucanae, making it somewhat safer spot for local colonisation. That safety is mostly illusional, though, because there's nothing preventing Invaders to warp into the system directly from any other place. Having finished exploration of the "close neighbourhood", after brief holidays on Kappa Tucanae B-II, scientists head towards NN 3891 to check possible routes Invaders might still want to use and pick a random wormhole to go through. They reach GJ 1049 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816310046929321984/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816310114335719424/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816310250008870932/unknown.png)
No complex life forms are detected on GJ 1049-A III, however the ocean beneath ice sheets is full of unicellular microorganisms, mostly residing on the sweet spot between eternal day and eternal night, where the temperatures are high enough for the ice to melt and cool enough for the water not to boil. It is discovered that they are capable of photosynthesis and produce oxygen that slowly builts in the atmosphere, which resembles processes that once took place on Earth.
Also the water that boils on the bright side often travels across the planet into the dark side where it falls down in the form of snow and ice, making the weather rather extreme, with frequent storms, but at the same time the water causes rock erosion and maybe at some point in the future, unless humanity colonises and terraforms this world, this will be the foundation for soil buildup, allowing life to evolve further.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/816317514286891028/unknown.png)
AGE OF DARK FOREST
Government approves Operation Reseed, a proposition to unload the last group of colonists supposed to reach Kappa Tucanae in GJ 1279-A II and II instead. A few million people that are about to inhabit these two planets will be tasked with establishing themselves on the planet while maintaining low profile and not letting their population grow too big until they're prepared for independent anti-Invaders defence or better times arrive. The idea behind this operation is to setup a human colony that'll remain unknown to the enemy, serving as a backup securing survival of humanity and serve as a future base of operations against the threat of Invasion.
Epsilon Eridani-A II follows rapid militarisation. After recent incidents with Earth-Invaders Organisation and Invaders appearing in Epsilon Eridani, each person out of over 150 million people living there so far is forced to serve in the army for at least 5 years upon reaching adulthood, no exceptions, so this includes all women, too.
World Government plans to use the planet for military experiments on technological, psychological and societal levels. It was long theorised that common usage of cybernetic implants, guns made out of very light materials, power armors, synthetic organs, exoskeletons and rapidly growing industry and science of genetic engineering should make it possible for literally everyone to serve in the military without any trouble, making physical fitness and strength evaluation a relic of the past, however so far most of the soldiers and law enforcement officers have been recruited out of fit men, mostly for cultural conditioning and differences in male and female psychology.
The time has come to finally change this. Even psychological barriers can be easily overthrown using psionic technology, and because of that, psychologists, psychiatrists and psi scientists began working on Amazons Program, which goal was to alter personality of women living on Kappa Tucanae-A II to make them, on average, more competitive and combative. Only the minority of those who were like that naturally have been excluded from the program to offload some work since the undertaking was huge.
Of course it didn't take long for literally everyone to start revolting against these decisions that effectively turned the whole world into one giant barracks and army HQ, but of course it didn't take long for the government to use significant forces, originally meant to be sent to Barnard's Star A-I, to suppress the unrest. Unrest was increasing, not only on Epsilon Eridani-A II, but on literally every other world, ranging from a Core World through a mining colony to an asteroid outpost, though.
After rethinking everything given the scale of the entire operation, government decided that the population of Epsilon Eridani-A VIII's eight moon will be redirected to administrative and logistic support for the founded army. This will allow to further offload work from Amazon Program staff, as in general "non-combative" citizens from Epsilon Eridani-A II will be, to the extent possible, replaced with "combative" citizens living on Eridani-A VIII's eight moon.
Despite harsher conditions on mentioned moon, people try hard to end up there instead of being forced to serve in the army. Ironically, there are many cases where people fought so hard for this they were classified as "combative" and could not escape the service.
Some of the men that ended up classified as "non-combative" but did not manage to evacuate to the moon, outraged they have to take part in a program that's called "Amazons" and is mostly for women, but government just doesn't care.
Since military service means having psionic implants installed, further indoctrination and personality altering is planned to ensure full compliance. Over 150 million people bonding together as one powerful mind could be dangerous, especially if those people aren't happy with their lives.
Following stick and carrot method, a promise is made that those who will excel at their service will be granted an unlimited access to the Matrix, including 24 hours per week access to illegal modules, including full realistic family simulation module, to compensate for the tough life of a soldier.
To help get more soldiers out of the "Military Planet", a team of biologists and genetic engineers working in genetic modification centers on Gaia, largest facilities of that type built by humans, propose to modify and enhance population of Epsilon-Eridani systems. Development of SuperBreeder Genome assumes adapting female bodies to be able to have more children more frequently and human mind to handle taking care of, on average, more kids easier.
The initial idea doesn't find much approval, though, because adapting human mind is a job for psi scientists, already having more than enough work with implementation of Amazons Program, and increasing the capability of human species to make children is pointless as of now because the main reasons for stagnated population growth are purely psychological, societal and economical and even without genetic improvements people don't create offspring as quickly as they technically could from biological point of view.
With the recent damage done by Invaders and their spread across many stars, branch of SETI program responsible for actively sending signals to outer space is suspended until further notice and in general all interstellar communication is supposed to be as reduced as possible.
Further restrictions apply and government passes some limited forms of censorship of mainstream media and culture after a movie "Equal even before Death", technically depicting a high-fantasy world, but in reality being a commentary to the militarisation projects of Epsilon Eridani system, hits the top charts and is extensively discussed. Instead, government promotes art and culture revolving around all those battles fought with Invaders.
3rd October 2203, engineers and military technicians on Kappa Tucanae-A II complete work on the Kappa Defence Grid, tasked with detecting and shooting down any hostile spaceships closing in to Kappa Tucanae system. The project in this system was started much earlier, but it is expected that Epsilon Eridani soon will follow.
Human Bureau of Investigation eventually manages to figure out the truth behind latest encounters with Invaders. According to clues and proofs collected, Invaders knew exactly where to strike because EIO members have provided them with necessary information, including for example most popular transit routes to Kappa Tucanae or the plan to build orbital city of Olympus.
Society is shocked when results of the investigation hit the news, but not even by all the harm caused by EIO, but rather by the fact that there are humans who successfully communicated with Invaders, something that hasn't been achieved before.
Best of the best among interrogators are hired to get the details out of EIO members' heads, because simply pinpointing a few strategic targets isn't something Invaders would've cared about to the point of actually talking with humans.
Neurotrainers prove to be a huge success, vastly increasing the pace of technological progress. Engineers on Epsilon Eridani-A II successfully manage to create improved accelerators, making particle beams stay consistent and thus deadly at longer ranges. The project is supposed to find applications in military industry soon.
First rebellions begin on Epsilon Eridani-A II, but all are quickly suppressed, showing the entire human race how disobedience will be punished in these harsh times.
Rapid development of Amazons Program is, along increased matrix usage and reintroduction of illegal modules for it, a major factor contributing to the family structure decay on the planet, say sociologists. They warn the entire project will have disastrous long-term consequences and will lead to societal instability for generations to come.
Terraformers are sent to the dwarf planet of Altair-A III and prepare it for rapid colonisation. With the current terraformation tech, the task will is expected to be very easy and it won't take more than a few years to prepare Earth-like atmosphere and introduce flora and fauna to populate the world, allowing for humans to arrive. The colony is supposed to serve mainly as another mineral source for military industry expanding in Epsilon Eridani system. Altair has not been chosen by an accident, though, since some fungus and plants growing on Altair-A II have been proven to work as strong psychedelics when consumed in small quantities by humans. Government plans to hire chemists and biologists to invent new military drugs formulae based on the native biosphere of Altair-A II. The planet itself will not be terraformed and colonised, though, since xenobiologists have proven that adapting the world for humans would ruin the ecosystem and the necessary species would face extinction.
Setting up a population on Altair-A III is also supposed to serve as a part of Operation Reseed and testing grounds for advancements in genetic engineering aimed at making humans better suited for low gravity environments.
Humanity pushes further into Invader-controlled space, exploring wormhole after wormhole. The one in NN 3891 leads to Gliese 143:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817768142746550302/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817768215031054336/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817768287496699914/unknown.png)
Gliese 143-A IV is found to host alien life, mostly consisting of animals feeding on colonies of algae-like biological matter spanning across vast plains on the planet and the ones preying on them. Life is rather scarce, though, dead snow and dead ice fills most of the planet's surface.
However, upon closer examination and a couple of manned missions to the surface, it is discovered that some portions of the snow isn't in fact frozen water, but frozen carbon dioxide and dirty atmospheric ash. Simulations confirm what scientists have already realised - Gliese 143-A IV is a post-apocalypse planet, once possibly resembling Earth itself, but now suspended in a state of nuclear winter.
Further research conducted in a system revals that Gliese 143-A II as well as the moon of Gliese 143-A IV host colonies of microorganisms surviving on the post-nuclear planet. One of the theories speaks about this being a proof of early terraformation attempts done by the civilisation that once lived there.
During one of the geological missions on Gliese 143-A IV members of the exploration mission discover something that definitely wasn't made by mother nature. At least a few decades old, ruins of an alien city are discovered.
XAT teams that later arrived on the site couldn't find much of anything at least remotely useful - the civilisation once inhabiting this world has been long extinct and wiped out from the history of the universe except for the fact that it existed at all. For many it serves as a proof of Dark Forest Theory, lowering the already low morale of human society even further.
A wormhole from WISE 1457+5815 connects Chi Eridani binary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817773814875947048/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817773880844091392/unknown.png)
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(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817774439479377960/unknown.png)
An interesting discovery is made when an Orion-class starship traverses through a wormhole in GJ 1049 and arrives near the lonely star of HIP 76315. Data about this star has been pulled out from Mechi databases back in the day, however it was not known where in the Mechi network it belongs. To have discovered a wormhole to it while exploring Invaders' network is simply scary, even if the the Invaders attacking Mechi space is a long-known fact.
Meanwhile another team operating in Mechi-controlled (or possibly not really controlled anymore) space travels through a wormhole in 82 Eridani, landing in Xi Bootis system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817777181107159050/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817777237083291658/unknown.png)
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Xi Bootis-A doesn't have any celestial bodies orbiting it, but Xi Bootis-B is a rich planetary system, including life on Xi Bootis-B II. The planet's surface doesn't contain water (or any other liquid for that matter), yet oxygen-breathing life starts to take this world over. Xenobiologists find it hard to classify the alien species sparsely populating the cold, rocky surface. They appear as plants, but more like dead, dried plants. Their biology is so bizarre many begin referring to them as "living rocks". They are completely static and don't react to outside stimulation, but they need oxygen to keep themselves "alive". It is suggested that maybe once the planet contained water, but for whatever reason now it doesn't and the "living rocks" are the last organisms that adapted to this harsh environment, clinging to life despite their existence barely resembling it.
The situation is different on the hellish seventh moon of Xi Bootis-B IV. This moon is the size of a large planet and despite scorching temperatures and severe atmospheric pressure, methane-breathers concentrate around the ice sheets on the poles. These lifeforms are not complex, mostly being unicellular organisms, but a few species of moss are found as well. Initially believed to breathe methane, however it is revealed that the process actually resembles consuming it directly as food, meanwhile they don't need to breathe at all.
Spaceship-building corporations on Mars are contracted by the government to design a new missile destroyer, replacing the old Phalanx and Vanguard ships. In order to gain the upper hand government decides to risk it and, using the brief peace period achieved after latest repulsion of Invaders, send part of the forces into HIP 9786 to defeat Precursors guarding HIP 9786-A III and gain access to their technology. Soon the best prototype is picked up and enters production:
Woodpecker class Missile Destroyer 27,489 tons 657 Crew 8,319.7 BP TCS 550 TH 8,050 EM 6,240
14642 km/s Armour 20-81 Shields 208-520 HTK 152 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 15 PPV 158.4
Maint Life 1.19 Years MSP 6,837 AFR 403% IFR 5.6% 1YR 4,988 5YR 74,814 Max Repair 4025 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP8050.00 (1) Power 8050 Fuel Use 64.32% Signature 8050 Explosion 23%
Fuel Capacity 4,000,000 Litres Range 40.7 billion km (32 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-25.00 Turret (20x20) Range 50,000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R150-TS32000 (1) Max Range: 150,000 km TS: 32,000 km/s 93 87 80 73 67 60 53 47 40 33
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (1) GPS 96 Range 23.5m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
Compact ECCM-3 (1) ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Not having an FTL drive, it requires assistance of FTL-capable ships in a fleet, but this choice has saved more space for Gauss turrets and allowed it to maintain decent thrust, making it able to outrun Invaders without much trouble. On top of that new missile destroyer has been fitted with newest subluminal Alcubierre Drive, granting it the capability to reach the effective speed of over 14 thousands kilometres per second.
15th January 2207, 10:50:29, human forces warp into HIP 9786 and set course to "Precursors' planet". Upon closing in to the destination, an impressive fleet is spotted:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817793543082737684/battle1.PNG)
Enemy opens fire and sends hundreds of missiles at incoming human ships, but Woodpeckers pass their test just like in the simulations, nullifying the threat:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817793827955146772/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817793846293299230/battle3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817793887099682847/battle4.PNG)
15th January 2207, 10:56:14, when assault fleet arrives closer, up to a distance from which the planet becomes visible with a naked eye, radars pick up, in addition to the large fleet, EM signature on the surface:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817794418391121950/battle5.PNG)
Soon after this discovery enemy begins to bombard the incoming fleet with a swarm of weaker, but faster and more numerous missiles. Woodpeckers don't have any problems with them either, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817795800330666014/battle6.PNG)
15th January 2207, 11:01:18, HIP 9786-A III is discovered to have a planetary defence grid, similar in concept to the one on Kappa Tucanae-A II. Before the fleet manages to change course, laser beams punch through the shields and hulls of many ships, destroying one Tomahawk:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817796829257269257/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817796840220524595/battle8.PNG)
Tomahawks open counter fire, trying to target the planetary defence grid, but the enemy launches counter-missiles that intercepts some of them, and what was not intercepted in that phase got picked up by HIP 9786-A III's point defence systems.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817797317653430292/battle9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817797329885200384/battle10.PNG)
15th January 2207, 11:10:18, after numerous missile bombardment attempts, all repelled by Woodpeckers, enemy appears to have run out of ammo. After successfully retreating from the effective range of defence grid, Tomahawks open fire once again. This time Precursors can't intercept every missile and orbital defence systems blow up one by one:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817830958195015690/battle11.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817830994757287973/battle12.PNG)
Enemy ships are seen fleeing from the planet, only static orbital platforms remain:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817831124675461131/battle13.PNG)
After obliterating orbital lasers, assault fleet closes in and Pikes begin shooting at the defenceless platforms, damaging some of them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817831500640157727/battle14.PNG)
However, soon cease fire order is given - it is decided that these platforms, as well as remaining ships, are too valuable to be destroyed like that and they'll be boarded and captured. On top of that, apart from planetary defence systems, EM signatures from surface suggest presence of more machines and installations.
Whether they're armed or not, remains unknown, but they don't resemble anything found on Tau Ceti-A IV or Kruger 60-A I. The safest approach is to send military forces to investigate, many of which will come from Epsilon Eridani-A II, possibly serving as a great training opportunity for the new soldiers.
How to transfer large armies over vast distances quickly turns out to be a huge logistical undertaking and quite a problem. Initial prototype of a starships capable of doing that is proposed, however it is subject to change as government thinks about sending more ships, but each containing less soldiers while having better acceleration, manoeuvrability and more armor layers.
Starhunter class Assault Transport 118,233 tons 1,240 Crew 17,909.3 BP TCS 2,365 TH 10,000 EM 0
4228 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 30-214 Shields 0-0 HTK 251 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 51 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.27 Years MSP 11,988 AFR 5325% IFR 74.0% 1YR 45,123 5YR 676,842 Max Repair 5000 MSP
Troop Capacity 50,000 tons Drop Capable
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Morale Check Required
J120000(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 120000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP10000.00 (1) Power 10000 Fuel Use 74.12% Signature 10000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 20,000,000 Litres Range 41.1 billion km (112 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The ship is equipped with hundreds of drop pods with extremely resistant heatshields, allowing for rapid atmospheric entry and landing on the attacked world, as well as small engines for choosing the best landing spot and helping avoiding potential AA cannons.
A Jump Drive has been used, instead of Alcubierre Drive, which in case of this huge beast significantly improves interstellar travel times.
-
31st August 2207, with the help of what was once recovered from captured Mechi robots, physicists discover new ways of antimatter production. Humanity is now able to get enough anti-particles to build first reactors. Apart from being a new power source and potentially a new weapon, these reactors foreshadow a revolution in spaceship propulsion systems.
Assembling together artificial, brainless bodies, initially meant to allow those who transplanted their brains into robots to go back to the biological form and recover from Mechanical Insanity Syndrome, are so successful that there's now a huge market for them and potential customer base is growing from day to day. Many people dream of swapping their bodies for a "better one", in addition to all the cybernetic and genetic modifications already available in civilian sector.
Large-scale augmentation of Martian environment via genetic modifications and food cloning allows once red, but for long time blue planet to sustain larger population, resolving overcrowding crisis that'd have happened in the near future.
SETI linguists and astronomers manage to crack down the meaning of new signals that have been coming from Barnard's Star for a while. What they contain is simply a map pointing out to V1216 Sagittarii star, with a few dozens of nearby stars surrounding it, acting as reference and allowing easy identification.
A mission to this star is launched, however it doesn't discover anything of significant meaning:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817851987776372736/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817852051824181248/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817852278471262259/unknown.png)
It's just a dead system, not even a single microorganisms, nor is it particularly rich in natural resources.
One thing that could be somehow interesting is planet V1216 Sagittarii-A III. This large planet even for gas giant standards has very violent weather and suffers from frequent, large cyclones and storms, more severe than on any other gas giant discovered so far. This has caught scientists' attention especially when a more in-depth study of incoming signals revealed that they specifically pinpoint this gas giant, not V1216 Sagittarii in general. Further studies of the planet didn't lead to discovering anything meaningful, though.
Earth-Invaders Organisation has prepared an assault on the facility in which alive Invaders are kept imprisoned. It wasn't hard for local garrison to defend the facility, however what is concerning is that members of EIO have managed to communicate with Invaders via illegally obtained psionic implants and coordinate their attempt with them.
However, the good side is that this trial provided an excellent opportunity to study Invader's mind in more detail. Results were quickly put to use and soon it was known what EIO members have broadcast to Invader vessel once operating in Epsilon Eridani that convinced them to establish communication.
Many attempts were made, but the message that did the job was related to the discovery of caverns in the area of Whispering Summit on Nibiru. For some reason patterns resembling flying saucers and giant robots uncovered there were of great interest for Invaders. They requested more data and terrorists from EIO provided them with what they could gather about Tau Ceti-A IV as well, which was even more valuable for Invaders.
Programmers were tasked with preparing special modelling AI that would be capable of creating a realistic model and study of a particular machine based on only vague pictures and descriptions. After first early access programs appeared, they were used to create a model of a flying saucer and robot based on the data EIO gave to the Invaders.
"Find them" was the one and only order given to all SETI teams scattered among colonised space.
In the following weeks government hired many sociologists and psychologists for extensive research into Dark Forest Theory. A case of primitive civilisation living on NN 4079-A III that was once discovered has been brought up. According to the theory, humanity should destroy this civilisation before it develops and reaches a point in which its technology will start to grow rapidly, posing a threat to human existence. This point seems even more valid given high intelligence of these species. However, because the civilisation obviously is completely harmless as of now, some sociologists, refusing to accept this dark and pessimistic vision of the universe, propose an alternative solution. Since pessimism of Dark Forest comes mainly from now knowing the intentions of other civilisation, they point out that the huge technological gap provides an invaluable chance to study these species in detail and learn about their motivations, philosophy and morals long before they'll develop technology necessary for threatening existence of humanity.
Eventually it is agreed that in case of a race stuck on the tribal age for now such approach could be a good attempt at breaking the Curse of a Dark Forest. The worst that could happen is that in case of either finding out the civilisation in question is hostile or insufficient and imprecise results by the time they'll enter the era of rapid scientific and technological development, they can always be wiped out, but if their intentions will be good, humanity in the far future will have a basic reason to communicate with them and form an alliance, strengthening itself against hostile aliens.
And so after receiving an official greenlight, Project Eye for an Eye has entered realisation stage. A special colony was to be set on NN 4079-A II, serving as a main base of operations and terraformers have been sent there. Abundant natural resources of the planet should be more than enough for the colony to sustain itself and then expand further. Gas giants orbiting HIP 15220 were designated as a main fuel source for the new colony and making it so that tugs dragging Terraria stations into their destination could refuel without having to travel all the way back to Core Worlds. In the future Beta Trianguli Australis could be colonised as well.
To help with transport around those three stars serving as a main area of operation for Project Eye for an Eye, a small network of wormholes has been created, linking Gliese 762, Gliese 322, NN 4079, Beta Trianguli Australis and HIP 15220 together:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/817872207300001892/unknown.png)
These routes were calculated to be optimal for interstellar travels via wormholes in the area and are foundation for the future conquest and development of the worlds connected with them.
Facing the recent inactivity of Invaders, government reactivates Project Olympus. Orbital city modules will be transferred to Kruger 60 once again, this time under heavy escort of military forces.
Despite a mess Operation COVID-19 has been so far, a new hope arrives in the form of a blueprint for a new combat spaceship armed with, thanks to latest scientific advancements, particle beam weapons, powered with an experimental antimatter reactor:
Vaccine class Strike Cruiser 25,000 tons 758 Crew 13,795.5 BP TCS 500 TH 7,000 EM 0
14000 km/s Armour 28-76 Shields 0-0 HTK 147 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 40 PPV 114
Maint Life 1.38 Years MSP 7,448 AFR 500% IFR 6.9% 1YR 4,250 5YR 63,745 Max Repair 1750 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP3500.00 (2) Power 7000 Fuel Use 64.14% Signature 3500 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 3,247,000 Litres Range 36.4 billion km (30 days at full power)
Particle Lance-18-3 (3) Range 500,000km TS: 14,000 km/s Power 55-12 ROF 25
Particle Beam-16 (5) Range 500,000km TS: 14,000 km/s Power 40-10 ROF 20
Beam Fire Control R800-TS14000 (2) Max Range: 800,000 km TS: 14,000 km/s 99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Solid-core Anti-matter Power Plant R87 (1) Total Power Output 87.3 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS76-R100 (1) GPS 4800 Range 77m km Resolution 100
Compact ECCM-3 (2) ECM 30
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Named Vaccine as a sign of COVID-19 getting contained for the second time, this vessel features excellent thrust and power generation, fuel-efficient engines, thin but very durable armor thanks to the advanced particle structure used in its design, a lot of spare parts and automated diagnostic and repair systems, decent subluminal warp drive and latest instalments of anti-Invader software.
And all this packed together with its two most important assets: accurate, powerful weapons outranging Invaders' lasers and stronger engines producing more thrust than enemy's designs. These two features make it nearly invincible in battles with Invaders and if the enemy doesn't deploy a new generation of its fleet, victory will belong to the humanity.
When first Vaccines are produced, government begins to push Project Olympus more aggressively. Within next year all planned modules are connected in orbit and the city is ready to host first inhabitants.
1st February 2209, first colonists land in Olympus and begin populating the orbital habitats.
10th March 2209, population of Olympus crosses 10 millions, but the hive mind is still too weak to uncover the secrets of complex on Kruger 60-A I.
20th March 2209, after the arrival of over 20 millions of people in total, finally they are able to connect their minds together and form a key to the gate of the complex. Olympians could finally begin their work.
The complex is far larger than the one found on Tau Ceti-A IV. It contains a lot of information about Precursors' space programs, data about billions of stars and planets across millions of galaxies as well as technical details about their FTL communication arrays and sensors. According to them, quantum entanglement is really the way to go for instant communication between people separated by many light years.
But one of the more valuable findings is a huge database of Precursor colonies within Milky Way. Reading and cataloguing all the entries is going to be a huge undertaking. The usefulness of this database is questionable, because no traces of Precursor civilisation is left on their planets after all the eons that passed since their extinction and it is not known whether some entries refer to positions of their automated outposts or is it all only about the worlds they once personally inhabited.
The key to the victory with Invaders is still hidden where human eyes and mind can not yet reach. The mysterious weapon Precursors talked about is nothing but pure magic for humanity at this stage of development.
What little could be pieced together talks about concepts so alien to the current human understanding of a concept of "weapon". Data found talks about manipulating multidimensional space as well as multidimensional time on a cosmic scale. These ideas and science behind them are so alien for even the brightest human minds that all the spacetime manipulation achieved by humanity so far in the form of warp drives, jump drives, wormhole building and FTL communication arrays is as primitive compared to this as mining with an ancient pickaxe is primitive compared with the modern technologies of asteroid mining. It could be related to Void Wormholes, though, since it is still unknown how Invaders are capable of building wormholes as large as planetary systems themselves, let alone keeping them stable and safe to travel through.
2210s
While working on improving Starhunter's prototype, physicists manage to grasp a better understanding of wormholes and multidimensional space. Now, using the same amount of energy as before, microwormholes made by a Jump Drive can skip longer distances and still be safely destroyed after ship leaves them. Alternatively every parameter of new Jump Drives could stay the same, but its work will consume less power and the engine itself can be made much lighter.
Deep analysis of damage dealt by planetary defence grid to the fleet assaulting HIP 9786-A III resulted in a decision to cut down some armor layers as not really crucial for the ship. All this resulted in a new project that is about to enter serial production:
Starhunter class Assault Transport 94,997 tons 943 Crew 11,818.2 BP TCS 1,900 TH 8,050 EM 0
4237 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 20-185 Shields 0-0 HTK 200 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 10 PPV 0
Maint Life 0.16 Years MSP 6,777 AFR 7219% IFR 100.3% 1YR 42,547 5YR 638,198 Max Repair 4025 MSP
Troop Capacity 50,000 tons Drop Capable
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Morale Check Required
J97500(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 97500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Magnetic Fusion Drive EP8050.00 (1) Power 8050 Fuel Use 64.32% Signature 8050 Explosion 23%
Fuel Capacity 10,000,000 Litres Range 29.5 billion km (80 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
More and more "alive robots" get a chance to return back to biological form and become true human again when scientists successfully test a new method of growing bodies straight out of DNA stored inside a brain of their patients. Many customers aren't satisfied with this solution, because they wanted to swap their bodies for a new one, but for those stuck in cybernetic insanity it's a chance like no other, being much more affordable for an average citizen.
14th June 2211, terraforming of NN 4079-A III is completed. The planet is fully prepared for hosting colonists that'll study the primitive civilisation in a system.
18th July 2211, terraforming of Altair-A III is completed. First inhabitants arrive and strike the earth (or rather strike the Altair-A III, and not necessarily by themselves, but rather with all the machinery they brought with themselves), all to satisfy never-satisfied need for heavy industry on Epsilon Eridani-A II.
31th July 2211, remaining Terraria stations complete terraforming of Kappa Tucanae-A V. The last of the three planets designated for direct conquest in Paradise has been prepared for human arrival. Kappa Tucanae is still quarantined, though, but three habitable planets (two of which already settled) in a binary system should be enough of a kickstart for them.
Advancements in quantum teleportation allow for a transfer of small items to occur. This finds limited applications in cargo shuttles as of now, but soon it could become the main method of cargo transport, possibly even at interstellar distances.
Taking advantage of recent cease of fire, humanity explores Invaders' wormholes while it still safely can. Numerous wormholes are detected in Gliese 143. One of them connects already explored HIP 76315, but the other one HIP 73734:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818876359002685470/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818876451507142667/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818876534555148288/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818876601503580239/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818876650192109638/unknown.png)
Numerous planets could be friendly for methane-breathing lifeforms, but there are none within entire system. The celestial bodies explored are all dead and silent.
Explorers who arrived in HIP 76315, mapping a connection from Gliese 143, went further and crossed another wormhole from HIP 76315 into HIP 19233:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818877930821910569/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818877995539759194/unknown.png)
Chi Eridani, apart from the wormhole used by explorers to enter the system from WISE 1457+5815, has only one other wormhole. It allows to travel near NN 3750, which is a white dwarf without planetary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818878681245941770/unknown.png)
Next explored wormhole positioned in Gliese 143 connects to Gliese 556:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879337503784960/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879398370476092/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879460118888458/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879526742130708/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879593246228492/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879723618566224/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818879788919423016/unknown.png)
Gliese 556-A III turns out to be a very interesting planet. Obviously, laying within Invaders' wormholes it is untouched by sentience, however one species is special: a "spider with dozens of legs" without a central neural system. Scientists soon notice that this animal is, despite initial hypothesis, very intelligent. On top of that their neurons are directly exposed to the outside environment and the "legs" aren't in fact legs since these beings move by crawling on their abdomen - they are essentially different parts of a brain. In the centre of their bodies resides an organ that is very sensitive for electromagnetic waves, which each of the "legs" is capable of emitting. These lifeforms essentially communicate by emitting and receiving waves directly via their neural system.
The discovery is very significant, because it's the first extraterrestrial lifeform (and any lifeform, really) discovered that possesses something that could be called "natural psionic powers" since its representatives essentially transfer their thoughts directly to each other. Genetic engineers are very interested in adapting these mechanisms into human DNA, taking next step of evolution into their own hands and breed psionic-capable humans, removing the need for psi implants.
In the meantime an independent exploration mission checks out the binary system of 70 Ophiuchi:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818885531702263838/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818885570280816680/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818885631837077504/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818885714393038938/unknown.png)
It contains only one planet, however so far it proves to be the richest gas giant discovered, able to provide tons of fuel for entire fleets for the generations to come.
5th September 2211, 17:54:43, scientific vessel performing detailed research mission in Xi Bootis detects a small EM signature on the surface of an 18th moon of Xi Bootis-B IV:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818888050162663424/mechi.PNG)
Comparsion checks quickly confirm it's a Mechi structure.
Under normal circumstances it'd have been a bad sign - seeing enemy presence, but given all that happened during Second Bootes War, everyone was relieved to see Mechi weren't completely wiped out yet. It meant Invaders could still possibly need to waste a bit more time and resources to wipe them out.
Experts specialising in military operations and extraterrestrial wars claim Invaders might be simply too powerful and too busy to bother with finding and blowing up every backwater outpost in the entire Milky Way.
But contrary to these opinions, experts in Black Forest Theory point out that according to the basic laws of interactions between interstellar civilisations they should make sure all traces of Mechi are removed from existence.
Tensions are on the rise as certain people boycott research of NN 4079 civilisation, arguing they should be wiped out before they'll rise to become a threat like Mechi or Invaders already are.
As of now government hesitates and sticks to the original plan, but some powerful individuals attempt to communicate with EIO to convince them to reveal coordinates of NN 4079 for Invaders so that the nemesis of humanity would do the dirty work for them, leaving them without suspicion.
Public opinion outraged when XCOM tracks down conspirators and the government decides to reveal all the information to the public.
Data pulled out from Kruger 60-A I leads scientist into building a prototype of a so-called HyperSensor. At first glance only a rather primitive gravitational deep space sensor, but it quickly turns out it is capable of detecting multidimensional signatures and energy outbursts as well.
First tests revolved around wormhole detection and it was confirmed that wormholes, being multidimensional objects themselves, shine bright on the HyperSensor, making their detection and monitoring a piece of cake. Another advantage was that each time a ship travelled through them, strength of the wormhole's signature increased. This spike granted an easy way to oversee the traffic, spotting enemies earlier than before.
That alone was enough to make this new device useful enough to be worthy of mass production, but the benefits didn't end at that. Soon it was confirmed that both Alcubierre Drives and Jump Drives emit strong signals easily picked by HyperSensor both when engaged and disengaged as well through the entire superluminal flight.
Scientists propose to scan Void Wormholes themselves and soon the third mission into Bootes Void is launched.
6th April 2212, 19:35:39, Orion starship equipped with HyperSensor crosses Void Wormhole in NN 3009. A dark, dead and scary void with some galaxies in the distance is all that can be seen at first, just like during first two missions, but as soon as HyperSensor is turned on, everything changes. "We woke Bootes Void up" - comment mission members, staring in awe at the patterns and outbursts of multidimensional traces left by an advanced civilisation.
Onboard navigation systems try to plot a course or at least track one of the many detected signatures, but it's all in vain - even if a lot of them appear to be close, not further than a few light years away, in reality the nearest ones are millions of light years away, a distance current FTL propulsion systems don't allow to cross quickly enough and even unmanned probes are out of a question since even the latest antimatter reactors can't generate enough power to sustain FTL drive during such a long voyage.
Several other missions are launched through the remaining known Void Wormholes, but their results and data they bring back are roughly the same.
Government doesn't give up and in the same year a few dozens unmanned probes are launched into Bootes Void, each equipped with multiple redundant HyperSensors serving as a backup for each other and a small Alcubierre Drive, which, given the size of the spacecraft, will allow it to reach an effective speed of a light year per week. Thanks to the boom in FTL communication industry it won't be a problem for the probes to transfer their recordings back to the Milky Way in realtime.
After a lot of intense discussions, government finally approved another experiments, proposed by a group of psi officers from Epsilon Eridani-A II: the goal is to send a group of captured Invaders into Bootes Void, show them readings coming from a HyperSensor and interrogate them in such scenery. The officers suggest exposure to Bootes Void and one of the secrets it covers will trigger certain connection within prisoners' brains, which will then be easily pinned by the interrogators, opening easier access into their minds.
And so, under the escort of first built Vaccines, Invaders travel right from where they came from. To further increase chances of success, it was decided that the interrogation will take place on one of the captured Phoenix Hawks. On top of that for the duration of the experiment the original Invader-friendly ecosystem has been restored onboard.
And so the battle on a mental plane between humans and Invaders began.
The enemy fought surprisingly well and scientists monitoring the experiment started to lose hope, but even Invaders couldn't maintain their mental guard with full efficiency all the time.
What was recovered wasn't resembling anything coherent, but it was a series of pictures and terms that could provide some hints.
The loose thoughts of the Invaders, triggered by the exposure to certain sights, revolved around interstellar and intergalactic distances, travel times, wormholes - entire networks of them, crossing the barriers of three-dimensional universe and expanding further, Precursors and even the concept of Dark Forest.
-
THIRD BOOTES WAR
The peace might have been short-lived, but when Invaders sent next batch of fleets, humanity was more ready to greet them than ever, with a first fleet of Vaccines built and ready for the fight. However, Invaders managed to pull off yet another surprise. A Void Wormhole opened in WD 1142-645 and Invaders started the Third Bootes War on 14th May 2212, 15:20:47 with destruction of a Guidance ship stationed in the system, tasked with transit of FTL-incapable ships from Core Worlds to Kruger 60 and back. The ship managed to power up FTL drive and escape to Groombridge 34, however enemies followed it there and blew up before its crew realised they're still being chased.
22th May 2212, 2:27:05, a squadron of Vaccines travels through a series of human-made wormholes into Groombridge 34 and prepares to investigate the area around the wreck and rescue survivors.
22th May 2212, 2:38:07, on the eyes of every crewmember, space bends in two places and soon two squadrons of Invader vessels emerge from them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818965028879204372/c1.PNG)
22th May 2212, 2:40:25, Vaccines catch up to the smaller one and destroy it almost instantly, meanwhile the second one disappears from the radars.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818966201618268170/c2.PNG)
Vaccines pick up survivors and turn away, going back home, but as soon as they close in towards Luyten 726-8 wormhole, their radars detect a second squadron of Invaders, waiting for them in ambush:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818968415430639697/c3.PNG)
The ambush is somewhat successful in a sense that Vaccines were flying at too high speed and managed to get within enemy's range before slowing down, but apart from that enemy lasers barely scratched their hulls before Vaccines accelerated in the opposite directions, increased distance and blasted the enemy into oblivion:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818969286110216212/c4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818969299774341151/c5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818969314819309603/c6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818969328833396766/c7.PNG)
22th May 2212, 3:16:15, Vaccines are about to leave the system when a huge fleet of Invaders warps in out of a sudden. Vaccines plot an interception course and with their insane propulsion rater they quickly fly over the enemy... Or below them, depending on the relative perspective in space:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818972989109960744/fight1.PNG)
Human forces turn around, slow down to match the speed of the enemy and open fire while staying at a range from which lasers of Invaders can't do anything:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818973212587196436/fight2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818973266022498324/fight3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818973278596628501/fight4.PNG)
22th May 2212, 3:33:40, most of enemy fleet is defeated without managing to hit Vaccines even once. A rather small squadron of these ships has managed to defeat a fleet the size of the ones that made the entire human race tremble near the end of Second Bootes War. The source of great pride for every space commander quickly mops up remaining survivors before they can escape.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818975037679468654/fight5.PNG)
Vaccines seem to be working well and "COVID-19" is expected to be contained soon, however government warns before early celebration. There are still not that many Vaccines produced and the enemy has just began another offensive.
In spite of the recent, yet another, Invasion, governments speeds up the preparations and sends an invasion fleet into HIP 9786 system, attempting to take over and study the discovered robots on the surface and board any Precursor craft the fleet comes across.
13th July 2212, 17:14:58, due to a small failure of a Jump Drive in one of the Starhunters, invasion fleet had to drop out of superluminal speeds near Gliese 526. Unfortunately, before the broken parts can be replaced, a squadron of Invaders appeared through local Void Wormhole. Fortunately, plasma interceptors reacted quickly and cut the enemy off from Starhunters, which could then escape with the help of conventional engines and fix their problems in peace.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818979451048165436/battle1.PNG)
Plasma interceptors end up distancing themselves from the enemy during initial evasive manoeuvres, but they quickly reverse engines and face the enemy, opening fire. Sadly the critical moment of slowing down got used ruthlessly by Invaders who dealt some casualties to the slow, exposed ships:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818979897916915762/battle2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818979932364734485/battle3.PNG)
Having to fight at range optimal for enemy lasers, but certainly not optimal (to express it euphemistically) for plasma guns of the Anarchists, Dragons and Devastators, human forces increase their velocity in a direction perpendicular to enemy, trying to circle around hostile ships rapidly to disturb target locking:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818980574018011186/battle4.PNG)
13th July 2212, 17:26:15, the attempt ends up being rather dangerous for the Invaders and giving the impression they can't help themselves, suddenly they set their engines to maximum thrust and speed away in a different direction. Not without taking casualties, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818981086305452032/battle5.PNG)
Luckily for the humans, they were preparing to change velocity once again anyways to maintain the encirclement and all this sudden attempt of the Invaders changed was the direction of next turn. Plasma interceptors quickly caught up to the enemy and melted through its hulls at point blank range with minimal casualties. Invasion fleet was free to repair broken Jump Drive and go on with their cruise to the HIP 9786-A III. They were both unlucky for being forced to take a stop at a system with Void Wormhole and lucky for plasma interceptors being nearby to save the day and tons of troops onboard.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818981972726382592/battle6.PNG)
20th July 2212, 14:56:39, the Invasion begins - human troops land on the hills of HIP 9786-A III near the entrance to the Precursor complex, now plunged in radiation and atmospheric dust after orbital nuclear strike that destroyed laser defence grid of the planet. Precursor spaceships or orbital platforms detected the last time humanity entered the system were nowhere to be seen, though. It is theorised after firing all the missiles and failing to protect the planet they simply evacuated from a system. It's a pity humanity didn't manage to capture and study them.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/818983247526625310/g1.PNG)
As soon as the soldiers landed, multiple robots and strange installations scattered around instantly opened fire. Their armors were tough enough to resist and landing on a high ground gave them an advantage, however still some initial causalities were taken among the heavy bombardment of fusion warheads.
Combat engineers attempted to create a huge EM blast, however Precursors turned out to be well-adapted to it and resisted. Further increase of power would damage the own electronics of human forces, so the trials were quickly dropped.
Under the protection of energetic shields, with minds connected via psionic implants, officers began drawing a sketch of the Invasion. Fusion-powered long-range railguns and particle beam cannons opened fire, raining death (or, in this case, more like shutdown) at near light speed at the bunkers and installations below them, but, to much surprise of every soldier fighting in that battle, barely any damage has been done.
Barely seeing any result, a decision to conserve ammo and power has been made. Under the energy shields Precursor machines could barely scratch, resulting in a death of maybe one platoon or destruction of one light tank every once a few thousands missiles, combat engineers began building improvised line of trenches and bunkers around the attacked complex, serving as a temporary base of operations.
Suddenly something very unexpected happens: several new holes open in the ground and hundreds of infantry-style troops start to pour out of them. Humanity prepares to make a stand:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819013947385577482/Bruyn_scifi_battle.png)
Artillery and tanks begin bombing the counterattack machines, giving infantrymen time to entrench themselves:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819014308263624716/468b255b66b8144f3bea037b529d215b-700.png)
Brutal firefight ensues. This time lasers, plasma and railguns are at least effective to some extent. So far humanity manages to fend them off given the advantage in terrain and even in weapons, but sitting on these hills under heavy fire won't work forever. Generals organise an emergency meeting in one of the mobile command centers, running numerous simulations based on the data about enemies onboard AI gathers in realtime to test out possible moves in a safe way:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819015402263674900/2gtxnJj.png)
After running exactly 165 of them, decisions are made: heavy tanks, accompanied by shock troopers, will move in an assault formations, down the hills, straight into the fire, meanwhile the rest of the army will encircle the entire complex. Combat engineers do their best, digging tunnels with the help of missiles, some even being the ones fired by the enemy. Battle picks up on pace and heat alike. As most of the energy shields were deployed to protect the engineers, Counter-Counter-Assault Formation starts to take casualties. Strengthened by the psionic, they methodically push in, blasting holes in enemy armor with heavy phased particle beam cannons and then pour heated plasma straight into them, melting many machines on their way.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819017735877951489/8Jnp5T3.png)
First shock troopers begin jump into closest enemy bunkers after tanks ripped enough holes through them and the battle begins to be slowly going in humanity's favour. Roughly four hours have passed since the initial landing and thanks to latest matter manipulation technology construction of an improvised bunker system progresses rapidly. However, suddenly one of engineering teams unearths a passage to an alien underground system. Within seconds they're swarmed by another type of Precursors' miracle of science and engineering:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819019490816688198/creature-soldier-gun-weapon-battle-science-fiction-sci-fi-fu.png)
Elite infantry is sent to immediately support the engineers, but they ended up caught in a firefight on a surface, slowly pushing through fire, flames, smoke and dust:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819020396803784745/40312.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819020608418873354/6.png)
To humanity's despair, enemy seems to be taking advantage of the sudden discovery made by engineers and throws more forces into that fragment of the trenches. Mechanised infantry arrives to save the day:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819021577713614868/16-164927_484613-title-sci-fi-warrior-wallpaper-epic-sci.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819021909077393428/c29118e3c2983ca793e36b26daef9a6d.png)
Most of human vehicles are useless in a tight underground corridors and just bombarding them from a distance is not an option with the amount of soldiers inside or at least close to them. Because of this, Precursors begin to swarm the line that not too long ago was meant to serve for the advantage of humanity.
High Command gives an order to fall back and calls for Starhunters to take them away from this hell. Epsilon Eridani-A II corps, one of the first to finish training, are tasked with covering the retreat:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819023917006979103/BuTntS6.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819024128202768384/the-sci-fi-art-of-nick-hiatt-4.png)
Morale drops when the battlefield begins too dangerous for the Starhunters to evacuate forces operating on the ground while Precursors send in heavier machines of theirs:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819024917336293406/ad924a9c43c2a24dd3f1189fae6f96b3.png)
Unfortunately Precursors manage to cut off the heavy tanks and shock troopers fighting on the most foremost frontlines. Artillery concentrates fire on the created Precursor-filled gap between two bulks of retreating soldiers.
Whether it was a glitch in their programming or a glitch caused by the damage already done remains unknown, however the Precursors charged too much and once all of the surviving forces distanced themselves from the complex, the "gap" has found itself surrounded by humanity, taken into crossfire and soon eliminated.
Survivors of the first planetary invasion in the history of mankind decided to fall back to the nearby mountains, regroup and come up with a better battle plan or await reinforcements, preferably both.
First phase of the battle has come to an end.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819027402293772308/halo-5-guardians-1920x1080-4k-hd-wallpaper-game-fps-sci-fi-battle-sky-1947.png)
Hiding in the mountains, scientists teams accompanying the army had an opportunity to study some of the captured wrecks of enemy machines.
One of them stood out.
The one that attacked engineers that were digging too deep.
The big, reddish muscles sticking out of its core were thought to be of bionic or cybernetic origins.
But they were not.
They were made out of pure biological matter. Its properties were beyond understandings of current xenobiology, but that didn't change the simple fact that what has been recovered from the battlefield might as well be a sample of a species long extinct that once practically ruled over the whole big Universe.
-
During an exploration of Invaders' wormhole web it is discovered that the last unexplored one from Gliese 143 links to NN 3684, making Kappa Tucanae only two wormhole transits away from it. This will prove to be useful once traffic between Kappa Tucanae and Core Worlds is restored, but even now it doesn't mean it makes the situation any more dangerous - since Invaders started openly using FTL drives it is obvious they can reach Kappa Tucanae directly from whatever place in the universe they wish.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819697215064899624/unknown.png)
The captain of the ship that was the first human vessel to use this wormhole decides he and his crew gambled in Invaders space for long enough and decides to launch a first manned mission into Sirius.
So far nobody bothered since astronomers couldn't find any planets orbiting Sirius A or B, but, to surprise of the captain himself and the entire crew, a planet has been found in between these two stars. It's a gas giant.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819698741480914974/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819698818202599424/unknown.png)
A revolution in conventional propulsion begins when first prototypes of an engine using matter-antimatter annihilation to generate thrust are published. For now they're still rather weak because antimatter production capacity leaves a lot to be desired, preventing construction of engines powerful enough to meet the criteria for combat spaceships, but even the ones that can be produced are much more powerful than their fusion counterparts.
Thanks to the progress made Fuel Rats are expected to be given a brand new type of vessel:
Star Opal class Tanker 59,755 tons 362 Crew 3,485 BP TCS 1,195 TH 12,000 EM 0
10041 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-136 Shields 0-0 HTK 68 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 36 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC60K Jump Drive Max Ship Size 60000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (3) Power 12000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 20,000,000 Litres Range 6,096.5 billion km (7027 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 80,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 250 hours
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
And a new ship for easy transportation of large amounts of soldiers at once within controlled space also appears, easing the logistics of recent military operations and regrouping of soldiers before sending them into hostile territory to battle:
Imperial class Troop Transport 144,013 tons 730 Crew 6,190.7 BP TCS 2,880 TH 16,000 EM 0
5555 km/s Armour 1-244 Shields 0-0 HTK 287 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 26 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Troop Capacity 100,000 tons Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 10
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (4) Power 16000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 126.5 billion km (263 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
It requires Guidance system or already built wormholes to travel between stars, but within controlled space it won't be a problem at all.
20th November 2212, 9:35:47, large forces of Invaders are spotted warping into deep space of NN 3815 while skipping naval blockade. Plasma interceptors temporarily evacuate into NN 3009 to avoid being blasted from a distance while Vaccines are escorted by Guidance ships to WISE 2359-7335 from where they use Invader-made wormholes to quickly make contact with enemy.
21th November 2212, 14:40:56, Vaccines intercept the fleet heading towards NN 3815-NN 3009 wormhole, probably with intention of turning naval blockade into space dust, and a firefight begins. Everyone knows enemy stands no chance.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819703244259328080/battle1.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819703287062200330/battle2.PNG)
21th November 2212, 14:52:15, discovering its Vaccines again, Invaders give up on engaging the target, however they don't attempt to completely turn tails either.
Suddenly they spread out and begin to fly more or less perpendicular to Vaccines. Such sight has never been observed before:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704418316189696/battle3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704429896269934/battle4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704452114022420/battle5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704483525034024/battle6.PNG)
21th November 2212, 15:08:39, most of Invaders are already turned into ashes. Vaccines continue the cleanup. Soon the universe is completely purged from this particular Invaders' fleet:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704739465527296/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819704781365968896/battle8.PNG)
21th November 2212, 17:15:09, a second fleet is spotted in NN 3815. Vaccines prepare for the purge:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819705360527917066/fight1.PNG)
Due to one careless manoeuvre human forces ended up a bit too close to the enemy, but nothing more serious than a few small dents on the outside layers of armor happened:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819705788753903646/fight2.PNG)
Strangely enough, when admiral of this fleet realised all the ships are doomed, just like its predecessor ordered all the ships to spread and cruise perpendicular to the Vaccines, embracing the inevitable:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819706832335011907/fight3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819706853461065748/fight4.PNG)
Vaccines turn around and fly alongside the enemy, picking up remnants of once threatening fleet:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819707045825216522/fight5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819707082575839262/fight6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819707092968800306/fight7.PNG)
Soon all the ships are annihilated without an issue and a single Vaccine lost.
After those two battles, or more like after those two executions in fact, nobody is able to explain the motives of Invaders behind their "Silent Parade of Death" as their strange formation was named.
However, this could indicate they begin to acknowledge humanity now is on the winning edge and developed ships that their fleets can do nothing against. This could be the turning point in the war and a chance for humanity to end their Invasion once and for all.
21th November 2212, 23:50:01, first volleys from long-range heavy particle beam artillery mark the moment an army deployed in HIP 9786-A III, after a few months of trench warfare and only a few minor skirmishes launches a second assault on Precursors' positons.
Under support of constant artillery strikes, several smaller spec ops unit move through the valleys, attmepting to sneak past the robots, access the tunnels directly, plant bombs, lure the robots and blow them all up.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819711521806221312/61aqiikk8bL.png)
However, Precursors detect the intruders and send their infantry-sized machines to deal with them. Humanity has an advantage of defending in a mountainous terrain, and overall has an initiative:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819711860831551538/772614ddc6e3159b914d1535a99901a0.png)
After a few fierce firefights humanity pushes the enemy out of the valleys and gains access to the tunnels:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819712278218670110/ground_1.jpg)
So far everything was going well, but out of a blue many doors to the complex open and a huge army starts pouring out of them, together with what must be enemy command center: it is much bigger than any of the human tanks, mechs and support vessels brought into this fight:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819712758899408896/ground_2.jpg)
Spec ops sent into battle first end up caught between many squads of robots too powerful to be defeated by them. Infantry requests an immediate support of main armored forces.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819713221958828082/fantastika-sci-fi-roboty-bashnia-art-voina-lazer-razrushenie.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819713501961650186/d237x0t-d8f6de6e-70bc-46e3-86c1-e14538c1410b.png)
Many casualties are taken, but soon heavy tanks join the battle. All kinds of heavy weaponry in the form of plasma carronades, explosive railguns, phased particle beam cannons, lasers and pulse Gauss cannons join the battle.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819714650437713930/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819714899508068372/16ee749326002f4dbaed30eeb9e2fb3d.png)
Humanity slowly begins to push through the enemy territory. Infantry swarms underground sections while a battle between heavy machines rages on the surface with full force. Blood mixes with fried circuits, brains with quantum processors, bodies with metal.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819715662867202048/Warzone.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819715941071978516/07c3f45300904aa7a6cafb2d647618dd.png)
Enemy command center is well-suited for combat and can withstand lots of punishment, disrupting human lines. But the soldiers push through, even though tank wrecks, all fried by heavy lasers, scatter around the ground.
Eventually elite infantry from Epsilon Eridani-A II establishes control over most sections of the tunnels and uses them to safely get close to the command centre and plant fusion bombs directly onto its legs. One last violent explosion melts through its armor, tearing it apart in a mini supernova:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819717384533311508/art-sfera-vzryv.png)
The battle is finally over and humanity establishes full control over the Precursors' complex. Soon terraformers will be able to arrive to clean up the radiation from orbital nuclear strikes and first colonists will settle down on the planet, opening access to the Precursor mysteries buried in these installations.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819717869381615616/ground_3.jpg)
After the victory, as a reward for the valiant effort of elite units from Epsilon Eridani-A II, despite some criteria still not fulfilled, World Government grants the planet a Core World status. Following the tradition established back when Gaia was the first exoplanet to receive it, the world of Epsilon Eridani-A II from now on will be referred by a unique name - "Ender", coming from the end its soldiers brought upon hostile Precursor AI guarding the knowledge and technology necessary to defeat Invaders.
Morale on Ender rises for the firs time since the militarisation of the entire Epsilon Eridani system. Sceptics from other colonies claim it's all governmental mind-control and the horrible consequences of Amazons Program, protesting about abusing psionic technology to suppress any citizen resistance compared to admitting to mistakes made and fixing them.
Computer scientists immediately begin work on accessing and reverse-engineering code extracted from surviving electronics. This should bring AI, especially combat-capable AI, onto the next level. Fear about "rise of the machines" increases slightly as the research is carried on.
XAT teams are sent to HIP 9786-A III to initially secure and check the complex out, before the planet will be suitable for colonisation.
An interesting experiment is proposed by XCOM scientists: they want to put some of the imprisoned Invaders into one cell together with a few Mechi robots still being kept after the incursion into their territory and GJ 1277 conquest.
Initially Invaders don't seem to be willing to cooperate, however Mechi, being just robots, upon detecting a threat, attempt to defend themselves with bare hands since they were obviously not given any weapons.
Invaders have no choice but to participate in combat, however the acid they spit is too weak to damage Mechi armor and they find themselves on the losing side of this sudden fist fight.
Before the fight is interrupted, best psi warriors from the entire XCOM organisation take the presented opportunity and attempt to overwhelm Invaders' minds right when they are most vulnerable because being in an active and a bit unexpected melee battle they can't focus on repelling the attack properly.
Results are shocking: one of the warriors managed to pull out a rather clean imagination of a flying saucer that quickly flashed in Invader's brain for half a second when its eyes met with the Mechi's mechanical fist.
An expertise prepared later by psychoanalysts and psi scientists has proven that the image of a flying saucer was associated with a feeling of anxiety. Not necessarily fear, since Invaders were unable to feel it for generations by now after several mind-altering projects in which their whole race participated, but more like anxiety mixed with tension.
The idea of an alien race so scary that even Invaders become anxious when thinking about it is deeply unsettling, since according to the Dark Forest Theory the result of a potential contact is trivial to predict. Vaccines cleaning up the mess COVID-19 operation has turned into might be enough to fend off Invaders, but chances are humanity will end up standing up to even greater foe in some undefined future.
Some scientists find it ironic and even hilarious that after a century of FTL travel and interstellar exploration humanity might end up facing a cliche alien invasion just like in the movies and conspiracy theories from the ancient past.
16th January 2213, 11:05:36, radars on Kappa Tucanae-A II flare in red when a small squadron of Invaders is detected in the system, staying well outside the range of a planetary defence grid:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/819727874273705984/encounter.PNG)
16th January 2213, 11:41:05, everyone in the system feels relieved when the squadron disappears in an NN 3684 wormhole, completely ignoring any human presence. The policy of isolationism and laying low Sol++ has been placed under, while inconvenient for citizens, passes the test.
Breakthrough in antimatter production and applications finally allows generating enough energy for a true Hyperdrive to become a possibility more realistic than ever. To conduct further research, a specialised particle accelerator is built directly in orbit of Epsilon Eridani.
Early experiments with a modified version of a Jump Drive are promising: with the energy generated by an antimatter reactor, wormholes created by the Jump Drive in question, despite their small size, could be made larger and cover bigger distances, allowing tested particles to stay in four-dimensional space for much longer than it happens with classical jump drives currently used in newest starships.
Revolution in interstellar travel aside, successful development of a Hyperdrive would open up the possibility to investigate signatures discovered in Bootes Void by a HyperSensor from up close, directly in hyperspace.
Observation of primitive civilisation living on NN 4079-A III, now called "Groax" thanks to the characteristic sound their bodies make when releasing purple gasses they use for communication, continues according to the plan.
Apart from the already known fact about their high intelligence, it is also noticed that despite their primitive technology and societal structures, war is something rather uncommon among them. They are keen hunters, but not necessarily warriors, as if that wasn't enough they also seem to be disgusted in killing each other.
A dark purple haze floating above each battlefield, initially believed to come out of dead bodies as a form of either their blood or post-mortem gasses, actually has been proven to be a special message warriors of hostile armies exchange.
Its colours and shapes express an utter disgust and helplessness.
When numerous xenosociologists publish their findings about mostly pacifistic nature of Groaxians, a small glimpse of hope for breaking the Curse of the Dark Forest lightens minds and hearts of many concerned humans.
Enhancements and fine-tuning of antimatter-based propulsion technology and Jump Drives empowers engineers to modernise the entire civilian and commercial sector of space industry. New logistic ships for transporting resources, building components or helping colonists arrive at their destination are successfully prototyped:
Big Boy class Freighter 169,000 tons 610 Crew 5,955.5 BP TCS 3,380 TH 20,000 EM 0
5917 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-272 Shields 0-0 HTK 116 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Cargo 100,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 10
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
JC169K Jump Drive Max Ship Size 169000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (5) Power 20000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 851,000 Litres Range 91.7 billion km (179 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Pioneer class Colony Ship 200,000 tons 1,123 Crew 11,017.7 BP TCS 4,000 TH 20,000 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-304 Shields 0-0 HTK 179 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 34 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 500,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 20
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months
JC206K Jump Drive Max Ship Size 205500 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (5) Power 20000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,879,000 Litres Range 171.1 billion km (396 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Terraformers and technicians working on their logistics support agree that with the current spread of humanity across nearby stars and new plans to colonise further being discussed by the government Terraria stations shall become a thing of the past. A huge logistical hustle and insane amount of fuel being burned when transporting Terraria 1.4 stations could be reduced by building a mobile fleet of terraformers. Terraforming technology is advanced enough so that modules used could be compressed, occupying less space and weight for the same output and antimatter engines shall allow these new terraforming installations to travel on their own.
And so, after numerous debates and scientific conferences, a blueprint of a first terraforming spaceship appears:
Pandora class Terraformer 168,974 tons 970 Crew 7,871.3 BP TCS 3,379 TH 20,000 EM 0
5918 km/s JR 2-25(C) Armour 1-272 Shields 0-0 HTK 163 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 29 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Terraformer: 4 modules producing 0.006 atm per annum
JC169K Jump Drive Max Ship Size 169000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 2
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (5) Power 20000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 107.8 billion km (210 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Government prepares a plan to colonise Beta Trainguli Australis since it's a good candidate for expansion and the system is one of the points linking refuelling stations in HIP 15220 and a Groaxians-observing colony in NN 4079.
Initially Beta Trianguli Australis-A II, III and V are chosen for terraforming. Trianguli Australis-A II is expected to take least amount of time out of those 3 planets thanks to it rich marine flora and fauna - bulk of the work only requires creating enough oxygen in its atmosphere and seeding life on its landmasses.
Quantum teleportation enters testing on livestock stage. Teleportation of a dog, cat, pig and cow across Gaia are successfully completed. Biologists try to come up with a way to come up with a test that'd tell whether the animals arriving at destination are the exact same that have been sent for the journey or are only perfect copies of the now dead originals. Until this issue will be resolved, human experiments are strictly prohibited. Animal rights activists organise a demonstration shortly after the tests, but fail to gather much support. Not that government would've cared even if they did.
An engineer tinkering with ideas regarding weapons of mass destruction publishes a research paper studying the case of a V1216 Sagittarii-A III.
According to the gist of the paper, the gas giant pointed out in the transmission picked up from Barnard's Star couldn't have such a violent weather conditions appear naturally, which many astronomers agree with.
The proposed explanation is that it's a result of a weapon of a mass destruction usage.
Enough bombs detonating at various spots within the atmosphere of a gas giant could've caused the storms and winds to be formed like that, at least according to the simulations.
It is hard to predict what type of weapon was used, but more and more scientists agreed that it was indeed an attack of a space-faring civilisation. Why did they attack a gas giant, though? Life existing on one was long theorised, but so far no evidence was found, and even if some organisms could exist there, they would lack resources to develop a civilisation to justify attacking their homeworld.
But for whatever reason whoever sent the coordinates from Bardnard's Star pointed out this planet and it has been attacked by an unknown forces.
Too many questions, too little answers. Government prepares another mission into Barnard's Star.
Meanwhile a handful of different stars are explored, such as Luyten 347-14, though this one doesn't have a planetary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821365067919392788/unknown.png)
Luyten 674-15 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821365214150787092/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821365281069858896/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821365328348971048/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821365422447919124/unknown.png)
QY Aurigae system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366575768272916/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366649764184064/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366738678841354/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366829808877578/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366887711506502/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366947559637042/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821366999337926666/unknown.png)
WISE 1318-1758 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821369491354550322/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821369589878489118/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821369652369948742/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821369972507803658/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821370027327881226/unknown.png)
Xenobiologists on HIP 47650-A II publish results of their detailed studies of the Substance recovered from onboard tanks of Rakshasa ship of Invaders. Their most important discovery revolves around the regenerative properties of it. Several tests conducted on rats showed that even severely mauled ones quickly came back to health once Substance has been applied to their wounds. Moreover, in a course of next week the healed parts strenghtened and the rats became more fit.
Applications of the Substance in medicine as of now are not possible due to it containing human DNA shiponed from killed colonists in a few attacks Invaders have made, but biologists say it could be easily filtered out, allowing even to carry a symbolic burial of the victims of those colony fleet assaults, but the second obstacle would still remain: currently it is not known how Invaders produce Substance and there is only so much of it recovered and available for further experiments.
Soon after the research has been published, on 17th April 2217, HIP 47650-A II has received a Core World status. The planet has been named "Aracaju", which is the same name that once was given for the aliens that left their deteriorating terraforming monoliths on the surface and never came back, eventually leading to their discovery by human explorers, one of the first that once cruised among the stars.
The problem with Aracaju is that the accelerating production of Vaccines put a heavy strain on the industries in HIP 47650 system, which was never that rich in natural resources in the first places and specialised mostly in xenobiology and terraforming, not heavy industries.
To help alleviate the problem, a fifth moon of Sirius-A-I has been chosen to become a mining colony providing supplies for the entire HIP 47650, allowing Aracaju to develop proper heavy industries worthy of a Core World and contribute more to the military effort of entire human race. The celestial body in question is very large for a moon, having basically the size of a small planet, is very easy to terraform and abundant patches of aluminium, titanium and even noble metals and diamonds have been discovered after several geological analysis.
First fleet of Pandoras has been sent to prepare the moon for colonisation, this task serving as an easy test of the abilities of first terraforming modules small enough to fit them on a starship.
-
25th June 2217, 17:56, an exploration mission going back home from Xi Bootis system using Mechi-established wormholes detects a large fleet of Mechi ships near Kapteyna Star:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821394461280043008/mechi.PNG)
It prepares to jump away running warp drive in emergency mode, but soon scanners confirm the ships don't appear to be armed and are very slow. Captain of the exploration mission decides to keep track of them. In the meantime Ender sends a squadron of Vaccines guarding Epsilon Eridani to intercept Mechi ships and force them to surrender.
27th June 2217, 4:36:35, with the help of Guidance system, Vaccines quickly rendezvous with Orion and engage detected ships. Numerous threats and surrender demands are sent, but Mechi refuse to comply. Instead, they transfer a strange message. This is surprising both because of the message content and the fact after the long history of mutual hostility they replied at all. The message simply said:
"Your position compromised. Too much data sent via SETI program. Dark Forest knows. They are coming. They are already here. Invaders destroyed us."
Several very important information could be acquired from this simple communicate: the most obvious one stated about a threat. Could be Invaders themselves, in which case humanity was well-prepared provided they won't send better ships of theirs, could be flying saucers Invaders seemed to be anxious when thinking about or any other powerful, hostile civilisation. In fact it wasn't anything not known by the Wold Government before message translation.
The more worrying part was about Mechi mentioning the term "Dark Forest".
At first it wasn't obvious what exactly they meant, because in their language they didn't use the words "dark" and "forest" to name the phenomena, but multiple linguistics with help from latest Precursor-tech based AI software analysed the message thousands of times, comparing it with every other signal ever received from Mechi, until there were no doubts left.
These damned robots figured out the concept of Dark Forest themselves, or at the very least had it programmed in by their creators.
Whatever the case, it was a solid proof that at least one alien civilisation treated the concept seriously. And that one example was enough to prove that it was not just human paranoia induced by the bloody history of its civilisation, but a theory universal at least between some civilisations in the universe.
Last sentence of the received communicate mentioned Mechi facing annihilation at Invaders' hands, which confirmed popular predictions and theories. Upon processing these news, starship that came into contact with Mechi fleet was sent to HIP 22738, only two wormholes away from Kapteynta Star, which was believed to be either homeworld or a very significant colony of either Mechi themselves or their creators, to check the state of the system. Vaccines were left to guard Mechi fleet shall it attempt to do something suspicious. Also an assault fleet has been sent from Mars to serve as an escort for the research ship.
13th August 2217, 19:08:40, a small asteroid outpost, guarded by small Mechi garrison is discovered on one of the asteroids from the outer belt in HIP 22738:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821404297488891974/invasion1.PNG)
15th August 2217, 14:37:20, human forces travel to HIP 22738-A II to confirm the state of Mechi civilisation, or rather what was left of it. Suddenly when first ships close in for the radars to start picking up clear signals, everyone onboard freezes in shock when it is revealed that the planet seems to still hold on pretty well and large signatures indicating possibility of even entire cities to exist on the surface are gathered. Mechi lied. Sure, Invaders gave them hell, but this is not how a "destroyed" world should look like. There was also possibility it wasn't Mechi existing there, because the Invaders would rather wipe the robots clean, but leave natural planetary ecosystem be, so that others could still colonise it in theory. However, similarity of the discovered signal patterns with what is already known about Mechis are too similar for a coincidence. HIP 22738-A II was a Mechi-inhabited, well-developed world.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821410741819015218/invasion2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821410753373667398/invasion3.PNG)
When it is discovered it has a planet-wide defence grid and first shots are fired at the fleet, fallback order is issued. While reversing thrusters, assault fleet tries to fire a bunch of missiles to thin the defence systems out a bit, but it is pointless, all missiles are neutralised even before they get a chance to approach low orbit:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821411800099979304/invasion4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821411815862304778/invasion5.PNG)
At the same time, upon receiving reports from HIP 22738, Vaccines demand surrender for the last time, this time motivating it with a few warning shots, demonstrating total superiority. Mechi ships surrender. Apparently they were just forming a deep space mining fleet:
OM Atlas 067 (Areyonga II class Orbital Miner) 76,847 tons 739 Crew 2,216.2 BP TCS 1,537 TH 800 EM 0
520 km/s Armour 1-161 Shields 0-0 HTK 105 Sensors 14/14/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 18 Max Repair 120 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Orbital Miner: 14 modules producing 588 tons per mineral per annum
Commercial Inertial Fusion Drive EP800.00 (1) Power 800 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 800 Explosion 2%
Fuel Capacity 40,000 Litres Range 9.5 billion km (210 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-14 (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 29.6m km
EM Sensor EM1-14 (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 29.6m km
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
On top of that, full data about HIP 22738 and Xi Bootis systems has been recovered from captured robots, plus additional info about three other systems: Nacmine, Nagpur and Narwhal.
Nacmine system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821414804253966397/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821414873689751562/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821414913908932648/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821414979357769768/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415040409927750/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415099574779904/unknown.png)
Narwhal system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415293338517526/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415381755363398/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415438642053120/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415502630748220/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415579469611008/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415637728493578/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821415718141558784/unknown.png)
Nagpur is just a white, bright star without any nearby celestial bodies:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821416082212257812/unknown.png)
Not enough data was recovered to determine their position within Mechi space, though. Astronomers begin work on identifying the stars and matching them with current catalogues.
In addition to that, technical details about three additional Mechi ships have been successfully accessed:
Allawah III class Heavy Cruiser 21,206 tons 671 Crew 9,055.9 BP TCS 424 TH 5,600 EM 0
13203 km/s Armour 10-68 Shields 0-0 HTK 140 Sensors 18/36/0/0 DCR 6 PPV 138
Maint Life 0.70 Years MSP 1,601 AFR 600% IFR 8.3% 1YR 2,286 5YR 34,288 Max Repair 700 MSP
Colonel Control Rating 3 BRG AUX CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Solid Core AM Drive EP1400 (4) Power 5600 Fuel Use 53.45% Signature 1400 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,950,000 Litres Range 31 billion km (27 days at full power)
52.50cm C8 X-Ray Laser (1) Range 480,000km TS: 13,203 km/s Power 72-8 RM 70,000 km ROF 45
35.0cm C8 X-Ray Laser (11) Range 480,000km TS: 13,203 km/s Power 32-8 RM 70,000 km ROF 20
Beam Fire Control R480-TS8000 (2) Max Range: 480,000 km TS: 8,000 km/s
Solid-core Anti-matter Power Plant R9 (12) Total Power Output 112.8 Exp 5%
Chengelaygiin L10 class Spaceliner 24,172 tons 570 Crew 992.7 BP TCS 483 TH 1,600 EM 0
3309 km/s Armour 1-74 Shields 0-0 HTK 44 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 25 Max Repair 100 MSP
Passengers 1250 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 3
Major Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Chengelaygiin P800.00 Civilian Drive (2) Power 1600 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 800 Explosion 2%
Fuel Capacity 40,000 Litres Range 30.1 billion km (105 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
(http://Merkid Small C10 class Colony Ship 25,721 tons 142 Crew 946.6 BP TCS 514 TH 1,800 EM 0
3499 km/s Armour 1-77 Shields 0-0 HTK 44 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 23 Max Repair 100 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 3
Major Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Merkid P450.0 Civilian Drive (4) Power 1800 Fuel Use 2.01% Signature 450 Explosion 3%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 69.5 billion km (230 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes)
Allawah ships look threatening, but their guns are barely outranged by particle beams of Vaccines, their armor is much weaker and engines generate less thrust than those installed in Vaccines. If this is a good example of current Mechi military strength, humanity shall be well-prepared for eventual space combat. Besides, Mechi were severely damaged by Invaders, still.
An operation to check out on neighbouring Mechi systems begins. First star explored is DEN 0255-4700, accessed directly from Xi Bootis (the latter having a total of three wormholes, destination of one remaining unknown), but it's floating in space alone:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821419813796053002/unknown.png)
A wormhole near it allows accessing WISE 1506+7027, but it's same story all over again, nothing worth of interest:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821420059091533865/unknown.png)
HIP 22738 contains a total of 5 wormholes - the one through which it was discovered from WISE 1647+5632 and a four others. One of the remaining four brings explorers to the NN 3988 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821420577142210650/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821420698106462208/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821420792252334140/unknown.png)
There's nothing there besides a single comet randomly passing by and a hellish, airless planet, likely already exploited by Mechi.
Next explored wormhole leads into the neighbourhood of a DN Draconis, which is a single white dwarf with nothing special around it. Well, with nothing at all around it:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821421353752068096/unknown.png)
5th December 2217, IT specialists working on cracking acquired Mechi machines manage to decipher parts of heavily-encrypted data. At this stage so little is known about this that as a whole it is completely unintelligible for a human reader, but what could be pieced out leaves no doubt - in these documents, buried deep in the core of a Mechi's command unit, an alien technology is mentioned, namely the infamous flying saucers.
There's no time for waste - government, desperate for answers and knowledge about the incoming alien invasion from the cliche "Greys", decides it is worth taking the risk and plans to invade the Mechi homeworld (computer scientists were able to figure out enough data to determine with 97,68% accuracy that HIP 22738-A II is indeed a planet on which Mechi appeared for the first time in the universe) in hopes of gaining access to the core of their civilisation and knowledge and finally uncover the truth and gather as much intel as possible to prepare humanity for the day when "Grey Invaders" will arrive to purge the Milky Way from human life.
Preparations for invasion begin. Armies start to train combat in a scorching, mountainous terrain that spans across most of Mechi Homeworld's support, though there are some lush regions grouped near what little seas and ocean the planet contains, too, and fierce battles are supposed to take place there as well. Also new XCOM units are prepared, armed with the latest antimatter-based guns and undergoing even harsher psionic training, based on the latest knowledge acquired from attempts of reading Invaders' minds.
XCOM Squadmember
Transport Size (tons) 6 Cost 9.89 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 1.2 Resupply Cost 1.3
AMR-15 Antimatter Assault Rifle: Shots 1 Penetration 31 Damage 25
Reinforced Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.24
Development Cost 494
XCOM LMG Support
Transport Size (tons) 12 Cost 19.78 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 2.5 Resupply Cost 6
AMP-L40 Plasma-Accelerated Antimatter LMG: Shots 6 Penetration 25 Damage 25
Reinforced Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.48
Development Cost 989
XCOM HMG Support
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 32.96 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 4.1 Resupply Cost 9
AMP-H50 Plasma-Accelerated Antimatter HMG: Shots 6 Penetration 38 Damage 25
Reinforced Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.8
Development Cost 1,648
XCOM Mortar Team
Transport Size (tons) 20 Cost 32.96 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 4.1 Resupply Cost 6
AM-5000A2 Antimatter Mortar: Shots 3 Penetration 25 Damage 50
Reinforced Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Brain-Integrated Targeting System
Long-Range Full Spectrum Vision Module
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.8
Development Cost 1,648
XCOM Heavy Weapons Specialist
Transport Size (tons) 16 Cost 26.37 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 3.3 Resupply Cost 6
AMPG Antimatter-Propelled Personal Missile Launcher: Shots 1 Penetration 50 Damage 75
Reinforced Personalised Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Personal Force Field
Anti-Shock Armour Shielding
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Decentralised Hive Mind Module
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Brain-Integrated Targeting System
Long-Range Full Spectrum Vision Module
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Rift Valley Warfare
Vendarite 0.64
Development Cost 1,318
XCOM Squad Leader
Transport Size (tons) 10 Cost 65.92 Armour 42 Hit Points 42
Annual Maintenance Cost 8.2 Resupply Cost 0
Headquarters: Capacity 2,000
Reinforced Smart Power Armour
Elite Cybernetic Implants
Elite Combat Exoskeleton
Bionic Bones
Synthetic Regenerative Organs
Extreme Psionic Training
Perosnality-Adjusted Psi-Resistant Mind Shield
Invaders-Based Mental Defensive Techniques
Hive Mind Multi-Command Module
Advanced Genetic Enhancement
Desert Warfare
Extreme Pressure Combat
Extreme Temperature Combat
High Gravity Combat
Jungle Warfare
Low Gravity Combat
Mountain Warfare
Vendarite 1.6
Development Cost 3,296
Apart from a brand new rooster of elite soldiers, best out of the best, most of which are volunteers recruited from Earth itself to give it a symbolic meaning, XCOM technicians have prepared a prototype of an interceptor that'll provide air support for the soldiers fighting on the ground:
Avenger class Interceptor 250 tons 9 Crew 192.6 BP TCS 5 TH 300 EM 0
60020 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 1 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0 PPV 1.6
Maint Life 7.43 Years MSP 68 AFR 5% IFR 0.1% 1YR 2 5YR 32 Max Repair 150 MSP
Magazine 32
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
Solid Core AM Drive EP300.00 (1) Power 300 Fuel Use 779.42% Signature 300 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 4,000 Litres Range 0.37 billion km (1 hours at full power)
Size 10 Fighter Pod Bay (2) Pod Size: 10 Hangar Reload 158 minutes MF Reload 26 hours
Size 12 Fighter Pod Bay (1) Pod Size: 12 Hangar Reload 173 minutes MF Reload 28 hours
Missile Fire Control FC2-R1 (2) Range 2.5m km Resolution 1
Plasma Beam (2) Armour Penetration: 33 Damage: 50 Shots: 3
Fusion Ball Launcher (1) Armour Penetration: 32 Damage: 48 Shots: 3
Active Search Sensor AS1-R1 (1) GPS 1 Range 1.3m km MCR 113.5k km Resolution 1
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
Capable of bombing ground targets into oblivion and performing air combat as well, it's a marvellous achievement of science and engineering. It has been fitted with modular wing system, allowing it to quickly change configuration to adapt for all kinds of atmospheres it might find itself flying through, including a case with no air at all.
But the most important achievement is hidden within its propulsion system. Conventional antimatter engine aside, the prototype came equipped with a first subluminal Alcubierre Drive ever built that can be safely used while the vessel remains within atmosphere. XCOM physicists worked days and nights to overcome problems with the insane amounts of matter contaminating warp bubble during atmospheric flight to make it safe, reliable and effective and it all paid off, since Avenger can reach one fifth of a light speed while staying within atmosphere, making a nightmare for enemy AA and opening up possibilities to redirect its support to pretty much any place in a planet within seconds.
A design of a carrier for transporting Avengers into the frontlines is agreed upon:
Raven class Carrier 43,023 tons 670 Crew 11,728.2 BP TCS 860 TH 11,200 EM 0
13016 km/s Armour 30-109 Shields 0-0 HTK 163 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 45 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.04 Years MSP 6,555 AFR 987% IFR 13.7% 1YR 6,058 5YR 90,874 Max Repair 2800 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 18,000 tons
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG PFC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 360 Morale Check Required
Solid Core AM Drive EP5600.00 (2) Power 11200 Fuel Use 53.45% Signature 5600 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 39.1 billion km (34 days at full power)
ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Soon facilities on most Core Worlds begin assembling a swarm of Avengers that'll support soldiers fighting on the ground and first pilots enter simulations to undergo necessary training required for safe and effective operation within a planet's atmosphere while crossing the effective speed of a 1/5 c.
In the meantime some troops are sent into HIP 22738 to eliminate several Mechi garrisons located inside the outer asteroid belt surrounding the system, mostly in order to gather some data on Mechi combat capabilities:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821472797229973604/invasion6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821472838631817256/invasion7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821472898639986698/invasion8.PNG)
Landed soldiers quickly deal with rather small garrisons without much trouble, vaporising all enemy forces. Their guns and armors don't seem to be that tough compared to what human armies use, nevertheless some casualties were taken and it is clear they'll fight to the bitter end while protecting their homeworld and government opted in for an enormous, costly undertaking.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821484178155241542/T2_HK-Tank_and_HK_Aerial_with_2-story_ruin.png)
According to the reports that came in, human settlements scattered in Kappa Tucanae seem to be doing well. They assembled their own colonisation ships and used them to land a few million people on Kappa Tucanae-A V, making all three selected planets from a system officially settled.
On top of that, numerous shipyards were built in orbit of Kappa-Tucanae-A II and Kappa Tucanae-B II. Engineers from the former succeeded at building a new fleet of small cargo ships, designed specifically for short-range resource transfers to allow easy and effective development of Utopia:
Blue Whale class Cargo Ship 92,419 tons 440 Crew 4,484.1 BP TCS 1,848 TH 16,000 EM 0
8656 km/s Armour 1-182 Shields 0-0 HTK 75 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 30 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Cargo 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 10
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Commercial Solid Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (4) Power 16000 Fuel Use 0.99% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 49.3 billion km (65 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Another achievement of the citizens of Sol++ was assembling harvesting stations and putting them in orbit of Kappa Tucanae-A III, richest gas giant in a system. Thanks to this, their fleets will swim in fuel for a long time, allowing them to freely expand beyond Paradise and conquer nearby systems as well. Despite still having access to the Terraria stations left there after terraforming, they prefer to build a mobile fleet of terraformers using latest technological improvements from Core Worlds and prepare for expansion. Despite Invaders being less threatening thanks to Vaccines for a while now, government still maintains all the isolation protocols in fear of a new, yet unidentified danger arising from the depths of space.
There are key differences between humans from Core Worlds and the rapidly expanding population of Paradise. First of all, the latte have an average IQ higher than people living elsewhere, thanks to only elite members of society being sent there at the beginning and quarantine hitting before Kappa Tucanae was opened for all volunteers. Also they all have psionic implants, since that also was a mandatory part of early Utopia conquest programs.
Another major contributor to the prosperity of Kappa Tucanae system obviously has to be Bidet Inc with its toilet paper industries set there. With the ever-increasing production and not exporting the invaluable resource due to ongoing policy of "laying low", every person living in Paradise has an easy access to this luxury product from the ancient times, rich or poor. It is thus a first society that has the access to the basic comfort of using toilet paper since the end of the world in 2020.
Tensions rise on Core Worlds, strained with great military effort government forces its citizens to put in, when some reports about the status of Sol++ leak into the public. Masses question the policy of the government, outraged at all the privileges Kappa Tucanae colonists get while they're forced to work hard to keep the army supplied. As a response, government promises to open up Kappa Tucanae for free colonisation as soon as the threat is dealt with. War propaganda soon follows these promises, with message carefully crafted by best psionic scientists to easily appeal to most people, calming them down a bit.
27th May 2219, the day has been chosen symbolically to power off all terraforming infrastructure across Beta Trianguli Australis since all three planets are already adapted for hosting earthlike life. Beta Trianguli Australis-A II and III ended up being lush, hot worlds with lots of tropical and subtropical climate zones, meanwhile Beta Trianguli Australis-A V has a more diverse ecosystem, better adapted for the human life.
First colonists are sent to begin taming the three worlds on the very same day.
14th July 2219, fifth moon of Sirius-A I follows Beta Trianguli Australis. Fleet of Pandoras passed its test successfully, terraforming its first world without a problem and once new colonisation programs are prepared will be reloacted for its next task.
Government creates a special XAT department tasked with researching all claims of classical UFO sightings thorough entire human history. They immediately get to work, but so far they do nothing but dig through endless stream of fake materials, busy proving how fake they are.
After years of experiments, scientists on Gaia successfully adapt a group of human beings into deadly freezing temperatures, putting them in a halfway between functioning metabolism and cryogenic sleep. As a result, these humans have much higher life expectancy and require less food to survive. On top of that, they're the first people to have alien genetic material inserted into their DNA since the solution prepared on Gaia was inspired by many alien species found on frozen, icy worlds where life evolved nevertheless.
Although they will be sent to eight moon of Epsilon Eridani-A VIII first and the natural temperatures occurring on Nibiru without help of planetary heaters and orbital mirrors are still way too low even for their tolerance, they were quickly named "Nibirians", after the main intention behind the whole project.
First groups of Nibirians are sent to Epsilon Eridani, meanwhile all current population of the moon in question is supposed to be relocated to Ender, but, according to the initial plan of Epsilon Eridani militarisation, they won't need to worry about conscript despite being relocated to "that planet". Under such conditions many actually are happy to leave the rather barren moon requiring planetary heaters for some basic, cold ecosystem to function properly and move in to a planet very closely resembling Earth.
Racial tensions are on the rise since such advanced genetic modifications are still a highly controversial topic, but World Government makes sure to pass necessary laws to ensure Nibirians will always be treated just like every other human citizen. Especially since the experiments are going to continue, because the main goal is to make them inhabit Nibiru itself, surviving in temperatures below two hundred degrees once planetary heaters are switched off.
Creation of a "fourth human race" was just the beginning, though. Xenobiologists, genetic engineers and terraforms all cooperate closely on designing a proper ecosystem for Nibirians to live in, composed of many alien species encountered so far, further improved via genetic modifications to make them fit nicely into one planetary biosphere.
Another challenge that needs to be solved is about Nibirians visiting other human worlds. For now many powerful corporations and institutions from Core Worlds prepare special "cryogenic zones" for Nibirians to feel comfortable without a space suit shall they visit their buildings for whatever reason.
One of the best space engineers teams of entire human race proposes to build a new class of a combat spaceship, bigger and more terrifying than anything else that left a shipyard and was combat-capable so far. According to them, it'll fill the role of a capital ship and shall raise terror and panic across all foes of Mankind:
Executor class Dreadnought 70,000 tons 2,126 Crew 38,514.4 BP TCS 1,400 TH 19,600 EM 33,840
14000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 24-151 Shields 1128-528 HTK 390 Sensors 800/480/0/0 DCR 20 PPV 351.6
Maint Life 0.94 Years MSP 20,877 AFR 1960% IFR 27.2% 1YR 22,180 5YR 332,702 Max Repair 4900 MSP
Captain Control Rating 5 BRG AUX ENG CIC FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J70200(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 70200 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Solid Core AM Drive EP9800.00 (2) Power 19600 Fuel Use 78.92% Signature 9800 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,479,000 Litres Range 34.1 billion km (28 days at full power)
Xi S141 / R528 Shields (8) Recharge Time 528 seconds (2.1 per second)
75.0cm C12 Extreme X-ray Laser (3) Range 800,000km TS: 14,000 km/s Power 147-12 RM 90,000 km ROF 65
50cm C12 Extreme X-ray Laser (15) Range 800,000km TS: 14,000 km/s Power 65-12 RM 90,000 km ROF 30
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-25.00 Turret (5x20) Range 50,000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R150-TS32000 (1) Max Range: 150,000 km TS: 32,000 km/s 93 87 80 73 67 60 53 47 40 33
Beam Fire Control R800-TS14000 (2) Max Range: 800,000 km TS: 14,000 km/s 99 98 96 95 94 92 91 90 89 88
Gas-core Anti-matter Power Plant R217 (1) Total Power Output 216.9 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (1) GPS 96 Range 23.5m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM20-480 (1) Sensitivity 480 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 173.2m km
Thermal Sensor TH20-800 (1) Sensitivity 800 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 223.6m km
ECCM-5 (3) ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Huge size and dangerous-looking. Latest antimatter reactors and engines deployed. Large subluminal warp drive allowing it to reach speeds same as Vaccines despite much more mass. Decent thrust and manoeuvrability for a starship of such magnitude. A total of 18 very powerful laser beams, capable of burning through every known alien ship up to date with ease. Very efficient Jump Drive, a byproduct of ongoing research into the possibility of building a true hyperdrive, allowing reaching an effective speed of well over 1500c in optimal conditions. Latest version of software capable of obstructing systems of enemy ships, with dedicated separated modules for both Mechi and Invaders. Multiple layers of lightweight, but extremely durable armor. Great energetic shielding, protecting from any kind of damage for a long period of time. Sensors as powerful as the ones installed on Overseers, but much smaller and less power-hungry. A backup bridge. An independent Gauss-based anti-missile defence system.
This is by far the most powerful starship ever engineered.
Initial simulations of a theoretical vessel matching this design are very promising.
When the first prototype has been assembled, it was decided it'll be painted entirely in black, with some blood-red outlines sticking here and there. Dark like Dark Forest itself, with blood-red patterns like blood spilled and fire burning across it when two inhabitants of the Forest meet each other.
For many, it is a symbol of the might human race has achieved so far and a sign of victory against whatever civilisations will endanger its existence.
For many others, it is a symbol of the dark era human race has spiralled into and the brutal times of conscript and military-oriented industrial production with no end in sight.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821535541530722334/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821535749261492234/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821535969043677214/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821536239798583346/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821536375438049280/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/821551432884420628/latest.png)
Two remaining wormholes from Mechi home system are checked out - one leads into the nearby of an already explored HIP 79762 lonely star, a place where a bloody slaughter of human forces by the Invaders happened back in the day, and the other leads into HD 158633 - a system without any planets or at least dwarf planets, but with an impressive asteroid belt surrounding the star:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822236856141217842/unknown.png)
Astronomers successfully identify the three stars which Mechi names have been extracted from their internal databases. "Nacmine" is in fact GJ 1187, "Nagpur" - Zeta Doradus and "Narwhal" corresponds to HIP 80346.
-
OPERATION CYBERDESERT
2220s
30th January 2220, exactly two hundreds years after WHO declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency, two hundreds years after the Old World fell, Global Reset took place and World Government led survivors of humanity into a New World Order era and took serious interest in space exploration, everything was ready. That memorable day, at 12:57:20, a huge Invasion fleet emerged from a wormhole in HIP 22738, ready to assault HIP 22738-A II - Mechi Prime.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822247389070753823/invasion_1.PNG)
30th january 2220, 18:47:33, invading forces approach the orbit of HIP 22738-A II, soldiers getting ready to land among scorching lands and blazing sands of besieged planet:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822247836032040981/invasion2.PNG)
Escorting warships fly ahead of Starkillers transporting soldiers. Once close enough, Executors broadcast jamming signals and start blasting at hapless ground-space weapons of Mechi:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822248230011928616/invasion3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822248265869295626/invasion4.PNG)
Encouraged by initial success, assault forces close in, getting Vaccines within firing range as well. At shorter distance enemy scores first hits, but they barely disturb powerful shields of the Executors:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822248587127422986/invasion5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822248620161499146/invasion6.PNG)
After few hours of notorious orbital bombardment every last planetary defence bunker, every last space-capable gun of Mechi is razed to the ground and only ashes remain. The time has come. Soldiers of Human Race cover the last kilometres of vacuum before their drop pods will touch the atmosphere. "Operation CyberDesert", named after the mostly deserted and hot climate of Mechi homeworld, has begun.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822250146716581918/invasion7.PNG)
30th January 2220, 23:47:18, first units touch the ground and emerge from the drop pods and take a look at the planet from ground perspective. Squadrons of Avengers quickly spread out across the skies. Mechi AA guns are able to take a few of them out during atmospheric entry, but their usage of Alcubierre Drives within the atmosphere grants them practically a teleportation ability, rendering AA defences of the enemy practically useless.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822250971308359721/invasion8.PNG)
First XCOM troops land directly within many important Mechi cities (which are probably closer to robot-producing facilities than what an average human being understands by a term "city"), meanwhile particle beam artillery gets positioned around them, ready to bomb the hell out of city defenders. Under the blazing sun, a brutal war begins, the first time ever humanity wages war on a scale of an entire planet.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822252144224763924/HSA_Mission_SpiritGraveyardStand-Off2B252812529.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/822252374550642758/300px-HSS-ODSTs.png)
Artillery tries to take the high ground whenever possible, however soon it is realised than almost every hill and mountain close to any major infrastructure is occupied by Mechi garrison. In many places at once, humanity mounts powerful assaults relying on heavy tanks and mechs to break Mechi resistance and get them out of their defensive positions:
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Hell is let loose across HIP 22738-A II's deserts. Plasma projectiles and laser beams are fired upon charging human soldiers, dealing a lot of casualties among infantry despite their power armors and succeeding at destroying some combat vehicles, too.
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Avengers quickly gain air superiority and fire their Fusion Ball launchers time after time again, disrupting Mechi formations and suppressing their firepower. First hills are taken over and repositioned artillery directs fire at what appears to be enemy's most important buildings.
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After few initial artillery barrages, human commanders tremble upon realising some of the buildings weren't really buildings in the first place when they transform into mighty machines, ready to destroy, tear and kill:
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Orders to concentrate fire are given and Avengers focus their bombardment on those huge beasts as well, but their armor seems very though. Particle beams can deal with them, but they can withstand a lot of abuse and, in some regions, successfully not only stop human advance, but also push them back a bit. Several regular machines concentrated around them, but it was already too late when high command noticed it was a trap - most of the robotic forces took advantage in their opponents being busy with Desert Leviathans and with precision and cruelty worthy of a machine started encircling manoeuvres. Firefight intensifies.
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In the meantime, XCOM operatives began gaining control over major cities. Their mission wasn't to directly annihilate enemy presence, but rather to locate and hack into any sort of command center or control interface they would be able to locate.
Their task required them to move in smaller squads and try to stay low and stealthy, but firefights were unavoidable among heavily guarded areas. At least Desert Leviathans would have a hard time picking them up without causing massive collateral damage to their own structures.
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But not only deserts and mountains were places where bloody firefights took place - gaining control over the lush areas alongside what little rivers and seas the planet had was also an important part of the operation - not because of Mechi, since them being robots meant they could set themselves up pretty much anywhere and the lush regions weren't more valuable for them than any other, but because quick conquest of "green lands" would provide humanity with excellent spots for establishing bases of operation on the hostile soil.
Best XCOM units were dispatched to secure potential "safe zones" and establish impromptu HQ centers at convenient spots.
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31th January 2220, 10:28:15, after over ten hours of intense fighting across every region of Mechi homeworld, a few XCOM squads successfully breached into a seemingly important Mechi facility in one of the cities. Minutes felt like hours while walking across the eerie corridors in eerie silence. Until, out of a sudden, a huge army of Mechi infantry-style robots poured out from many directions at once.
XCOM squadmembers started blasting away in despair. Antimatter from their bullets collided with matter, unleashing a powerful energy blast upon each impact, laying destruction everywhere. Well protected from Mechi plasma, they fought well and held the line, but the enemies just kept coming and coming. Ammo started to run dry and within next hour all soldiers had to switch from antimatter guns to their secondary laser pistols. Power armors, even if resistant and protective, could only withstand so much abuse at once and fighting squads started to lose more and more soldiers. In this dire situation retreat orders were issued. XCOM blood shed across the dark halls and marked the trail of exponential bravery and sacrifice.
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As soon as XCOM survivors emerge from the facility and rejoice with nearby units, relief of making it out alive from the slaughter withers away from their faces, slowly replaced by the expression of true fear and horror.
"There were no Mechi there. We all killed each other." - the words of the leader of those squads went down in history.
It took a while for the reports on strange psionic interference to reach the generals overseeing the entire invasion.
Dozens of psionic scientists supporting the operation studied the transferred data and records of brain activity of XCOM soldiers participating in the massacre and compared them with the recordings of their fighting within the facitlity.
The scenes were unbelievable, surrealistic, showing XCOM squads murdering each other at point blank with antimatter projectiles, with the offenders often killing themselves together with their victims. Not a single Mechi has shown up.
Panic started to creep into commanding officers when they fully acknowledged that members of an elite formations, undergoing a very intense, brutal psionic training, titanium-willed and mentally unbreakable, fell prey to a psionic attack so powerful they didn't even realise something tried to access and control their mind until everything was over.
In spite of the recent events, not willing to take additional risks, all XCOM soldiers were to abort their missions and leave the cities, designated for orbital strike as soon as all humans stuck in them are evacuated. A special committee of psi scientists has been assembled, tasked with figuring out what exactly happened and how to counter this new mental threat.
But evacuation of the cities of course didn't go as smooth as planned. Mechi seemed to largely concentrate on the suburbs, greeting fleeing soldiers with a barrage of intense plasma fire from multiple directions, melting through the armors of many. A desperate stand began on many fronts.
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2nd February 2220, 7:30:16, after a few days of intense combat, battle engineers have finally finished fine-tuning of a proper hacking sequence meant to be transmitted across the world to disarm every hostile robot and make Mechi surrender and comply. The only issue left was Mechi communication arrays were rejecting every human-made data transfer as a form of default defensive mechanism and while producing software to defeat Mechi was a subject extensively studied and well-developed after decades of the state of war, software masking itself as Mechi-produced was a whole different programming challenge.
However, prepared transmission could still be used locally to support fighting troops by disabling their nearby enemies. Thanks to this, a few breakthroughs have been made across the deserts, pushing Mechi out of their garrisons and outposts.
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9th February 2220, 18:20:52, heavy artillery, cooperating with Avengers, started shelling city centers, razing many buildings and bringing destruction everywhere they aimed. The facility where the infamous friendly fire incident took place has been personally targeted by admiral commanding space fleet from orbit, onboard of an Executor. Extreme X-ray lasers burned through the internal structure of the complex, severely damaging everything within its proximity.
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9th February 2220, 23:14:51, numerous cyberattacks are detected on all of the Executors that keep pounding on the planetary surface. Dedicated anti-Mechi modules of the antivirus software deal with the threat without too much problems, but the very attempt of the enemy to take control of the most powerful combat spaceships that ever left human shipyard is impressive and scary. Additionally, Mechi didn't give up and kept disrupting the virtual space of Executors with numerous cracking attempts.
Despite all attacks destined to fail, they made admiral and most officers too occupied with purging the internal systems to notice what was going on the radars and the onboard AI didn't issue a warning either, also fighting alien computer viruses. It all lasted maybe a few minutes, but a few minutes was enough.
Before a planet-wide warning could be issues for all fighting grounds, several Desert Leviathans in different key regions committed what could be called a "suicide attack" and detonated their antimatter reactors right among the fighting troops, causing devastating casualties. Panic spread quickly among the ranks when the matter and antimatter collided.
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Mechi, now in the initiative, quickly mount a counterattack, pushing humanity out of the hills, outposts and other strategic positions, cutting out some units from logistics support. The blasts had caught up even a few Avengers which didn't engage warp drives fast enough:
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A lot of human forces plunged into chaos, its soldiers fighting in despair for their lives.
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To save the day, XCOM commander comes up with an idea to weaponize Alcubierre Drives mounted on Avengers. The basic idea is to make Avengers fly so close to the enemy while at warp speed that they'd end up caught in warp bubble, contracted and expanded just like all space in front and behind the craft, leading to their ultimate destruction no armor can prevent.
Proposed solution sparks controversy since it is expected to be extremely deadly for Avengers pilots since accomplishment of the task will require them to fly very close to the ground at one fifth of the speed of light, basically begging to crash into something with full force, but the XCOM psionic training didn't go to waste and while high command discusses the matter, upon hearing the news, many pilots volunteer to "do what needs to be done".
If Mechi, being robots, could have never felt fear before, what followed after appropriate commands have been issued for sure must have sparked terror even inside a cold-oiled machine. Space bending into weird curvatures, splashing burned robotic parts all over and flashes of violent explosions of Avengers crashing down at warp speeds were all that could be seen, but it all lasted a mere few seconds until the deed was done.
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11th February 2220, 5:47:32, XCOM teams are sent to investigate what was left (if anything) from the complex where the psionic attack occurred. Just to be sure, they were given an order to do not engage and flee immediately upon detecting any "hostile" activity to prevent the traumatising incident from happening once again.
Soldiers move across the rubble, not being able to spot any movement or robot, coming closer to the position where shots have been fired before. According to the new protocol, they were supposed to proceed slowly and take long breaks. The aim was to maximise their chance of detecting any psionic hazards beforehand while advancing within the effective range of a potential interference slowly and give their brains a lot of time to focus and adapt.
The new approach has passed the test - soldiers soon begin to report strange feelings and an unusually high tension and fear of death. Psionic scanners detect waves reaching their positions, tailored very well to a human brain structure and psychology.
Well-aware about their vulnerability and having confirmed that the source of psionic waves remains operational despite all the laser beams that hit the place, XCOM operatives calmly walk away from the problematic spot. But their cold blood began to boil and evaporate when out of a blue a powerful Mechi battalions appeared and encircled XCOM teams, keeping them suppressed.
Following the orders, no shot has been fired. EMP weapons usage has been briefly considered, but that idea was dropped too - fired directly at XCOM squadmembers, a blast powerful enough to knock out one of the bigger Mechi robots would've destroyed much of their gear, including destruction of power armor systems, causing the soldier to collapse under its no longer supported weight, or worse, frying internal cybernetics implants.
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Surrounded and unable to fire, XCOM inevitably started taking casualties. Psionic attacks aside, blood of their brothers in arms pouring from lifeless bodies could only mean one thing: somebody broke the orders and opened friendly fire. Paranoia was setting in among escaping troops, each one of them feeling they'll be next.
Not knowing what was real anymore and what was not, they fled the battlefield and desertion was not uncommon, some believing they'll be better off separating from the team.
Taking severe casualties, eventually survivors of the second massacre left the influence zone of this mysterious psionic weapons.
But the surrounding gunfire didn't stop.
Mechi robots were still closing in, launching missile after missile at the hapless infantrymen.
Commander of the XCOM teams taking part in the operation, surprised, picked up multiple messages sent to him in the past minutes. They were all telling him that this time the Mechi were real and demanded opening fire, but he couldn't remember noticing them before.
Quickly coming back to his senses, he ordered his soldiers to regroup and make a stand, now supported with a few other units operating within the city. First shots at pursuing Mechi have been fired.
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The committee tasked with studying the psionic threat quickly came to conclusion that this time around Mechi attacked, because they figured out humans won't shoot back for obvious reasons, meanwhile the imposed mind-control was strong enough to force XCOM leader to ignore the incoming warnings and situational updates. At least during a second trial no friendly fire has been opened.
20th February 2220, 11:05:11, Mechi suddenly launch a concentrated attack on several command centers established withing green zones. Big machines move over the forests with agility that is hard to imagine, quickly repositioning an using hit and run tactics, scoring devastating hits while avoiding incoming fire for longer periods of time.
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Since HQ defences struggle to penetrate shields of constantly rotating enemies, small patrols with "search and destroy" mission leave the perimeter, attempting to outmanoeuvre hostile machines.
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The situation quickly goes out of hand since individual scout teams are unable to reliably and effectively engage the enemy and the usage of heavier mechs and tanks that could deal with the enemy is limited by rough terrain. Avengers and Executors help with bombarding the green areas. "Search and destroy" deterred to "destroy and destroy".
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25th February 2220, multiple other psionic weapons are detected among major cities. Deeming it too dangerous to venture further, new invasion plan assumes gaining total control over deserts and mountains, cutting off and encircling multiple Mechi groups in cities. That way it should be easier to deal with them later on, maybe even force them to surrender under the threat of orbital annihilation. Humanity presses on the attack.
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Multiple battles rage for days to no end, but humanity starts to emerge victorious from them. Mechi, running out of ammo and spare parts across the sea of sand, losing base after base, defence point after defence point, begin to break down, remnants of their formations scattering around, finished off by squadrons of Avengers patrolling the sky.
Soon a bunch of major cities became the last holdout of the enemy.
Not willing to risk accidents with psionic interference, human soldiers stay clear from city centers. The plan is for them to thin out initial defence lines enough for unmanned drones and vehicles to push through, eliminating last bits of resistance.
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Drones and unmanned craft isn't enough to pierce through the strong Mechi defences - on a pure machine vs machine combat, without direct input from a human being, Mechi are simply better for obvious reasons. Because of this, battle over HIP 22738-A II turned into a trench warfare, with human armies controlling most of the planet, but unable to deal the final blow.
12th March 2220, a colonel leading a branch of XCOM forces proposed an insane method of breaking the impasse - he suggested using alive Invaders kept in captivity to achieve a breakthrough on a mental plane.
He points out humans were able to score victories over Invaders in psionic battles during boarding of their ships only because of unpredictability and rapid change of human thought processes and emotions, but in this particular case the psionic emitters were, in fact, very predictable, because they were just devices and their control software, without an alive, sentient creature to control them to grant that unpredictability.
These arguments face agreement from the psionic committee after enough analysis of these mental weapons was done, but these are the only good news for the colonel - high command is shocked and even outraged when hearing about this proposition. Besides, obvious controversy aside, there are only a total of a few hundreds Invaders currently kept alive, and to guarantee most of them would survive assault on multiple enemy cities to guarantee victory and their further availability for scientists to study them would be a logistical nightmare nobody is willing to take.
28th March 2220, after nobody else was able to come up with a better plan, facing rapidly deteriorating morale among troops doing nothing but to wait endlessly on a hostile world, under artillery fire, wondering who'll die next till "someone up there" is gonna make a decision, admirals and generals leading the invasion agree to the plan, claiming maybe it's not that stupid to "fight insanity with insanity".
2nd April 2220, 8:21:06, five Phoenix Hawks, each containing a total of thirty Invaders onboard and an "overkill escort", begin atmospheric entry.
2nd April 2220, 14:52:03, all five groups are successfully enclosed within energetic shields acting as a double-edged soword - a lot of power was redirected to them, keeping Invaders extremely well-protected from enemy fire, even at a cost of power required for shielding of human troops, but at the same time humans will remain well-protected from Invaders shall they "try something".
No contact has been established during the entire journey from Core Worlds prisons to the combat zone.
Yet it is predicted Invaders will have no choice but to fight with their brains once the psionic weapons will attempt to break inside their heads.
2nd April 2220, 18:34:25, humanity launches a final assault on the infamous complex. Soldiers take more casualties because of all the power redirected to protect Invaders at the cost of them. Morale suffers a lot thanks to this, too.
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After hours of intense fighting marked with blood and fried circuits, Human-Invaders and Invaders-Invaders approach the ruins of the complex. From now on, human soldiers form a cordon around the danger zone and push Invaders forward at gunpoint. In order to motivate them further, all five teams have been separated beyond the range at which they'd be able to communicate psionically and told the others were executed for refusing to do what is requested from them, as to prevent Invaders just refusing to move under the premise of them knowing they're valuable and humanity doesn't want to lose them.
Before they moved, it wasn't without an intense psychic sparring between them and best of XCOM psionic operatives till they finally stepped forward, though.
But it required them to only move a little bit before ending up caught up in violent thoughts. Everyone watched with dropped jaws via the video transmitted from escorting drones how they spit their acids at each other and two of them even died in the process.
All attempts to figure out what exactly was going on in their heads failed.
Not even the best scientists could figure anything from the recorded brain activity scans.
It was most likely simply a duel on a higher level humanity was yet to ascend to, similarly as if musketeers from ancient past saw modern plasma rifles and tried to figure out what kind of musket is that and how is gunpowder able to generate so much energy for the projectiles to be so fast and hot.
But they did their job somehow, completely disarming these strange devices. With their forced help, humanity pushed further, conquering city after city. On 20th April 2220 the entire planet was under the control of human forces, with all Mechi either destroyed or disarmed, leaving only working drones.
Operation CyberDesert has come to an end.
Entire Ender celebrated the victory, but on other planets and moons people weren't as pleased. Some ethics and plain citizens as well questioned the moral right for humanity to attack Mechi Prime, especially when the decades-old question of whether they're robots or robotic ascendants of an alien beings uploading their brains into computers still remained a mystery.
Immediately after securing the planet's "population", fleet of Pandoras has been sent to prepare the planet for long-term colonisation. While technically it was already capable of supporting human life, oxygen amount was on the lower end of survivability and there was very little water available, with most of the planet being covered in deserts not survivable without a protective suit to shield from the extreme heat. At least a bit more temperate ecosystem was neccessary.
Conspiracy theories begin to surround a squadron of five Phoenix Hawks leaving shipyards on Earth when the war was still raging, ranging anywhere from additional orbital support request to World Government secretly cooperating with Invaders, which would also explain them not being seen for a while now. Earth-Invaders Organisation tries to deny the latter.
All kinds of computer scientists, programmers, hackers, technicians and engineers are called to participate in a Desert Deciphering Program aiming to translate, read, classify and, most importantly, understand all the information that can be recovered from Mechi Prime. Government excepts a breakthrough in figuring out what the hell is going in the Milky Way soon.
-
AGE OF SINGULARITY
Through the following months tons of data has been mined from Mechi Prime.
First and foremost fact established was that Mechi weren't an intelligent species at all - they were just machines with advanced AI, engineered, built and programmed by someone else.
They lacked the creativity and abstract thinking that define sentient beings, but advanced algorithms and learning mechanisms programmed into their cores allowed them to achieve pinnacle of engineering and optimisation within a pre-defined ruleset. They might have lacked innovation skills, but not even the best human engineers could beat them at optimising and improving already existing technology or even inventing new ones, even if limited to the core concepts and science they had pre-programmed.
Sleepless nights and restless days spent at reverse-engineering and reading their code payed off - AI experts finally started to understand Mechi and their civilisation.
Their very existence was a result of an ancient, mighty race breaching the level of Singularity in technological development.
Automation and artificial intelligence so advanced it could even achieve limited breakthroughs in science.
Once these machines were built and their software uploaded, a new era of prosperity and peace dawned upon their creators.
But there was more to it than just simple, even trivial, technological utopia.
The Creators were aware of the Dark Forest.
Instead of just integrating Mechi into their own society, they put them all into one of their planets and conditioned so that they could start their own civilisation.
This new mechanical civilisation was supposed to act as a safe testing ground for concepts meant to "enlighten the Dark Forest". Even a total failure could not hurt Creators - worst case scenario was that a more powerful alien race would come and purge the universe from Mechi, but Creators themselves would remain safe and sound.
The robots had everything programmed in them to allow and ensure peaceful coexistence and friendly contact with other inhabitants of the known universe and were meant to explore and broadcast messages of friendliness and will to form alliances.
This was very surprising since it clashed with the history of Mechi-Human relationships. Sure, some sort of mutual communication has been achieved before first shots were fired, but, well, first shots were fired and overall Mechi were nothing like their initial programming states.
Databases scattered around Mechi Prime tell a story about everything going wrong. As time passed, thriving and expanding Singularity, despite not having it programmed, using ruthless precision, created mathematical model of cosmic civilisations interactions. It was the infamous Dark Forest Theory indeed. Following it, Mechi have completely overriden their original programming, replacing it with self-made protocols, which stated "learn, adapt, neutralise, consume, expand".
It was an actual explanation as to why they haven't opened fire immediately and even appeared somewhat friendly - knowing their own limitations, they were still in the "learn" and "adapt" phases. The moment they blasted Human Race Representation Group to hell was the moment they switched to "neutralise", except soon after these events a bigger predator opened up a wormhole into their territory and decided to neutralise them before they got a chance to launch a proper alien invasion of their own.
They knew about them a bit earlier, though (hence why they indirectly warned humanity once that they are "coming from outer space"), and that was thanks to excavating Precursor ruins with records mentioning Invaders.
From what could be pieced together, Creators fell into despair and planned to annihilate their own creation for the greater good of any civilisation of good will that might still exist across the stars, but never actually did it, because a "new hostile presence" appeared within this sector of Milky Way and them intervening would pose them at risk of extinction.
Eventually, when it came to cataloguing stellar and celestial databases, a horrific truth about HD 158633 has been uncovered. The asteroid belt surrounding local sun once was not an asteroid belt, but a habitable planet.
The planet has been destroyed by a near-light speed missile fired from across the stars, which kinetic energy was so insane it blasted right through the planet's core, shattering it into millions of pieces that cooled down and started orbiting the star just like in the "old days" when they were all one celestial body.
Currently humanity had no technology powerful enough to intercept and either destroy, slow down or change the trajectory of such missile, meaning if one has already been fired at one of the colonised planets, its days were already counted.
To much surprise, despite all the successes with decoding Mechi data, information directly related to the Creators were encrypted so well it took almost half a year for the optimised, fastest cracking algorithms to access it, but humanity, for the time uninterrupted by anybody, had all the time in the universe to break into them.
Everyone who saw the entries and logs, remained speechless, just telling their colleagues to take a look themselves. Some even passed out.
The Creators were short, thin and overall weak humanoids, with grey skin and relatively big heads and deep, dark eyes. Never evolved the ability to speak, but were capable of reading each other's mind directly and extremely intelligent, with their natural psionic powers being only a mere side effect of their rapid brain evolution.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823348014781431868/unknown.png)
Oldest recordings showed them using flying saucers with an extremely efficient version of warp drive, being on par even with early human designs of Jump Drive. Everything matches.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823350425481904138/Export_Photo_Preview.png)
Government decides to publish the discovery, which immediately divides the society. Some people claim "Greys" aren't a threat because of how they initially programmed Mechi, others point out how their experiment ended and that for sure must have convinced them there's no escape from Dark Forest, so they participated in the Eternal Night of the Purge and now are coming into human space to exterminate all life from it.
Even across members of the government opinions are divided, but that doesn't stop it from taking "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" approach, something everyone can agree on.
Unfortunately no data about where they could've been found exists, but that was expected - otherwise their entire experiment would've been pointless.
30th December 2220, World Government, in secret from everyone, approaches an unconventional method of tackling communications issue with Invaders. It tries what once Earth-Invaders Organisation tried - shows them all the knowledge gained from Mechi Prime.
It succeeds. First official conversation with Invaders started on 30th December 2220, 23:01:58, on board of one of the Phoenix Hawks serving as mobile prison for captured Invaders, orbiting Nibiru.
INVADERS: So now you know.
WORLD GOVERNMENT: No, we don't know. But you know. And now you will tell us everything and we don't care how cliche it sounds. You are afraid of Greys, just like we do, and that's why you'll tell use everything, not because of any threats we could make since you fear nothing. Nothing but them.
I: Oh, you do. You came a long way since we first met. We still remember your miserable attempts, the stupid optimism of discovery and the thrill of first contact... You were so childish. But now you know how this universe works. You even managed to Vaccinate against our non-combat scouts and capture some of us alive, something we didn't expect to happen. We're impressed.
G: We know about Dark Forest and you know what it means for your civilisation. We also know you think the exact same thing about humanity, yet we don't care. You didn't seem to pay too much attention to Precursors even though our scientists are making progress in figuring out their anti-Invaders weapon right as we speak. But you are so anxious when thinking or talking about Greys. Why?
I: Weapon? If Precursors had a weapon to destroy us, why do you think they have gone extinct? Their "weapon" only allowed them to destabilise and close, how you call them, "Void Wormholes", but that's it. They were never very powerful in terms of military strength relative to their civilisation development level. And that's why Precursors are no more, bases with robots and planets like Nibiru being everything that's left from them.
G: Why do you consider Greys dangerous?
I: They have something we don't. Soon all the stars across the Milky Way will flare and the final part will begin, just like we did in many galaxies before, but it won't get us any closer. They are very powerful and survived so far only thanks to this one technology. They make us anxious because we have no way of getting it and we don't know how deep into Dark Forest they descended after their grand failure of Baile Screed, or rather how you call them, Mechi Experiment.
G: Do you know anything about HD 158633 or V1216 Sagittarii-A III?
I: Nothing concrete. Maybe that one intergalactic civilisation which escaped our purge in NGC 520. They often used near-lightspeed interstellar missiles to purge suspicious planets just to be sure. By the way, it'll take a while for the light showing disappearance of this galaxy to reach you. From the Milky Way it still looks as two galaxies undergoing collision, long before our first starships reached it...
G: How can we defend against those missiles?
I: Seems like you still have a lot to learn... Why do you ask? Soon you'll be gone. We will make sure you're no longer a threat to our civilisation.
G: If you're so obsessed about surviving, why do you act so indifferent? We could kill you right now, kept you imprisoned or release you, you're at our mercy and even if your race was to destroy us all tomorrow, your survival is threatened and in such scenario you wouldn't live to see the victory anyways.
I: Oh, we would've cared. But we know your thoughts better than you do. We know for now you'll choose the middle option. If you really wanted to kill us right now, we would've cared.
G: Why did you cooperate with Earth-Invaders Organisation? It doesn't mean anything in our society. It is weak, a couple of terrorist attacks, meaningless in the grand scheme of things, was all it could ever do.
I: We didn't. The one time we talked with them was because they told us about the Greys, though they didn't have much useful information and their psionic skills, obtained from shady, illegal implants were unimpressive, so we didn't talk for long, maybe one fourth of what we've been talking so far. And we started communicating with you for the same reason we did so with them.
G: What do you know about the Substance? Why were you carrying it in your, supposedly, tanker?
I: Substance is dangerous. At first we thought it was made by a threat, but really it is a threat. A sentient bio weapon, if you wish to call it like that. Just another horror lurking around Dark Forest.
G: From where it came from? How did it appear on many planets at once?
I: We don't know. And we don't even care. We will destroy it just like any other threatening sentience.
G: Let's go back to Greys. How do you plan to obtain this "something" they have, but not you?
I: That's why one of our battle fleets haven't warped into your systems yet, though we used it once to get rid of Mechi. We left their homeworld untouched, hoping you'd take it, and so you did. We will get what we want from them, and you will help us, and we know you will regardless of the actions your civilisations will take. It's an inevitable consequence of the nature of things.
G: What's going on in Barnard's Star system?
I: Why don't you take a look yourself? Your fastest starships can reach it from Earth in less than a day. If you dare, that is...
Despite repeated attempts, Invaders refused to say anything more. Nevertheless, the amount of information pulled from the first official communication was huge and brought humanity closer to understanding the dangers it was facing among the stars.
In following years government focused on exploiting the Singularity to accelerate civilisation progress even further and prepare human race for battles to come, be it with Greys, near-light speed missile firing race, Substance, Invaders or anything else.
-
Thanks to outsourcing of Mechi workforce and processing power, humanity entered a new stage of prosperity. Colonies kept expanding, industrial production skyrocketed, many new civilian and commercial fleets were built for ease of logistics, science was marching forward like never before.
Pandoras' next destination is Xi Bootis-B II, an excellent colonisation candidate with little terraforming required. Main efforts are focused on filling the planet with oceans and providing water circulation.
Thanks to the immense power humanity has reached, dyson sphere can now be easily constructed at any star humans orbit and putting one from now on will become a part of standard procedure for preparing a system for colonisation.
18th June 2224, after almost 150 years of constant effort, Terraria workers celebrate the switchoff of Venusian installations and descend onto the surface as the first humans without any protective suit. Clear, blue skies, pressure matching that of an Earth, very similar gravity and a nearby river across which trees grow is the first sight they see. Five hours later first colonists arrive and robots starts building the first Venusian city.
More and more places across inhabited worlds are designated as "cryogenic spaces" for Nibirians. Sceptics talk about how it resembles racial segregation for them. Enthusuasts encourage them to try to take a walk on eight moon of Epsilon-Eridani-A VIII without a space suit.
Explorers cross the wormhole in HD 158633, landing near NN 3403:
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/786651204524179496/823557431807574066/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823557491794247690/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823557591497441340/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823557648397238332/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823557702139641876/unknown.png)
Exploration of former Mechi space continues. Wormhole from DN Draconis connects to HIP 19394:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558030720368710/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558086711050280/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558151663779880/unknown.png)
19th June 2224, 17:52:00, starship approaching the only planet in the system suddenly is attacked by a small squadron of Mechi ships and destroyed before it could engage warp drive:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558430161764392/enc1.PNG)
20th June 2224, 19:02:15, Executors stationed at Mechi homeworld catch up to the target, neutralising it within seconds:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558679042850876/enc2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823558690471804938/enc3.PNG)
It is expected that while the bulk of Mechi space forces has been destroyed by Invaders and they don't have any means to build more, leftovers from their fleets could be encountered from time to time and thus extreme caution is still advised while travelling through their space.
Further voyages from across the stars bring data about EQ Pegasi:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562048839483452/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562101682864169/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562158264549416/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562442982031400/unknown.png)
Gliese 382 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562893877706762/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823562952224669747/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823563015185760266/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823563077801869312/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823563164183691344/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823563237152260126/unknown.png)
It is expected that life could have evolved on either Gliese 382-A II or Gliese 382-A III, however grey, dirty icesheets is all that dominates the landscape and there's nothing there.
However, closer analysis revealed that the grey dirt trapped within the ice is of organic origin. It is the Substance.
This provides an excellent insights into a planet at final stage of Substance-initiated devouring process. Some limited information about lifeforms existing on both planets can be gathered from Substance composition.
Apart from biological matter, Substance also appears to feed on the minerals themselves, incorporating them into the mixture. It is suggested that maybe it'd cost it more energy to filter out only biological ingredients than it costs it to just engulf everything, leaving inorganic resources as neutral and feeding from the rest.
A temporary scientific outpost has been established in the system to conduct more research on the nature of this bio weapon.
10th January 2225, 4:25:39, containment breach alarm is raised in the laboratory on Aracaju where Substance acquired from captured Rakshasa ships. Consuming abilities are higher than initially estimated and the grey goo started chewing through its storage and expanding across the lab. Lost of biological matter within the facility nourish it, making for an easy and hard to control growth.
10th January 2225, 4:38:45, entire research facility had to be evacuated. A total of five members of the personnel have been eaten alive and eight others had to had parts of their bodies amputated in an emergency with laser rifles to cut the ever-hungry lifeform from killing them. They can be considered lucky - nothing a few bionic replacements won't fix.
10th January 2225, 5:21:47, despite unleashing all kinds of toxins or pathogens in an attempt to kill the enemy, it kept growing, only feeding from the chemical and biological weapons used on it further. Goo started creeping into the nearest buildings of a city close by.
10th January 2225, 5:47:31, entire city is undergoing evacuation. Initial estimates speak about at least two hundreds killed and massive collateral damage.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823637118789746698/4d9eb46da9d6438c201949c95554a6e632d3_1920xt1080_S1000.png)
10th January 2225, 6:01:47, Vaccines orbiting Aracaju start bombing the affected area with particle beams, but it looks like punching holes through water. Beams damage Substance, but to much lesser degree than needed and the holes made are quickly refilled.
11th January 2225, 16:41:32, XCOM operatives arrive. Substance has consumed a few large agglomerations by this time. Estimated casualties range from 20 000 dead citizens or more. Evacuated population is temporarily put into hibernation on board of colony ships orbiting the planet.
After a test shot with antimatter rifle, goo splatters across a large area from the spot where it has been hit, carried by the shock wave. Two XCOM soldiers don't surive, next three had to have various limbs amputated on the fly. From now on, only laser and plasma weapons are allowed to combat the threat.
Lasers burn through the bio weapon and XCOM recovers some ground, but soon is overwhelmed. Its efforts are futile.
Trying a different approach, soldiers try to communicate with the lifeform, well-aware it is sentient. The only plausible way to do so seems to revolve around psionic waves, but alien lifeform is either too mind-resistant or is just incapable of communicating via this medium. Quick field tests reveal it can't be reasoned with in similar ways people communicate with animals, either.
Running out of options and time, government sends in Executors to conduct orbital laser bombardment of all affected areas, hoping to evaporate the enemy.
13th January 2225, 12:51:17, Executors jump into HIP 47650 and proceed to the orbit of Aracaju. Once positioned, they start striking the ground from above.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/823642965749792788/latest.png)
Their devastating, powerful laser beams burn through the organic enemy. Substance can't withstand temperatures and radiation so high and dies. Soon entire Aracaju is safe, but the bombardment causes some civilian casualties and collateral damage, because not everyone could be evacuated on time.
Society is outraged at the actions taken, and with emotions taking control most can't be bothered to look at the simulations showing the number of deaths shall he bombardment be postponed - the growth of the substance was faster than pace at which people could be evacuated into orbit, meaning in the extreme case bombardment wouldn't have happened until entire planet has been covered with the goo, killing hundreds of millions of people still stuck on the surface, awaiting evacuation shuttles.
After the incident, all medical experiments with the Substance are prohibited. When dormant, sure it does show extreme tissue regeneration properties, but once it decides its time to flip the killswitch, it spreads faster than anything short of orbital laser bombardment cleans it up.
25th january 2225, in order to suppress the unrest, government decides to open up Kappa Tucanae for broader colonisation. It justifies its decision with Mechi databases having Kappa Tucanae listed as one of the human colonies and them being aware about threat yet undetected, but incoming and knowing about the location of human-controlled systems. Further quarantine of Sol++ was simply pointless as the enemy already knew. The databases didn't have GJ 1279 listed, though, meaning wto inhabited planets orbiting that star were still valid participants of Operation Reseed.
To make colonists feel safer, government allowed for the FTL drives of colony ships to only be used to reach WISE 2359-7335. From there, fleets heading into Utopia should use only Invader-made wormholes, without engaging even subluminal warp drives for faster transit within one system. With that way, any civilisation potentially monitoring gravitational disturbances and space curvatures from afar wouldn't be able to detect these ships beyond WISE 2359-7335.
As soon as regular transit routes have been reestablished, toilet paper started arriving into Core Worlds. Overjoyed with the sheer availability of this luxurious product, humanity quickly forgot about Aracaju incident, celebrating the times that arrived, many forgetting even about Dark Forest and the predator it has sent after humanity. Population within Paradise exploded, with Kappa Tucanae-A II alone coming close to one billion inhabitants.
28th February 2225, engineers tackle the most ambitious IT project in history, the goal being a huge supercomputer, with clusters spanning across all settled worlds and systems and instant communication realised via quantum entanglement.
Thanks to the unimaginable processing power, scientists can speed up many of their computations and simulations. One of the results of this boost is correct and accurate recalculation of minimal energy needed for accessing four-dimensional plane and a decent mathematical mode has been created. This has finally led to the first prototype of a Hyperdrive.
Ships entering a four-dimensional space and staying there for the entire journey, emerging into familiar, three-dimensional space at destination became a reality.
30th May 2226, first hyperspace-capable starship leaves orbital shipyard of Earth:
Vision class Science Vessel 20,000 tons 418 Crew 6,419.2 BP TCS 400 TH 4,000 EM 0
10000 km/s JR 1-25(C) Armour 7-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 123 Sensors 80/48/30/30 DCR 60 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.70 Years MSP 6,818 AFR 107% IFR 1.5% 1YR 505 5YR 7,572 Max Repair 1000 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 240 months Morale Check Required
JC20K Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 20000 tons Distance 25k km Squadron Size 1
Commercial Gas Core AM Drive EP4000.00 (1) Power 4000 Fuel Use 0.88% Signature 4000 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 660,000 Litres Range 672 billion km (777 days at full power)
CIWS-400 (3x12) Range 1000 km TS: 40,000 km/s ROF 5
EM Sensor EM2-48 (1) Sensitivity 48 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 54.8m km
Thermal Sensor TH2-80 (1) Sensitivity 80 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 70.7m km
Phased Geological Sensors (6) 30 Survey Points Per Hour
Phased Gravitational Sensors (6) 30 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Vision passes all tests with mind-blowing results. During its voyage into HIP 22738 and back through most of the cruise it kept a stable effective speed of 5138c relative to normal space, while traversing through hyperspace at the speed of laughable 102 km/s, reaching 50c for every kilometre per second of conventional speed.
Humanity finally was able to build starships powerful enough to open up the possibility of pursuing Invaders inside Bootes Void.
Soon first Visions leave space docks and embark on their first missions. A total of five exploration groups puncture the fabric of space on the outer edges of Solar System and fly towards alien suns yet unseen from up close. First ships to successfully complete the voyage drop out of hyperspace in NN 3737:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824282758482362459/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824282845950115920/unknown.png)
Equipped with latest wonders of Precursor technology discovered on Kruger 60-A I, they use four-dimensional scanning sensors to quickly survey two worlds orbiting NN 3737. By operating within four-dimensional space, these sensors are able to asses the composition of the entire planet just by looking at its 3D projection from 4D plane.
In the meantime other Visions are exploring former Mechi space. A wormhole near HIP 19394 links a binary, but planet-less system of GI 630.1:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824284231240777748/unknown.png)
Another Vision emerges from hyperspace near WISE 0005+3737:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824284787626999818/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824284833575862272/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824284922943766578/unknown.png)
Powerful sensors of Visions detect multiple wrecks in HD 158633 and NN 3403, remants of Mechi and Invaders' ships alike. When a wormhole in NN 3403 is crossed, it is soon discovered why. Explorers arrive via it in Gliese 685. The star shines as an only bright dot with enormous Void Wormhole spanning in the background, far wider than the entire system itself, a giant black circle punching a hole in the stellar sky:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824287099037155338/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824287271925972992/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824287553392738324/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824287791688187974/unknown.png)
Gliese 685-A III hosts complex marine life beneath the thick ice sheet covering every square meter of the surface. Whether an intelligent species have evolved there or not remains an open question, but even if they did, Invaders wiped them out clean while leaving remaining ecosystem intact, just like they did on so many other planets.
As humanity continues to spread across the stars, new stellar maps are released to keep track of the explored space:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824290327665836062/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824290442820321379/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824290606695055501/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824290896500621312/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824291040907100210/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824291102919491614/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824291336474722343/unknown.png)
-
In the following months, as part of the preparation for alien invasion, engineers from across the universe work hard to deliver new weapon systems and warships to the human forces. The results of their work include an improved version of the Woodpecker missile destroyer, but also a brand new battleship:
Woodpecker MkII class Missile Destroyer 25,000 tons 573 Crew 8,028.7 BP TCS 500 TH 7,000 EM 6,240
14000 km/s Armour 20-76 Shields 208-520 HTK 169 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 60 PPV 158.4
Maint Life 4.56 Years MSP 6,021 AFR 167% IFR 2.3% 1YR 471 5YR 7,066 Max Repair 1750 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Gas Core AM Drive EP3500.00 (2) Power 7000 Fuel Use 118.11% Signature 3500 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 5,488,000 Litres Range 33.5 billion km (27 days at full power)
Theta S208 / R520 Shields (1) Recharge Time 520 seconds (0.4 per second)
Quad Gauss Cannon R500-25.00 Turret (20x20) Range 50,000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 50,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R150-TS32000 (1) Max Range: 150,000 km TS: 32,000 km/s 93 87 80 73 67 60 53 47 40 33
Active Search Sensor AS23-R1 (1) GPS 96 Range 23.5m km MCR 2.1m km Resolution 1
ECCM-5 (1) ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Judgement class Battleship 30,000 tons 976 Crew 8,823.9 BP TCS 600 TH 8,400 EM 0
14000 km/s Armour 8-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 163 Sensors 80/48/0/0 DCR 50 PPV 195
Maint Life 1.88 Years MSP 6,076 AFR 360% IFR 5.0% 1YR 2,207 5YR 33,108 Max Repair 4200 MSP
Magazine 2,310
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG AUX ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Gas Core AM Drive EP8400.00 (1) Power 8400 Fuel Use 67.45% Signature 8400 Explosion 24%
Fuel Capacity 3,758,000 Litres Range 33.4 billion km (27 days at full power)
Size 5 Missile Launcher (30) Missile Size: 5 Rate of Fire 10
Size 1 Missile Launcher (75.00% Reduction) (60) Missile Size: 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC32-R20 (2) Range 32.9m km Resolution 20
Gangut Anti-Ship Missile (330) Speed: 130,800 km/s End: 1.3m Range: 10.1m km WH: 25 Size: 5 TH: 436/261/130
Georgii Pobedonosets AMM (660) Speed: 130,800 km/s End: 1.3m Range: 10.3m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 3052/1831/915
Active Search Sensor AS12-R1 (1) GPS 20 Range 12.1m km MCR 1.1m km Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM2-48 (1) Sensitivity 48 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 54.8m km
Thermal Sensor TH2-80 (1) Sensitivity 80 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 70.7m km
ECCM-6 (2) ECM 50
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Judgements are going to be a decent addition to the next-gen combat fleet. During a battle they're meant to open fire first, as if they were delivering a message about incoming judgement, meanwhile Executors were supposed to carry out the sentence as the fleet closes in. These two types of ships flying side by side shall make any enemy fall into despair, official doctrine says. Missiles of Judgement were built with the latest antimatter technology, allowing them to fit a powerful antimatter warhead while maintaining a relatively small size. Antimatter engines fit into them allowed them to reach almost half the speed of light, making them a deadly weapon thanks to kinetic energy alone, capable of tearing weaker ships apart without even detonating the warhead.
Physicists estimate that once the ship entering hyperspace opens a hole in a 3D plane, energy costs to enlarge it are small compared to the energy needed to open it at all.
Because of this, it doesn't take long for the Executors to be refitted with Hyperdrives as well, them being powerful enough to open a passage into hyperspace large enough for a huge fleet to fit in. Thanks to this, future war fleet will be able to travel quickly between star systems, using latest discoveries in FTL propulsion. This way it'll be able to quickly react to enemies appearing in any colonised system without much delay.
Engineers on Mechi Prime build a new class of salvaging ship, hoping to clean up the mess made in the systems thanks to decades of Mechi-Invaders wars and extract a lot of precious resources to increase productivity of the planet. Amount of metals and alloys floating around is so huge that initial estimates talk about powering the entire industry for at least a decade with the wrecks alone.
Silent Watcher class Salvager 70,000 tons 343 Crew 3,218.2 BP TCS 1,400 TH 7,000 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 1-151 Shields 0-0 HTK 57 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 28 Max Repair 875 MSP
Cargo 33,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 10
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months
Salvager: 2 module(s) capable of salvaging 5000 tons per day
Commercial Gas Core AM Drive EP3500.00 (2) Power 7000 Fuel Use 0.94% Signature 3500 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 807,000 Litres Range 219.6 billion km (508 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
While new squadrons begin assembly across the Core Worlds, government makes a decision to finally launch a mission into Barnard's Star and put the pieces together, discovering what is going in this system.
6th July 2228, 4:37:13, combat fleet consisting of Executors, Woodpeckers of old designs, Javelins since Judgements are not ready yet and also Strikers of old as a foremost scout squardon, drops out of hyperspace near Barnard's Star. Deep space silence doesn't last more than two seconds, though - an unidentified fleet starts blasting at human ships with deadly force. Lasers burn through the shields and then hulls of Strikers:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824304258606039040/b1.PNG)
Human fleet accelerates and gains distance, but it is still fired upon. Sensors quickly come online and detect a squadron of enemy ships, now left behind:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824304746248405063/b2.PNG)
6th July 2228, 4:38:05, soon it turns out that enemy is capable of rapid acceleration, beating that of human ships, and catches up. Enemy railguns open fire and a swarm of small rocks is fired upon human vessels, meant to quickly overload shields:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824305256191885422/b3.PNG)
6th July 2228, 4:40:12, when humanity tries to retaliate, it discovers hyperspace flight has causes targeting systems to go haywire, preventing locking onto enemies. With no option to shoot back, fleet admiral gives an order to engage subluminal warp drives and distance from the enemy while fixing the issue.
To the horror of crewmembers and officers alike, the very second warp bubble has been established, enemy ships did the same thing and enclosed themselves right next to their prey. Everyone could see them with naked eyes:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824306864903684137/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824307867863351336/unknown.png)
Green ships open laser fire which is powerful enough to burn through even the shields of Executors after only a few seconds.
But as soon as the shields are down, the white ones open fire with short-range missiles of some sort. At first they don't seem to do any damage, but as they splash across the hulls painting them grey, everyone realises what's going on before onboard AI confirms the hypothesis with official analysis of the goo's composition.
These missiles contained encapsulated Substance that was now consuming several ships, including one Executor. Firing at the incoming missiles with Gauss cannons only worsened the effect - the ones that got hit only splattered into multiple puddles of Substance, sticking to the targeted ships in multiple places.
6th July 2228, 4:45:36, several ships disappeared under the fast-multiplying grey goo, including one Executor. Loss of one of the dreadnoughts that were the primary pride of the entire space forces so quickly without it even firing once at the enemies that got it causes severe morale drop and panic.
Soon human spaceships dropped out of warp speed and Executors started preparing emergency hyperspace jump. Rapid collapse of warp bubble dropped enemy ships a few dozens thousands kilometres behind humans:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824312464849633311/b4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824313465866551326/b5.PNG)
Seizing the opportunity to avoid enemy fire for a bit longer to give the hyperdrives and shields time to recharge, captains of the ships make a decision to engage warp drives once again. This buys a few more seconds, but enemy must have been able to predict the flight trajectory, because it changed direction and circled around escaping vessels while maintaining target lock and continuing to fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824315701304229888/b6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824315749065687100/b7.PNG)
6th July 2228, 4:51:10, a few more Strikers are blasted into oblivion, but Executors are ready to engage their Hyperdrives and the entire fleet disappears from Barnard's Star, heading home for repairs.
What was the most terrifying about this battle was not about their lasers and railguns, not even about the one-sided fire and destruction of an Executor. It was all about their insane precision of navigation and predictions of human moves.
First they predicted an alien fleet was about to enter Barnard's Star. Then they predicted exactly where and when will it happen so that they could wait at the right place at the right time. Then they synced perfectly their movement when human forces enclosed themselves within warp bubble.
Navigational skills of the new enemy was outstanding. And on top of that it was wielding the Substance.
It'd take years for the better ships to appear, and because of that a new plan is needed. Military advisors quickly came up with using the biggest weapon of the enemy - their excellent precision - against themselves. According to the new plan, the squadron will be taken out by space marines. Boarding fleet will be escorted through hyperspace and the enemy will have its ships positioned right on top of it, allowing for quick and relatively easy boarding action. Once inside, marines will take their ships by killing off the crew and preferably capturing as much of them alive as possible, allowing engineers to study them which will lead to faster development of proper response fleet.
8th July 2228, 12:10:49, boarding fleet drops out of hyperspace in Barnard's Star. As predicted, enemy is right there. Patriots launch Gauntlets MkII and a standard boarding procedure is carried on across enemy fire that damages a few ships:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824330242792882216/f1.PNG)
Several enemy ships, possibly serving a support role, quickly fly away:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824330406224330752/f2.PNG)
Many marines die in the process of getting through hostile point defence. Enemies turn their ships rapidly, causing marines to either hit their hulls with too much speed or missing them at all and getting stranded far from any point of reference. But those who survive start blasting through armor with particle beam bombs and eventually gain access into the interiors.
For the first time, a new alien species has been observed:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824336345895927878/unknown.png)
On their uniforms they bear strange symbols, they look hypnotising:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824336751517499392/unknown.png)
What is strange, they don't appear to wear any armor, plasma shots seem to go right through them, but they're not dying. Grey, boiling blood pours from their wounds, but no matter the spot, they are still standing and capable of rapid movement.
Explosives still seem to be effective against them, though, and after enough shots fired at them, they simply bleed out and die, so they're not invincible, their bodies just give them a lot of natural protection. Xenobiologists will have a lot of interesting material to study.
After the initial surprise has worn off, enemy opened fire. Laser beams cut through the power armors of space marines, some of the shots succeeding at penetration. Human blood mixes with theirs, with the latter observed as feeding from the former.
Squads of marines take cover behind various obstacles, but soon it is observed the entire ship creates one big system capable of rapid change - some obstacles vanish into the ground, some suddenly hide inside the walls, entire corridors change shape. Everything starts to adapt in a way that makes humans exposed and aliens well-covered against plasma shots and grenades.
Under such harsh circumstances, marines end up on the losing side rather fast, since cover is everything. They also attempt to engage in psionic warfare, but this time "brain silence" is the only response they get.
As if that wasn't bad enough, alien blood starts feeding on the human bodies and all their gear piling up on the floors, with the Substance in it growing large enough to endanger soldiers still alive and fighting.
As the firefight goes on, marines shift tactics and start planting explosives under random devices and "mobile elements", attempting to break enough of them for the terrain to stop changing in favour of the defenders. Eventually it kind of works out, granting the attackers better positions and more stable environment, but as more defenders start to die, more Substance is spilled on the floor, hampering movement around the ship and forming a blockade guarding a lot of important rooms.
With no easy way out of this mess, soldiers started blasting holes at random places, destroying the hulls and causing decompression. The atmospheric pressure inside was low, but there was still more than enough air to just suck Substance out through the Swiss cheese that hull transformed into.
Unfortunately, in many cases the damage needed to be done to suck the Substance out paired with destroying one internal system too many doomed ships to totally disintegrate killing humans and aliens alike:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824363758595997706/f3.PNG)
However, in case of two ships, marines boarding them cleaned them from the Substance and they ended up being pulled away from Barnard's Star via hyperspace rift created by Executors. Unfortunately, no live specimen had been captured, every single one of them ending either killed in a firefight or sucked out of the ship.
Before the hyperspace jump, one finally observation has been made: Substance, initially spreading across the vacuum as a shapeless cloud, started to form itself into shapes resembling spacecraft, with metallic surface coming on top of it, as if it was using the non-organic materials it has swallowed to encapsulate itself within shell protecting them from airless environment and solar radiation.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/824366954516054056/ozan_01.png)
Two captured ships are transported into Ender for research, while the best biologists and genetics from Aracaju are tasked with investigating the bodies of dead aliens.
Their internal biology seems strange. Their dead bodies appear mostly empty, with little to no internal organs placed around and rather thin, though reinforced with an exoskeleton, skin. They don't appear to have a brain, or at least it is so well-hidden within what little was recovered during the autopsy that nobody could determine which organ it was. Inside their head many complex devices were found, though, most probably cybernetic implants. They existed within other parts of the body, too, however there wasn't a single one that wouldn't be destroyed by either wounds suffered during combat or powerful EMP blast.
Engineers working on the ships themselves didn't have more luck, either. While figuring out onboard systems themselves wasn't a very hard task, interfaces for handling them was a different story. Most difficulties revolved around the interfaces for handling the ship. Or rather lack of them. There was no language to be found, no interface as humans know it.
Because of that, nobody could translate anything, because there was nothing to translate. The way aliens communicated with either themselves or their technology was a mystery.
Due to the problems with Substance and its infectious nature faced during boarding, the researched class was temporarily named "Bubonix", though:
Bubonix class Battlecruiser 26,987 tons 826 Crew 14,910.3 BP TCS 540 TH 9,300 EM 0
17230 km/s Armour 14-80 Shields 0-0 HTK 175 Sensors 24/24/0/0 DCR 9 PPV 162
Maint Life 0.97 Years MSP 3,107 AFR 647% IFR 9.0% 1YR 3,193 5YR 47,902 Max Repair 775.6 MSP
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Gas Core AM Drive EP1550 (6) Power 9300 Fuel Use 56.80% Signature 1550 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,600,000 Litres Range 30.5 billion km (20 days at full power)
60.0cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (1) Range 600,000km TS: 17,230 km/s Power 94-10 RM 80,000 km ROF 50
40cm C10 Far X-Ray Laser (11) Range 600,000km TS: 17,230 km/s Power 42-10 RM 80,000 km ROF 25
Beam Fire Control R600-TS10000 (3) Max Range: 600,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s 98 97 95 93 92 90 88 87 85 83
Gas-core Anti-matter Power Plant R12 (12) Total Power Output 140.4 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS264-R98 (1) GPS 42336 Range 264.9m km Resolution 98
Thermal Sensor TH1-24 (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 38.7m km
EM Sensor EM1-24 (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 38.7m km
ECCM-5 (1) ECM 50
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
10th August 2229, 15:32:20, an independent starship from Barnard's Army warps into Alpha Centauri at high orbit of Gaia:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826137856002097252/b1.PNG)
Three Overseers that happened to be stationed in the system detect the threat and bombard it with missiles. Initially enemy anti-missile defences held due to small volley being launched to conserve ammunition, but when larger swarm followed, it stood no chance:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826138169984024626/b2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826138215228375071/b3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826138240100204544/b4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826138266197164152/b5.PNG)
High alert is announced across Alpha Centauri system and proper combat fleets are on their way to prepare for any incoming assaults. The most important news, though, were about the lifepod launched automatically from the exploding ship. A total of twenty three alive alien beings have been recovered from it.
Prisoners were transported to a space station in Gliese 382, dedicated into research of the Substance. Personnel working on it has come up with a new material that can be used to store Substance in relative safety - its composition doesn't allow the goo to consume it too fast, giving more than enough time to add additional layers to reinforce the container and evaporate the excess mass with lasers. Every day a technician simply wraps Substance storage with an additional layer and fires a laser gun at it for a few seconds to destroy the Substance that has grown since the previous day, making its amount constant.
15th August 2229, a group of programmers successfully links the devices inside aliens' heads with human-readable interfaces. Communication attempts begin.
22th August 2229, it is discovered the devices, while complex in design, are trivial in concept. They are simply cybernetic brain interfaces. Surprisingly, translation of the language in which communicates are being recorded is a piece of cake for the latest xenolinguistic software. Almost as if the enemy wanted someone to crack their messages open. It doesn't take long to figure out why. First official communication with the alien species begins:
WORLD GOVERNMENT: Who are we speaking to?
ALIENS: We are the representatives of Yagidrerc Hive Mind.
G: According to our knowledge, your psionic activity seems pretty dead. How could you be a hive mind then? Is it simply because of these devices?
YAGIDRERC HIVE MIND: No. Our species evolved mental communication naturally. We formed hive minds since first historical chronicles were created. And who are we speaking to, if we may ask?
G: It is us who ask questions here. We know about your hostility. We will tell you nothing. Just because we're talking with you instead of putting laser beams through your heads doesn't mean we don't understand the nature of the Dark Forest.
Y: Dark Forest? We know it too. Every sentient race either learns about it or goes extinct before. But we are not hostile and we can prove it. We simply aren't a threat to you.
G: What kind of cheap bullsmeg is that? Just because we pulled our fleet out of Barnard's Star after first encounter you think that low of our civilisation?
Y: We aren't a threat to you. Substance is. It's a deadly weapon, playing according to the rules of Dark Forest, sentient in itself.
G: Explain what you have on mind.
Y: From the day our ancestors looked at the night sky and knew that stars were giant balls of burning gas just like our own sun and many worlds orbited them we were thrilled at the thought of meeting representatives from these worlds. Later our mathematicians predicted the Dark Forest theory, but our society rejected it. We sent our diplomatic message across the space via gravitational waves, but got no reply. Several years later a photonic missile pierced through our star at near-light speed, inducing a supernova. Nothing in our home system survived, from a microorganism to the planets themselves.
G: What happened later?
Y: Our other worlds were terrified. We desperately tried to prepare for the incoming invasion, but how does one prepare against such predator when one has only a bunch of lasers and railguns fitted with fusion warheads, but they have missiles which can single-handily annihilate a solar system? But then we stomped across the ruins of an ancient civilisation, predating our existence by eons. Thanks to their sensor technology we were able to build a defence early warning system directly in hyperspace, capable of sending us warnings about any near-light speed objects long before their arrival, giving us way more time to react than if we relied on conventional detection.
G: How did you benefit from knowing about the threat early on? Would you have enough time to evacuate targeted systems?
Y: That's where Substance comes into play. Shortly before discovery of the ancients, our explorers encountered a strange world devoured in grey goo just as you know it. We saw how it chewed through basically every material, faster or slower, but it always did the job. We were not aware of its sentience back then, we didn't even check it properly, treating it like just some sort of microorganisms. Our brightest minds came up with this idea.
G: How did you intend to use Substance to defend against photonic missiles?
Y: You probably remember those white ships shooting substance missiles at you. That was the secret of our defences. We planned to splash Substance directly over the incoming missiles and watch them getting consumed. Think about it as of meteor burning in the atmosphere before surface impact. However, we needed to detect them before light reflected from them came back to us, otherwise Substance wouldn't have enough time to do its job. That's where ancient sensor technology came into play.
G: So what went wrong? Why is substance all over your ships, your bodies, everything belonging to you?
Y: It all started with a simple containment breach in a remote system on the rim of our territory. Outposts storing the Substance were all consumed before our fleets could arrive. But then the true horror unfolded. The Substance was intelligent. After killing only a few of us it realised it could do something better with us. More efficient. It consumed large parts of our bodies, way larger than needed to kill us, but at the same time replaced most of our tissues and organs, serving as our life support. It took control of our bodies, cut out our cybernetics, detached us from the hive mind, used us as carriers for itself, as if we were robots.
G: And then, according to your story, instead of just eradicating your race, took control over it after many battles and began expanding, playing according to the rules of Dark Forest?
Y: Exactly. But in some way our true selves survived. Substance doesn't have communication skills as we know it. It wasn't aware of the functionality of our brain implants, at least the one related to language and speech. Because it didn't understand it, it deactivated it, effectively putting us in a coma. But now you started tinkering with it and succeeded at turning ourselves on.
G: How can we know you didn't make this all up to disguise as the "good guys" and strike when we'll be most vulnerable?
Y: Because according to the Dark Forest theory, hiding hostile intentions is pointless because the other side will assume them anyways. Just like you do. It'd work only for primitive civilisations that aren't aware of the true colours of the universe, but then using it is still pointless because they aren't problematic to destroy. Besides, right now you're our only hope for liberating us from the Substance. And if you still don't believe us, let us share what we know about our ships and space warfare. We don't know everything, of course, as we were in coma when Substance was using us as carriers to go on with its goals and development, but what we do know, we will share. Lets start from the orders you can retrieve from our cybernetics. We were tasked with scouting the system before an invasion that'll happen ten days of your time later. We'll share exact coordinates at which they'll leave hyperspace.
-
WAR OF POISONED MINDS
1st September 2229, 8:05:41, supposed invasion of Alpha Centauri was about to begin. Not trusting Yagidrerc, government placed only a patrolling squadron of Overseers at designated spot just for the sake of checking it out, meanwhile bulk of forces was left orbiting Gaia. Many other fleets were also prepared, waiting across Core Worlds, ready to engage whatever might warp into their systems of operation.
1st Septembet 2229, 8:14:59, a group of four ships leaves hyperspace right where they were supposed to according to the information received. It doesn't look like an invasion fleet, though. Patrolling squadron opens fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826169112240848957/f1.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826169156973101096/f2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826169206948102144/f3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826169243259240538/f4.PNG)
First out of the four ships is destroyed, but the enemy suddenly begins to pick up speed. Overseers, not having more fuel to accelerate beyond a safe limit of a bit over 12000 km/s to have enough fuel left to come to a full stop and manoeuvre for a bit, stand no chance at escaping. Commander of the squadron prepares an emergency FTL jump and sets course at the nearby wormhole to Luyten 726-8 in case it fails. Missiles tear apart the second ship:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826170088708636702/f5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826170104613830696/f6.PNG)
1st September 2229, 8:15:18, after a successful escape Overseers don't travel to a different system, but thanks to advanced and fast calculations immediately leave warp bubble near Gaia, trying to regroup with main forces. It detects another scout, but it disappears from the radar before an interception attempt could be mounted:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826172710546702366/enc1.PNG)
It turned out the enemies captured from escape shuttles were talkative as well and confirmed the information given by previous group. On top of that they warned about a larger fleet concentrating in Luyten 726-8, part of it moving in to secure the wormhole humanity has built to link it with Alpha Centauri. After already knowing Yagidrerc use hyperdrives as well, government checks it out by using HyperSensors to detect any hyperspace movement within the sector and indeed multiple signatures en route from Barnard's Star to Luyten 726-8 appear.
1st September 2229, 8:53:30, a large fleet of Vaccines, Woodpeckers MkII and Judgements led by a command squadron of Executors crosses the Alpha Centauri-Luyten 726-8 wormhole only to be immediately attacked:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826194210973679716/battle1.PNG)
Human forces pull back through a wormhole into Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile enemy does the same and immediately flies away from the wormhole:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826194456058658826/battle2.PNG)
Combat fleet accelerates in opposite direction to separate itself from the deadly close contact with enemy as much as possible, but Yagidrerc ships turn around and wait with opening fire till it's all close and personal:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826194791771013200/battle3.PNG)
Having reached a very high velocity, enemy finds it a bit difficult to adjust the course when humans pull their ships "up" (or down... or in any other direction, depending from point of reference), and, without wasting time to slow down first, fire their engines, gaining velocity in "diagonal" direction as well, passing over the enemy. Once directly "above", massive force of Vaccines and Executors opens fire, nullifying three ships at an instant:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826195663699574804/battle4.PNG)
1st September 2229, 8:55:14, humanity finds itself flying back towards the wormhole, meanwhile remnants of the defeated squadron try to escape through it. Humanity follows them, landing in Luyten 726-8 once again.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826196393651339284/battle5.PNG)
Humanity attempts to destroy the ships before their higher acceleration will pull them out of effective firing range. Last ship successfully crosses the line behind which lasers and particle beams are no longer effective, but a small volley launched from a Judgement finishes it off, leaving no surviving enemy spacecraft:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826196869444010064/battle6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826196894308630570/battle7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826196910154973254/battle8.PNG)
1st September 2229, 9:02:28, another combat squadron pops up on the sensors:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826199243915657216/battle9.PNG)
To better deal with faster enemies, two squadrons of executors, one of three ships and the other one of two, detach from the rest of the fleet, trying to bait enemy into ambush. The smaller squadron is fired upon with lasers and railguns:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826200479704154172/battle10.PNG)
1st September 2229, 9:03:20, two Executors break formation and split, one of them is followed by the enemy which keeps a distance of only a few hundred kilometres, meanwhile the other one slows down, ending up behind the enemy:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826201033591488513/battle11.PNG)
Remaining executors try to move sideways, circling around the bait ship and blasting enemy into oblivion, but Yagidrerc sense the danger and attempt to escape. An additional two ships are detected further in deep space, too:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826201774770749511/battle12.PNG)
Fortunately for human forces, before the enemy can break contact, Executors lock targets and destroy most of the fleet, though a few ships survive and jump into hyperspace:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826202095580479498/battle13.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826202113129447433/battle14.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826202131823460402/battle15.PNG)
The invasion of Alpha Centauri has been successfully repelled. While the forces thrown for the attack seem small and weak compared to the Human Space Navy, it is assumed it was a result of scouting missions - before the information about the danger has been received, the three Overseers on a routine patrol of Core Worlds were the only military presence in the system at a moment. It is estimated they'd quickly either escape or get destroyed before reinforcements could arrive shall humanity not be prepared, which would be more than enough time to contaminate at least some inhabited planets with Substance.
-
2230s
The following months saw more and more ships leaving docks of many Core Worlds. Humanity was preparing for yet another war. War of Poisoned Minds, as it was called, as this name fitted regardless of the stance someone took on these events and the supposedly enslaved Yagidrerc Hive Mind.
Many people, especially of pacifistic alignment, believed the hapless aliens that they felt prey to another lifeform and seek freedom, completely at mercy of other civilisations Substance might come across while travelling within their bodies on boards of their starships.
Of course there were also those who did not believe, calling it nothing but a filthy plot, pointing out sacrificing a small squadron to gain trust is nothing unheard of. But the sceptics also differed from one another in terms of explaining how exactly do Yagidrerc work. Some claimed they were simply using Substance as one of their bio- and medical technologies, just like humanity itself was attempting to do it in the early experiments, some pointed out the part of the Substance controlling them might even be true, but they simply remained under its influence when speaking to interrogators.
Whatever the case, War of Poisoned Minds was a good name, incorporating all those theories and ideas under one banner, a banner of humanity ready to defend its existence at all costs.
But Yagidrerc weren't the only ones who had their minds poisoned in one way or another.
Among many, there was one movement that stood out. It consisted mostly of Dark Forest Theory supporters. They firmly believed in what the aliens said, agreeing with the argumentation that hiding evil intentions in a Dark Forest is pointless, but at the same time called for eradication of their race, because according to the theory they were a threat regardless of everything, and once liberated would sooner or later turn against their saviours.
Followers of this movement recruited itself mostly from Ender, which is exactly what sociologists warned the government during the rapid militarisation of the planet and days of Project Amazons - that it'd have an unforeseeable and harmful consequences in the future.
1st March 2230, 7:20:31, a fleet of Feeders transfering fuel from Groombridge 34 harvesters to Earth got attacked and destroyed by Yagidrerc ships as soon as it emerged from the wormhole in Luyten 726-8:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826239728114335774/enc2.PNG)
10th March 2230, 4:50:46, Guidance starship stationed in Altair to help with non-FTL craft transit in and out of the system vanished from existence before its crew realised what hit them and that they've been hit at all:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826240196651122708/enc3.PNG)
It seemed that enemy hasn't discovered the small mining colony placed in a system, but since it already detected human presence, it was only a matter of time. World Government approved a large-scale counterattack operation.
13th March 2230, 18:18:20, bulk of human forces makes a hyperspace jump into Luyten 726-8, after HyperSensors picked up multiple signatures within the system. Just like during first encounter, Yagidrerc prepared themselves to greet humans at point blank with murderous fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826242268422864906/assault1.PNG)
13th March 2230, 18:20:23, combat fleet receives an urgent request for support in Alpha Centauri system when SETI workers have detected another enemy fleet warping into the system, defenceless after the fleet concentrating there left to perform counterattack.
18th March 2230, 19:30:45, human forces jump back to Alpha Centauri, this time using a wormhole for the interstellar travel to be instant. Soon after emerging from the wormhole and setting course to Gaia, enemy fleet, according to its composition different than the one encountered in Luyten 726-8, warps right on top of them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826244114286772234/assault2.PNG)
18th March 2230, 19:42:21, seeing the might of concentrated human spaceships and estimating its (lack of) chances, enemy retreats from Alpha Centauri via wormhole into Lutyen 726-8, doing it quickly enough for humans to not be able to fire a single shot at them. Sensing an ambush, fleet admiral divides Executors into two squadrons and orders them to make a hyperspace jump to the system, near the wormhole, to check whether enemy has prepared an ambush or not.
19th March 2230, 23:14:06, Executors emerge from hyperspace in Luyten 726-8. As correctly predicted by the admiral, enemy was sitting on top of the wormhole and this time didn't even react to humans dropping from hyperspace elsewhere. Unfortunately, due to jump miscalculation, one of the two squadrons emerges too close to the enemy and receives fire that heavily damages its shields:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826245630849843290/assault3.PNG)
Thanks to the information captured Yagidrerc shared with humans, Executors were able to predict the movement of the enemy and use it to accelerate in a different direction, distancing themselves from it:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826246110821220373/assault4.PNG)
After a few checkup simulations, admiral decides it might be worth to turn back and engage enemy at closer range, burning holes through their ships:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826247021882114078/assault5.PNG)
19th March 2230, 23:17:16, rest of the fleet arrives through now unguarded wormhole and supports Executors with more firepower. Enemy is now in full retreat:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826247466113695754/assault6.PNG)
Human forces chase down the enemy, delaying the moment they'll fly beyond the effective range of human guns or just make a hyperspace jump, wreaking havoc across their ranks. Enemy shoots back, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826248032336347136/assault7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826248043951161344/assault8.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826248083209846825/assault9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826248141988823090/assault10.PNG)
19th March 2230, 23:20:34, combat fleet finishes off last of the operational ships. The system looks clear on both conventional radars and HyperSensors:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826248632222613534/assault11.PNG)
-
20th March 2230, 14:15:27, counterattack continues. Executors make a hyperspace jump into the far edges of Barnard's Star system. As expected, enemy fleet has been waiting for their approach, but thanks again to the details provided by captured enemies, Executors deceived enemy so that it haven't positioned itself exactly right on top of Executors. One of the squadrons still faces heavy fire, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826250366513053747/assault12.PNG)
Executors and enemies start circling against each other, warming up their guns:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826250645811101736/assault13.PNG)
Executors try to approach the enemy from two opposite directions and thus one of the squadrons corrects course, meanwhile enemy ships turn around and land behind human forces. Executors turn around without changing velocity and open fire, destroying first ships in the second battle with Barnard's Army:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826251044518232084/assault14.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:16:01, one of the squadrons engages in a firefight with main enemy fleet, meanwhile the other attempts to travel back to the spot it emerged from hyperspace into, attempting to bring the rest of the fleet by opening hyperspace passage for them once again:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826252603570257960/assault15.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:20:15, as the battle rages on, Executors puncture the fabric of space once again. Coordinating the risky manoeuvre with the commanders of the ships left in Luyten 726-8, they do so exactly when the rest of the ships have already achieved very high velocity, in a place they were about to fly through. As a result, main human fleet entered hyperspace while flying at a very high speed, making the interstellar travel the shortest in human history with the exceptions of wormhole usage. According to physicists such stunts were possible to pull out without too much trouble, but it had yet to be properly tested, so attempting to do so with large amount of ships traversing the fourth dimension at once when there was a firefight going on at the same time was accompanied with great risk. It all paid off, though, as enemy did not had a chance to properly prepare for arrival of reinforcements. It still managed to land several shots, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826255900661645312/assault16.PNG)
Most of enemy forces direct their attention to the main fleet, leaving the other Executors squadron behind:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826256336307093564/assault17.PNG)
Enemy ended up divided into three groups, flying in one formation:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826256560291840051/assault18.PNG)
One of them were not accelerating nearly enough, falling an easy prey to the Executors following them. A true battle was about to begin, though, as currently most of the ships from both sides focused on recharging weapons.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826256952757452800/assault19.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:30:07, heavy laser fire overloads shields of two Executors. What follows after is the horror already known - Substance missiles splash over their hulls. They both don't stand a chance against the raging biological weapon and dissolve under the goo:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826399534371962910/assault20.PNG)
Main groups of enemies catch up to the human fleet and continues to harass it. Several Vaccines report internal damage. Independent squadron of Executors overtakes the slowest group, tanks a few shots and prepares to fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826400631634788352/assault21.PNG)
Enemy splits further and each group tries to correct their course a bit. Human forces retaliate, but no ships are destroyed:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826400934371524618/assault22.PNG)
Combat fleet accelerates as much as it can, trying to run away from the enemy which, after overtaking them, turned around and flew past it, opening fire at short range:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826401238081732634/assault23.PNG)
As the enemy slows down to make another turn, one Executor remaining with main formation suffered a catastrophic antimatter reactor failure. Its crew prevented an explosion, but the reactor is too unstable enough to be able to direct power to the engines. The ship flies through the vacuum uncontrolled, not being able to do even slightest corrections, evasions or turnarounds. The crew decides to fire for as long as it can and leave the ship which will now cruise through deep space endlessly.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826403082271195176/assault24.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:35:24, main forces approach remaining squadron of Executors, which upon detecting them slows down to full stop and awaits them while continuing to destroy the "slow group":
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826403619670065152/assault25.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:35:58, lonely Executor left behind powers up all their guns and unleashes a powerful laser barrage, destroying one enemy ship and severely crippling a few other, but before all crewmembers can evacuate, counter laser fire punches right through the reactor, causing accumulated matter to collide with antimatter. A very bright explosion later only debris remains from once feared dreadnought:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826404505280053258/assault26.PNG)
Firefight continues and the enemy seems to have distanced itself from humanity:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826405061231640576/assault27.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:37:14, with laser firefight intensity decreased and the enemy being further away and maintaining rather predictable course, Judgements can easily lock onto them and fire away all the missiles they can:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826406326677536829/assault29.PNG)
Their kinetic energy alone is deadly enough, their speed makes them a tough target for enemy flak guns, their antimatter warhead feels almost like an overkill when a lot of enemy ships blow up at once:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826407117211697152/assault28.PNG)
More missiles follow, spreading death and destruction among Yagidrerc ships which explode one by one:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826407630998208532/assault30.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826407663674851358/assault31.PNG)
20th March 2230, 14:37:55, last of the enemies faces annihilation and humanity emerges victorious from the tough battle, having lost only three Executors plus a few Vaccines with damaged internal systems.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826408437977972756/assault32.PNG)
20th March 2230, 22:15:30, human navy continues their journey deeper into the Barnard's Star system. Sensors detect more enemy fleets flying around and a large signatures originating from Barnard's Star-A I, once a homeworld for "Barnard's Army":
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826408892010725376/assault33.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826408909786972211/assault34.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826409474540568576/assault35.PNG)
Most ships seem to keep their distance, but one of the fleets attempts to intercept human vessels:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826409833342304276/assault36.PNG)
20th March 2230, 22:23:47, Judgements fire away missiles when Yagidrerc ships are close enough for the targeting algorithms to predict their course with good enough accuracy:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826410139392802858/assault37.PNG)
Enemy stands no chances and is wiped out from the face of vacuum:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826410614678880271/assault38.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826410628280483870/assault39.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826410644835401728/assault40.PNG)
20th March 2230, 23:15:20, several new ships are detected:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826411196609462332/assault41.PNG)
They turn out to be unarmed and humanity quickly mops them up:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826411315778158632/assault42.PNG)
More spaceships flying around are observed as humanity pushes towards Barnard's Star-A I:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826411556270505984/assault43.PNG)
20th March 2230, 23:40:18, after destruction of a few more unarmed ships, radars detect signatures of a larger enemy fleet flying away from the system at rather low speed, possibly preparing for interstellar travel:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826411788388007946/assault44.PNG)
20th March 2230, 23:43:13, combat fleet catches up to the enemy and starts blasting them with lasers:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826412727761109042/assault45.PNG)
20th March 2230, 23:43:32, enemies suddenly change trajectory and human ships end up flying too close to them, facing railgun fire, but also damagins a few of their ships:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826413101582385192/assault46.PNG)
20th March 2230, 23:43:37, engaged fleet powers up their hyperdrives and disappears in higher dimension. Humanity moves in to clear the orbit of Barnard's Star-A I, nothing powerful lasers of Executors can't deal with:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826416691244040243/assault47.PNG)
After clearing the orbit, Judgements launch all their ordnance at the planet, hoping to thin out their surface defence grid and damage military infrastructure:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/826417417949020160/assault48.PNG)
21th March 2230, 0:15:20, after initial bombardment has been finished and the space around Barnard's Star seemed clear, humanity jumped out of the system and returned to Alpha Centauri. The operation is considered a huge military success.
-
First battles of a new war of humanity divided already divided society once again. Some were for the total annihilation of Yagidrerc Hive Mind, some against, pointing out xenobiologists and medics should focus their minds into finding a way to "cure" them, as them having good intentions could lead to a first interstellar alliance in human history, something so many hoped for when gazing into the stars for all those years it took humanity from understanding the nature of stars and planets to building first FTL drive.
A few thousands aliens surviving the battles were brought to their prison in Gliese 382. With such impressive amount of representatives of this race more large-scale experiments could be conducted.
First discovery made was the exact environmental parameters of the species - some rough estimates have been figured out before, but now, with dataset big enough to exclude many statistical errors and biases, more accurate results could've been achieved:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827286685549199360/unknown.png)
However, due to the biology of their Substance-devoured bodies, experts claimed these parameters have more to do with the homeworld of Substance rather than Yagidrerc. Information shared by prisoners seemed to confirm this.
Fleet fighting during the invasion of Barnard's Star brought interesting photos from Barnard's Star-A I:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827298126611873842/dead.png)
The planet didn't resemble itself from the photos taken by first explorers who encountered it before facing death from orbital lasers of Barnard's Army at all. It was an example of a world consumed by Substance at a final stage.
But while the photos were completely grey, closer analysis and data processing has shown pictures of alien cities on the surface, possibly all the infrastructure a war machine needed.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827299204589289512/another_world_city_matte_1920.png)
Survivors of the battle were sharing what they knew about the planet rather enthusiastically, desperately attempting to gain humanity's trust. From these revelations, a basic history of this planet could be pieced together.
The world supported diverse life and a civilisation has risen on its surface. They were about to spread across their own solar system and even transmitted some messages into interstellar space, but then they figured out the infamous Dark Forest Theory, which led them to getting paranoid about their own safety and survival, with the madness fuelled further by them sending messages into space earlier. This is why they attacked human explorers who first approached the planet, thinking they're about to get annihilated.
Later on Barnard's Star-A I fell prey to the Substance-controlled Yagidrerc Hive Mind. But the story of this planet was different than stories of many other planets conquered by the bio-weapon. During first stage of conquest, pockets of the goo were dropped from orbit and fed on the world and its inhabitants, however they consumed alien race living there together with the products of their civilisation exclusively, resisting the urge to eat every single atom of biological matter around.
After the first stage has been completed and native inhabitants were gone, it just happened that it was then when humans visited the planet for the second time, noticing the disappearance of "Barnard's Army". Later Substance began the second part of the conquest. It started something that was essentially terraforming - sure, the surface has been covered with grey goo during this stage, but it wasn't just eating everything, it was eating selectively to prepare the environment for Yagidrerc arrival.
This was vastly different from the processes observed on other planets, were the Substance was just consuming everything on its path. The difference is pretty similar to the difference between a Core World of humanity and an industrial colony, though in case of the latter it compared more to an autonomous AI-driven complex like in EZ Aquarii and less to an inhabited planet.
The aliens had also explained the shell Substance formed around itself after having leaked into vacuum of space during battles with humans - it was just another example of it using the knowledge possessed by its hosts to adapt itself to new environments, creating some sort of a "spaceship". Unfortunately, these ships, if not destroyed, could in theory drift for hundreds thousands years till reaching another solar system with more resources to consume and reproduce and potentially a new alien race to enslave.
So far stories told and knowledge shared by the prisoners were coherent, made sense and many of the claims have successfully passed multi-step verification processes led by best scientists of the known space.
Still, World Government took a careful approach and prepared for the worst by assuming a technical hypothesis of the enemy having estimated that the tactical gain from winning humanity's trust will be greater than tactical loss of humans gaining some insights into their knowledge and history.
27th April 2232, an original and controversial experiment is approved - genetics on Gaia are supposed to try to transfer consciousness of a few carefully selected Yagidrerc into a new body. For initial trials they plan to simply use an artificially-grown, brainless human body many of which were synthesised to alleviate the psychological breakdown people who had their brains transplanted into robotic shells suffered from.
The bodies will require a few genetic modifications to adapt to alien brain structure, but the task is supposed to be rather easy thanks to their brains being well-supported with cybernetic implants, to the point little biological matter is estimated to be needed for successful transplantation. A large team from across many systems gets down to work.
8th November 2232, first successful brain transfer is completed. Out of ten tests subjects, five died during the operation and three had to be put into medical coma after having their lives barely saved, but remaining two reported feeling rather well and after a month were fully adjusted to using their new body and felt comfortable enough to use it with ease. Their old, now lifeless shells have been incinerated with laser fire which later became a symbol of leaving the Substance past behind.
As weeks went by, scientists and doctors improved both the operation itself and the genetics modifications pre-applied to synthetic human bodies, making a month-long medical coma the worst case scenario for every patient. Thanks to these advancements, more Yagidrerc woke up in human's skin.
With this experiment government essentially wanted to check out feasibility of living together with the aliens without destroying each other. But while it could've ordered scientists to come up with a way to remove Substance from their original bodies while keeping them alive instead of tinkering with consciousness transfer, which could possibly be even easier, it did what it did on purpose - if the aliens were to be integrated into human society, they'd have to essentially become humans themselves. That was to nullify any differences between two species that could cause mistrust between two races, leading to a spiral of assumptions and paranoia ultimately leading to the all-out war meant to be fought until only one remains, as Dark Forest predicts.
A total of one thousand Yagidrerc, now looking in the same way as humans and having exact same environmental parameters as humans (well, except for Nibirians), were to be introduced into a human society. After many consultations with sociologists, government has chosen Kappa Tucanae-A V to become their home. The planet has been chosen because it was the last of the three "paradise worlds" to be colonised in the Utopia meaning it had the lowest population that only recently crossed one hundred millions, while at the same time citizens of Sol++ were, at least statistically speaking, the happiest people, hopefully making the introduction go more smoothly.
Yagidrerc were given a strict ban to leave the planet. Meanwhile others were allowed to visit it and interact with aliens, but only after passing psychological test determining their level of xenophobia and attitude towards Dark Forest. People officially registered as citizens of Epsilon Eridani system have been prohibited from interacting with new inhabitants and even visiting Kappa Tucanae-A V at all.
Main objects of sensation themselves reacted to the news with mixed feelings. On the one hand, they seemed grateful and called humanity "their saviours" that freed them from their tyrant, but on the other felt disappointed that they were forced to basically abandon not only their bodies, but also their culture.
But government demanded a hard line: shall they not face extinction, but merge with humanity, they should become humans themselves - otherwise they were a threat coming from Dark Forest and should be dealt with accordingly. They still seemed to prefer such fate compared to what awaited them in Substance regime.
-
Despite the threats potentially lurking around alien suns, humanity continued to explore them, and thanks to the invention of a hyperdrive and advanced scanners did so at rate yet unseen. A mission was launched into V1581 Cygni, but it was nothing but two stars circling around each other:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827328033378533386/unknown.png)
WISE 1639-6847 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827328287511412806/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827328365341048862/unknown.png)
Gliese 229 was only a lonely sun, similar to WISE 0146+4234:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827328556416892968/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827328891022344202/unknown.png)
Former Mechi space also was continued to be explored. A wormhole from HIP 19394 led explorers into Giclas 179-43 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329200036773888/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329250213625886/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329321747218492/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329366987243530/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329435513520178/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329522936315954/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827329602485354526/unknown.png)
Initially no life signs have been detected, despite promising look of liquid water on Giclas 179-43-B I, but closer investigation revealed strange lifeforms on Giclas 179-43-B II.
Vast ice sheets were populated by methane-producing microorganisms, most probably responsible for the planet's atmosphere composition, but deep within the ice explorers found complex lifeforms scattered around. However, they were all frozen, as if they hibernated. Some of them looked similar to an octopus, except they had only four tentacle-like limbs and three heads, some resembled irregular rocks, others appeared like a crossover between a snail and a small tortoise, there were also pockets of purple grass or one-legged balls of fur, to name a few. All suspended in a natural cryostasis. Many of them were found to be dead, but even more to be still alive and ready to function again in case of awakening.
The planet was initially believed to be tidally locked, but more precise measurements showed the planet does rotate, except a full day and night cycle lasts roughly one Earth century.
After many experiments, sample gatherings and simulation runs, explorers determined a strange life cycle of the planet: every once in a while, complex flora and fauna will wake up from their frozen dreams, which would happen around a sunrise, after temperature has risen enough to melt the ice allowing oceans to form, but not enough for the water to evaporate like on the scorching "bright side".
Plants and animals surviving their hibernation would then start to populate the narrow life-friendly zone and the planet would thrive there, but after a few decades, when it'd become too warm, all life would migrate deep within "dark side" and slowly freeze along the way, falling asleep again and the cycle would start all over again when the sun would reach them.
The most intriguing question was related to the phenomena of the constant hibernation process of nearly all organisms instead of them simply moving a bit, constantly staying within the habitable strip on the border of day and night. Another mystery was the area currently within the habitable zone being dead empty rather than full of alien life.
The latter question was answered rather easily when all ecosystems of the planet have been mapped - sometimes the death rate within one "emigration wave" would be so high that survivors of the hibernation wouldn't be able to find enough food and would all die off, leaving the entire world either dead or suspended for a certain time, which is exactly what must have happened by the time first humans touched the ground of this strange planet.
Another option, discovered via simulations, would be that at certain spots the terrain was formed in a way that'd make it completely flooded by melting ice during sunrise, allowing only marine life to survive. In such case no land life would emerge, with entire habitable zone flooded.
However, the former question about life not existing permanently, remained without a clear answer. Maybe at some early point in evolution there were so many beings walking around that some of them were forced to emigrate to the "dark side" and try to wait everything else out in the ice due to shrinking food supplies, eventually creating the cycle that could be observed? That was the most popular hypothesis, but it lacked solid proof. Maybe there was nothing more to it than just "it might as well just happen this way because it could".
While one Vision exploration team was busy figuring out the wonders of Giclas 179-43-B II, another one flew through a wormhole in GI 630.1 and found themselves near Zeta Doradus, a lonely star which data has once been received from Mechi robots. In its proximity there were two other wormholes and two Vision starships making for this exploration group continued their voyage through one of them, leading close to the lonely star of HIP 87938:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827339606524952646/unknown.png)
Another team travels to V577 Monoceri:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827339925283536908/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827339976621555762/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827340373479129108/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827340425102753802/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827340538915192852/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827340659912343572/unknown.png)
Limited oxygen-producing microorganism-based ecosystems are found in the pockets of ice on the surface of V577 Monoceri-B II, and even some unicellular lifeforms floating in the hellish atmosphere of V577 Monoceri-B I, but naturally most attention has been caught by V577 Monoceri-A I.
6th September 2233, 20:05:17, as soon as Vision starships close in to the V577 Monoceri-A I, sensors pick up an orbital platform firing missile volleys. At first flak guns seem to do their job, protecting humans:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/827342017096581140/prec1.PNG)
Before ships manage to slow down and then pick up velocity in a different direction, missiles blow up one of the ships. During this time the other one has successfully charged and powered up its Hyperdrive, entered hyperspace in an emergency mode and its crew lived to tell the tale.
Yet another Precursor-established outpost. As humanity desperately needed knowledge and technology of this ancient civilisation, government started to draw early stubs of taking the planet away from Precursor-made machines.
-
15th September 2233, having crossed well over one billion inhabitants and still growing rapidly, Kappa Tucanae-A II is now officially referred to as a Core World, named Aurria Prime after the megametropolis of Aurria in which almost 10% of the planet's population lives. On the same day, status of a Core World has been given to Kappa Tucanae-A V as well, even though the planet is still in development and lacks all the infrastructure and self-sustainability, let alone ability to contribute to the space industry. This exception was made because of the introduction of aliens into human society happening there. "Resis X" was the name assigned to it, referring to yet another attempt of humanity to resist the seemingly inevitable Dark Forest.
While many celebrated the arrival of alien friends (or "friends", depending who you ask), citizens of Ender organised many large-scale protests against the new policy.
Government threw its elite forces to pacify the population, but it was fairly difficult given the entire planet served in the army and had one of the toughest psionic warriors in the entire human race. These manifestations weren't even described as peaceful by their organisers, contrary to almost any other which were at least disguised as "peaceful". Many escalated into all-out firefights with security forces which resulted in the death of over ten thousands people.
While the unrest on Ender was growing, Nibirians living on eight moon of Epsilon Eridani-A VIII launched a series of counter-manifestations, showing their support for arrivals from Barnard's Star. In return, supporters of "Dark Forest approach", deemed them "weaklings" and tensions between regular humans and Nibirians also rose for the first time since the very beginning of their history.
Meanwhile society of Kappa Tucanae was more tolerant of the Yagidrerc, more relaxed and statistically less stressed over dangers that could stumble upon them in Dark Forest. Because of that, it was rather easy to maintain order, but even there incidents happened from time to time.
But racial tensions weren't the only issue humanity was facing in these strange days. In the following months Yagidrerc have demonstrated on multiple occasions their psionic abilities, surpassing everyone among human beings. They tried to show good will by using their power to play the role of a mediator during conflicts or help local police forces catch up criminals and lead investigations by easily accessing anyone's mind.
In order to put their abilities to a true test, government eventually took a few of them into the military prison on Ender's orbit, locked them in a cell with a few rioters judged by martial court after killing a police officer during a protest and tasked them with "talking into their senses".
Results were predictable, but confirmed the biggest fears of humanity. After a short mental battle, aliens successfully took control over prisoners and calmed them down. All of the guards and remaining prisoners could not recognise their behaviour after the experiment took place. That meant that Yagidrerc had no trouble with tinkering with human psychology and could override many personality traits, including the ones introduced into a patient's mentality via the toughest military psi training methods ever known to human science.
It was clear that if their numbers within human society would grow big enough, they could just take control over humanity, government included. So far they were very cooperative, but everyone knew if they tried to do something suspicious, human soldiers could just kill every last one of them without much trouble at this point, so it wasn't any argument against their potential evil intentions.
Nail to the coffin was the realisation that even if their intentions were noble and pure like they claimed, facing increasing hostility and distrust of humans, eventually they'd end up taking control over humanity for the sake of their own safety, just like it was predicted in Dark Forest Theory.
However, in such low number, even if government was to transfer consciousness of all remaining prisoners into new human bodies, they'd still not pose any significant threat to an entire civilisation. Because of that, government decided to keep them for now as a form of status quo. And its members already had a plan to use them for the greater good of human race.
Within next two months all remaining war prisoners have been freed from the Substance and integrated into humanity. All of the surviving inside human bodies Yagidrerc government had a special task: being stronger psionic warriors, they are supposed to be the ones to crack the mind of Invaders still kept alive open and learn about everything they know.
16th January 2234, Yagidrerc report having successfully breaking into Invader's heads, but for any concrete results they have to wait. "Their mentality is hell. They obfuscated their true thoughts within thousands of useless ones and we need to sort through that" - reported Yagidrerc after finishing their work.
They compared it to having successfully broken into a database, but said database having millions of records, out of which only one thousand is important and meaningful, but no search functions, forcing reader to browse the logs manually, one by one.
And so government had to wait, anxious and with mixed feelings about the whole situation, similar to many concerned citizens. With Mechi not really counting, since they were just robots that could be reprogrammed, it was the first time humanity was interacting with representatives from alien civilisation without shooting at each other.
Dark Forest casts long shadows over this fragile "alliance", but it might as well be the only reasonable step at this time - humanity risks enslavement, but from Invaders and Greys it risks total annihilation and everything that can be done to counter these threats shall be done.
-
28th January 2234, 14:58:10, human forces drop out of hyperspace near V577 Monoceri-A I, tasked out with eliminating local Precursor menace:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828654649866715226/prec1.PNG)
28th January 2234, 15:00:02, sensor detect multiple fast-moving contacts. Before Woodpeckers MkII can arm their Gauss cannons, one missile explodes on contact with Executor's shields:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828654956809551872/prec2.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828654968318853141/prec3.PNG)
More missiles are fired, but Woodpeckers pick them all. Meanwhile Executors and Vaccines destroy the planetary defence platforms in orbit without any problems. The system is secured and government has already sent Terraria stations on their way to prepare the planet.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828655361102708756/prec4.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828655373795328050/prec5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828655386772242442/prec6.PNG)
Watching out for more Precursors' legacy, good colonisation spots or any dangers incoming, Visions fly back and forth in hyperspace, quickly reaching many stars. WISE 0323-6025 doesn't have anything worth of interest around it, though:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828655966949474344/unknown.png)
GJ 1230 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828656119114366986/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828656158066999346/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828656216963678249/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828656274241224724/unknown.png)
A few asteroids float on the outer rim of the binary system and one comet seems to be passing through, but it has crossed escape velocity so in the future these few asteroids will be the only celestial objects except the two stars themselves.
Explorers jump in the vicinity of Van Biesbroeck's Star, which possesses a very interesting planetary system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657168231563354/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657244542468126/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657296628121620/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657372229533756/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657425435066408/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657480753217566/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657545295429712/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657614765162506/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657689282347028/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657772567461958/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657854923407421/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828657964319637584/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828658032351248414/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828658099539279882/unknown.png)
All planets are dead worlds, but the extreme cold mixed with hydrogen and helium-based atmosphere and water buried within crust indicate that it could be a Precursor-inhabited system at some point. Detailed research doesn't show any remnants of their civilisation, just like on Nibiru. Even if they were there, there's no way to tell.
Another Vision research team arrives in Gamma Leporis system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828659191572725801/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828659237084200960/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828659287029972992/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828659370933223475/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828659427665510420/unknown.png)
Gamma Leporis-A II looks stunning from orbit - vast oceans and only small islands (with only one bigger continent), most of them being of volcanic origin, but with most volcanoes being long inactive. Short, but thick trees grow sparingly on some of them, with blue grass and bushes in between. Unicellular and even small multicellular organisms swim across the waters, waiting for their turn to step onto the land at some point in the future, once they'll evolve to that point.
Gamma Leporis-A III is a planet far more interesting. It is the first world ever discovered that hosts ammonia-based life. At first glance there's nothing special about the planet, just an oceanic world with a few rocky formations sticking out in more shallow regions, no life to be found. But deep beneath the surface there's a plethora of marine organisms, ranging from a simple moss to more complex organisms. There are even bipedal creatures that have actually four legs - two of them are legs for walking around seabed, while the remaining two are fins for swimming around. It was observed these alien beings swim around and hunt their prey, and once they've eaten enough, their fins can no longer support their weight and they fall down to the bottom and hide in underwater caves from other predators until they burn through all their surplus calories and need to swim out for hunting once again.
Giclas 179-43 within former Mechi space appeared to contain an additional wormhole except the one used to enter the system, leading further into CC Eridani:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663355479818330/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663434589241374/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663514716438618/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663574695116840/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663638738468900/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828663718127599616/unknown.png)
Gliese 685, a system with the largest Void Wormhole discovered up to date, apart from the wormhole with which the system has been entered, contains two additional ones, linking WISE 0734-7157 and GJ 1077 stars. Both are just single stars floating around with nothing near them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828664224468434974/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828664282207748196/unknown.png)
GJ 1077 turns out to have one more wormhole, connecting it with GI 699.1 system:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828664482808594472/unknown.png)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828664593172922418/unknown.png)
-
31th May 2234, Yagidrerc living on Resis X warn government about Barnard's Star-A I that, according to the last updates they've received during their enslavement, is about to be ready for spreading Substance en-masse into different worlds. First systems designated for total conquest are GJ 1061, Luyten 726-8 and Alpha Centauri, with the two former being a mining systems while the last one becoming a new colony, capable of spreading Substance further away.
Alpha Centauri for now remains quiet, but government immediately takes action. On the very next day, 1st June 2234, 4:57:29, human forces make a hyperspace jump into Luyten 726-8, only to be immediately fired upon by a small scouting force:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828692197527388170/a1.PNG)
Most ships accelerate forward while Executors stay in the back and destroy the "opposing" force:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828692387962421338/a2.PNG)
There are no more hostile contacts in the system, so human fleet prepares a hyperspace jump into GJ 1061.
1st June 2234, 23:05:24, humanity enters GJ 1061 and the scenario from Luyten 726-8 repeats itself:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828693286235275325/a3.PNG)
Executors once again separate enemies from the assault fleet and tank some fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828693399862247434/a4.PNG)
1st June 2234, 23:07:15, Executors fly above enemies and then attack them from above with devastating fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828693966215315586/a5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828693976088313897/a6.PNG)
Firefight continues as enemy has reached higher velocity than Executors and tries to run away. Feared dreadnoughts concentrate on delivering as much payload as possible before enemy leaves the range of their lasers or jumps into hyperspace:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828694291664601179/a7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828694373154816051/a8.PNG)
1st June 2234, 23:12:31, last enemy ship blows up, its debris spinning rapidly into the void as the last hit broke it in half, making its engines give it uncontrolled rotational speed:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828694835699253268/a9.PNG)
With no more contacts in the system, humanity prepares a jump directly to Barnard's Star system, excepting the bulk of Substance invasion fleet to be still concentrating there, hoping for a relatively easy mission of search and destroy. However, on 1st June 2234, 23:28:27, a huge fleet with hundreds of ships jumps right on top of human spaceships, surrounding them from every direction. Some of the ships blaze their guns. One Executor's shields go down and it suffers from severe armor damage:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828696366934392852/a10.PNG)
What is interesting is that three hundreds of those ships don't appear to be armed, but there's something beautiful yet eerie in their shape. They look like droplets, perfectly reflecting light around it, bending stellar sky on its surface, giving visuals similar to the ones that can be observed during warp flight:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828697526419980298/render4-2k.png)
HyperSensors, capable of operating within four-dimensional space, accessed the interiors of the vessels and discovered some antimatter engines, reactors and what appeared to be a very small hyperdrive aside, interiors of the droples are filled mostly with pure Substance. This must be it, their "colonisation" fleet and its escort.
Human ships engage subluminal warp drives and speed away from their enemies, destroying several of the droplets on the spot with lasers. Most of the Substance has burned away in the laser fire or got annihilated by the energy emitted from uncontrolled matter-antimatter collisions occurring after their reactors destabilised, but some leftovers of it survived, forming spaceship-like shells around themselves until they no longer could be observed on the radars due to their small size.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828700010832723998/a11.PNG)
Humanity turns around and attempts to fly alongside enemy formation. Intense firefight goes on as the distance dwindles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828700604716023818/a12.PNG)
Enemy escort is on the losing side and lacks the firepower, but they concentrate fire on Executors. Substance missiles splash across the hull of one dreadnought, rapidly chewing through its armor as if it was food. Its crew can't even control most of the weapons and prepares to escape:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828701069373866004/a13.PNG)
Many Vaccines have their armors dented, but they protect them well from the incoming fire. Enemy escort warships disappear one by one and droplets dissolve by dozens.
1st June 2234, 23:37:40, in a desperate attempt, admiral of the fleet who just happened to be placed on the Executor currently devoured by Substance, orders another one to concentrate laser fire on his ship, vaporising all of the grey goo before it is too late. Targeted dreadnought switched off its engines and all non-essential systems, leaving online only sensors and life support and gathered entire crew in their quarters, which were the only parts of the ship still untouched by substance, so they weren't going to be targeted, waiting for the inevitable.
Powerful lasers struck its hull like severe lightnings, damaging many modules and causing decompression in several places, but the controversial and suicidal method worked. The ship was saved, the reactor hasn't been hit, all crewmembers survived with the exceptions of those sucked in by the goo and killed during missile impact, the ship was even operational, with conventional engines, subluminal warp drive and hyperdrive intact. Engineers were busy doing fieldspace repairs while enemy and Vaccines kept on exchanging fire:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828703963347681310/a14.PNG)
2nd June 2234, 0:03:38, the escort has been defeated and destroying droplets was all that was left to be done on the battlefieldspace. Officers feared they'd engage their hyperdrive and escape, but for once humanity was just lucky - being filled mostly with Substance, they didn't have much space for reactors and batteries left, so hyperdrive charging would take them too long. All three hundred droplets ended up destroyed, with their now dark remains floating around, spreading in all directions.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828705444058759218/a15.PNG)
-
The battle of GJ 1061 was over and with it over were also conquest plans of the Substance within local sector of the Milky Way, at least temporarily over. But there was hardly any time for celebration, because aliens who survived the battle, once within human bodies, reported more of similar fleets being built and estimated that within next decade a total of twenty would launch from Barnard's Star-A I.
World Government with the help of space combat experts estimated that even if those twenty fleets launched today, human space forces were strong enough to intercept them all, given they'd still receive intel from freed aliens. But if one decade was enough for them to increase production from one colonisation fleet to twenty, even if they wouldn't bring stronger escorts, combat spaceships wouldn't be able to destroy all of them simply because there would be too many, so some would slip away unharmed, conquering many new planets and rapidly expanding war industry, eventually overwhelming humanity with sheer numbers. On top of that there was also a risk factor of Yagidrerc stopping cooperating in case of ulterior motives, risk that was constantly looming over many human minds.
Early plans talked about establishing a permanent planetary blockade. Engineers from Aurria Prime proposed a new ship prototype specifically geared towards this task:
Neurotoxin class Gunship 30,000 tons 1,241 Crew 31,870.5 BP TCS 600 TH 12,000 EM 0
20000 km/s JR 8-750 Armour 16-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 232 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 70 PPV 200
Maint Life 3.23 Years MSP 26,559 AFR 180% IFR 2.5% 1YR 3,842 5YR 57,626 Max Repair 6000 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30150(8-750) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30150 tons Distance 750k km Squadron Size 8
Gas Core AM Drive EP12000.00 (1) Power 12000 Fuel Use 26.13% Signature 12000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 2,215,000 Litres Range 50.9 billion km (29 days at full power)
Particle Lance-24 (10) Range 640,000km TS: 20,000 km/s Power 75-16 ROF 25
Beam Fire Control R1000-TS20000 (1) Max Range: 1,000,000 km TS: 20,000 km/s 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90
Plasma-core Anti-matter Power Plant R160 (1) Total Power Output 160.5 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS1-R1 (1) GPS 1 Range 1.3m km MCR 113.5k km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS125-R100 (1) GPS 9600 Range 125.7m km Resolution 100
ECCM-6 (1) ECM 60
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
While particle beams weren't an effective way of dealing with Substance, these ships weren't supposed to attack droplets directly. Instead their tasks would revolve around hovering at some distance away from the planet and destroying any warship attempting to leave the planet or even under construction in the orbital shipyards, effectively disarming the entire planet, maybe even simply directly destroying shipyards themselves and bombing ground targets.
To help with accuracy, computer scientists wrote an AI-driven, Yagidrerc interface-compatible hacking application that could cheat planteary defence grid of Barnard's Star-A I into thinking human ships were just small asteroids or even friendly ships, severely crippling their targeting and allowing Neurotoxins to come closer and aim carefully with clear target visibility.
Particle accelerators used to power ship's weapons were also an experimental technology - apart from their standard functioning, they were supposed to come equipped with an alternate firing mode that'd produce and utilise antiparticles, making an already deadly weapon even deadlier. In case of a miss, casually sending antimatter at near-lightspeed into deep space could end up horrible, hence this mode could only be used when aiming at ground targets or with the planet behind space target so that in case of miss all the antiparticles would impact the hostile planet instead of God knows what God knows in how distant future.
With the latest propulsion systems optimisations applied, this gunship could accelerate to speeds far exceeding the top observed speed of enemy ships, so even if something went wrong, safely withdrawing from hostile territory wouldn't be a problem. On top of that it came equipped with a small, compact, but very powerful and energy-efficient Hyperdrive.
Named Neurotoxin because it was supposed to completely paralyse the Yagidrerc network established within Barnard's Star, dozens of these gunships were expected to completely block hostile world before the decade ends. Thanks to this, the only option enemy would've left would be to send the droplets unguarded, but in such case a second blockade consisting of Executors or maybe even their improved versions by then would easily deal with them.
Government initially approved the plan, but economic analysts warned that according to the blockade fleet specifications they briefly skimmed through, it'd be one of the biggest, if not the biggest military investment of all time, severely impacting the economy of Core Worlds and putting a great burden on the industry for years to come. On the other hand, military advisors kept warning that if the fleet was to be of any smaller size, the risk of something slipping through the blockade would rise above 0%, which was unacceptable if the operation was to achieve what it ought to achieve.
Months went by and the final decision was yet to be made. During these months scientists at famous Cydonia research facility that once gave birth to interstellar travel announced a breakthrough: after all those years they eventually were able to develop a first working cloaking device that could be put on a ship to hide it from hostile eyes.
This device worked on two levels: firstly it was made from awesome heat-sinking materials, allowing ship using it to redirect all the heat generated be engines and power plants to be stored internally for prolonged periods of time instead of ending up radiated outside, making it completely invisible for thermal sensors. Secondly, in case enemy used detection based on gravitational waves, HyperSensors or whatever alien technology it might came up with, part of the device was a special kind of Alcubierre Drive, which instead of simply allowing the ship to go faster, was supposed to manipulate space around the ship in such a manner that it'd nullify the gravitational signature emitted by the ship, making the space around it look flat (or curved as it should be, for example near a planet) as if nothing was flying there. A first prototype of the ship soon followed the breakthrough:
Shadow class Stealth Scout 20,000 tons 754 Crew 14,758.7 BP TCS 28 TH 1,280 EM 0
20000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 167 Sensors 800/480/0/0 DCR 82 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.09 Years MSP 23,983 AFR 62% IFR 0.9% 1YR 1,546 5YR 23,194 Max Repair 9000.0000 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Morale Check Required
J20500(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 20500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Gas Core AM Drive EP8000.00 (1) Power 8000.0 Fuel Use 16.38% Signature 1280.0000 Explosion 16%
Fuel Capacity 728,000 Litres Range 40 billion km (23 days at full power)
EM Sensor EM20-480 (1) Sensitivity 480 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 173.2m km
Thermal Sensor TH20-800 (1) Sensitivity 800 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 223.6m km
ELINT Module (6) Sensitivity 84 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72.5m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 7.00% of normal
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
-
Without having anything to lose, after extensive testing a lone Shadow has been sent into Barnard's Star to spy upon the enemy. Its mission went well and the scout returned safe and sound, but brought dire news with itself.
War industry on Barnard's Star-A I was accelerating. Not many ships have been built yet, but according to data brought by Shadow, this was about to change within the following year or two, when shipyards should explode with thousands of droplets and dozens of warships, leaving their home system and flying into all kinds of directions, spreading Substance across the stars.
There was no time to waste. World Government started a top secret NOVA Project, with its management set up on Ender. Having most of Mechi processing power at their disposal, scientists and engineers working on the project were supposed to invent and build a prototype of a "doomsday device" that could be used to safely and effectively wipe out all life from across Barnard's Star-A I's surface, ensuring humanity won't share the Yagidrerc fate in the near future. The project quickly became referred to as "first true Dark Forest Move of Humanity".
3rd December 2235, NOVA Project has been completed successfully. War engineers managed to construct a NOVA bomb, a powerful explosive containing a cluster of the most powerful antimatter warheads ever created, triggered by a detonation of a conventional, small-sized fusion bomb. The initial reaction was supposed to accelerate each warhead in a different direction (possibly some of them burrowing in the ground) similar to how a frag grenade works. After some time magnetic traps holding antiparticles separated would inevitably suffer damage and stop working, causing antimatter to collide with matter and unleashing a force so powerful and deadly that no words exist to describe it.
First tests of the bomb were supposed to be conducted directly on a hostile planet, there was no reason to try to destroy something else with it. In case it wouldn't work, simply a new, improved version could be detonated. Alongside the doom-bringing device, a bomber supposed to deliver it to the target was also prototyped:
Doomrider class Bombardment Cruiser 30,000 tons 1,111 Crew 11,934.5 BP TCS 600 TH 12,000 EM 0
20000 km/s JR 8-750 Armour 8-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 180 Sensors 800/480/0/0 DCR 60 PPV 159
Maint Life 2.11 Years MSP 12,259 AFR 240% IFR 3.3% 1YR 3,696 5YR 55,436 Max Repair 6000 MSP
Magazine 1,021
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30150(8-750) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30150 tons Distance 750k km Squadron Size 8
Gas Core AM Drive EP12000.00 (1) Power 12000 Fuel Use 26.13% Signature 12000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 1,568,000 Litres Range 36 billion km (20 days at full power)
Size 99 Missile Launcher (1) Missile Size: 99 Rate of Fire 40
Size 1 Missile Launcher (60.0% Reduction) (100) Missile Size: 1 Rate of Fire 40
Missile Fire Control FC28-R1 (2) Range 28.7m km Resolution 1
NOVA Missile Defence Breaker (500) Speed: 151,600 km/s End: 1.7m Range: 15.6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 1970/1182/591
NOVA Bomb (5) Speed: 151,515 km/s End: 1.4m Range: 12.8m km WH: 666 Size: 99 TH: 1010/606/303
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH20-800 (1) Sensitivity 800 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 223.6m km
EM Sensor EM20-480 (1) Sensitivity 480 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 173.2m km
ECCM-6 (2) ECM 60
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Missiles used to deliver the payload were capable of accelerating to over half the speed of light. Because of that, even one missile impacting on the planetary surface could destabilise its tectonics over a large area (there's no need to talk about wiping out everything from the surface at this point). And every ship was supposed to be carrying five of them.
A squadron of eight Doomriders in total has been formed. Elite soldiers from Ender were picked to man the vessels, toughened by the psionic bombardment stronger than the one used to punish the worst of the worst criminals during their sentence. Eight ships, that made the total number of NOVA bombs to be dropped reach 40. Even according to the most pessimistic simulations (although using the term "pessimistic" in this context would be controversial for many citizens) it was a vast overkill. But government wanted to be sure that not a single atom of the Substance survives.
17th April 2236, 12:00:14, on boards of eight Doomriders and two squadrons of Neurotoxins escorting them, also eight ships each, nobody spoke a word when the 24 ships emerged from hyperspace near Barnard's Star. Not a word.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828748821164720158/nova1.PNG)
17th April 2236, 12:00:25, radars quickly took notice of an enemy squadron. Neurotoxins approached it from two different directions:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828749126748864522/nova7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828749136664592444/nova8.PNG)
Enemy attempted to chase down one of the squadrons, but it just accelerated forwards and turned their guns around, blasting enemy on its tail. Meanwhile the second squadron was closing in from the other side:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828749363089375232/nova9.PNG)
Enemy returned fire, but at such range their lasers weren't very powerful. Meanwhile particle beams pierced through their armor like it was made out of cardboard:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828749563510259772/nova10.PNG)
Particle beams kept pounding on hostile ships. They vanished one by one, hapless and surrounded, without hope, without enough time to power up hyperdrives.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828750196812546058/nova11.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828750208384630809/nova12.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828750219722096650/nova13.PNG)
17th April 2236, 12:54:30, NOVA forces approach Barnard's Star-A I, planetary defence grid aside, unguarded after all the defeats it suffered from humanity's hands:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828750950650740736/nova2.PNG)
17th April 2236, 12:55:39, nobody spoke a word when bazillion of safety modes have been switched off and High Admiral himself pressed the final button for launch. First three NOVA bombs left the missile launchers, accompanied by three hundred decoy missiles. At this point, the fate of the planet was sealed and nobody could do anything about it.
17th April 2236, 12:55:41, Barnard's Star-A I roared in thunder when NOVA bombs exploded across it, heralding an inevitable doom for every organism that happened to be either on the surface or in orbit. The light emitted was so bright it made even the sun fade away. It was still safe to look at via the proper filters applied either into protective suit or bionic eyes, but none of the people on board of the 24 ships dared to take a look.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828752249743343616/nova4.PNG)
And yet it wasn't enough, the bombardment carried on until all 40 bombs smashed against the surface with half the speed of light:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828752639411617873/nova5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828752654212923402/nova6.PNG)
After the space dust settled in, first soldiers peeked through the telescopes. The planet itself existed, but its surface was no more. Ground was shaking violently, thousands of volcanoes erupted and lava has already drowned the significant portion of the surface. Barnard's Star-A I was emitting a sick, hellish, blood-red glow, especially from its night side.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/828753797974065242/Mustafar.png)
-
After the deed was done, 28744 soldiers that served in NOVA fleet were free to do whatever they pleased. Over half of them immediately retired. "Free to do whatever they pleased" included openly talking about what happened since government wasn't stupid to think destruction on a planetary scale happening only a few light years from Earth could be kept in secret forever, so it only took care of hiding the project before realisation and after the last stage was completed it just didn't care anymore.
It wasn't by accident that a huge military contingent headed towards Kappa Tucanae and was on its way when NOVA bombs fell, government knew the worst riots would happen there. Over three thousands protesters and twenty soldiers pacifying them died just in the first way, and it was only worse from there.
System once described as paradise has turned into hell. Some people even straight-out moved away to other Core Worlds.
While many people were busy assembling some weak-ass anti-governmental revolution that had no chance of ever succeeding because strong psionic control government maintained over its army was impenetrable for soldiers to join the rebellion, and many others were busy tracking down all the rebels and sentencing them to a lifetime of psionic imprisonment, barely anyone noticed what was happening with Yagidrerc who has become members of human society before the apocalypse for their Substance-enslaved brothers and sisters came.
They didn't seem to be either angry, stressed or shocked when the news reached them, maybe a little sad if anything. To much surprise of both government and rebels, they did not join the revolution, didn't attempt to do or question anything. Eventually one of them said words that'd echo across minds of many for years to come:
"We are one. Out of many, we form one. We understand the nature of Dark Forest, we've seen the end of the world before. Yet before you bombed the planet Substance has chosen for us to settle down, you took some of us and integrated into your society. We are one. For as long as some of us survive, we all survive, forming one mind that agrees with every one of us and with whom we all agree. We knew all your thoughts before yet we did not spoke, because we knew that was the ultimate price we had to pay. Now that Substance is cleansed from this part of the Milky Way, we are no longer a threat to you. Dark Forest claimed its victims, but we walk among you, alive. Destruction of this world was the last thing that was needed to convince you and we understood it. We knew about it even before we met you, when we were watching Substance consuming us, when we hoped that maybe someone out there will help us before our consciousness switched off. And now our dreams came true, two alien civilisations form one society, even if far from perfect, despite curse of the Dark Forest foreshadowing our every step. We all knew that a destruction on a planetary scale would be the most realistic price to pay for achieving what we wanted to achieve and now we have just achieved it. We are one. We are the Yagidrerc Hive Mind."
The message from Yagidrerc to humans seemed surprising at first, but many sociologists later claimed their approach actually makes some weird sense and that they did, in fact, achieve what they wanted - a peaceful communication and interstellar alliance - even if they had to pay a horrible price for it. Rebellious attitude became less and less popular as the famous words were spreading across many planets. Meanwhile government also released a special matrix module allowing everyone to take part in a "what if NOVA bombs never dropped" simulation, showing predicted spread of Substance and measures that could be taken before it'd be too late, for example bombing Gaia shall the Substance successfully reach it when droplets leave Barnard's Star before humanity can block the problematic planet. Support for the rebellion was dropping daily and situation begin to stabilise again.
With the local Substance threat taken care of, even though it certainly exists and spreads somewhere else in the universe, government could focus its efforts on the next points on "things that want to kill off humanity" checklist.
And it took more interest in Invaders once again, shortly after integrated aliens announced they now know what's going on here. They dumped all the important info they've gathered, however started with a really unusual news: the cold-blooded, cruel Invaders turned out to be quite poetic race. Across their minds echoed songs and poems from ancient days, when they just reached the capacity to travel across the stars and conquered a galaxy in which they were born:
They seemed to have no problem with Dark Forest and expanded quickly, destroying civilisations as they traversed space. As their scientific knowledge and technology expanded, they adapted a new ways of doing it more effectively while leaving no resources behind.
Soon World Government learned about their true approach to galactic conquest and destruction, done many times before. First they did it with their own galaxy, although it was very easy because by the time they achieved that level of civilisation development, there was barely any alien intelligent life left hiding across few systems here and there, then they did it in all galaxies from their cluster.
Their latest war doctrine presented as follows: first, they'd open several Void Wormholes, each in a different regions from the galaxy. From there, their scouts would get deployed and start the hard work of linking all the stars via wormholes. In case of encountering an intelligent life, these scouts carried enough firepower to swarm the enemy and wipe them out, but these local encounters would disrupt the wormhole creation in a local area for a while.
Once every single star would be a part of the network, Invaders would proceed with the next stage of galactic invasion. They'd bring on devices capable of manipulating matter at an atomic level, sucking out literally every atom out of entire galaxy, with which the wormhole network helped a lot as it granted an easy and fast transfer of matter across interstellar distances, until there was literally nothing left. Later all that matter would be used to help Invaders expand and fuel their cosmic war. This was the dark truth behind the creation of Bootes Void, back in some distant past a cluster of galaxies where Invaders evolved.
There was more to it, though. Very often the process of sucking out matter would start earlier, with the remnants of defeated civilisations being selectively picked up until there was nothing left from them, leaving only the natural environment of a given planet. And in case some opposing race turned out to be powerful enough to defeat "unarmed scout fleets", disturbing wormhole creation in the long run, eventually Invaders would send a proper battle fleets that'd prepare ground space for matter manipulators to arrive and finish off the enemy by literally disintegrating them into single particles.
Some officials hearing these reports started openly expressing their fear when Yagidrerc talked about these matter-manipulating devices and what was yet to come for humans who dared to send "unarmed scouts" away. Nobody could imagine the scale of their firepower, well remembering the three Bootes Wars fought so fiercely during the second of which humanity came way too close to having its entire space forces wiped out to the last spaceship, and all the trouble was caused by "scouts" that, compared to what Invaders called "warships" were "unarmed".
On top of that a large portion of Invader's thoughts revolved around Precursors. They were the most advanced civilisation that fell prey to them. Initially encountered in the space that now belongs to Bootes Void, they have been found and fought in many other regions of the universe, too.
Precursors were the ones to save Milky Way (albeit only temporarily), and many other galaxies by simply destabilising and closing all the Void Wormholes, cutting Invaders off, or at least making it difficult for them to travel to the galaxy en masse.
But while Invaders eventually killed every single one of them, many of their technologies and ruined complexes, facilities or even entire cities remained. They were not sucked out like remnants of other civilisations by matter manipulators unless studied extensively by the brightest minds among Invaders.
Shortly before extinction, Precursors were up to something, but Invaders could not figure out as to what it actually was, but grew paranoid about it and tried their best to uncover this secret.
They were also afraid, afraid of Greys cruising around with flying saucers. Not much could be learned about these aliens from them, though. For them they were simply a source of true fear, possibly the race of Invaders was never afraid of something more than it was of Greys - a threat they could not precisely describe, but something so powerful it threatened the very survival of a civilisation capable of sucking out every atom from many galaxies at once at their leisure.
World Government already knew how the fourth Bootes War will end. Let alone first contact with Greys. Dark Forest knew, like Mechi said back in the day, and uncovering the ultimate secret of Precursors was humanity's last hope.
20th July 2237, Pandoras finish terraforming of Xi Bootis-B II and terraforming fleet swaps places with colonisation fleet. People arriving in Xi Bootis are tasked with rapid expansion of mining industry so that a stable stream of resources will soon begin to flow towards Mechi Prime, a planet meanwhile becoming an important space industry center.
Having confirmed the big scary Invaders' fleet is coming, government has put on hold all the other colonisation plans, including HIP 9786-A III and V577 Monoceri-A I. Reasoning behind this mentioned the current amount of resources in colonised space available compared to the exponentially increasing difficulty of protecting all worlds in case of large-scale invasion.
In order to gain insight into the ruins of Precursors, government figures out mental power of Yagidrerc can be used again. Initial estimates show their psionic skills are good enough to require only a small team of them to break into the sealed parts of facilities, compared to an all-out colony hosting millions of people.
It doesn't take them long to do what needs to be done and soon many scientists can begin assimilating all the invaluable knowledge.
For physicists it is a great opportunity to learn more about multidimensional planes. Hyperspace isn't the end - it's just the beginning. Planes with five and more dimensions do exist and can be reached in a similar way humanity breached into hyperspace - it just requires far more energy, but most importantly a four-dimensional version of FTL drive. The device itself must be four-dimensional, though, if it was to bend or puncture four-dimensional space to acces the five-dimensional one.
While this in itself wasn't something unknown as such theories were widespread among scientists for decades by now, it served as a way to prove the correctness of them and adjust them in places where mistakes have been made. Also theoretical knowledge didn't come without practical applications. Schematics and blueprints recovered talked about a new source of power: "vacuum reactor". The complex machinery worked by constantly creating small, unstable black holes trapped inside a vacuum chamber and siphoning the sheer power obtained from their evaporation. This source of energy could easily generate enough power to meet the requirements for accessing the fifth dimension.
If humanity was to boost their FTL travel by taking a shortcut while already in hyperspace, which would translate to mind-blowing effective speeds in normal space, hyperspace version of an FTL drive was far more problematic because it wasn't a matter of just generating more power. To build a four-dimensional object was beyond the current level od development humanity has reached so far, let alone this object being a complicated device capable of basically doing magic stuff.
While pushing beyond hyperspace was out of the question, building a black hole starship was a more realistic goal for further research. It is theorised that if a war fleet powered by such engines was to be built at some point, it'd be capable of reaching anywhere within known space pretty much instantly, making it very easy to engage any threat attacking any human colony and outmanoeuvre it (well, or at least come on equal terms with it should the enemy also posses this technology) in combat.
Some experts also estimate that this might be the same technology that was used to power and accelerate photonic missiles Yagidrerc once faced.
When the topic of these doomsday devices is brought up, government prioritises research into systems capable of defending humanity from them. First step will be establishing a HyperSensors-based monitoring array, nothing too complicated to develop. After that, two alternate paths will be followed at the same time.
One of them will be another attempt of using Substance as an active anti-missile weapon. Enriched by Yagidrerc experiences and reinforced by learning from their mistakes, the task should progress smoothly. During research and testing of new anti-missiles a squadron of Executors will guard the facilities in which it'll be conducted, ready to immediately evaporate every bit of it should the Substance "try something" and scientists fail to contain it. This decision was concluded from the Substance enslaving Yagidrerc mainly because they lacked the capability to destroy it within first seconds after it broke loose, and Executors were a patch applied to this mistake.
Second path was directly related to vacuum reactor and black hole starship research - on paper it was nothing but building a counter-photonic missiles, also coming very close to the speed of light and launching them directly at incoming ordnance while it was still far enough, triggering cosmic fireworks somewhere in interstellar space for everyone to watch and enjoy the breathtaking sight.
With the War of Poisoned Minds coming to an end and no immediate dangers in vicinity and another breakthroughs in science to be seen thanks to learning more from the Precursors, World Government could take time to look into different projects, not directly related to building first and only line of defence against alien menace.
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."
Having that on mind, another mission into Bootes Void entered preparation stage. This time, equipped with HyperSensors and Hyperdrives, humanity could really hope to track Invaders down once inside and bring concrete intel back.
-
THE LAST SUNSET OF HUMANITY
2240s
1st January 2241, right as the new decade begins, a lonely Shadow crosses a Void Wormhole in Gliese 685 and once inside Bootes Void, engages hyperdrive and pierces through the fabric of space, accessing four-dimensional plane. The decisive mission finally begins.
HyperSensors pick up dozens of trails, just like the first time they were used. Shadow's captain picks up one of them and follows it, deeper into the void.
Days go on, with each one of them hundreds of light years worth of normal space are skipped. Alongside the already noticed leftovers of FTL drive usage, random points suddenly light up on radars, some closer, some further and new lines are being drawn as the journey goes on. Bootes Void is full of life. Full of hostile life.
20th March 2241, 14:17:52, FTL communication arrays pick up an unidentified message, even though the closest mark of Invaders' activity lies well over three hundreds light years away. It is of Invaders' origin - that's for sure, but despite all the knowledge gathered, translation module struggles with it. It contains words previously not encountered and can't figure out their meaning using the ones already deciphered.
As it could be anything from identification or status report request, through regular daily update up to a new order being issued, Shadow's crew has no way to tell and the captain decides it's best to ignore the message and keep fingers crossed nothing blows up.
20th March 2241, 14:35:27, a blinding light flares in front of ship's windows. Gravitational sensors detect a strong disturbance in the fabric of space, currently torn out in the spot where the light has flashed.
20th March 2241, 14:36:58, Shadow appears to be pulled out by a previously non-existent gravitational force. Ship's pilots attempt to change course to fly past it and pull a slingshot manoeuvre, escaping from its sphere of influence.
20th March 2241, 14:38:29, despite ship's engines burning on the verge of overheating and everyone doing their best, Shadow fails to escape the anomaly and is sucked right into it, gaining a crazy rotational speed alongside, with which the artificial gravity field struggles to keep up with, causing many people to bump their heads against the walls or fall down from the floor which suddenly became a ceiling. Suddenly everyone realises they're back in normal space, with distant galaxies manifesting their existence with a dim light and emptiness all around. Rotation is dumped, stabilising the ship's trajcetory.
20th March 2241, 14:39:15, radars detect multiple targets closing in. Closing in fast. Really fast. Like, almost lightspeed kind of fast. ETA: 7,132 seconds.
Instinctively, utilising the ships's current inertia, captain herself engages subluminal warp drive roughly three seconds later, allowing the ship to reach effective speed of 20000 km/s.
With their trajectory changed after crossing the curvature of warp bubble, missiles narrowly miss the target, speeding away in front of the ship.
Shadow raises up cloaking, hoping to mess up with enemy targeting systems. Once it is online, captain gives order to make the trajectory of the ship as much unpredictable as possible to avoid getting hit based on last known flight parameters. No computer could be more unpredictable than human pilots desperately fighting for their lives: they fire rotational thrusters, breaking the current record of barrel roll speed. Some of them smash against walls, ceilings and floors, some were more lucky and fastened seat belts in time and now reverse course, deciding actually flying towards the enemy instead of away from it is the stupidest move they could do, and it's precisely why they do it.
If it's stupid but works then its not stupid - for the next few seconds, no missiles are launched. Instead, humans can get a clear readings on enemy ships. There are at least a few of them, all of rather big size, bigger than anything encountered, bigger than anything that ever left human shipyards.
A radical command is given: switch off everything besides basic radars and cloaking system. All power to hyperdrive so it could charge faster.
After doing as commander wants, the ship goes dark and eerily silent, engines die, gravity dies and everyone floats around, only evil dots on the radar still glow and basic life support is still operational.
20th March 2241, 14:42:33, telescopes were able to take a quick shot of one of the hostile spacecrafts:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/829845545328574484/d3h06q8-fac8e53b-8f67-44df-b210-f28543fe8759.png)
20th March 2241, 14:42:36, radar brightens up with hundreds of missile contacts.
20th March 2241, 14:42:37, burning through their last supplies of luck, crewmembers successfully engage hyperdrive and tear through the fabric of space, speeding away from dangerous encounter, roughly one and a half seconds before predicted impact.
Once in hyperspace, Shadow dumps all its excess heat, accelerates to the max speed fuel levels allow and runs away, back to the Void Wormhole and Milky Way.
14th May 2241, the valiant crew of Shadow is welcomed as heroes as their starship descends through Earth's atmosphere.
While the blockbuster "Battle in the Dark Sky" makes its director one of the richest humans and the society can't decide whether to celebrate the outstanding performance of the crew or fear what technology they encountered, almost entire scientific community dedicates its work towards studying what little could be pieced together by the data gathered during encounter. It is somehow fortunate the ship which experienced it was Shadow, a vessel built specifically to collect as much intel in as short amount of time as possible.
Two things stand out: photonic missiles of Invaders and their technology to pull out ships from hyperspace back into three dimensions.
In both cases, recordings of space curvature over time during Hyperdrive Interdictor's usage and photonic missiles' flight, all nicely saved thanks to ELINT module of Shadow, were the key to uncover the mysteries behind them.
With the interstellar speed of technological advancements, it took scientists only two years for the first photonic missile to be built and for the first interdictor to be tested successfully, even if only it worked reliably for ships with weaker hyperdrives and acceleration - it was still a good start.
Photonic missiles... A deadly weapon in a space battle, but much more. Near light speed, paired with a devastating warhead. If fired at a star, very likely to cause supernova, destroying the entire system.
And now humanity had this power right at their hands, meanwhile society still didn't recover from the shock after NOVA bombs usage.
It was a strange era in the history of Mankind. Intense work on the "counterattack fleet" has begun and the military, pompous spirit has taken control over many souls, the spirit of ultimate sacrifice and valiant hearts. On the one hand a deadly attitude to have, on the other soaked in noble intentions of saving humanity from the outside dangers human beings have not provoked by anything but existence.
Yet from the other perspective, many citizens feared this is the end of the Mankind as we now it.
Even if the species was to survive this madness, its morals, culture, everything that makes it a human race, despite the bloody history, will be lost in the fires of doomsday weapons and battles cruel beyond imagination.
In these difficult days, many looked at reports coming from the xenoresearch team studying Groaxians, still safe and sound on their homeworld, as the last glimpse of hope. Despite the Dark Forest, despite the sheer destructive power, so far nobody gave an extermination order. Groaxians, with their pacifistic attitude, for many became a hope for a better future, but for even more only a nostalgic reminder of a distant past, back when human civilisation was still very primitive and gazed into the stars with optimism, awaiting adventure and discovery, not death. Even some anti-science movements were born, demanding government to abandon advanced technology and go back to "simpler, happier times", but they didn't gain much support, because it was too late. Dark Forest knew.
5th August 2244, 18:35:49, terrifying sound of sirens tore through the ears of Solar System Citizens. High Alert has been announced. Early warning system has detected a photonic missile at the collision course with the Sun, roughly fifty five minutes before impact.
5th August 2244, 18:40:55, several anti-photonic missiles have been launched from the outpost on Ceres. The entire human population held its breath. Many attempted to escape Solar System with starships, but except those who were already floating in space and could almost instantly power up an FTL drive, nobody had a chance.
5th August 2244, 19:03:15, defensive missiles were about to intercept the photonic missile, but then something terrifying happened: object sent to blow up the Sun was in fact a very small spacecraft rather than just missile in itself. At least that's how it was described once several small decoy drones have been launched from its hull, luring the anti-photonic missiles away from their target. All defensive ordnance has been wasted, but the apocalyptic ordnance continued its ride towards the Sun, unaffected and indifferent.
With no choice but to face the Final Judgement as an alternative, World Government approved usage of the Substance defence line.
5th August 2244, 19:17:40, Substance-filled warheads, much resembling a smaller version of droplets encountered during the battle of GJ 1061, swarmed the herald of the apocalypse.
Yet it kept spamming drones, sending droplets off-course, which a few Executors were tasked with neutralising so they don't spread uncontrolled out of a sudden. Riots broke out in almost every major city as both lines of defence failed. This was the end.
And yet officers responsible for running the defence didn't give up. As the missile was closing in, its exact flight pattern could be determined with almost one hundred percent probability. Instead of trying to hit the missile directly, many droplets were detonated, with Substance forming its "spacecraft shells" to protect from vacuum, right on the estimated path of the missile.
For this it had no counter - it smashed right through "puddle" after "puddle". A bit of the Substance has been burned by its point-defence lasers, but only a bit. The rest chewed through it fiercely. Eventually it broke through the magnetic trap and collided with the antimatter warhead. One blinding flash on the far outer edge of the system later no traces of the threatening weapon were to be found. Riots ceased instantly and turned into massive celebrations within a few seconds.
Within next two months, every colonised system but GJ 1279 and NN 4079, including even EZ Aquarii despite no human population existing there, encountered similar attack. Dark Forest knew and it has launched its first large-scale assault.
Nobody had any doubts Dark Forest knew its attempt was an utter failure. What weapon will be used next remained an open question everyone feared to ask, but somebody had to answer if humanity was to keep on existing.
Whether it was Invaders' job or not, nobody knew for sure. The next logical step was still to launch a counterattack into Bootes Void, though. A brand new fleet has almost passed the prototype stage and was ready to enter construction.
Ultimatum class Missile Destroyer 30,000 tons 855 Crew 27,128.1 BP TCS 600 TH 30,000 EM 0
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 30-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 216 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 50 PPV 226.2
Maint Life 1.45 Years MSP 15,303 AFR 360% IFR 5.0% 1YR 8,071 5YR 121,067 Max Repair 7500 MSP
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP15000.00 (2) Power 30000 Fuel Use 33.05% Signature 15000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 1,541,000 Litres Range 28 billion km (6 days at full power)
Quad Gauss Cannon R600-25.00 Turret (30x32) Range 60,000km TS: 80000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 60,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS80000 (1) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 80,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Active Search Sensor AS42-R1 (1) GPS 240 Range 42.8m km MCR 3.9m km Resolution 1
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Equipped with a decently optimised Hyperdrive and subluminal warp drive, this ship was able to reach speeds beyond imagination, be it at interstellar, interplanetary or combat distances. Its anti-missile defences gave it even an ability to intercept photonic missiles launched at itself or friendly ships within formation. Success rate might not be the best in such cases, but if enough Ultimatums were made, anti-missile effectiveness would improve drastically.
Eternity class Battlestar 50,000 tons 1,801 Crew 34,727.8 BP TCS 1,000 TH 50,000 EM 0
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 30-120 Shields 0-0 HTK 323 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 70 PPV 300
Maint Life 1.23 Years MSP 21,364 AFR 500% IFR 6.9% 1YR 14,621 5YR 219,320 Max Repair 12500 MSP
Magazine 3,309
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J50000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 50000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP25000.00 (2) Power 50000 Fuel Use 50.0% Signature 25000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 3,112,000 Litres Range 22.4 billion km (5 days at full power)
Size 6.00 Missile Launcher (50) Missile Size: 6 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC56-R100 (1) Range 56.2m km Resolution 100
Light Photonic Missile (550) Speed: 270,000 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 10.6m km WH: 49 Size: 6 TH: 1350/810/405
Active Search Sensor AS28-R100 (1) GPS 480 Range 28.1m km Resolution 100
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Battlestar-class Eternity was the pinnacle of engineering. Only a bit smaller than Executors, it was a feared combat starship, capable of firing 50 photonic missiles adjusted specifically with ship-to-ship combat in mind every 10 seconds. Since fitting as much firepower into it as possible was the main concern, it is the first missile-based ship that doesn't have decoy missiles. These will be launched from the accompanying Valkyries instead:
Valkyrie class Missile Cruiser 50,000 tons 1,621 Crew 33,645.3 BP TCS 1,000 TH 50,000 EM 0
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 30-120 Shields 0-0 HTK 191 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 94 PPV 225
Maint Life 2.14 Years MSP 30,916 AFR 312% IFR 4.3% 1YR 9,078 5YR 136,168 Max Repair 12500 MSP
Magazine 3,309
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG ENG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J50000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 50000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP25000.00 (2) Power 50000 Fuel Use 50.0% Signature 25000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 6,052,000 Litres Range 43.6 billion km (10 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (75.00% Reduction) (300) Missile Size: 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC56-R100 (1) Range 56.2m km Resolution 100
Photonic Decoy (3300) Speed: 270,000 km/s End: 0.7m Range: 11.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 8280/4968/2484
Active Search Sensor AS28-R100 (1) GPS 480 Range 28.1m km Resolution 100
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Main bulk of the forces was supposed to consist of laser-based strike ships, with good armor, shields and manoeuvrability as well as excellent effective firing range achieved by near gamma lasers thanks to their wavelength:
Ragnarok class Strike Cruiser 30,000 tons 1,109 Crew 42,770.9 BP TCS 600 TH 30,000 EM 40,260
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 32-86 Shields 1342-805 HTK 199 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 48 PPV 176
Maint Life 1.19 Years MSP 16,039 AFR 400% IFR 5.6% 1YR 11,594 5YR 173,910 Max Repair 7500 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP15000.00 (2) Power 30000 Fuel Use 33.05% Signature 15000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 1,405,000 Litres Range 25.5 billion km (5 days at full power)
Psi S1342 / R805 Shields (1) Recharge Time 805 seconds (1.7 per second)
50cm C20 Near Gamma Ray Laser (11) Range 1,200,000km TS: 50,000 km/s Power 65-20 RM 100,000 km ROF 20
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS50000 (1) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 50,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Vacuum Energy Power Plant R245 (1) Total Power Output 245.3 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
While Ragnarok is a one-size-fits-all generic combat spaceship, it is to be accompanied by two types of destroyers, each possessing an insanely destructive firepower in the form of deadly particle beams: Nanosaber and Quantum Paladin.
Nanosaber class Destroyer 30,000 tons 1,142 Crew 43,187.4 BP TCS 600 TH 30,000 EM 40,260
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 20-86 Shields 1342-805 HTK 208 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 45 PPV 192
Maint Life 1.01 Years MSP 13,496 AFR 480% IFR 6.7% 1YR 13,340 5YR 200,102 Max Repair 7500 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP15000.00 (2) Power 30000 Fuel Use 33.05% Signature 15000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 2,088,000 Litres Range 37.9 billion km (8 days at full power)
Psi S1342 / R805 Shields (1) Recharge Time 805 seconds (1.7 per second)
Particle Beam-25 (12) Range 1,000,000km TS: 50,000 km/s Power 64-20 ROF 20
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS50000 (1) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 50,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Vacuum Energy Power Plant R245 (1) Total Power Output 245.3 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Quantum Paladin class Destroyer 40,000 tons 1,452 Crew 69,641.2 BP TCS 800 TH 40,000 EM 40,260
50000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 40-104 Shields 1342-805 HTK 255 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 55 PPV 240
Maint Life 1.20 Years MSP 27,203 AFR 512% IFR 7.1% 1YR 19,540 5YR 293,103 Max Repair 10000 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J40000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 40000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP20000.00 (2) Power 40000 Fuel Use 55.90% Signature 20000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 4,099,000 Litres Range 33 billion km (7 days at full power)
Psi S1342 / R805 Shields (1) Recharge Time 805 seconds (1.7 per second)
Particle Lance-32 (10) Range 1,000,000km TS: 50,000 km/s Power 100-20 ROF 25
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS50000 (1) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 50,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Vacuum Energy Power Plant R245 (1) Total Power Output 245.3 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Quantum Paladin isn't named like that by coincidence - its particle lances come with an alternate firing mode: teleportation strike. Thanks to the ongoing experiments with quantum teleportation, physicists on Gaia were able to find a way to transfer small particles over short distances without having a receiving teleporter at destination. In the end, just like once hypothesised, teleportation could be used as a weapon. Ship's accelerators would prepare particle beam which would later be teleported straight onto the board of enemy ship, provided it is close enough, and deal massive damage inside, having bypassed any shields and armor the ship might come equipped with.
Inquisitor class Assault Ship 30,000 tons 1,246 Crew 39,840.6 BP TCS 600 TH 36,000 EM 0
60000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 30-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 192 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 50 PPV 190.7
Maint Life 1.17 Years MSP 16,600 AFR 360% IFR 5.0% 1YR 12,332 5YR 184,981 Max Repair 9000 MSP
Captain Control Rating 3 BRG ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J30000(3-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 30000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Photonic Drive EP18000.00 (2) Power 36000 Fuel Use 58.93% Signature 18000 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 3,111,000 Litres Range 31.7 billion km (6 days at full power)
Quad R800/C16 Meson Cannon Turret (5x4) Range 800,000km TS: 60000 km/s Power 64-64 RM 800,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS60000 (1) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 60,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Vacuum Energy Power Plant R320 (1) Total Power Output 320 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS100-R20 (1) GPS 4800 Range 100.7m km Resolution 20
ECCM-8 (1) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The entire fleet was to be supported by a squadron of assault ships firing away meson-based particle beams, faster and more agile than rest of the fleet, acting as scouts or harassing the enemy while dodging as much shots as possible. Thanks to the properties of mesons, these ships alone were a serious threat to enemy vessels.
On top of all these ships, a special one has been built for the High Admiral himself to oversee the battle, with its massive tonnage leaving Executors feel like tiny support ships:
Exterminator class Superdreadnought 100,000 tons 3,785 Crew 144,210.6 BP TCS 2,000 TH 100,000 EM 120,780
50000 km/s JR 10-50 Armour 34-191 Shields 4026-805 HTK 665 Sensors 800/480/0/0 DCR 111 PPV 593.1
Maint Life 0.90 Years MSP 73,007 AFR 988% IFR 13.7% 1YR 81,124 5YR 1,216,856 Max Repair 25000 MSP
Captain Control Rating 5 BRG AUX ENG CIC FLG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
J100000(10-50) Hyperdrive Max Ship Size 100000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 10
Photonic Drive EP50000.00 (2) Power 100000 Fuel Use 18.10% Signature 50000 Explosion 20%
Fuel Capacity 2,084,000 Litres Range 20.7 billion km (4 days at full power)
Psi S1342 / R805 Shields (3) Recharge Time 805 seconds (5 per second)
75.0cm C20 Near Gamma Ray Laser (10) Range 1,200,000km TS: 50,000 km/s Power 147-20 RM 100,000 km ROF 40
Particle Lance-32 (10) Range 1,000,000km TS: 50,000 km/s Power 100-20 ROF 25
Quad Gauss Cannon R600-25.00 Turret (15x32) Range 60,000km TS: 80000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 60,000 km ROF 5
Beam Fire Control R1200-TS50000 (3) Max Range: 1,200,000 km TS: 50,000 km/s 99 98 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 92
Vacuum Energy Power Plant R401 (1) Total Power Output 401.1 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor AS12-R1 (1) GPS 20 Range 12.1m km MCR 1.1m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH20-800 (1) Sensitivity 800 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 223.6m km
EM Sensor EM20-480 (1) Sensitivity 480 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 173.2m km
ECCM-8 (3) ECM 80
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
On top of being well-protected from gunfire, heavier but maintaining same mobility as rest of the fleet and filled with guns itself, it also has a built-in Hyperdrive Interdictor module so that it could pull enemy vessels out of hyperspace just like Invaders did with Shadow during its mission.
A strange sense of pride mixed with extreme fear filled the hearts and minds of many who saw the official initiating ceremony of what was called "Bootes Force". Humanity's ultimate response to the Dark Forest, a warning message and a testimony of determination, it was a sight to behold. It was capable of wiping out several planetary systems out of face of the universe by itself, without resupplying.
Soon the fleet reached combat readiness and was supposed to be sent straight into the Heart of Darkness.
-
4th July 2248, 17:45:32, last preparations for the departure of Bootes Force which was supposed to happen in the next month were underway, but suddenly a fleet of small numbers, but of large starships has been spotted leaving hyperspace beyond the edge of the Solar System. Estimations have shown it was heading straight towards Nibiru. For the first time enemy has directly entered Solar System. Bootes Force used their hyperdrives to make a short-range jump into the vicinity of Planet X, reacting fast enough to prevent enemy from attacking the world. What was supposed to be a counterattack, ended up as a desperate defence.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830140216085053460/a1.PNG)
4th July 2248, 17:48:40, not waiting for the enemy to move, Eternity ships open fire, supported by Valkyries. First photonic missiles have been fired:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830140713425043486/a2.PNG)
Initial fear was replaced with optimism when first missiles reached their targets. Insane kinetic energy punched through enemies as if they were pieces of cardboard. It lasted only a few minutes till the entire fleet has been turned into ashes:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830141673462824970/a3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830141681004314654/a4.PNG)
4th July 2248, 17:50:44, another fleet warps into the system. Feeling encouraged, Bootes Force heads straight into the battle. Before new photonic missiles are launched, enemy manages to fire away their own:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830142063478571008/a5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830142175550767154/a6.PNG)
4th July 2248, 17:50:50, as Ultimatums prepare to intercept the ordnance, a strange signal sequence is emitted. Weapon operators report a sudden cybernetic attack and no anti-missile defence gun is being fired as enemy missiles rip through the human fleet. Invaders have targeted Eternity battlestars exclusively - this caused the remaining ammunition on the destroyed ships to go off right in the middle of formation. Several ships have been damaged and humans scatter around, wasting a good chunk of time before a strict formation can be rearranged.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830143282558140416/a7.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830143291986673754/a8.PNG)
4th July 2248, 17:55:42, adaptive anti-malware algorithms figure out the signal pattern of the enemy and are able to remove the cybernetic blockade, just in time as radars detect many more missiles to come. Many are intercepted, but also many detonate against shields and armors. More ships are blown out of the void, with the force of the impact accelerating them against other ships, sometimes causing a chain reaction:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830144028724035664/a9.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830144038794821662/a10.PNG)
4th July 2248, 17:57:59, remaining Inquisitors and rest of the fleet split and stop trying to charge the enemy head-on. Eternities fire away their last volley, spending all the photonic missiles humanity has managed to assemble, meanwhile enemy missiles keep on hitting:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830144751776432199/a11.PNG)
Enemy appears to also have changed its mind and forces its ships to turn around. Classic circling manoeuvres begin:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830145131960074260/a12.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:05:24, last missiles are successfully destroyed. Enemy also appears to have run dry:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830145419521687552/a13.PNG)
Humanity closes in for its energy and particle weapons to hit, with Inquisitors assault ships leading the way. Soon antivirus software detects another trojan: Invaders have messed with radars to display wrong distances. Before glitches can be fixed, Inquisitors end up too close to the enemy, with not enough time to deccelerate before getting dangerously close:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830146234491732018/a15.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:06:31, first streams of mesons reach enemy ships. Not having enough time to reverse course, Inquisitors try to gain perpendicular velocity relative to the enemy. This works to some extent:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830146968960499772/a16.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:06:33, enemy opens fire from up close for the first time. What at first appears to be just normal railgun projectiles, turns out to be a deadly weapon: each bolt is a small matter manipulating device. Human soldiers watch in terror and despair as their ships disintegrate on their eyes. Many hull tiles simply vanish, creating holes through which everything is sucked out into space or simply destabilising antimatter traps in the reactors, causing entire ship to be erased in a bright explosion. At least manipulators seem to quickly run out of power, they're still very scary weapon nevertheless.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830148723119489064/a17.PNG)
Bulk of Bootes Force quickly arrives to support combat ships that got separated too much. A ruthless firefight begins. Humanity scores many hits, but their guns, even though powerful, struggle to pierce through the enemy shields. Meanwhile Invaders fire miniaturised matter manipulators and wreak havoc, destruction and panic:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830149191254802503/a18.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830149230885732352/a19.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:10:13, High Admiral tries to figure out the way to dodge some shots and buy at least a few seconds. Human fleet slows down a bit, taking more fire in the process first, but as soon as the distance is low enough, entire fleet suddenly accelerates in the opposite direction than the enemy movement vector is pointing. Even with their powerful engines they can't turn around fast enough and catch up:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830150130468519966/a20.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830150180510498866/a21.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:13:30, Bootes Force changes direction once again, this time successfully establishing itself on a "circling course" around the enemy. At the moment humans score more hits, but it is Invaders who's actually blowing up ships. Their shields still hold tight. Human morale dwindles with each matter manipulators successfully attaching itself to the hull:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830150837975515216/a22.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:13:35, Invaders, well-aware of their worse tactical position, break the current engagement and fly away. Humanity chases them down. First ship of theirs is destroyed by teleported particles, meanwhile the ships that have been firing missiles jump into hyperspace. Before that happens, though, Invaders launch one last attack: their ships emit several powerful infrasounds. People on ships survive without problem, but escape shuttles, lacking necessary protection, become graves for everyone on board.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830152486475792405/a23.PNG)
Enemy appears to be concentrating fire of Exterminator, but its armor is tough enough and holds well. Even shields alone manage to fry many manipulators on contact.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830152858472808518/a24.PNG)
Invaders seem to be losing ground. Humanity slowly gains advantage and recovers from the initial shock after death of soldiers escaping the wrecks. Hostile ships are still deadly, dealing severe blows:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830153002101768242/a25.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830153143874486332/a26.PNG)
4th July 2248, 18:17:42, after a fierce firefight, the battle of Nibiru comes to an end. Last remaining enemy ships meet their doom:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830153385465348166/a27.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830153401333579786/a28.PNG)
After the battle of the Nibiru Solar System has been secured, but at a price humanity was not able to afford in the long run. The ships were took so long and so much investment to build, yet many of them were wiped out, despite being the most powerful ones ever designed. And the war fleet of Invaders wasn't even that big, it was without a doubt they could send more of them and attack whatever system they pleased rather quickly. Government, having estimated how this would end in the long run, decided there's no time to waste. The best defence is to attack. Bootes Force had its ordnance replaced and a few ships which have been almost finished when the battle of Nibiru broke out joined the ranks, but apart from that the ships were to be sent straight into Bootes Void almost instantly. Their task was to recover as much matter manipulators as they could (and possibly other weapons as well as maybe some intel) so scientists could reverse-engineer them and give humanity a fighting chance in the long run.
-
6th October 2248, 12:39:20, Bootes Force crosses a Void Wormhole in NN 3009, for symbolic reasons, since it's been the first one to be discovered and as soon as it reaches Bootes Void, hyperdrives are powered and the crucial mission begins.
18th November 2248, 10:20:41, after weeks of following signals tracked by HyperSensors, humanity encounters a very large enemy fleet. Order to engage is given. Exterminator turns on its Hyperspace Interdictor and attempts to pull both sides back into normal space.
Enemy must have not expected this, because it didn't even try to escape - interdiction has been successful and soon two species of one Dark Forest face each other across the Void:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830215284207386654/a1.PNG)
Human soldiers freeze when they see what they see: enemy fleet is not a fleet at all: it's an enormous space structure, a mighty fortress, bigger and heavier than anything ever seen. It also has an alien, unusual shape:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830215567674703952/unknown.png)
18th November 2248, 10:20:48, there's not much to be said as Dark Forest prevents any communication to be established: the only discussion is to be talked out with gunfire. Hundreds of photonic missiles swarm human positions:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830215938272002058/a2.PNG)
A squadron of missile destroyers struggles to keep up with the sheer firepower despite reinforcements. Many missiles leak through and blow up human spaceships one after another:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216195495034880/a3.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216205058703370/a4.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:21:11, Bootes Force returns fire and swarms the space station with its own photonic missiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216417328365598/a5.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216453033558056/a6.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216461624147988/a7.PNG)
Doom-bringing ordnance roars as its entire energy is tanked by shields with unmatched power while humanity loses more vessels:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830216779687002142/a8.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:29:50, to much surprise of everyone involved, even High Admiral himself, human fleet still holds on well as a whole despite severe casualties, meanwhile many sections of the attacked fortress have already been destroyed:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830217079692984330/a9.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:32:26, at some distance from the besieged fortress the fabric of space rips itself, creating a passage, and another space station arrives at the battlefieldspace, even bigger and more intimidating than the previous one:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830218279754661899/aa4f4484c0212b57be47dc294fb8325c.png)
Nobody can explain this, but there's something to be truly feared about these behemoths as they lighten up in flames, launching more photonic missiles:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830218483715014686/a10.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:32:34, initially attacked space station falls apart at last. The explosion is so powerful that sent debris reaches human fleet and damages several ships, completely obliterating one of them:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830219097857982465/a11.PNG)
Unfortunately, human forces have run out of ammo. Close firefight with energetic weapons is the only way to proceed. As the fleet tries to cut the distance, more and more casualties are taken:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830219377177133066/a12.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830219413063860229/a13.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830219465656369199/a14.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:36:12, once close enough, first ships start to open fire, but the retaliation is unimaginable. Thousands of matter manipulators are launched, accompanied with quantum-based particle beams, far more advanced versions of what human engineers achieved with Quantum Paladins. Some of the weapons are apparently just quantum teleporters, too. Many ships report hostile drones suddenly materialising into existence inside.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830220728443863050/a15.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:36:28, human fleet attempts to get away from teleporters' range while still being close enough to score hits. Suddenly, as if insane weaponry wasn't enough, enemy reveals its "station" is in fact one giant fortress-sized starships, equipped with regular engines, allowing it to reach velocities beyond imagination:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830221274512752650/a16.PNG)
Humanity gets a few decent shots, but it's all nothing for enemy shields, meanwhile Invaders successfully destroy yet another ship without an issue:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830221499746484345/a18.PNG)
Bootes Force successfully breaks shifts velocity while Invaders essentially outmanoeuvred themselves, flying past it, but with the acceleration that powerful, they quickly make a turn and chase down humans. They must be outfitted with black hole propulsion system and three unfortunate crews learn about this fact when evaporated particles, sent away from hostile engines to generate thrust, overload their shields and puncture right through their armor:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830223199869992980/a19.PNG)
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830223218652217444/a20.PNG)
Battle rages on, but the shields of the enemy just refuse to go down, so no matter how many times Ragnaroks, Quantum Paladins and Nanosabers hit their targets, Invaders come out of it unscratched and ready to deliver more punishment towards the ones who dared to counterattack:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830223745179451432/a21.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:39:02, out of a sudden Invaders push their speed even further and come at humans with full force: two ships directly on their path are rammed into space dust, meanwhile hostile shields barely took notice of that event:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830224177037836288/a22.PNG)
However, ramming did throw the enemy off-course by a tiny bit. With computations precise enough members of Bootes Force bought themselves a few precious seconds of a bit longer engagement distance:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830224606530240512/a23.PNG)
But it's all for nothing when matter manipulators consume three more spaceships. With well over half initial forces scattered around in the form of debris and enemy barely damaged, High Admiral doesn't see anything to do but to flee and issues a command to calculate hyperspace jump. World Government, watching the battle in realtime on its FTL comms, approves, trying to only avoid pointless slaughter of top-tier soldiers and ships at this point.
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830226259203325992/a24.PNG)
18th November 2248, 10:41:14, emergency hyperspace jump is almost ready when suddenly a beam of light flashes in a distance and all sensors go haywire. If one was to form an opinion based on the readings coming in, he or she would have to claim that the very foundation of reality has ceased to exist. Nobody who saw this was able to explain as to what they were looking at a time.
Three seconds later, all Invaders' ships have disappeared as space around them became heavily warped. Still alive humans stared at it with awe and fear.
18th November 2248, 10:41:18, reality "fixed itself" and a spacecraft emerged from where a few moments earlier Invaders existed. At the same moment, everyone suffered from severe headache. Something was ringing in their heads, but they were unable to tell exactly what, though some believed it was an intense psionic attack.
Barely holding on, shaken crews slowly forced themselves to asses their situation. The unidentified object has been moving closer. Before anyone did anything concrete, though, Exterminator's onboard AI have already matched the parameters and shape of the object.
There was no doubt.
It was a flying saucer closing in.
-
Panic ensued on all ships, no exceptions. Barely holding on to combat formation, barely holding on to their battle stations, barely conscious thanks to enormous headache, brave men and women, finest representatives of Human Civilisation, prepared their last stand, knowing exactly how this final battle will end.
Guns blazed, shots echoed in the ears of people serving on ships that fired them, reactors and engines burned, but Greys dodged all the shots. They moved just like described in the oldest conspiracy theories, accelerating within milliseconds and coming to full stop at the same moment or rapidly flying up, down and around as if an atmospheric drag was present. Somewhat similar to what human vessels could do with subluminal warp drives, but more efficiently and with more beauty.
Everyone awaited the final killing blow, but it did not happen. Instead, flying saucer matched speed with Bootes Force and approached so close it was clearly visible with naked eyes. Humanity kept pounding it with everything it could, but it seemed to have no effect.
Suddenly darkness covered the every pair of eyes. Deep within it, all humans, both on board of ships and members of the government watching as the situation unfolds, could see the alien figure:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/786651204524179496/830232378164641832/unknown.png)
We come in peace - spoke a deep, calm voice, with each human hearing this message in native language with flawless accent. Fear not, human beings.
WORLD GOVERNMENT: Who the hell are you? Why don't you just blast our fleet into oblivion? Why prolonging the inevitable? You know the rules and so do we.
ALIENS: We are the Arilou. We've watched over you. Fear not.
G: Yes, we were warned that Dark Forest knows. We know you were watching over us, just like Invaders. We do know how the universe works.
A: Fear not, human beings. The time has come for you to eventually embrace the light in this dark universe.
G: Who are you? What do you want from us?
A: We are the Arilou. We've known you and kept watching over you since the creation of Solar System. We kept you safe for as long as we could.
G: So all those sightings?... Photos, recordings, testimonies... Roosevelt Incident, Phoenix Lights, Stonehenge Incident... All true?
A: Yes, all true, since ancient times. And yet all false at the same time, until now.
G: What do you mean?
A: We wanted to prepare you for this day, so we let you embrace the vision of how we look, how we operate, who we are... But our ships never came within your detection range, let alone naked sight. It was all psionic simulations. That's why the special team you formed back in the day could not find a single proof of any of these encounters being true. Because they all happened only inside the heads of your species.
G: What do you want from us? Why now? Why not earlier or later? And why do you look different than we expected?
A: Express patience and we shall explain everything from the beginning. That's why we came here, that's what we want you to know.
G: We'll listen then.
A: You already know a lot about Precursors and the Dark Forest, so it'll be easier for us to tell what we have to tell.
Precursors were the first to acquire sentience and the first to walk among the stars. They fell in love with the beauty of universe and the joy of life. They expanded their civilisation across galaxies and thrived, but they weren't the only ones to uncover the secret of interstellar travel. In its early days, many other civilisations rose, and with them rose conflicts for the finite amount of matter in the universe.
Trees grew denser and denser in a young Dark Forest which soon started claiming its first preys. For eons to come, Precursors were unmatched and they were able to defend themselves, albeit with great pain. The darkness hurt their souls so much they started working on a possible solution. As they cruised across the hyperspace and higher dimensions, too, they realised that for a hypothetical multidimensional lifeform resources found in a three-dimensional space would be useless and vice versa. So if two civilisations existed, but one lived in normal space and the other in hyperspace, Dark Forest rules would not apply. A peaceful communication could be established. That's how Project Ascension was born.
G: Project Ascension? We've found some info in their ruins, but it looked... Too... Mysterious. We couldn't figure out much from it.
A: That is understandable as your civilisation hasn't progressed far enough. But worry not, we will explain.
G: Then we listen.
A: Precursors dedicated all their science to this project and were obsessed with it so much they neglected their military research. And so eventually the inevitable happened: they came into contact with a race you know as Invaders. A serious threat to any living being. A great war took place and Precursors took heavy beating, but survived by managing to close all Void Wormholes leading to their galaxies and prevent Invaders from opening new ones, separating both civilisations. But Invaders found a way regardless and breached the blockade. That's when the second war broke out.
During this war Precursors were already deep into the Project Ascension, having solved most of the theoretical dilemmas they expected to move onto technical details soon. But war fleets of Invaders were too much for them to handle that time and they fell. But as they were falling and knew the end was nigh, they dedicated their last resources into building the facilities you've encountered yourself: they were meant to store all their knowledge for other civilisations to uncover, with the ultimate goal being finishing their most beloved project.
Invaders picked up on this and were really invested, but they could never figure out the true purpose behind it all. All they searched for was some kind of ultimate weapon that'd seal their dominance and grant them easy victory over all the other civilisations out there. They got it all wrong and could not progress past certain point, which fuelled their thirst for conquest even more. They swept galaxy after galaxy in search for answers their combative attitude could never allow them to notice.
G: And what all this has to do with your species?
A: Ever since our ancestors knew what the stars and planets were, we wondered about alien life out there, just like you did. But once we finally reached them and made first contact, the harsh truth knocked at our doors. Remember all the classical alien invasion movies of your race? That's right, they are from that period. In an indirect way they refer to these events. We were never proud of our Death Rays, but we had no choice at the moment, just like you had no choice but to drop NOVA bombs.
Since these days we put a great effort into enlightening the Dark Forest. Mechi, as you call them, or "Baile Screed", as we officially named them, were our early attempt. We terraformed that one planet in HIP 22738 system, but were not happy with the results - it had too much deserts and too little lush zones, not resembling our homeworld in the slightest, even though technically habitable for us.
Mechi, the product of our Singularity, were programmed as a friendly civilisation. To limit their spread but at the same time grant them some possibilities, we didn't gave them FTL technology other than building a network of wormholes. They were meant to act friendly towards any aliens they might encounter, but you already know how it all ended. We didn't really lose anything because of this, but it was an utter failure. Mechi were just like anyone else out there, predator and prey in one.
But eventually we discovered remnants of Precursors and their knowledge banks. We were the ones that finished their grand project. But to complete their will, that was not enough. Precursors wanted to share its fruits with anyone worthy of ascension.
Despite your bloody history, our best psionic analysts sensed great potential in your species, but you weren't the first ones we watched over.
G: Who did you look after before us and how it ended?
A: Although when we arrived, Nibiru was already in a state you found the planet in, two civilisations existed in the Solar System: one living on Mars and the other living on Venus. But they waged war since they knew about each other. There were no winners this time. Both destroyed each other, leaving the two planets lifeless until you stepped in and terraformed them.
G: You said you discovered ruins of the Precursors. But according to evidence gathered by our civilisation, mainly on Nibiru, Precursors must have known about you. How was it possible?
A: We never knew Precursors, but Precursors must have known us. We like to think they watched over us, too, till the day they were gone.
G: Now tell us finally something more about Project Ascension itself.
A: As we already explained, lifeforms of different dimensions do not compete in the same Dark Forest. That's the square one, basic assumption on which the project has been founded. So, in its basic goal, Ascension meant nothing else but to transfer oneself into a being existing within higher number of dimensions. Our science allowed us to figure out everything needed to prepare technology that would allow that. And so we ascended. Currently we are five-dimensional species, which is why we look different than you expected. But that's just the three-dimensional projection, once you see us in Quasispace you'll see how we really look like in our current form.
G: Quasispace?
A: Just like hyperspace, but with one more dimension to it. We called it like that because it provides cover from the Dark Forest since its inhabitants don't go beyond hyperspace while in FTL. "Quasispace" was the word in your language that was best to express the concept we have on mind.
G: Do you have plans to bring us there? You said "once you see us in Quasispace". Now we see why you aren't hostile, but won't this change once we're on the same plane?
A: We watched over you for long enough to know. Also please take a note that Quasispace is not the end. Even as we speak our civilisation works hard to push itself further. We do not know how many planes exist, but we do know that there are at least two above Quasispace, so we have a lot of work awaiting us.
Constantly pushing through more dimensions is the ultimate warranty of safety that can be sent to other species: once you join us, we could interact according to the Dark Forest Theory, but the truth is it won't make sense. It will be in your best interest to help us ascend into six-dimensional plane. Why? If we stay in Quasispace with you, we will consume same resources as you and war will be inevitable. War you might win or lose. But if we work together to go beyond fifth dimension, you'll get rid of us from your resource pool in a safe way. If you decide to attack us, you risk getting annihilated yourself, but sending us one tier higher is a perfectly safe way for you to handle us. The same rules obviously apply to ourselves, too. Once we'll be six-dimensional, you'll find yourself in same situation as of now and the cycle will repeat - another warranty will be issued.
G: Shouldn't this apply to the three-dimensional space, too? Help others ascend so that they consume different types of resources instead of risky survival in a Dark Forest?
A: And that's exactly the key. That's the message Precursors were preparing for the universe, but it didn't want to listen. Now we are carrying out their will.
G: What if number of dimensions is finite and you reach the last one? Won't this degenerate into Dark Forest all over again?
A: So far we lack a solid proof, but it is very likely this number is infinite. Meanwhile this universe is going to collapse and a new one will be born after a finite amount of time passes. For that our descendants will need to prepare, to survive the collapse of the universe might be the biggest challenge any civilisation might face. There's so much more for us to discover, so much more to learn about... Science never stops. There are wonders which for us are as alien as the concepts we are explaining are for you, waiting for someone to resolve their mysteries.
G: What will happen next?
A: We will share with you our knowledge and technology. You will ascend with us, you will transform into a new, more beautiful form, and from that point your civilisation will thrive alongside ours, celebrating the end of Dark Forest as we know it. This is the end of your harsh path and a beginning of a new one, pure and breathtaking.
G: Why now? Why did you suddenly arrive and make contact, saving surviving part of the Bootes Force from Invaders?
A: We could no longer wait with finally revealing ourselves. Dark Forest knows. And it knows photonic missiles failed to do the job. Next it'll most probably use black hole generators to crush you. You need to hurry.
G: Black hole generators?
A: You think all black holes are a product of supermassive celestial bodies collapsing under their own weight naturally? No, it's a pretty popular way for super advanced civilisations to deal with their enemies. They send a special device to a solar system which, once in place, generates a black hole that devours it, wiping out all life it might exist there. And this is why the universe will collapse rather than die out from too high entropy. Our simulations have shown that with the current usage of this weapon, all matter will be sucked in to form one universal black hole much faster than the universe would've died off at its own pace. Later the whole cycle will repeat.
-
And so, on that memorable day, Humanity has finally found peace and solace. Arilou kept their word and gifted humanity with all the technology it needed, starting with a four-dimensional FTL drive. Tens of thousands of starships outfitted with Quasidrives carried every single human being deep within the realm of Quasispace only a decade before black holes sent by Dark Forest destroyed every system once populated by Humans. But two of them, GJ 1279 and NN 4079, survived. And with the latter survived Groaxians as well.
Humanity decided to keep the tradition started by Arilou going and declared itself the guardians of their race, willing to watch over them and keep them safe and sound until they'd be able to ascend, too. To help Groaxians develop, Humans placed a monolith on their homeworld, filled to the brim with a lot of scientific knowledge gathered by Mankind through its history. Among all the mathematical formulae one thing stood out: it was a short message to the Groaxians, encoded in the languages of all their tribes via proper sequence of smells and shades of pink and purple so they could easily understand it:
We are the Humanity
Sleep tight little ones
Until you join us among the stars
We will keep you safe
THE END