Author Topic: Martian Campaign Part 3  (Read 3329 times)

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Offline Andrew (OP)

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Martian Campaign Part 3
« on: April 20, 2009, 03:00:29 PM »
10th September 1931
FIRST CONTACT!
HMS Magellan returns from the Toulouse system where it has been leading the 1st Mediterranean survey squadron , while probing the new jump points out of Toulouse on 3rd July the scout HMS Brahe detected an inhabited world . closing in to investigate it detected Nine ships moving at about 1600kms, neither the ship nor the inhabited world answered communication hails. The Scout then detected missiles closing at 6900kms and easily managed to avoid them as their overtake velocity was so low. It took some time for the scout to return to the Jump point as it took a detour to try and hide the location of the jump point , it appeared that the Aliens did not detect the Scout until it approached the planet so it seems the location of the Jump point we entered from may still be unknown.

The Admiralty assesses that the threat is low , the detected ships where slow and their missiles slow suggesting they have only a fairly low technological level. Immediately the HMS Magellan is ordered back to Toulouse to picket the warp point along with the HMS Brahe .
The Public and Media react with a fair degree of Hysteria dragging up all the incidents from the Martian invasion and implying a second invasion is imminent, they demand immediate action which is awkward . The Gate construction Ship HMS Brunel has been completed but the Jump Cruisers are not yet operational.
The Gate ship is diverted from building a Jump gate to Naples and instead dispatched to the Los Angeles Warp point to start building a Jump gate there and eventually to Sydney.
The Admiralty decides to dispatch the 1st and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons to the Constantinople system as soon as the Jump Cruisers are available

12th November 1931
With the completion of the Drake class Cruisers HMS Drake and HMS Cortez, the 1st and 2nd Cruiser squadrons are dispatched to the Constantinople system to persuade the aliens to open diplomatic contact. They are authorized to destroy the alien fleet if that is necessary to get their attention. Operational command of this force is assigned to Rear Admiral Andrew Cunningham of the Atlantic fleet, it having been realized that the Mediterranean fleet commander is currently in the Toulouse system . Under his command are 6 Invincible class Cruisers, 4 Illustrious class Escort cruisers, 2 Drake class Jump Cruisers and 2 Galileo class scouts.
29th December 1931
The Cruiser force arrives in the Constantinople system and proceeds towards the inhabited world.
04:06 7th January
 the EM Signature of the inhabited world is detected. It is less than that of the Mars colony , from this point the fleet eschews subtlety broadcasting 1st contact signals and bringing shields and Active sensors on line.
04:00 9th January
Alien ships are detected by their sensor emissions on an intercept course, there has been no reply to communication attempts
09:26 9th January 1931
Alien vessels enter active sensor range of the cruisers there are 9 contacts with a size of between 18,000 and 6000 tons. Fleet speed is confirmed at 1639kms, their active sensors should not yet have aquired the fleet. Still no response to signals. The fleet is ordered to Battle stations
10:41 9th January 1931
With the range to the aliens down to 84 million km and no answer to communications Admiral Cunningham declares the aliens hostile and orders the fleet to open fire. In an attempt to minimize the extent of hostilities and assess defensive capabilities he orders a single salvo from each cruiser targeted on the enemy 18000 ton vessel
11:33
42 of the 48 missiles hit the large contact , and it explodes torn apart by internal explosions, the 8 missiles which did not hit the large ship are retargeted on a smaller escort and all 8 impact causing it to slow down.
With still no contact and with enemy defensive capability apparently negligible the fleet is ordered to target individual enemy ships and fire 4 more salvo’s
By 12:17 all of the contacts have been destroyed , no missiles were hit by defensive fire, the fleet is ordered to pick up survivors and then head for the population center
The battle as such is over , although calling it a battle is perhaps being too generous. None of the enemy ships fired a missile.

The fleet then advances on the planet, which still refuses all attempts at communication. A limited bombardment is then undertaken aimed at destroying the armed forces and forcing the government to surrender.  After a few minutes of bombardment sensors pick up indications of the military abandoning its weapons, taking this as a sign of surrender Admiral Cunningham orders a cease fire and resumes communication attempts, this time the aliens prove ready to attempt communication. While communications attempts proceed landing parties from the fleet take control of key installations.
The 1st Cruiser squadron then returns to Earth to report and then escort the Empires only troop transport on two trips to Constantinople to land 8 divisions of troops as a garrison. Remaining population of the aliens is 145 million, there are signs that there has been extensive fighting on the planet over the last century or so.
2nd Cruiser Squadron will remain on guard in the Constantinople system to watch over the ground forces while communication attempts continue. A survey squadron is brought in and is able to survey the system locating one warp point leading to the Zara system with no planets.




State of the Empire 19th January 1933

Royal Navy
Fleet strength has risen to 8 Champion class Battleships , 4 Victory class Battlecruisers , 12 Illustrious class Cruisers , 8 Invincible class Escort Cruisers and 2 Drake class Jump Cruisers.
Tactical studies early in the war with the United States of Cassias revealed a potential weakness in the fleet if the Cassian’s had managed to locate the entry warp points and guard it there would have been no capability to engage them as close range. There are already plans to build 3 Dreadnought class Battleships and 2 Temeraire class Jump Battleships, which will be optimized for Close, range combat with heavy Railgun batteries. In addition it is decided to add smaller Orion class Assault cruisers to each cruiser squadron also armed with Heavy railguns.  These and 2 more Drake class Jump cruisers will be the only warships constructed. A staggered series of overhauls starting with the 1st Battle and 1st Cruiser squadrons will start

Survey Forces
5 Survey squadrons have been completed and have completed an initial survey of the neighboring systems out to 2 transits from Earth further along the Mediterranean sector. All Survey squadrons are being withdrawn for overhaul once that is completed the unprobed warp points in the Pacific and Baltic sectors will be investigated.

Jump Gates and Colonization
   Two Jump gate construction vessels have been completed and Jump Gate connections to Sydney and Naples are under construction, once these have been completed then a Jump gate route to Constantinople via Naples will be constructed.
5 colony ships and 13 freighters are available to commence colonization of Sydney and Naples once the Jump gates are in place. Naples will need terraforming but infrastructure and terraforming installations left over from the colonization of Mars are available and research into mobile terraformer units is planned

United States of Cassias
   The population is still troublesome and no accommodation has been reached with local leaders. The 2nd Cruiser Squadron and 8 divisions of ground troops have been assigned to maintain control. It appears that the government was one based on the principles similar to those of Karl Marx , however those executing them seem to have been even more brutal than the Marxists put down in Russia following the Martian Invasion it seems that they wiped out all opposing governments in a series of Brutal wars which left them with the small population at the time of our encounter. However many of the common people seem to have accepted this philosophy making it difficult for them to accept our system of government. One a Gate connection has been established it will be decided if their industry should be moved to one of our colonies, if an accommodation can be reached then they may well be allowed to colonize the nearby Syracuse system where one of the planers would be ideal for them although requiring terraforming for human colonization.

State of Empire 1st August 1934

Military
Few forces have been added 2 Orion class Assault cruisers and 2 Dreadnought Class Battleships have joined the fleet , another Orion, 2 Temeraire Jump Battleships and a Dreadnought Battleship are under construction

Jump gates and colonization
   Jump gate routes have been established to the Naples system and via the Los Angeles system to Sydney. A colony has been established on Naples A II which has been renamed as Victoria , this colony makes use of the Martian Terraforming facilities and Infrastructure and is up to 8.8 Million. In the Sydney system the colony is again on the Planet A II and has been named Camelot population here is 0.15 million but the world will require no Terraforming. 18 Freighters and 7 colony ships are in service . 4 Gate ships are assembling a connection to the Constantinople system. 3 Darwin class mobile Terraformers are under construction .

Survey forces
After Overhaul survey forces are being sent out again. 1st Mediterranean will survey systems of Toulouse starting with Syracuse, 1st Baltic will survey from Riga , 1st Pacific will survey from Hawaii, 2nd Pacific will Survey from Seattle and 1st Atlantic will survey from Tokyo. Survey operation will commence on arrival in those systems

Research
   With Jump Engines and Jump gates fully developed research has started to concentrate on smaller engines for very small ships which will be suitable for long term deployment to colonies with limited support infrastructure and on smaller missile launchers to mount on them.

1st January 1935
The 1st Pacific Survey Squadron probes the system of  Dutch Harbour from Hawai, Dutch Harbour is a binary system with a near Earth like world . HMS Kepler the Galileo class scout assigned to the fleet enters the system to probe for inhabitants. Approaching the 3rd Planet a large EM and thermographic signature is detected similar to that of Earth. Response so signals is limited and active sensor emissions from several ships are detected. HMS Kepler gets close to the planet but still receives no reply to its signals and the alien ships are maneuvering to intercept they seem to have speeds in the 5000kms range so the HMS  Kepler is able to keep the range open and return to the Jump point without being shadowed.
When news reaches Earth there is much concern , analysis of the alien signals and sensor emissions indicate that they are more sophisticated than us in this area indeed we are able to start work on a new generation of strength 28 sensors based on these signals. If they know about jump technology these aliens will soon be able to locate Earth unfortunately there is a Precursor Jump gate in Hawai leading to Los Angeles and Los Angeles has Jump gates to Earth and our colony at Sydney. Despite warnings from several naval officers that this force will be inadequate if the aliens are hostile 1st and 4th Cruiser Squadrons are dispatched. 2nd Cruiser Squadron is undergoing overhaul and 3rd Cruiser Squadron is in the Constantinople system. HMS Ajax the Orion class assault Cruiser assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron is reassigned to the 1st Cruiser squadron as it is newly contructed and not undergoing overhaul.
29th April 1934
The Cruiser force enters the Dutch Harbour system and sets course for the 3rd Planet with shields and sensors active while transmitting contact signals. As is reaches the half way point a large fleet is detected on an intercept course.
The Alien fleet in Dutch Harbour consists of 19 ships 9 escorts of around 6000 tons from 5 different classes, 6 cruisers of around 12,500 tons of 4 classes and  4 Heavy cruisers of around 19,000 tons of 2 classes.

12:00
With the Aliens continuing to close and refusing to answer signals , they have entered missile range . The fleet is within active sensor range of the aliens and so probably within their own missile range. In order to test the aliens antimissile defense each of the 6 Illustrious class cruisers launches a salvo of missile targeted on one of the alien Heavy cruisers

12:52
21 of the 48 missiles impact the target , indicating some degree of Point defense fire as the expected hit ration of the missiles was around 75%. However no interceptor missile fire was detected  indicating a reliance on close in weapon systems, the target seems to slow after the impacts of the missiles suggesting an armour breach
The 1st and 4th Cruiser squadrons open fire with all missiles

13:06
12 incoming antiship missiles are detected with a speed of 19,700kms, they are followed by a steady stream of missiles in groups of 6 and 14 , almost all of them are destroyed by the interceptor missiles but a very small number are engaged and destroyed by the heavy rail guns of the Assault Cruisers. Analysis suggests that there are 3 launch platforms 2 launching salvo’s of 6 and one launching salvo’s of 14.

13:26
After needing 40 antiship missiles to destroy one alien escort the Commanding officer of the Cruiser force orders course reversed to the Jump point, while the faster aliens will probably be able to catch the fleet they may choose not to, and it seems unlikely that the cruisers carry enough missiles to destroy the entire enemy fleet.
13:32
The 344 missiles fired so far have destroyed one 6000 ton escort and crippled 2 18,000 ton heavy cruisers. This confirms that the remaining 240 missiles are not sufficient to destroy the enemy fleet they will be held back until it is confirmed the enemy are pursuing .
The enemy formation has 3 ships hanging back at long range and matched the speed of our cruisers indicating these are likely the missile ships engaging the fleet. This indicates that the larger main body is armed with Close range weapons which likely means if they are able to overtake the cruisers the cruisers will be destroyed.

16:53
The Aliens have apparently exhausted their missiles, but their ships continue in pursuit and are overhauling the fleet. The remaining 44 missiles from each ship will be launched as one massive wave targeting the 6 largest remaining Alien vessels, 2 Cruisers are crippled and another Cruiser and 2 Escorts are destroyed.
1 Heavy cruiser, 3 cruisers and 4 escorts continue the pursuit, the Heavy Cruiser had been hit by multiple missiles but not slowed down.

30th April 00:27
With the Aliens having closed to 4 Million Km the fleet prepares to engage with Antimissile missiles and detached the 3 rail gun armed assault cruisers to head to meet the aliens head on..
As the light missiles hit the  remaining heavy cruiser it slows down , along with it most of the enemy ships slow down with the exception 2 of the cruisers , targeting is switched to one of them, and the assault cruisers reverse course and start heading for the jump point, there seems little point in allowing the slower ships to close the range.
Enemy ships start launching antiship missiles against the Orion Assault Cruiser’s HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, the fast missiles break past the Gauss Cannon fire of the cruisers and impacting the shields and armour , however the cruisers have heavy shield and amour and stand up well to the bombardment

00:30
It is realized that the assault cruisers will not survive to break off from the aliens under the missile bombardment . Particularly as most of our ships cannot engage with their own antimissiles at this range as their fire control is limited to 2 million km . The assault cruisers resume their charge. Post battle analysis confirms it was a mistake to send these cruisers in. However the enemy use of antimissiles was unexpected as they had not used them against our missile fire despite the apparent likelihood they would have been effective.

00:37
The Active sensor system on HMS Achilles is destroyed with the loss of 28 Lives, the first casualties suffered by the navy in space. The damage continues to build and soon the HMS Achilles is crippled and forced to drop out of formation, HMS Ajax too is being ground down by the bombardment

00:39
HMS Achilles explodes, HMS Ajax is badly crippled and blows up itself a few seconds later.
HMS Orion reaches Rail gun range and scores hits on a cruiser in return powerful torpedo’s blow huge holes through its armour. The enemy torpedo’s are vastly more powerful than any torpedo we had considered and at long range are superior to our rail guns with a similar charging time (Dual Fusion torpedo’s apparently with 200,000km rnage)
00:40
Orion crippled by missile fire and torpedo strikes is abandoned and scuttled by her crew
00:41
Enemy Antimissiles are detected closing on the main fleet, unfortunately our own antimissiles cannot engage the enemy ships as the only ships with stocks remaining are the escort cruisers who do not have a fire control capable of engaging the enemy ships
01:29
The 2 torpedo armed cruisers come within range of the Missile fire control of the escort cruisers. If they can be destroyed or crippled the Cruisers should be able to escape
01:30
One of the torpedo cruisers is reduced to half speed and targeting is switched to the other vessel which is pounded into destruction, unfortunately by that time the cripple is beyond Fire control range and with other undamaged alien ships in the system the decision is made to let if go and continue the retreat
02:36
The surviving alien ships speed up to 4063kms and begin slowly closing the gap again. Perhaps their earlier slow down was caused by battle damage two of their ships where hit by missiles earlier but it was thought they had taken only armour damage if one had lost an engine which has just been repaired their behaviour would be explained.
03:35
The hypothesis about battle damage seems confirmed when they accelerate to 4265kms
03:52
the Aliens accelerate to 4480kms
05:11
The aliens have closed to within range of their antimissiles unfortunately this is beyond the capabilities of the available fire control onboard the cruisers. A quick reversal of course brings our own antimissiles into range and several salvo’s targeted on the heavy cruiser and the cruiser in the enemy fleet reduce their speed to 2133kms . This allows the fleet to begin opening the range again. And continue the retreat to the jump point
19:22
The Cruiser force exits the Dutch Harbour system and begins its journey to Earth, detaching both Galileo class scouts to picket the jump point to the Hawai system

29th June 1935
In reaction to the defeat of the 1st and 4th Cruiser squadrons , the Admiralty detaches the 1st, 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons the 4th is incomplete with only 2 Dreadnought Assault Battleships and 1 Temeraire Jump Battleship which is on its shakedown cruise they will be screened by the rearmed 1st and 4th Cruiser Squadrons, supporting them will be the planetary assault elements of the 1st Assault Squadron consisting of the HMS Prince Eugene , a General class assault transport and HMS Cromwell a Cromwell class troop transport carrying an expeditionary corp, as well as the 1st Pacific Survey Squadron to handle system survey duties.

17th September 1935
The Fleet is assembled at the Jump Point to the Dutch Harbour system. The Initial system entry will consist of the 4th Battle Squadron reinforced by HMS Lancelot and ships from the 1st and 4th Cruiser Squadron making a combat transit
22:22
The 4th Cruiser Squadron and 4th Battle Squadron emerge, although the 1st Cruiser Squadron is delayed. The Jump Ships head for the Jump point to pick up a second wave while the warships strive to bring their systems on online. There are 16 Thermal contacts at close range with engines matching the full range of previously encountered ships
T+10
1st Cruiser Squadron arrives. Approximately 100 Anti missile missiles attack HMS Temeraire , 51 impact the shields which remain intact.
T+15
The Jump ships are at the jump point trying to jump out
T+20
40 more antimissiles break past defensive Gauss Cannon fire to impact HMS Temeraire’s shields.
T+25
Heavy  torpedo’s impact HMS Lancelot, HMS Dreadnought and HMS Thunderchild the shields of all 3 hold. The Alien vessels are opening the range as fast as possible
T+30
47 Antimissiles impact HMS Temeraire , they break through the shields and score the armour
T+35
Active sensors come on line and the fleet is able to return fire, HMS Lancelot launches 10 Hardened missiles
T+40
Jump Cruiser HMS Pizzaro jumps out to collect 2 more cruisers
T+45
Jump Cruiser HMS Drake jumps out to collect 2 more Cruisers , Antimissiles and heavy missiles strike several alien ships but do little visible damage
T+50
Torpedo’s hit HMS Lancelot, Dreadnought and Thunderchild again they fail to break the shields.
T+55
HMS Temeraire jumps out to return with the rest of 1st Battle Squadron

After this point the logs become confused, there is an engagement lasting about 5 minutes in which point blank missile fire, and rail gun fire destroys all except 5 alien vessels. 3 are unarmed and the other 2 are the smaller missile ships which are beyond point blank range, the unarmed ships are allowed to escape while the missile ships are blown up by missile fire from our cruisers.
Damage to Royal Navy ships was limited to shield and armour damage as the aliens concentrated their fire on the battleships particularly the assault battleships . The Aliens have notable courage one of the last acts of the battle was an attack run by two of their escorts who turned out to be armed with Gauss cannon upon HMS Dreadnought and HMS Thunderchild , a suicidal attack in the face of the 9 25cm railguns each ship carried.
The 1st Cruiser Squadron rescues alien survivors while the 4th Cruiser squadron returns to Hawai to escort the 1st assault squadron from Los Angeles. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battle squadrons head for the 3rd planet, they are intercepted half way there by a single alien missile cruiser which is rapidly dispatched by their missile salvo’s.
The Battle squadrons detect several ships which turn out to be unarmed and take guard over the planet until the troops arrive, they then support the invasion with limited nuclear bombardment which eliminates enemy ground forces on the 24th of January 1936 however a larger garrison will be needed , much larger it will probably take almost all of the troops based on Earth and Mars. More troops are needed and recruitment starts. There is some suggestion that perhaps they should be forced to surrender by further bombardment however the King refuses to allow such a despicable act.
Communications have been established and it appears that these aliens are yet another group of Marxists. It seems that it is a good thing that our local Marxists where crushed however Special Branch increases surveillance on all Marxist and Socialist groups on Earth . This group however seem to have a more even distribution of wealth and lack the clear dictatorship found in the system set up by the Cassians on Constaninople.
Once these aliens have surrendered survey operations will resume.
 

Offline schroeam

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Re: Martian Campaign Part 3
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2009, 05:48:33 PM »
Good write up.  Keep them coming.  Very interesting warp assault.  

Adam.