Campaign Updates

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 119, Day 1, Earth
Once again, the Russian government is forced to withdraw troops from the border and send them to the interior.  Moscow is quiet, but saw riots in the early days of the unrest and is heavily patrolled by trusted troops.  To cover the withdrawal, the Russian leaders again threaten the Coalition and the breakaway states with nuclear devastation should they interfere. 

Frustrated that the Coalition won’t actively support them, the Arab Caliphate and the new European Union sign a mutual defense treaty begin shifting forces to support each other in case of an attack. 

Month 119, Day 2, Earth
The Coalition warns everyone against military adventurism and specifically warns the USSR against the use of nuclear weapons, warning that it will use its strategic offensive and defensive capability to respond to any attack by the USSR against any nation or group on Earth.  The Coalition government once again offers to mediate to resolve the differences between the Soviet Union and its breakaway states.  Both the Organization of Indian States and the United Chinese Front also offer to mediate or deploy peacekeeping forces to the borders of the rival states to ensure peace. 

The European Union and the Arab Caliphate both accept the offers of mediation, but the USSR refuses and accuses the other nations of interfering in its internal affairs. 

Month 119, Day 2, Russian Smolensk system
The Combined Human Fleets had chased the Rehorish across the system directly to the warp point to the Kirov system.  Both the Smolensk and the Kirov system were uninhabited, but the Kirov system differed in that it connected to three colonized systems, one of which would lead to Rehorish space after several more jumps. 

As before, the Combined Fleets paused at the warp point, wary of an ambush, and then pushed through after waiting seven hours.  Once again, the Rehorish declined to defend the warp point, but they had obviously been reinforced.  The Rehorish squadron now consisted of three cruisers, four light cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and three corvettes.  Still not a match for the Combined Fleets, but growing in strength. 

Month 119, Day 4, Russian Kirov system
Shortly after the main fleets moved beyond detection range of the warp point back to the Smolensk system, taking their Rehorish shadows with them, two groups of ships jumped into the system.  The two groups of ships were each composed of eight ships, a light cruiser, corvette, and six escorts, and all of the ships were Russian.  Admiral Ruston had detached them from his fleet before he jumped into the Kirov system, out of sight of the Rehorish.  Hopefully, if the Rehorish noted the difference they would think that he had left the missing ships to picket the Smolensk system.  After pausing the ensure that the area was clear, the two groups split, with one headed for the warp point to the Krasnodar system, and the colony there, while the other headed towards the Tomsk system and the colonies there. 

Month 119, Day 5, Earth
The Soviet government is losing control of the cities, and the external pressure to allow the Coalition to mediate the dispute is growing.  The Politburo is sure that the Coalition intends to use this emergency to fragment the Soviet Union and put together an international coalition that will squeeze the USSR out of space, and is determined to regain its position.  The leadership favors a quick and limited decapitation nuclear strike against the Caliphate and the European Union, followed by a lightning strike by armored forces, but has grown concerned about the reliability of the leadership of its strategic nuclear forces.  To gain time while they regain control of the nuclear forces, the USSR launches conventional invasions of both the European Union and the Caliphate.  The Coalition is warned to stay out of the fighting. 

Month 119, Day 8, Earth
Both Soviet invasions have bogged down, having gained little ground.  Both invasion forces were understrength, and once again, several critical units either refused to advance or melted away once the fighting started.  Russian forces gained the most ground in eastern Europe, but even there they have failed to gain their first day goals after three days of heavier than expected fighting. 

Month 119, Day 11, Earth
Both invasions have failed.  The forces in the Caliphate are holding against counter attacks, but the forces in Eastern Europe have been forced to retreat past their start positions by heavy counter attacks by combined European and Caliphate forces.  To cover their failure, the front commanders are claiming that the enemy forces are using latest generation Coalition military technology, which isn’t true but further panics the leadership in Moscow. 

The Coalition, fearing an increasingly desperate USSR, signs a mutual defense treaty with the two breakaway states, offering to cover them with a strategic umbrella against nuclear attack.  The treaty won’t allow the Coalition to enter the fight, or to supply the two states with military aid, and requires that the two nations stop at their border and remain outside of the USSR, to avoid putting too much pressure on the USSR and perhaps provoking a nuclear attack.  Because of these terms the two new nations agree to call a halt to their advances at the border, in some cases ordering a retreat, leaving Soviet territory.

Month 119, Day 12, Russian Kirov system
The Combined Human Fleets had arrived at the warp point early in the day.  The retreating Rehorish fleet had jumped out several hours ago.  Cautiously, Admiral Ruston sent a frigate-scout through to probe the far side.  Thirty seconds later the scout returned to report that the Rehorish squadron was waiting for them one light minute from the warp point, exactly as they had done in the Smolensk and Kirov systems. 

Admiral Ruston ordered the fleet through the warp point, fairly sure that this time the Rehorish weren’t going to retreat any further.  The Novosibirsk system was the last system in this warp chain that had belonged to the Russians.  Beyond Novosibirsk was Rehorish territory, and he was certain the Rehorish weren’t going to make things easy for him. 

Once through the warp point Admiral Ruston ordered his fleet to set a course for the Russian colony in the inner system.  For the first hour the Rehorish ships ran ahead of them, as they had for the last several weeks.  But then the fleet ahead seemed to unravel.  Fourteen Rehorish destroyers left the main group and began spreading out around the human ships, while the nine remaining Rehorish ships in the main force remained ahead of them, keeping the range steady.  Eventually the Rehorish destroyers had spread out around the human fleets, closing to ten light seconds range.  Curious to see how the Rehorish would respond, Admiral Ruston ordered his four corvettes and five Russian escorts to chase down one of the destroyers.  The corvettes and escorts were faster than the Rehorish ship, and together would be able to overwhelm it.  Unfortunately, the Rehorish saw the small ships coming and the DD’s around the targeted DD began closing on it while the targeted DD turned away from the fleet and its pursuers.   

After watching this play out for a while, Admiral Ruston ordered the ships back to the main fleet.  The Rehorish main group then turned and began moving away from the human fleets, running around them and then turning for the warp point they had just left.  It was clear to Admiral Ruston that the Rehorish were willing to allow him to advance into the system, but at the cost of being cut off from support from his supply lines to the inner planets. 

In the end, Admiral Ruston was forced to detach a force of six heavy cruisers and six destroyers to watch the warp point.  The detachment wasn’t quite strong enough to stand up to the Rehorish squadron in a one to one fight, but Admiral Ruston didn’t actually think that would happen.  His intention was to set out for the WP to Rehorish territory once his own supply lines were secure, thus cutting off the Rehorish.  If they wished to attack his stay-behind force, they could, but it was strong enough to give the Rehorish a fight if they wished to challenge it, and would be able to keep them occupied for a time.  In the meantime, Admiral Ruston’s fleet, which would presumably be right behind them if they tried to slip past his fleet to make a run at the warp point, would be able to come up behind them and crush them. 

The Rehorish squadron watched as the human fleet split, then settled for following the main fleet as it set out for the warp point to the Rehorish-controlled Novosibirsk system. 

Month 119, Day 13, Kirov system
The Russian squadron detached by Admiral Ruston came to a halt eight light seconds from the warp point to the Tomsk system and launched a CD, which immediately headed towards the warp point.  Admiral Ruston had been worried about the possibility that some of the Russian colonies had held out against the Rehorish and had therefore mounted some sort of defenses at their warp point.  The last thing he wanted was a friendly fire incident, so the CD would go first. 

Several minutes after the CD jumped out, a CD returned.  It carried old, pre-Rehorish conquest codes, and the messages it carried stated that the territory in and around the Tomsk system was controlled by the Tomsk Union, which had been formed out the five colonies in and around the Tomsk system. 

After some negotiation the defenders agreed to allow a ship to come through to their side, and the Russian corvette jumped through to the Tomsk side.  The reunion was joyful, but there was caution amongst the Tomsk Union personnel.  They clearly felt that they had been betrayed and left to their own devices by the Russian government.  They way forward would be difficult, for both sides.   

Month 119, Day 14, Kirov system
The second Russian squadron reached the warp point to the Krasnodar system and it too paused to send through a CD.  This time nothing came back, and after waiting for a time, the squadron commander dispatched his corvette to probe the far side.  The corvette returned to report that the far side was clear, so the squadron jumped through and set out for the colony in the inner system. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 119, Day 15, Earth
Disposition of forces in the Solar System

Coalition:
Coalition Reserve Fleet (WP to Sigma Draconis): 7xBC, 1xCA, 3xCL, 1xDD, 2xCT
Coalition Earth Squadron (Earth): 9xFGS, 1xEXS
Earth PDC’s: PDC Atlantic, PDC Pacific
Coalition WP Defense: 6xBS3, 3xBS1, 9xBS0, 1xEXS, 3xAWCS

USSR:
Soviet Planetary Defense: 3xPDC, 6xAnti-Msl PDC
Soviet Earth Fleet: 1xBC, 8xCL, 1xAWCS, 14xES, 2xEXS
Soviet WP Defense: 2xAsteroid Fort, 1xEXS

Note: Both sides have been ‘improving’ their PDC’s in secret.  By treaty, neither side can improve their PDC’s without approval and negotiations with the other, but both have been doing so anyway, in secret.  They both ran the risk of being discovered and causing an international incident, but both succeeded in keeping their programs a secret.  The Russians expanded their missile defense by adding six small PDC’s with point defense only, while the Coalition was much more ambitious, overhauling both their PDC’s in small increments over the years, replacing older gun/missile launchers with advanced gun/missile launchers and the more powerful standard sprint missile launchers (G’s).  The Coalition improved their PDC’s more simply because they felt more threatened by the USSR than the USSR felt threated by the Coalition. 

Rebel forces throughout the USSR declare the establishment of a new Free Russia, to be based in Leningrad.  The citizens of Moscow rise against the military occupation of their city once again, and this time the weakened military forces available cannot stop them, although the military manages to remain in control of the city center.  Feeling their control slip away, in a last-ditch effort to stabilize the situation, General Petrov, with the agreement of the Council, orders a nuclear strike against the Coalition, Europe, the Caliphate, and both India and China.  The strike is limited, not employing the full arsenal, and is intended more as a warning than anything else.  The leadership knows that the Coalition has its defenses ready, and believes that most, if not all, of the missiles will be intercepted, thus the ‘warning’ nature of the attack.  At 0810 hours, ten sprint-mode standard missiles (SM’s) are launched from one of the Soviet PDC’s, targeted on industrial centers in Europe, Arabia, and the Coalition, as well as the breakaway state’s military units massed on the Soviet border. 

In the two Coalition PDC’s, the response was immediate.  The PDC’s massive ranks of point defense emplacements sprang into action immediately, without waiting for human confirmation, as they were designed to do.  Unfortunately, sprint-mode missiles are hard to stop, and even though point defense mounted on PDC’s at least has a chance to destroy the incoming missiles, where point defense on ships does not, it still is not a great chance.  Coalition point defense stops only four of the ten missiles, leaving the other six to hit industrial complexes in all three nations, as well as one that hit an Arabian army group. 

Thirty seconds had passed since the Russian launch, and it was too soon to expect any civilian leader of the Coalition to authorize a response.  Because of the incredibly fast nature of modern combat when confined on something as small as a planet, both side’s PDC’s were actually controlled by a limited AI which was governed by “response patterns” preauthorized by the country’s political leadership.  In this case, the CEO of the Coalition had authorized a limited, proportionate response when tensions escalated.  Therefore, approximately thirty seconds after the Soviet launch, one of the Coalition PDC’s launched ten sprint-mode SM’s of its own, targeted on one of the Russian PDC’s.  The Soviet PDC’s managed to intercept six of the incoming missiles, leaving four to hit the PDC’s armor, barely scratching it. 

At this point everything paused as the people of the Earth held their breath.  In the Coalition, the CEO’s personal defense team was rushing him to his bunker, and he was desperately trying to contact the Russian leadership to head off further conflict.  In the meantime, the CEO had denied the military’s request to continue engaging the Russian PDC’s. 

In Russia, the Council of Generals, or at least the generals who really mattered, were already in their bunker, both out of fear of the Coalition response and because of the masses of people rioting in their capital city.  The generals were stunned that the Coalition had actually responded to their attack, as they had convinced themselves that the weak Coalition wouldn’t risk a nuclear war to protect the two breakaway states.  General Petrov, the leader of the Council, was in a particularly weak position as he had done most of the convincing, and he knew who the other members would turn on when it became clear that this plan had failed.  Therefore, he did the only thing he could.  He rallied the other members of the Council and ordered a full-scale assault on the Coalition’s PDC’s.  This would be all or nothing.

Four minutes after the first exchange of missiles, the USSR launched a full strike on the Coalition’s Atlantic PDC.  The Coalition’s point defense took out seventy-six of the incoming missiles, leaving seventy-four to hit the PDC’s very thick armor. 

In the Coalition, the CEO was now close to his bunker, but had failed to get through to the Russian leadership, partially because of confusion and chaos within the Coalition’s comm systems, but also because the Russians really didn’t want to talk.  In any case, the CEO’s desires became moot when the Russians launched, as the AI’s controlling the Coalition PDC’s had just one pre-authorized acceptable response to a full Russian attack, and that was to immediately launch against the attackers.  Thirty seconds after the Russians launched, the Coalition responded.  For the next ninety seconds the two sides launched missiles at each other PDC’s in a concerted attempt to take the other side’s defenses out.  Millions died from collateral damage on both sides as nuclear fireballs blossomed across the Earth.

At the end of the ninety seconds, General Petrov realized that they were in trouble.  The armor on one of their three PDC’s was almost gone, while it appeared that the Coalition PDC’s were weathering the storm.  While it was impossible to tell just how much armor the other side’s PDC’s had, intelligence had been clear for some time that the Coalition PDC’s were heavily armored, and now it appeared that the reports were true.  Worse, somehow the Coalition PDC’s were putting out far more firepower than they should.  This was partially balanced by the USSR’s superior defenses, but not completely.  With the other members of the Council wavering, General Petrov ordered a change in targeting.  One PDC would target the Coalition’s orbital yards, while the other two would target Coalition and independent cities.  At the same time, General Petrov sends a demand to the Coalition government to surrender or face continued bombardment of their cities. 

In orbit, the Coalition’s eleven shipyards are contained within a massive space station equipped to support them.  The space station, by treaty, is unarmed, however, relatively recently the Coalition navy refitted the station to install a datalink system, so that the orbital shipyard could be protected by the PDC’s point defenses.  This would be tested now, as a Russian PDC turned its fifty gun/missile launchers on the Coalition station.  Coalition PDC’s attempted to defend the shipyard from the Russian missiles, but the task was nearly impossible and twenty-six sprint-mode SM’s made it through the defenses to hit the station, destroying two shipyards.  The remaining Russian PDC’s targeted major cities around the world.  Coalition point defense stopped many of the missiles, but they couldn’t get all and nuclear fireballs exploded over city after city.  Millions died in seconds. 

The Coalition PDC’s continued targeting the Russian PDC’s when the Russians switched to the cities, and finally the armor of one of the Russian PDC’s was penetrated, even as the Russian missiles were exploding over the world’s cities. 

The damaged Russian PDC continued to target the Coalition shipyards.  The Russian missiles did heavy damage to the yards even as Coalition missiles wiped the Russian PDC off the map.  The other Russian PDC’s continued to target cities across the globe.  In the Soviet command bunker there was chaos.  The Council, aghast at the destruction they were wreaking, had turned on General Petrov and were attempting to get orders to the remaining PDC’s to cease fire.  General Petrov’s security had responded, and there was now a firefight in the bunker.  General Petrov, isolated in his office by the rest of the Council, which is now fighting Petrov’s guards, orders the Russian Fleet holding station ten light seconds from Earth to join the battle and bombard Coalition territories. 

The Russian fleet near Earth consisted of one battlecruiser, eight light cruisers, one corvette, fourteen escorts and two scouts, and was commanded by a newly rehabilitated General Lebedev.  General Petrov had recently released General Lebedev from prison after he agreed to support the new regime.  General Petrov needed the support from a general of the old guard, and ensured Lebedev’s cooperation by holding his family as hostage against his compliance.  Unknown to General Petrov, General Lebedev still had some supporters in the military, and when the nuclear exchange started, he asked them to rescue his family from the secret police that were holding them.  Not long before General Petrov ordered the fleet to intervene, General Lebedev had gotten word that his family had been freed.  Thus, when the orders came in, General Lebedev declared his support for the people of Russia, and his opposition to the corrupt leaders that even now were destroying Russia.  The officers and crews of the Russian fleet, who had been watching the ongoing destruction of the Motherland with shock, supported General Lebedev almost uniformly.  It didn’t hurt General Lebedev’s position that there was only one ship in the fleet that could attack ground targets, and the lunacy of General Petrov’s orders were clear to all.  As one, the Russian fleet declared for the Russian people, and refused the orders sent by Petrov.  The Coalition’s Earth squadron was composed entirely of newly constructed scouts, and was completely incapable of intervening as well. 

The two remaining Russian PDC’s continued targeting the orbital shipyards and cities.  The Coalition’s capital city was destroyed by Russian missile strikes, killing the CEO and most of the Senate.  The Coalition PDC’s shifted fire to a second Russian PDC and began wearing away its armor.  General Petrov is now back in control of his bunker, and declares that the General’s Council has been disbanded for treason.  In desperation, outraged at the betrayal by the fleet, General Petrov orders the Soviet asteroid forts at the warp point to interdict all traffic entering or leaving the solar system.  The orders are largely aimed at the Russian fleet that betrayed Petrov, but in his rush to get the orders out he does not specify which traffic.  It will take several hours for the orders to arrive, and by then the situation will be resolved on Earth, one way or another.  It isn’t clear if General Petrov realizes this, and there is no one left to question him. 

The commanders of the two remaining Russian PDC’s, in the absence of orders from the Council, and based on rumors that General Petrov has arrested or killed the entire Council for treason, both decide to shift targeting back to Coalition military targets.  Both Russian PDC’s begin targeting the same Coalition PDC that they had targeted earlier, trying to get through the PDC’s thick armor.  For the next four minutes the Russian PDC’s pound the Coalition base, but fail to get through its armor as one by one they are taken out by Coalition counterfire. 

In the Coalition PDC code-named Atlantic, Captain Alicia Hardesty, the CO of the base, had watched her nation destroyed.  Her family and nearly everyone she knew had been killed in the Russian bombardment, and the government she served had been almost completely destroyed.  When she was young her grandparents had told her many times of the terrible destruction of the Last War in 1963, and the family they had lost and the disease and deprivation that had scoured the country.  Her parents had been cast loose as children in a war-torn nation that had suffered terrible destruction at the hands of the Soviets.  Captain Hardesty had joined the Coalition military to ensure that something like the Last War never happened again.  And she had failed.  And not only had she failed, but it was the Russians who had yet again destroyed her nation.  For the last thirteen minutes her PDC had been pounded by the Russians, who had been trying to get through the defenses to kill her people, the people she had sworn to protect.  Now the Russian PDC’s were gone, but the Russian nation survived.  And that was intolerable to Captain Hardesty.  She made her decision in a split second, and keyed in the codes to lock her command center down, isolating the center from the rest of the PDC.  Then she activated the lockdown for her offices, isolating her from the rest of the command center.  Once that was done, she ordered the base AI to target Russian cities and begin launching.  This shouldn’t have been possible, but with the destruction of the Coalition’s government too many safeguards had been removed.  The AI accepted the order and began launching missiles at Russian cities. 

In the other PDC, codenamed Pacific, the CO frantically tried to get through to Captain Hardesty, but all communication channels into the other base were cut off.   Moscow was the first Russian city to go as the Coalition missiles struck targets across Russia, unhindered by any defenses.  For the next two and a half minutes PDC Atlantic continues to pump missiles into Russia while the CO of PDC Pacific tries to get through to the commander to get them to stop.  Finally realizing that the other PDC will not stop, Captain Nikau Smith, CO of PDC Pacific, ordered his base to engage the other Coalition PDC in an attempt to get them to stop firing at defenseless people. 

Captain Smith continues to try to get through to Captain Hardesty even as the two bases tear at each other, but what he doesn’t know is that Captain Hardesty killed herself shortly after ordering her AI to fire at Russian cities.  The AI continued following Captain Hardesty’s last order until the situation changed when PDC Pacific began targeting it, and so, following its mandatory response pattern, the AI shifted fire to the immediate threat.  For the next six and a half minutes the two PDC’s fire at each other and nuclear explosions boil over both bases.  Fortunately, PDC Atlantic’s armor was damaged by the Russians, and PDC Pacific got in the first strike, giving it a significant advantage.  Finally, the nuclear fire chewed through PDC’s Atlantic’s armor and destroyed the base, and its valiant crew, who had finally realized something was wrong and were trying to burn through to the command center even as the base was destroyed. 

The war was over.  Billions were dead and Earth was devastated.   

In the aftermath, General Lebedev attempted to contact his own government, and then the Coalition government.  He was unable to find any civilian authorities on either side, but finally established contact with Captain Smith in the surviving Coalition PDC.  The two quickly agreed that the war was over, and that whatever reasons it had been fought for were now moot.  The two agreed to begin coordinating relief efforts to help as many people on the ground as could be helped. 

Four hours later, the orders from General Petrov, who was by then radioactive dust dispersing through the Earth’s tortured atmosphere, arrived at the warp point.  The message was received by the two asteroid forts at the same time.  Up to two months ago Marshal Smirnov had been in command of the defenses at the warp point, but the Council of Generals had removed him for being insufficiently obsequious to one of the Council’s auditors.  He was replaced with two Brigadirs, one on each of the fortresses.  The two were each told to run their command independently, and further told to watch each other and their crews for disloyalty.   The situation had been tense, but when events on Earth began to spiral out of control the two new commanders contacted each other and agreed to place their fortresses under the command of General Fedorov.  A scout was dispatched to the Moskva system to inform the colonies there of the events in the Solar System, and to send a message to the ships stationed at the WP to the Leningrad system.   

After a few hours, the Coalition squadron at the warp point departed for the inner system, intent on doing what it could for the people of the Earth. 

Even as the Coalition fleet moves inward, a stream of refugee ships begin heading outward from Earth towards the colonies.  The news of the destruction of Earth and the fall of the USSR and the Coalition spreads outward faster than the ships can run. 

Approximately seven hours after the end of the Final War, Part 2, messages bearing the news arrived at the colonies in the Sigma Draconis/Moskva system.  These colonies were both side’s largest and most established and prosperous colonies.  The shock to the people and their leaders was palpable.  The leaders of the Russian colonies immediately declared their support for the Russian Fleet, which they had begun viewing before the final conflict on Earth as their only bulwark against the growing chaos on the home planet.  All of the colonial leaders in the system agreed to stand united and send aide to the remaining peoples of Earth. 

Late that same day, Generals Semenov and Fedorov received word of the final destruction of their homeland.  The message had traveled by light-speed relays between ships stationed at the intervening warp points, and so had arrived quickly.  While it was not exactly a surprise, it was shocking.  After taking some time to compose themselves, they made the announcement to the entire fleet, and announced that the bulk of the fleet would be returning to the Solar system to provide what aid they could to the survivors.  A small detachment of ships would remain behind to secure the system and the mobile shipyards, but the rest of the ships would depart immediately. 

The news would take considerably longer to reach Admiral Ruston, as it would have to travel at the speed of courier drones rather than light speed. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Author’s Note on the effects of the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR

Starfire, as a game system, doesn’t really deal with combat between two HT races on the same planet very well, so I’ve had to “role-play” out a lot of what is going on.  In essence, the Coalition and Soviet governments have been destroyed, and the bulk of the population of both nations is dead or dying.  In addition, the USSR launched decapitation strikes against most other states to destabilize them, ostensibly to give it time to recover after the nuclear war.  Its leaders didn’t survive, so that didn’t work, but it made sense at the time.  Kind of. 

The rules provide for direct damage to populations, and collateral damage from weapons targeted on PDC’s, and even misses do damage on planets, but there are no rules for dust, nuclear winter, and lingering radiation effects.  That has long been a point of contention within the Starfire community, as there is no provision for changing the habitability rating of a planet after the inhabitants have been nuked, and even if you did change the rating to make it less habitable for the current inhabitants, you’d actually be making it more habitable for someone else, which isn’t really the intent.  Therefore, I have eliminated both the Coalition and Russian populations from Earth in their entirety, and created a new, much smaller population that comprises everyone who is left.  This new population includes Russian and Coalition survivors, as well as all other populations on Earth.  Earth will remain unproductive for a period of time that will be random, but much shorter than it would be in reality, just because this is Starfire and time is wacky.  I will not allow this population to grow beyond medium for some time, to reflect the damage that has been done to Earth.     

The destruction of a large part of Earth’s population creates a problem for humanity.  This problem is directly related to the slower than normal growth rates I have imposed on the game.  I wanted to avoid the bloat that afflicts most campaigns by mid-game, so I slowed down growth to one fifth of its normal value.  In other words, instead of the populations growing every turn, as is normal in Starfire, I set SA to do growth only once every five turns.  This has worked well to keep the various race’s income reasonable.  As a quick comparison, in the Phoenix Campaign, by turn 119, construction for two of the two major governments in the game, the ASR and the 2nd Empire, totaled thirty-eight capital ships (mostly light monitors and carriers), and refits for seventy other capital ships, mostly light monitors.  That should tell you a lot about the income disparities between the two campaigns. 

While slowing down the population growth has worked to slow down income growth, it has also had some other significant effects.  Most of the main race’s earlies colonies have only managed to grow to 200 to 240 PU’s by turn 119.  This is far below the 401 PU’s that is important in Starfire for an independent nation.  401 PU’s is the smallest population that is considered “Medium”.  Medium populations are important for a lot of reasons.  They are smallest population that can support colonization from their population without significantly depleting their numbers.  It is also the smallest population that can support R&D efforts. 

All of this means that humanity is screwed in the game.  Until the Earth recovers and becomes productive again, humanity has no populations that can support R&D or colonization.  Now, I think humanity should suffer significant consequences for this, but this is just too much.  So, what I will be doing over the next several turns is boosting the populations of several different colonies to just over 400 PU’s by bringing in refugees fleeing from Earth.  This will give each faction a viable population center that will support growth and R&D.  Now, whether it can afford colonization and R&D will be another entire matter, but it at least gives them a chance.  Note, these boosted populations will not come close to making up for the income loss from the destroyed populations on Earth. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 119, Day 19, Krasnodar System
The Russian squadron arrived over the Krasnodar colony by mid-day, to find the colony occupied by Rehorish troops.  The commander of those troops was willing to talk to the newly arrived ships, but it became obvious that he would not surrender unless the humans brought up troops to threaten his positions on the ground.  The Russian squadron commander sent CD’s to both Admiral Ruston and General Semenov and then settled in to wait. 

Month 119, Day 22, Epsilon Eridani system
The Epsilon Eridani System was the home to the Coalition’s New Plymouth colony, the pride and joy of the Coalition.  Unlike Russia, which had focused on building up its colonies in the Moskva system, the Coalition had focused on the New Plymouth colony, as it was not in a system shared with the Russians and could thus be secured.  Indeed, prior to the resumption of the war with the D’Bringi, the Coalition had planned to establish a command center in the system for both the colonial administration and the fleet.  Those plans had fallen by the wayside when the war started up again, and that had proved problematic when the Coalition government was cut off from its colonies by the D’Bringi and their allies.  Without a recognized governmental authority to bind them together, the Coalition’s colonies had split into two groups, each centered around the largest colony in their respective areas. 

For the four colonized systems beyond the Epsilon Eridani system, New Plymouth was their rallying point.  Word of the destruction of the Coalition arrived at the colony early in the day, and the New Plymouth leaders reacted much the same as the colonies in the Sigma Draconis/Moskva system.  They immediately began preparing for refugees and organizing relief efforts for the home system. 

Month 119, Day 22, Epsilon Indi system
Epsilon Indi was uninhabited, but it was the gateway from the Solar System to the bulk of the Coalition’s colonies.  When the Earth was cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Rehorish, the colonies beyond Epsilon Indi rallied around Wunderland in the Sligo system, just as the colonies beyond Epsilon Eridani rallied around New Plymouth. 

The news arrived early in the day, and then was relayed on to the Sligo system by the Coalition Colonial Defense Squadron stationed in Epsilon Indi to protect the colonies beyond from D’Bringi incursions. 

Meanwhile, in the D’Bringi Expanses:
Month 119, Day 20
Simmering unrest on two planets conquered by the D’Bringi, fed by the missionaries sent by the Mintek, boils over into open rebellion on both planets.  The clan picket ships immediately send word via the new ICN to both the home system and the fleet. 

Thanks to the relatively new D’Bringi communications network, word was received on D’Bringi Prime within hours. 

Not wanting to strip the blockade fleet, Clan chief Burning Blade decided to send large contingents of troops supported by a single clan cruiser to each of the rebelling worlds.  This will strip the home system of almost all of the ships remaining there, but the rebellion must be put down. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 120
D’Bringi Expanses: The D’Bringi Home System shipyards launch three new cruisers for the Keeper fleet, and a cruiser and two corvettes are repaired. 

Rehorish Stellar Dominion: Repairs are completed on three heavy cruisers and a light cruiser, and refits are finished on three light cruisers and two destroyers. 

United World Republic (Tarek): The Tarek yards launch six additional exploration ships. 

Former Coalition: Wunderland has stopped all outgoing communications.  The governor of New Plymouth begins work on re-establishing the Coalition government, and has invited representatives from the other colonies to join together on New Plymouth to begin down that road.  The Coalition Fleet is divided, with the bulk far away on the Rehorish front and the rest rushing back to the Solar System to assist in relief efforts.  Refugees should start arriving at the nearest colonies early in the month, and most of the colonial government’s efforts and attention is focused on preparing for their arrival.   All efforts at R&D have been shut down for the foreseeable future to save resources for more important uses in light of the disaster. 

On Wunderland, the new government has decided to attack the Tarek as soon as the squadron assigned to the Epsilon Indi system joins them. 

Former USSR: The first wave of refugees has arrived in the Moskva system and caused chaos among the Russian colonies located there.  The colonies were initially willing to receive refugees, but the numbers fleeing the destruction of Earth are massive and overwhelming.  Resistance to accepting refugees is growing among the governments of the Moskva colonies and some are being refused admittance.   As with the Coalition, the Russians have shut down all R&D due to lack of funds.   

On Earth, the situation is chaotic.  Millions, perhaps billions, survived the cataclysm, but many will die without help.  Cities that were not destroyed in the conflict have been beset by refugees, and both the Russian and the Coalition Fleets are doing their best to help with supply distribution and organizing transportation to out-system colonies willing to accept refugees.  Most of the refugees from Russia are heading to the major Russian colonies in the Moskva system, while the Coalition and other refugees are heading farther, to the Coalition colony systems of Epsilon Eridani and Sligo. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 120, Day 1, Moskva system
The Russian fleet under Generals Fedorov and Semenov jumps into the Moskva system early in the day.  Upon arrival the fleet is deluged with messages that are being broadcast across the system.  Many of the messages are emergency reports from overloaded refugee ships from the solar system, while the rest are overworked colonial government personnel trying to find places for the refugees to go.  Disturbingly enough, there are messages from the colonial government on Gagarin making it clear that they will accept no further refugees, and threating to fire on any refugee ship that approaches.  Gagarin is the largest and best equipped Russian colony in the system, situated on the best, most benign world in the system.  For it to be turning away refugees is unthinkable. 

The two generals had originally been intent on heading directly to the Solar System, however, with this development, it is now clear that at least one of them will have to remain here to coordinate refugee movements and to lean on the local governments.  They decide that General Semenov, who is better known to the local authorities, will remain in the Moskva system with the bulk of his fleet, while General Fedorov will continue on into the Solar System to take command of operations there. 

Month 120, Day 4, Tomsk Union
The Tomsk Union was thrown into political chaos when the Russian fleet re-established contact last month.  Many, probably most, were relieved that the war was going well and that the D’Bringi and their allies were on the retreat, but no one had forgotten the excesses of the USSR and their often-corrupt colonial administrators.  Opinion amongst the general population on rejoining the USSR was split between those that feared that refusal would bring war with the homeland and the people who favored complete independence, regardless of the price.  Worse, no one was sure what the Bjering would do in the case of war with the Motherland, in spite of the defense treaty.  It was possible that they might decide it was an internal human matter and stand aside, in which case the Tomsk Union would almost certainly fall if pitted against the might of the Soviet navy.  No one was sure if they could believe the reassurances of the Russian navy officers who were insisting that the fleet under General Semenov would not participate in reprisals or unjust expeditions of conquest. 

All of those calculations changed when the Russian squadron that had re-established contact relayed the messages that had just arrived from Earth describing the nuclear holocaust that had overwhelmed the planet.  The destruction was horrific, the death toll appalling.  It quickly became clear to Governor General Orlov that the USSR probably didn’t exist anymore, and even if it did, certainly wasn’t in a position to launch conquest efforts at its former colonies.  Governor Orlov sent messages to the Russian ships promising aid for the Earth and agreeing to cooperate with the Russian fleet in any way necessary to ensure the safety of humanity.  He also offered to accept any refugees that wanted to resettle in the Tomsk Union.  These messages were sent back to the inner systems immediately.

Month 120, Day 4, Novosibirsk system
Admiral Ruston and the combined human fleets received word of the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR on this date.  The news was devastating, not only personally but for their campaign against the Rehorish as well.  This news made it clear that not only would no further reinforcements be coming from the inner systems, but that they probably couldn’t depend on reliable supply shipments as well.  And, as almost all of the ground forces that would be needed to take back the Russian colonies from the Rehorish would have had to come from Earth, there was no possible way to force the Rehorish ground forces off of the conquered Russian colonies. 

After making an announcement to the crews, Admiral Ruston ordered the fleet to turn for home.  Their campaign was a failure, but through no fault of their own.  They would now have to retreat at least far enough to establish reliable supply lines, which, given the events in the home system, might mean retreating all the way back to the Moskva/Sigma Draconis system.   

Month 120, Day 6, Moskva system, Gagarin colony
General Semenov’s squadron arrived over the Gagarin colony by mid-day, and General Semenov’s first action was to order the governor of the colony, one Egor Abakumov, to report aboard his flagship.  That worthy arrived promptly; no doubt due to the shuttle full of naval infantry the General had sent to collect him.  The governor was in a receptive state of mind, having wondered during the trip up if he was going to be returning to his planet in one piece.  General Semenov did nothing to disabuse him of his fears, and told him in no uncertain terms that the Russian fleet would be coordinating the flow of refugees, and that all colonies designated as reception sites would take their allocated refugees without argument.  The governor was somewhat mollified by the General’s statement that he would have his staff work with the various colonial governments to coordinate the dispersal of not only refugees but supplies to help in the establishment of those refugees. 

One hour after meeting with the governor, General Semenov sent a message to the entire system announcing that he was declaring martial law for the duration of the emergency.  The Coalition Fleet was already handling their side of the evacuation, so Semenov was content on focusing on the Russian refugees. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 120, Day 10, Novosibirsk system
On this date the retreating human fleets detected a drive field approaching their position from the side.  Admiral Ruston dispatched scouts to identify the new contact.  The Rehorish squadron following them continued shadowing the human main fleet and let the scouts go without molesting them. 

Twenty-four hours later the scouts confirmed the presence and size of what was almost certainly the main Rehorish fleet. 

Combined Human Fleets (1765 HS)
Coalition: 3xBC, 10xCA, 1xCL, 3xFG, 4xCT
Russian: 3xBC, 10xCL, 5xES

Rehorish (2328 HS)
Grand Fleet: 9xCA, 8xCL, 16xDD (1380 HS)
Shadowing Force: 3xCA, 4xCL, 18xDD, 3xCT (948 HS)

The balance was clearly against the human force, and Admiral Ruston knew that losing his fleet here and now could spell doom for a humanity which had just lost its home world.  He briefly considered his options.  If he ordered his fleet to close with the main Rehorish fleet at full speed it was possible he could force an engagement while the enemy forces were divided.  With his superiority in heavy ships, and attacking the main enemy group while it was separated from the other force, he believed he could defeat the Rehorish, but even if he was victorious it would be a costly victory, and humanity couldn’t afford to lose any of his ships or trained crews at this precarious time.  His ships were literally irreplaceable. 

He decided to gamble.  He sent and message to the newly arrived main Rehorish fleet, asking for a temporary cease fire to discuss terms for ending the war.  In the meantime, his fleet continued retreating towards the warp point back to the Kirov system. 

One hour later Cho-sho Banzan received the human message.  His interest was piqued.  He was fairly sure he could defeat the human fleet, but the humans would be sure to make his victory costly.  A costly victory here would leave the Alliance weakened if the Mintek counterattacked, or if the Humans had more forces elsewhere.  After considering the situation for a brief period he decided to talk to the human.  Over the next several hours the two admiral’s teams set up a meeting between the two, to take place on small craft between the two fleets. 

One day later, the two admirals, each aboard an assault shuttle, met in between the two fleets, which had come to a halt and were warily watching each other for any signs of betrayal.  The two admirals remained aboard their own shuttles, linked to each other by laser comms and close enough that there was no appreciable lag.  This method was actually better than meeting in person, as it allowed the shuttle’s computer systems to interpret the incoming communications line in near real-time, giving a better experience for the two participants. 

Admiral Ruston was sitting in the crew compartment of his shuttle when the comm link opened and the holo image of the Rehorish admiral appeared across the compartment from him.  He tried not to flinch at the appearance of his counterpart.  The Rehorish had been described to him as large cockroaches, and that description wasn’t far off.  After a second the Rehorish began speaking.  Admiral Ruston could hear a faint clicking and hissing that was almost certainly their actual speech, but it was almost immediately replaced by a deep male voice by the shuttle’s interpretation software. 

“You asked for this meeting, Admiral Ruston.  What do you have to say?”

The preliminaries for this meeting had included exchanging information on the identity of the two leaders, so they were able to skip that part of the meeting, but Admiral Ruston still found Cho-sho Banzan to be abrupt.  “I wish to establish a temporary cease fire with the goal of establishing negotiations to end this war.”

The Rehorish stared at him for a few seconds, then began chittering again.  “What terms do you propose for ending the war?”

Admiral Ruston shifted in his chair, leaning forward slightly.  “That will be up to my government to decide, but tentatively I propose the withdrawal of all Rehorish space and ground forces from human territory, and the payment of reparations from the Rehorish and D’Bringi to the Coalition and the USSR for the deaths and destruction this unprovoked war has caused.”

The Rehorish admiral sat quietly for a second, then shifted, looking at something off-camera.  Finally, he turned back to Admiral Ruston.  “That is an interesting demand for someone in an inferior situation, facing the destruction of his fleet, to make.  Perhaps you do not truly understand your position?”

“I think you overestimate your ability to destroy my fleet.  But even if I’m wrong, I’ll destroy the heart of your fleet.  And, think on this.  You know that this isn’t the entire force available to me.  Perhaps you should be worried about where the rest of humanity’s fleets are.  The D’Bringi think their closed warp points are secure, that we can’t follow them.  How sure are you of this?”

Cho-sho Banzan’s hearts seized at the mention of the closed routes into the human inner systems.  The D’Bringi had no defenses around those warp points, only a few picket ships.  If the humans burst through those warp points, they would be in the Alliance’s rear areas.  Worse, they wouldn’t be far from the Phyriseq colony, and the combined D’Bringi and Rehorish fleets bottling up the Mintek.  If they attacked there, and managed to contact the Mintek, who knows what would happen.  Cho-sho Banzan got ahold of his racing thoughts.  Surely if the humans knew about the closed warp points then they would not tell him so.  I had to be a bluff.  Even so, the if the smallest chance of that existed, they had to prepare.  And fighting a two front war was madness.  With the Mintek still free to cause trouble, and rebellions among the D’Bringi subject races, peace with the humans, if possible, was beginning to sound like a good idea.  “I cannot speak for my government, much less for my allies.  But it is within my power to agree to a temporary cease fire to give our governments time to decide.”

Admiral Ruston felt hope grow for the first time since the news of the destruction of Earth arrived.  “That is good.  Talking is always preferable to fighting.”

The Rehorish admiral’s next response proved that there were some constants that transcended racial divides.  “Then clearly you have not spent enough time with a politician.  Very well. I propose that both fleets hold in their current location in this system, and that neither side is allowed to bring more ships into this system.  The cease fire will apply across all points of contact, to take effect as soon as messages can be gotten to the ships and troops in those areas.  Is this acceptable?”

“Yes.  I would like to schedule meetings for as soon as possible to discuss making the cease fire permanent.  However, I understand it takes time for messages to be sent and received.  I will hear back from the capital in approximately thirty days.  Will that be acceptable?”

Cho-sho Banzan considered the situation for a few seconds.  His home system was much closer than the human’s, but his government would want to confer with the D’Bringi before making any decisions.  “That should work.  Tentatively I can agree to hold the first discussion in one month.”  The two leaders ended the comm link and their small craft set out for their respective fleets.  Once back aboard their flagships, each admiral sent multiple CD’s back towards their home systems detailing the information they had gathered and the proposals by the other side. 

Month 120, Day 16, Sol System, Earth
General Fedorov arrived over Earth on this date, and made a similar announcement to the one made by General Semenov in Moskva.  The General’s Coalition counterparts in both systems had already done the same, and both fleets agreed to assist each other. 

General Fedorov found a planet in chaos.  The countries in the northern hemisphere are largely destroyed, while the countries in the southern hemisphere are heavily damaged and in chaos.  Three relatively large-scale wars are raging on the surface, one of which is being fought by the remnants of the militaries of the breakaway states and the USSR fighting a fitful war over the devastated remains of their countries, while the other two are southern hemisphere states fighting over the spoils or trying to retain control of their borders in the face of waves of refugees from devastated countries.  Both navies had established refugee evacuation camps on the surface to provide aid and to organize efforts to get the refugees off of the planet, but several times the orbital fleets have had to intervene to maintain the security of the camps, with one of the interventions taking the form of a nuclear missile launched as a warning to an aggressive local warlord. 

Looming over all of this was the extensive damage done to the environment by the nuclear exchange.  The dust and radiation from the ruined northern hemisphere nations was spreading across the entire planet.  Currently the fleet’s scientists were unsure of the long-term effects.  Most agreed that while the planet would not become entirely uninhabitable, it would be much cooler and significant effort would have to be taken to mitigate the radiation effects if people were going to continue living there. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 120, Day 25, Moskva system
Message: From General Semenov to Admiral Ruston
I cannot at this time relay your information regarding the proposed negotiations with the Rehorish-D’Bringi Alliance to any civilian authorities, because at this time no such authorities exist.  I know you suspected as much when you sent your message, however, I agree that forms must be followed.  However, having said that, at the current time it would be unwise of us to turn this matter over to any existing civilian authorities within the former Coalition or USSR.  I will explain why. 

For all intents and purposes, the governments of the Coalition and the USSR have ceased to exist, as have the nations that they represented.  As near as we can determine, no city of over 100,000 population in either country survived the war intact, and many smaller cities were destroyed as well.  No senior members of either government have come forward to date, and, given the extent of the damage to the capitals of both nations, and the fact that the majority of both governments were gathered in those locations to deal with the crisis, I believe it is unlikely that any senior members of either government have survived.  Perhaps if either government had moved forward on their plans to decentralize and to move more of their functions off-world this would not be the case and we would still have a functional interstellar government, but neither had done so by the time of the final conflict.  Worse, the colonial authorities on both sides are focused narrowly on their own colony’s concerns to the exclusion of all else, making interstellar governance by civilian authorities problematic.  I believe that we must declare martial law and enforce order to ensure an orderly evacuation of refugees from Earth, although I agree with your stance against the imposition of a military government. 

All of this is my way of saying that the decision to make peace or continue the war lies with us, and solely with us at the current time.  Having said that, I believe there is no actual choice.  We must make peace at all costs given the disaster that has befallen us.  As things currently stand, we will have to begin mothballing fleet units within two months unless we can effectively organize the colonies to support the fleet, and even then, we may be forced to downsize the fleet considerably.  I cannot see how we can continue to prosecute an offensive war, and, as things stand now, if the D’Bringi their Rehorish allies wait a few months they may be able to advance to Earth with a single cruiser squadron, racing past our mothballed fleets that we cannot support.

To give you an idea of the situation we face at home, I will give you a rundown of the current situation within the inner systems.  As I said, the Coalition and the USSR have ceased to exist, as have many of the other governments on the planet.  At least two of the missile strikes launched by the Soviet PDC’s were aimed at ‘neutral’ nations, as decapitation strikes designed to limit their ability to exploit the situation while the USSR recovered from the nuclear exchange.  This has resulted in general chaos across the planet.  At the current time three large-scale wars are being waged on Earth.  The first is in South America, which emerged from the nuclear exchange with the least damage (relatively).  With the threat of refugees from the north and the east, though, the surviving nations have fallen to fighting amongst themselves for resources and to avenge past wrongs.  With the removal of much of their political leadership in the nuclear attack, the militaries of these nations have seized power and fallen upon each other in vicious attacks that appear, from my vantage point in orbit, to be pointless.  The second major conflict is based in China, and is mostly a civil war between warlords controlling the various surviving cities and provinces in China as they try to consolidate power and secure the resources to survive.  The final conflict is between remnants of the Soviet Army and the armies of Europe and Arabia.  Both of those separatist nations have largely been destroyed by the nuclear exchange, and it appears that the militaries of both sides are merely continuing the war without any real goal beyond survival.  Repeated attempts by my forces to establish contact with either side has failed, although we will continue to try. 

There exist two centers of relative calm and organization on Earth at the current time.  One is centered on the Coalition’s “Pacific” PDC, which is the only offensive PDC belonging to either side that survived the war.  This PDC suffered relatively little damage, and so the damage to surrounding territory is relatively light.  In the weeks since the war the PDC’s commander, Captain Smith, has sent the troops quartered at her base out to help the surrounding communities and has opened her supply vaults to help refugees.  For the most part she has been successful in establishing an island of calm in the center of the chaos that has befallen our two nations.  The second bright spot is the ANIA, the Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia Alliance.  Through random chance these nations survived the war relatively intact, with only several minor cities suffering bombardment during the war, and as a result the alliance has managed to maintain law and order in their part of the world, and has been of great assistance to our forces in our efforts to save as many people as we can. 

My fleet, with the cooperation of your forces in the Solar System, have established a network of refugee assembly and evacuation centers across the planet.  We have used what supplies we have to support anyone who can make it to our centers, then arrange transport off of the planet.  Several of our evacuation centers have come under attack by local groups, and in one case we were forced to warn off a potential warlord with a demonstration nuclear strike from my flagship.  I cannot say whether the situation is stabilizing or continuing a downhill slide, it is too soon to make that sort of determination. 

The situation among the Russian colonies in the Solar system and Moskva is relatively straight forward.  The Russian colonies in the Moskva system have been convinced to take refugees as necessary, and although they are reluctant, they have been persuaded to cooperate by the presence of my fleet.  I fear that in the absence of my fleet, many of the refugees would have been refused entrance to most of the colonies.  In addition, I have been in communication with the Tomsk Union, which your forces discovered during your advance.  They have agreed to take a large number of refugees and to help with supplies if needed.   Still, this situation has caused a large amount of resentment on the colonies in the Moskva system, and I fear that as they become organized, they may present a united front against the efforts of our forces to continue to relocate people away from the disaster zone on Earth. 

The situation among the Coalition colonies is more complex.  I have been working with Commodore Bonaventura, the commander of your forces in the Solar System and Moskva.  The Coalition refugees coming from Earth have flatly refused to resettle in the Moskva system, as the Coalition colony there is co-located with a Russian colony, and after the war it is hard to blame them.  For that reason, Commodore Bonaventura has decided to send the refugees on to the New Plymouth colony in Epsilon Eridani, and the Wunderland colony in Sligo.  The Commodore’s relationship with the governor of New Plymouth seems good, and the refugees are being welcomed there, however, it has become increasingly clear that there is a problem in the Sligo system.  The Commodore has told me that communications with the colonies in that area have been cut off, and that she has only received limited responses from the Wunderland government system.  Most disturbingly, there has been no response to her orders to dispatch ships from the Colonial Defense Squadron assigned to the Sligo system to Earth for recovery efforts.  At the current time we cannot spare ships to probe the Sligo system to determine what is going on, and to be honest, given the scale of disaster in the Solar System, this is where our attention needs to be centered for the foreseeable future. 

As you can see, we must have peace with the Rehorish, however, you must do the best you can to get the Rehorish to release the colonies they have occupied.  The resources those colonies produce will go a long way towards helping us survive the coming year as we deal with the ongoing disaster on Earth. 

I have spoken to the surviving senior officers of both fleets, and we are agreed.  You have our support to negotiate with the D’Bringi and the Rehorish and we will support any agreement you come to with the aliens. 

(Message sent to Admiral Ruston via courier drone)

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 120, Day 18, D’Bringi Expanses
The D’Bringi survey group had finished its detailed warp point survey of the Zudyn system this month, and had discovered a total of four warp points in the otherwise uninteresting system.  Following standard orders, the exploration ships probed the newly discovered warp points in the hopes of finding a habitable planet to exploit.  As it turned out, only one of the four new systems had a habitable planet, and so an exploration ship was sent into the system to probe it for civilizations.  The probe ship reached eighteen light seconds of the planet before detecting the small population there, and it immediately turned around and headed back out system without attempting to establish contact.  At the point that it detected the population, it was well within that population’s detection range.  Fortunately for the D’Bringi, the warp link between the new system and the rest of the Expanse was closed on the alien’s side, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to follow the explorer back. 

The Bjering military commander of the colony immediately sent a contact report to headquarters. 

Month 120, Day 30, Doraz Prime and Torqual Prime
The Doraz had risen against the D’Bringi occupation forces last month, and the militaristic Doraz had the D’Bringi occupation forces on the ropes since then.  The D’Bringi had maintained only light forces on the planet, partially to maximize the resources being sent home rather than being spent on support for the occupation forces, but also to convince the Doraz that the D’Bringi had no interest in interfering with their internal affairs.  This strategy had backfired when the arrival of the Mintek missionaries had sparked a rebellion.  Indeed, by the end of the month the D’Bringi occupation force had lost control of much of the planet and had been forced back to several enclaves that were under constant attack.  Worse, the occupation forces were running short on equipment and supplies, and this was beginning to have a serious effect on their combat effectiveness.  The only thing that really saved the occupation force was its tech level advantage over the Doraz rebels. 

That all changed on this date with the arrival of the Relief Force.  The Relief force was four times as large as the occupation force, and bought a large amount of desperately needed supplies.  In one fell swoop the situation changed for the better and the D’Bringi forces were able to begin pushing the rebel Doraz forces back again. 

On the Torqual home planet the situation was somewhat different.  The Torqual planet had a population over 50% larger than Doraz Prime, but, as a people the Torqual were not very militaristic and had a much lower tech level than either the D’Bringi or the Doraz.  Thus, although the force disparity between the Torqual rebels and the D’Bringi occupation force was actually greater than the one between the D’Bringi and the Doraz, the Torqual were having a much harder time pushing the D’Bringi back.  Indeed, this month the D’Bringi occupation group managed to push the rebels back in several locations, forcing the desperate rebel groups to destroy industrial units as they retreated.  The arrival of the Relief Group was welcome, particularly their equipment and supplies, but the occupation forces already had the rebels on the run. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Turn 121
D’Bringi Expanses: The Keepers complete development of a top-secret research project, and begin construction of a new class of ship.  The ship is small, destroyer-sized, and unconventional.   The Clans note the new construction, but because the ship is small and appears to be configured to carry small-craft they pay little attention.  The refit on a corvette is completed, and four corvettes are repaired. 

Rehorish Stellar Dominion: The Rehorish launch six new destroyers of the latest design from their home system yards. 

T’Pau Syndicate: The T’Pau launch a heavy cruiser this month. 

Month 121, Day 10, Novosibirsk System, Combined Human Fleets
Once again Admiral Ruston was facing Cho-sho Banzan across a virtual link.  This time the two had foregone their small craft, and instead had met each other midway between their two fleets in a frigate and destroyer, respectively.  The ships offered greater comfort and staying power, and allowed the two leaders to bring their respective staffs to the negotiations. 

Admiral Ruston was grimly determined to make peace with the Rehorish at nearly any cost.  The information from the inner planets was about as bad as it could be, and the economic situation for the Coalition fleet was growing ever more serious by the day.  General Semenov’s joke that if the Rehorish and the D’Bringi merely waited a few months they could reach Earth with a freighter escorted by a lone destroyer wasn’t looking like much of a joke at this point.  He had to resolve the threat from the aliens and get back to the inner systems before humanity fragmented even further. 

Cho-sho Banzan interrupted the human admiral’s musings.  “I have been authorized by my government to negotiate with you, Admiral.  You requested these negotiations, so I believe you should start.”

“Very well.  For the most part our terms haven’t changed.  We ask that you withdraw all forces from human territory, including the occupation forces on Russian colonies throughout their territories.  In exchange, we agree to a permanent cease fire, and will not advance into Rehorish or D’Bringi territory.”  Admiral Ruston looked down at his pad for a second, then back up.  “In addition, we require reparations for the ships and lives destroyed by the unprovoked invasion by the Alliance.”

“Unacceptable.  We are willing to discuss peace, but my government finds those conditions completely unacceptable.  We will not pay reparations of any kind, and, my government requires a buffer between the Stellar Dominion and Russian territories.  Preferably a buffer under our control.”

Hope blossomed in Admiral Ruston’s chest.  To obtain peace he was willing to give the Rehorish a lot, but if this was their opening bid, how far could he push this negotiation?  He settled in to begin bargaining. 

The negotiations took two days, and almost broke down several times, but in the end both sides agreed to end the war.  The D’Bringi Alliance agreed to evacuate all occupation forces, and the humans agreed that no reparations would be required.  It was the Rehorish requirement for a buffer had become the sticking point that stretched out the negotiations.  Finally, Admiral Ruston agreed to the Rehorish terms.  The Novosibirsk system would be declared an independent state, under the control of neither power.  Both the Rehorish and the human states would be allowed to station a small number of scouts within the system to ensure that neither side was preparing to attack.  The people of the Russian colony in the system were not consulted.  They were being sacrificed, as it were, to ensure peace between the two sides.  The new treaty allowed both states to set up trade with the newly independent state, but neither side was allowed to assert “undue influence” on the buffer state. 

With the agreement in place, the two fleets moved apart.  By the agreement, Cho-sho Banzan was allowed to send small escort forces to retrieve his occupation troops, and those forces set out for the various colonies while the main fleet withdrew to the Sapporo system. 

The Combined Human Fleets sent small groups to watch the Rehorish evacuation ships, and Admiral Ruston detailed a small group of scouts to remain in the Novosibirsk system to watch for Rehorish incursions.  The remainder of the Combined Fleets set out for the Kirov system. 

Three days later the Combined Fleets jumped out of the Novosibirsk system.  Once out of sight of the Rehorish, Admiral Ruston boarded a Coalition corvette and set out for the inner systems at full military speed.  The corvette was escorted by three other Coalition corvettes, in case one lost an engine.  While normally he would have to remain on the border to monitor the progress of the peace treaty, he urgently needed to return to the inner systems to assist General Semenov in stabilizing the situation.  He would arrive in Moskva at the end of the month. 

Month 121, Day 30, Torqual Prime and Doraz Prime, D’Bringi Expanses
D’Bringi ground forces, thanks largely to their timely reinforcements, managed to put down the rebellions on both planets this month, and work will be able to begin reestablishing the occupation governments next month. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 122, Day 5, Moskva System
Admiral Ruston, having just returned from the peace negotiations, met with his subordinates in the Moskva system first, to ascertain the state of Coalition forces in the inner systems and the situation in the colonies.  The news was not good, pretty much across the board.  After meeting with his officers, Admiral Ruston met with General Semenov aboard his newly recommissioned Marshal class flagship destroyer, Marshal Zhukov.  While small, the destroyer was designed as a fleet flagship and had a command deck, flag officer accommodations, and an enhanced communications suite.  The Zhukov had been the flagship of the doomed Soviet Home Fleet, and had ended up trapped in the Brezhnev system along with the rest of that fleet.  General Semenov had placed the ship at the top of his list of ships to reactivate, as it would be the most useful in the current situation. 

Looking around the flag deck as he was escorted to the General’s office, Admiral Ruston could see why the General had made the decision.  The deck was relatively large, and built in a wedge shape, with a large holo plotting tank along the wide part of the space, flanked by various large displays showing information important to the officers arrayed around the room.  The general’s position was at the back of the room, overseeing everything.  Right now, though, General Semenov was waiting for him in a small office located just off of the command deck. 

General Semenov jumped to his feet and embraced Admiral Ruston in a bear hug as he walked into the office.  “My friend!  You have returned, and with a peace treaty we can live with!”

Admiral Ruston shook his head as he took a seat across from the big Russian.  “I was worried about the whole buffer state in the Novosibirsk system situation.  After all, I was giving away Russian territory!”

General Semenov grinned.  “Nonsense!  You got us back more planets than you gave away!  And as long as it isn’t under the occupation of the Rehorish or the D’Bringi, I can sell it to my officers.”

Admiral Ruston grew serious.  “What are we going to do, my friend?  This situation here is deteriorating.  As things stand, I cannot afford to support my fleet.  I’ve already given orders to begin mothballing fixed defenses in the Solar System and in Epsilon Eridani.  But I cannot afford to begin mothballing ships until the situation is stabilized.   Equally, I cannot afford to keep my fleet active.  Already some of my captains have been ‘requisitioning’ supplies from ships carrying refugees.  It won’t be much longer before some turn to outright piracy, or worse.”

General Semenov grunted.  “Some on my staff are pushing me to establish a military government to enforce discipline on the civilians.  They point out that between your fleet and mine, there is no force in human space that could stop us should we decide to take power and reorganize the colonies along ‘more efficient lines’.”

Admiral Ruston stared at his friend for few seconds.  “And your response?”

General Semenov shook his head.  “I will not reinstitute the military government that we had under the USSR.  That system failed.  We must try something new out here.”  The general paused for a few seconds, considering.  “But my officers are right.  We must do something.  In anticipation of your return, I have called for a summit of all flag officers and the leaders of every colony, to take place next month.  I have a proposal I wish to place before them.”

Admiral Ruston settled back to listen as his friend laid out his plans.  For the next hour General Semenov laid out his plan and Admiral Ruston asked questions.  Finally, Admiral Ruston settled back into his chair.  “It is ambitious, to be sure.  But I agree, it is what we need.  First, though, I need to resolve the situation in the Sligo system.  We’ve received a report from the Coalition survey groups that retreated through the Sligo system when they stopped receiving supplies after the fall of Earth.  The reports state that the Wunderland government has declared independence and intends to attack their alien neighbors.  I intend to take the Coalition combat forces in the Solar system to Sligo to stabilize the situation.  I will return with their leader, who will attend your summit.  I’m leaving a small force in the Solar System to support the ongoing evacuation efforts.”

General Semenov nodded.  “Whatever you leave should be enough.  The situation on Earth has stabilized, somewhat, and the worst of the wars have either guttered out due to lack of support or been defused through our mutual efforts.  And…I’m glad you are back.  We need every human colony to work together or we are finished.  The situation in Sligo has concerned me for some time, but my hands have been tied.  It is not my territory, and your officers felt that they could not initiate action without your presence.  If you can resolve this, our chances of moving forward to a better future improve immeasurably. 

Month 122, Day 10, Moskva System
Admiral Ruston joined the Coalition fleet as moved through the Moskva system, en route for the Sligo system.  The fleet consisted of a solid core of six battlecruisers, escorted by six heavy cruisers and six destroyers, and was supported by six frigate-scouts.  It would take a month to get to the Sligo system, so he would have time to prepare for the big summit that General Semenov was organizing. 

[Kurt (OP)]

As of Month 122, Admiral Ruston is on his way to the Sligo system at the head of a fleet.  Having successfully concluded the war with the D’Bringi Alliance, he is now trying to get organize the former Coalition Colonies.  Of particular concern is the colony on Wunderland, in the Sligo system.  Wunderland dropped out of contact with the rest of the Coalition colonies just after the nuclear war on Earth, and has refused to acknowledge messages sent via courier drones since then.  Worse, the Coalition squadron assigned to the system has also dropped out of contact.  Admiral Ruston and his fleet will arrive in the Sligo system in Month 123. 

Now we will jump back to the events in the Sligo system just after the fall of the Earth…

Month 119, Day 24, Sligo system
The news of the latest final war on Earth arrived on Wunderland by mid-day.  The reaction here was different than on the other colonies.  Unlike many of the other Coalition colonists, the Wunderlanders had been focused on a threat in their own system, and had been since before the war.  Discontent over the Coalition Navy’s apparent unconcern over the threat posed by the Tarek, and the Coalition government’s apathy, had driven the Wunderlanders to become much more militant and reactionary over the years.  Many Wunderlanders had joined the Coalition navy, far out of proportion to their population, and Wunderlander society had become militaristic, with every Wunderlander required to serve in the Wunderland Defense Corps, first in an active role and then later in the reserves.  The Wunderlanders took the defense of their colony seriously, and the threat posed by the Tarek even more seriously. 

Now, when the news of the destruction of the Coalition government arrived, the colonial government of Wunderland decided to act.  Colonial Governor Faraz conferred with her ministers, put several emergency plans into motion, then made a public speech as the first steps in a long-term plan.  Her speech pre-empted all channels and reached nearly everyone on the planet, and all of the Coalition warships in orbit.

“Wunderlanders, I come before you with grave news.  “Today, I received a message from Earth.  A message I never wanted to get.  Nine days ago, the USSR launched nuclear weapons at multiple civilian targets.   The Coalition responded, and the war spiraled out of control.  I’m afraid I have to report that both the Coalition and the USSR have been destroyed.  Billions are dead on Earth, and the situation is chaotic.  It appears that the main Coalition and Russian fleets played no part in the war, and are focused on dealing with the D’Bringi and their allies.  The rest of both fleets are occupied in the Solar System with relief efforts.”  She paused, knowing exactly what would be on the minds of the citizens of Wunderland.  The second they got over the shock of the destruction of most of Earth, they’d begin worrying about the Tarek.  Everything was always about the Tarek.  Their concern about the Tarek was what got her elected, and she had focused her administration on preparing their colony for war with the Tarek, when they inevitably decided to attack.  The Coalition had made this very difficult, of course, as they didn’t see the Tarek like the people who had to live in the same system with them. 

“All of this means we are alone.  We cannot expect the rest of what remains of the Coalition to come to our assistance.  In fact, I expect that the warships now orbiting our planet will soon get orders to withdraw to the Solar System or to the Rehorish border.”  She knew exactly how that would go over with her people, and the best part of that was that it was a true statement.  The Coalition would be calling in every warship it could over the next few weeks, and the bureaucrats and admirals in charge wouldn’t care what withdrawing those ships would do to the colonies they protected. 

“Therefore, over the next days and weeks I will be taking action to ensure our safety.  I have already issued orders to mobilize the Wunderland Reserve Corps, to ensure the safety of all and the stability of our colony.  To ensure the safety of Wunderland, and indeed all humanity, I now declare that Wunderland is an independent and sovereign nation.  The captains of the warships in the Coalition squadron orbiting Wunderland have already agreed to form the new Wunderland navy.  Over the next few weeks, I will be inviting the governors of the colonies in the surrounding area to join us in our new Republic.  They share our concern with Tarek expansionism and aggression, and I’m sure they will join us.  Our government will remain essentially the same, however, we will no longer have to answer to the bureaucrats on Earth who were willing to sell our safety to the Tarek in exchange for peace!  You can be sure that my government takes the Tarek seriously, and that we will put an end to the threat that they pose to our planet!”

Messages inviting the colonies to the new Republic of Wunderland were sent to every population within reach.  Governor Faraz was not as sure of their response as she had made it seem in her announcement.  To them the Tarek were more of a remote threat, and they had always resented Wunderland’s position in the territory as the first among equals. 

She had been much surer of the response from the Coalition Squadron in orbit over Wunderland.  The Coalition had made efforts to ensure that the ships assigned to the Sligo system were crewed and officered by Wunderlanders, in an effort to ensure that the Wunderlanders felt represented and defended.  This meant that when the Coalition destroyed itself, it had become an easier decision for the various ship commanders than it otherwise might have been. 

The messages would take weeks to arrive at some of the colonies, but events were in motion. 

Month 120, Day 15, Republic of Wunderland
“Governor, I mean First Consul Faraz, we have a problem.  The Coalition transport Agema just entered orbit.  They are carrying refugees from Earth, and have requested landing coordinates.  They say that we were informed of their arrival, but no one can find any record of any messages from the Solar System.”

First Consul Faraz grimaced.  The orbital control officer couldn’t see her, as she had activated the line in audio only, as she had feared just this situation.  “Yes, this situation was anticipated.  You are to contact General Morrison.  He will be handling all refugee affairs from now on.  Thank you.”  She disconnected and settled back, thinking over her plans. 

The refugees were going to be a problem.  The Coalition fleet was shipping them out of the solar system with whatever supplies and support they could find.  Their warnings had made it clear that the refugees would need significant support from the colonies they were being sent to, however, with every available resource being focused on preparations for war with the Tarek, there was little left to give to the refugees.  Worse, flooding her cities with refugees could cause chaos and discontent at exactly the wrong time, especially as the refugees would almost certainly question the wisdom of going to war with an alien race when so much was happening throughout the human territories.  She couldn’t allow that to happen.  The distraction of the rest of humanity was exactly what she was counting on to give them enough time to establish their independence and end the Tarek threat. 

She had hoped that ignoring the messages from the fleet in the Solar system would convince them not to send the refugees, but obviously that hadn’t deterred them.  Fortunately, she had a backup plan.  Of all of the continents on Wunderland, Tiamat was the least exploited.  Very few Wunderlanders lived there, largely because there were so many better and unoccupied spots closer to Landing, the capital and economic and social center of the colony.  Therefore, when she realized that the refugees were likely on their way, she had tasked the new Republican Army with establishing refugee camps on Tiamat, well away from other cities and towns.  The refugees would be isolated there, until the Republic was established and the Tarek were no longer a threat.  She had ordered the Army to give the refugees whatever assistance they needed, but to ensure that the war preparations continued and that their refugee efforts did not interfere with their preparations.  She had also made it clear that their best troops were to be tasked with preparing for the invasion of Tarek Prime, and that only troops not otherwise needed for the invasion were to be used for this duty.  General Morrison, a retired staff officer, had been chosen by the Army commanders to command the effort, and he had relocated with his troops to Tiamat several weeks ago to begin preparations. 

With that resolved, she went back to the pressing business of preparing her new Republic for war. 

Month 120, Day 30, former Coalition colony of Wunderland
The Republic of Wunderland received the final confirmation today.  All of the surrounding colonies had agreed to join their new government.   First Consul Faraz made the announcement to the public with great fanfare, bolstering the public’s morale with the knowledge that they weren’t alone. 

Privately, Faraz is pretty sure that the other colonies joined with Wunderland not because they believed in their mission to eliminate the threat from the Tarek, or because they wanted to join the newly independent Republic out of some sort of ‘colonial patriotism’, but because Wunderland had a fleet and they didn’t, and Wunderland’s fleet sat squarely on their route to the rest of humanity.  All of that meant that her continued control of the other colonies hung on their ability to eliminate the threat posed by the Tarek, but of course that was already true.  Her Wunderlanders supported her government because they had promised to do something about the Tarek.  If she failed, they would quickly find someone else to lead them.  She had no illusions about that.  And if her fleet failed, she had no doubt that the other colonies would suddenly find their support for the new Republic waning, and would have a renewed interest in rejoining the rest of humanity.  Success bred success, and failure, well, failure had a way of breeding too.  She had no doubts about that. 

Month 121, Day 1, Sligo system
The Navy of the Republic of Wunderland was assembled just beyond weapons range from Tarek Prime.  The Wunderland Navy consisted of three light cruisers, three destroyers, nine corvettes, and six escorts.  Facing it was the Tarek Fleet, twenty-three escorts, backed up by three planetary PDC’s of unknown size and capability, and forty-three small orbital stations.  Seeing that everything was in readiness for the attack, Commodore Steinbrenner, the newly promoted commander of the fledgling Wunderland Navy, keyed in the command to play First Consul Faraz’ speech across all comm channels in the fleet. 

A video of First Consul Faraz, standing in her office in front of the flag of the Republic, flanked by the senior officers of the Republic’s military, and the leading legislators from the Wunderland Legislature, appeared on nearly every screen in the fleet.  “Officers and crews of the great fleet of the Republic!  You stand on the brink of victory over the threat that has been aimed at us since the day we arrived in this system.  The Coalition has shown the Tarek nothing but reasonableness and a conciliatory attitude that has only provoked them to greater and greater disdain for us!  We’ve all seen their transmissions, and we understand enough of their language to understand that they want us gone!  They want us dead or dislocated from our homes, and they have refused to negotiate with every delegation that our out-of-touch rulers from the Solar System foisted upon us!  You fight for every Wunderlander today!  You fight to protect our homes and our children!  You fight to prevent what happened on Earth happening here!  You have every advantage we could give you!  Your ships are more advanced, and your weapons are better than anything that the backwards Tarek have been able to build!  We have supported you with everything we have, now go to Tarek Prime and show them why humanity is to be feared!”

The video cut out, and Commodore Steinbrenner could hear cheers building up in his flagship as the ship’s crew reacted to the speech.  He sighed.  He wasn’t as sure of himself now as he was when he was outlining the plan to the Governor.   Although he was sure of their technological superiority, all of the sudden he was realizing that they knew little about how the Tarek ships, stations, and PDC’s were armed.  Worse, as he had warned First Consul Faraz, only his three Nelson Mk 3 class destroyers were capable of engaging the PDC’s on the surface of the planet. 

Steinbrenner began pacing on the bridge of his command cruiser as he considered the situation.  The Tarek defenses consisted of their fleet of escorts, a large number of small orbital space stations, presumably armed, and three PDC’s on the surface of the planet.  In his original plan, the priority targets for the fleet were to eliminate the enemy’s mobile units and to destroy the Tarek orbital shipyards, and thus their ability to replace their losses.  Unfortunately, First Consul Faraz and her people had vetoed that plan, as they wanted the Tarek orbital yards for their own plans.  Steinbrenner understood, after all it took a long time to build shipyards and Wunderland’s first yard was still three months from becoming operational, but by denying him the ability to destroy the enemy’s productive capacity they had removed an important safety feature of his plan.  If the Tarek proved tougher than they anticipated and survived the first attack, then the destruction of their yards would remove their capability to rebuild and give Wunderland time to launch a second attack.  Now, with the yards off limits, if the attack failed Wunderland would be open to reprisals and counter attacks. 

Still, his career and Wunderland’s future depended on this attack.  First Consul Faraz was using the threat posed by the Tarek, and the other aliens, as something to bind her new nation together, and if his attack didn’t succeed it might spell the end of Wunderland as an interstellar capital. 

Finally, Commodore Steinbrenner realized he was putting off the inevitable, and ordered the attack.   The Wunderland fleet leapt forward.  The three missile-destroyers launched their missile attack against the Tarek PDC’s at just under four light seconds.  Each of the three destroyers launched three standard missiles, targeted on one of the PDC’s.  The Tarek apparently hadn’t developed point defense yet, as the missiles streaked in unmolested.  Five of the missiles hit the PDC’s armor, while the other four hit the ground near the PDC’s, killing anyone living or working close to the defense center. 

Gratified that the Tarek didn’t return fire, Commodore Steinbrenner ordered the missile destroyers to move to optimum standard missile range, while his fleet continued to close on the orbital targets.  The DD’s obediently closed to three point two five light seconds range and then began detuning their engines, while the rest of the fleet continued racing towards the planet.  The Tarek fleet finally reacted by turning and moving away, maintaining the range. 

It was at this point that the Tarek PDC’s opened fire.  The PDC targeted earlier opened fire, launching thirty missiles targeted on one of the Wunderland light cruisers.  The Tarek missiles weren’t very accurate, with only twelve of the thirty achieving target lock, and of those only three penetrated the cruiser’s point defense, but it was a warning that the PDC’s had to be taken seriously.  A second PDC joined the first in targeting the light cruiser, and this one managed to punch four missiles through the light cruiser’s active defenses.  The third PDC was unable to fire as it was located on the far side of the planet and unable to target the Wunderland fleet. 

The Commodore had already given the word, and the fleet returned fire with a vengeance, targeting the small orbital stations that cluttered the planet’s orbitals.  The light cruiser group spread its fire across three of the small orbital stations, with each light cruiser firing all four of its force beams at a station.  Unfortunately, the stations proved to be armored and all three targeted stations survived without armor breaches.  One of the stations fired back with a single missile launcher and a sprint missile launcher.  Like the missiles the Tarek were using, the sprint missiles launched by their stations were older models, less powerful than the ones currently in use by the Wunderlanders.  Both hit the targeted light cruiser, though, further weakening its armor.  One by one the Wunderland corvette data-groups opened fire on one of the orbital stations, and after the third corvette group fired the station blew up.  That still left plenty of the stations, though, and one by one they responded with their own weapons fire, chipping away at the Wunderland light cruiser’s armor bit by bit.  It took the fire from twenty-one of the small stations to do it, but the Wunderland light cruiser Victory was left heavily damaged and slowed to one third of its original speed.  The remaining orbital bases switched their fire to a second light cruiser, the Indomitable.  Ten orbital stations fired their basic missiles and early sprint missiles at the indomitable, followed by twelve stations armed with a single laser firing at the hapless cruiser.  The indomitable suffered light internal damage, including the loss of one engine room.  The Wunderland missile destroyers continued to target the same PDC, scoring nine hits this time. 

Commodore Steinbrenner ordered the Victory to withdraw, and then ordered the rest of his fleet to charge forward, into the teeth of the Tarek defenses, where his force beams would have the advantage.  The Tarek escort fleet turned and closed on the planet as well, attempting to bring their weapons into range at what might be the decisive moment.  A Tarek laser station fired first, cutting deeply into the Indomitable’s engine section, but the Indomitable’s return fire wiped out two of the enemy’s laser stations before they could fire as the human’s force beams proved deadly at close range.  The Indomitable’s sister ship, the Inflexible, destroyed two more of the laser stations even as the Indomitable continued to be pelted by return fire.  The close-range beam fire was damaging to both sides.  In a matter of seconds, the Tarek had only five laser stations left, but the indomitable was crippled and her drive field was down.  Life pods began spilling from the Indomitable as a sprint missile from an orbital station streaked in and finished the light cruiser off.  The Tarek stations began targeting a Wunderlander corvette next, while the Wunderland ships continued picking off the laser stations.  The Wunderlander escorts began targeting the Tarek escorts, which had closed to a half light-second, with the first escort group to fire wiping out a Tarek escort with its massed force beam fire.  The Tarek escorts began returning fire, targeting a Wunderlander corvette as well.  The short-ranged beam fire from the Tarek escorts was devastating, crippling three Wunderlander corvettes in short order.  Sprint missile fire from the missile stations finished off all three corvettes, with the remaining missile bases taking out a fourth corvette.  With the main Wunderland fleet now too close for the PDC’s to target effectively with their missiles, the ground bases turned their fire on the Wunderlander missile destroyers which were still at three point two five light seconds, modulating their engines for defensive protection, and launching on the PDC’s.   The two PDC’s launched a total of sixty missiles but only scored two hits, while the DD’s scored seven hits of their own. 

The Wunderland fleet had lost one light cruiser and four corvettes, and one light cruiser was limping away from the battle.  The Tarek had lost nine orbital stations and two escorts.  Commodore Steinbrenner ordered his fleet to plunge ahead, to point blank range.  The Tarek fleet also forged ahead, meeting the Wunderlanders over their planet in an orgy of destruction.  The orbitals over the planet were filled with burning ships ripping at each other desperately, each trying to survive by destroying as many other ships and stations as possible.  The Wunderlanders had the tech advantage, with their force beams, datalink, and advanced armor, but the Tarek had numbers.  In seconds five Tarek escorts and two laser bases were gone, destroyed by heavy force beam fire at point blank ranges, and while the Wunderland fleet lost only three escorts destroyed, the other three escorts in the fleet were crippled and the Inflexible took heavy damage as well.  The Wunderlander missile destroyers continued to bombard one of the Tarek PDC’s, and the return fire had almost penetrated one of the destroyer’s armor belts. 

Commodore Steinbrenner, shocked by the damage to his fleet, ordered all of his ships to withdraw.  By this time his flagship, the Victory, had withdrawn beyond the Tarek weapons range.  Only five corvettes and two escorts were able to leave Tarek orbit, leaving a lone escort in a decaying orbit with its drive field down.  The captain of the Inflexible refused to leave and charged into the Tarek guns, firing his remaining force beams until his ship was overwhelmed by laser fire.  The two escorts were too damaged to make it out of weapons range, and the Tarek orbital bases were able to finish them off before they could escape.  The Wunderlander missile destroyers targeted the crippled Wunderland escort that had lost its drive field for one last salvo, to prevent its capture by the enemy, and then withdrew as well.  The final parting salvos from the Tarek PDC’s finally managed to penetrate one of the destroyer’s armor and caused serious damage before it could withdraw. 

The results of the battle were serious for both sides. 

Wunderland Losses:
Destroyed: 2xCL, 4xCT, 6xES
Damaged: 1xCL, 1xDD

Tarek Losses
Destroyed: 11xArmed SS, 6xES, 3xIndustrial Units (Collateral Damage)
Damaged: 1xPDC, 2xArmed SS

There was a difference in the damage, though.  The Tarek had shipyards to repair their damage and replace their losses, while the Wunderlanders were still several months from launching their first yard. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 121, Day 3, Sligo System, Republic of Wunderland
On this date riots broke out in three of the five refugee camps on the Tiamat continent, as the refugees isolated there finally had had enough with the poor food and even worse treatment by the Wunderland troops assigned to “help” them.  Fortunately for the refugees, their ‘riots’ were actually well coordinated attempts to seize the camps by American national guard soldiers who had been evacuated from the Earth along with the civilians they had been helping to escape the devastation.  General Morrison’s garrison was among the first to fall, and the refugees were able to find copious evidence of graft and misuse of the funds devoted to assist the refugees.  The refugees were able to seize much of the guard force’s equipment as well, and immediately set about seizing the remaining two camps.  While the takeover isn’t bloodless, the losses were relatively light for both sides, largely because of how unprepared the guards were. 

Month 121, Day 4, Sligo System, Republic of Wunderland
General Richards, the head of the Republican Army, sends a message to the soldiers holding the refugee camps, informing them that there would be no negotiations and ordering them to stand down and submit to troops that were being assembled to retake the camps.  In response, the leaders of the refugees uploaded to the planetary network evidence of graft and corruption among the former refugee camp guards and General Morrison, including evidence of serious crimes committed by camp guards prior to the uprising.   Within hours every major news source on the planet is carrying lurid stories of abuse of the refugees, and the government’s attempts to focus on the threat from the Tarek does nothing but emphasize their complete failure to either defeat the Tarek or care for the refugees. 

Month 121, Day 5, Sligo System, Republic of Wunderland
The Wunderland Legislature has opened an investigation of the events on Tiamat, and promised amnesty to the refugees for most crimes that may have been committed during their rebellion.  Bowing to the inevitable, First Consul Faraz, already under fire for the failure of the fleet, agrees to disband the refugee camps and allow the refugees the freedom to travel where ever they want, and supplies to help them get established on Tiamat if they wished to remain. 

Month 121, Day 16, Sligo system
Resource shipments from the other colonies that had agreed to join the Wunderland Republic have tapered off.  The initial shipments arrived as planned, and were instrumental in Wunderland’s efforts to begin rebuilding its fleet, however, as word of the fleet’s defeat at the hands of the Tarek spreads, the other colonies have begun rethinking their position. 

Month 121, Day 18, Sligo System
Messages are sent to the other colonies by the Wunderland government via courier drones, reminding them that they pledged loyalty to Wunderland, and making thinly veiled threats to dispatch warships to any colony that refuses its duties under the compact they all agreed to just over a month ago. 

The threat is a bluff, and the colonial leaders know it.  With the Tarek at their doorstep, the Wunderlanders cannot afford to send any of their ships away, and even if they did most of their remaining ships are beam-armed and could do little but sit in orbit of the recalcitrant colonies and make impotent threats. 

Month 121, Day 30
The governors of New Sidney and New California, the two largest colonies in Wunderland’s alliance after Wunderland itself, meet in secret and agree to jointly send a message to the Coalition Fleet, detailing the situation with the Tarek and Wunderland, and asking for assistance. 

Month 122 Day 3, Sligo system
The Tarek Navy, all fifteen escorts, set out for Wunderland early in the day.  Sixteen hours later they arrived.  The Wunderland Navy, what was left of it, was arrayed alongside the nine small bases that had been deployed by the Coalition for orbital defense.   

The fifteen attacking escorts crossed the maximum range of the defender’s missile destroyers at full speed, intent on closing to point blank range as quickly as possible.  The first exchange of fire happened at three point two five light seconds, and just outside of the attacker’s lasers, but within range of the defender’s force beams and missiles.  The Tarek lost an escort to missile fire, and another escort was heavily damaged by force beam fire. 

The Tarek escorts continued to close, while the Wunderlander missile destroyers moved to keep the range open.  The Tarek escorts opened fire at one point two five light seconds, targeting the damaged Wunderlander light cruiser that sat at the center of their defense.  The Wunderlander force beams were now close enough that they did additional damage, and this hurt the Tarek.  Four escorts were heavily damaged, while the Tarek laser fire, focused on the Victory, destroyed most of the light cruiser’s remaining weapons and engines. 

The Tarek ships plunged to point blank range.  Both side’s lasers and force beams were at their optimum range, and ships were carved apart or smashed right and left.  The Victory was destroyed almost immediately, but the almost indiscriminate destruction was weighted heavily against the Tarek.  The Wunderlander’s heavier force beams coupled with their datalink systems, which allowed three of their ships to fire as one, allowed the Wunderlander fleet to bludgeon the Tarek fleet into oblivion in less than a minute.  It cost them the Victory and a corvette, along with heavy damage to another corvette.  The Tarek had failed in their attempt to destroy the Wunderlander’s mobile fleet, however, the Wunderlander’s few remaining ships were obviously not enough to engage the Tarek’s orbital and planetary defenses. 

The two sides had exhausted themselves. 

Month 122, Day 5, Sligo System, Wunderland Republic
First Consul Faraz was arrested this morning by Legislative Lictors and held on charges of treason and malfeasance.  The Legislature votes unanimously to appeal to the Coalition Fleet for assistance and to replace Faraz with an acting First Consul until the situation is resolved. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 123, Day 1, Epsilon Indi system (Coalition Space)
The fleet led by Admiral Ruston was still ten days from Wunderland when it encountered a large group of CD’s heading away from the Wunderland system, en route for the inner systems of human space.  Ruston’s flagship queried the CD’s, and their Coalition fleet codes prompted a download of the CD’s messages.  The CD’s were carrying messages from the governors of the Orphicon, Kowloon, and New Hebrides system colonies, appealing for the Coalition Fleet’s assistance in resolving the situation in the Sligo system.  The messages carried details of the Wunderland colony’s declaration of independence, and the subsequent battles with the Tarek.  This information increased their knowledge of events in the Sligo system, but didn’t really change anything about their mission.  The fleet continued onwards. 

Month 123, Day 5, Sligo System
“Sir, the lead elements report they have received a message.  It originates from a coalition scout positioned sixty light seconds in-system from the warp point.  The scout is ID’ing itself as the Wunderland Space Navy Scout Icarus.”

Admiral Ruston settled back into his chair, trying to get his rebellious stomach back under control after the warp transit.  It always affected him this way.  “Very well.  Route it to my console.” 

A few seconds later a window popped up over his console, showing a small scout’s bridge, with an officer front and center in the camera’s pickup.  The officer was wearing a standard deep blue Coalition duty jump suit; however, it had been stripped of unit tags and other identifiers.  Ruston didn’t recognize the officer, but that didn’t really mean anything.  “Coalition Fleet, this is the WSN Icarus.  You are welcome in Republic of Wunderland territory.  The First Consul of Wunderland invites you to Wunderland and requests your assistance in resolving the situation with the Tarek.”

Admiral Ruston noted the new terminology for the former Coalition colony, but decided not to make an issue out of it now, with a scout commander who had little authority.  He keyed his console to begin recording.  “Scout Icarus, thank you for your welcome.  We will proceed to Wunderland immediately.”

With the message sent, he detached two scout-frigates to watch their back at the warp point and ordered the fleet to move inwards, towards Wunderland. 

Month 123, Day 10, Sligo System
Admiral Ruston stood in the corridor adjoining the boat bay of his flagship, the CSN California, and waited for the shuttle he had sent to the surface to collect the Wunderland delegation to dock.  While he waited, he went over the information he had about the Wunderland government, but his staff had had a hard time wading through the available information to come up with a coherent briefing.  Based on what they had been able to glean from the colonial info network, Coalition Governor Faraz had declared independence four months ago, right after word of the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR arrived, and then promptly declared war on the Tarek.  Her long-planned attack on the Tarek failed, largely because of their extensive defensive network, and then governor Faraz was deposed after a Tarek counterattack destroyed most of what remained of the Wunderlander’s fleet.  The news grew confused after that.  It appeared that Faraz was replaced as governor, or First Consul, whatever that was, by a senior legislator from their colonial legislature, however, that worthy had stepped down within days after being implicated in a scheme to enrich himself by defrauding the government effort to support the refugees from Earth.  His resignation had thrown the Wunderland government into chaos, and it wasn’t clear who had power at this point.  A person claiming to be Governor Whitmore of the Wunderland Sector Provisional Government had contacted the fleet as it approached Wunderland and requested a meeting at whatever location Admiral Ruston deemed appropriate.  Ruston had decided to set the right tone from the first, and agreed to a meeting aboard his flagship.  The delegation from below would be met with the appropriate honors and courtesy, but his military might would also be on display, and the message would be obvious. 

The Admiral’s thoughts were interrupted as a tone sounded in the corridor, and a shuttle nosed into the bay beyond.  The bay doors closed, and in less than a minute the bay was pressurized and the lock to the bay opened.  A file of marines in dress unforms marched into the bay in the lead, and took up positions around the shuttle’s lock.  A second group of marines, these in heavy combat armor, entered the bay behind them and took up defensive positions around the back bulkhead, a not-so-subtle reminder of where the power-balance lay.  Finally, Admiral Ruston and his senior officers entered the bay and marched to the shuttle, after which the shuttle’s lock opened and a short ramp descended.  A group of civilians exited the shuttle and looked around the bay, taking in both groups of marines before seeing Admiral Ruston and his party.  The group of civilians moved forward, approaching Admiral Ruston, with a formidable older woman in the lead. 

The woman and her group stopped just short of the admiral and his party and she smiled.  “Admiral Ruston, I presume?”

Admiral Ruston nodded.  “Yes ma’am.  Governor Whitmore?  Not First Consul Whitmore?”

Whitmore smiled and shook her head.  “No, we got rid of that nonsense when we took over.  I think Faraz was trying to establish a mystique around her new government to try to give it some credibility, some link to the past.  They had a whole bunch of plans about renaming things to bring them in line with the old Greek republics, but they didn’t get around to it before their campaign against the Tarek fell apart.”

Admiral Ruston nodded.  “That makes sense.  And I sorry, but my staff has been able to find little about you in the colonial databases.  May I ask…”

“Where the heck I come from?  Certainly.  I am the former Coalition Governor of the New California Colony in the Kowloon system.  I was sent here by my colony as the New California representative to the Wunderland Republic that Faraz was setting up.  We were promised positions in the ruling council and the new legislature, and I was to ensure that the interests of New California and the other out-system colonies were represented until the new government was established and elections could be held.  When I arrived Faraz had just been deposed, and no one knew what was going to happen.  The stuffed shirt that replaced her resigned just six days later, and the colony’s government was thrown into confusion.  After a week of infighting a group of senior legislators and military officers approached me and asked if I would step in as First Consul, until the emergency was resolved.  I was uncomfortable with that, as I didn’t know what changes Faraz and her people had made to the powers and authorities of the position, but I did agree to become Acting Colonial Governor until higher authority arrived from the Coalition.  Like you.”

Admiral Ruston shifted uncomfortably.  He instinctively liked this woman, who seemed to be a force of nature and squarely honest, but he had to be careful in this situation.  While he had significant authority based on the emergency powers granted to him under the state of Martial Law that existed throughout the Coalition territories, that authority was based on the fleet behind him, not the government that issued the declaration, given the fact that the Coalition government no longer existed.  His authority would only last as long as his fleet supported him, and very soon many of the officers and crews throughout the fleet would be asking some very hard questions.  If he began imposing solutions on civilian authorities, resentment would build.  And his only tool was force, or the threat of force.  That was a road he didn’t want to travel except in the most extreme situations.  He realized Governor Whitmore was watching him curiously.  “Thank you, Governor Whitmore, that brings me up to date nicely.  Why don’t we move to more comfortable surroundings?” 

He stepped aside and gestured, and his Chief of Staff stepped forward.   “Please follow me.”  The civilians followed Captain Kennedy, followed by the Admiral and then his staff.  The marine honor guard took up a rear position, following the entire group. 

The trip was a short one, to a large crew training area that had been set up for the meeting.  One wall was step up to display the fleet surrounding the flagship.  The displays had been set to magnify the surrounding ships, so that it appeared that the flagship was escorted by a dozen cruisers of various sizes, all within close proximity.  It was an awesome display of naval might, designed to impress the civilians with the fleet under his control.  He suspected that the display was no longer necessary, a suspicion that was confirmed when he saw the sly smile that flitted across Governor Whitmore’s face as she looked at the displays.  The group sat down at the table that had been set up, and once they were settled, Admiral Ruston nodded to the governor.  “Ma’am, let me lay out the situation as I see it.  I have arrived to find a colony that is technically in rebellion, which has misappropriated Coalition government assets, namely Coalition naval forces assigned to this system, and which has not only mistreated refugees from Earth but has also started a war with the indigenous alien race of this system!  Have I missed anything?”

The Wunderland delegation looked morose over the Admiral’s statement, but Governor Whitmore smiled a genuine smile at his summary.  “Oh, there are a few more things we’ve uncovered since I’ve taken over.  It appears that while Governor Faraz wasn’t particularly corrupt herself, she and her administration were quite willing to overlook a lot in their rush to establish their new government and prosecute their war with the Tarek.  I’ve given the government’s auditors and internal affairs people quite a bit of work since I took over.  But, that said, let me point out a few mitigating factors.  First off, I think you would be hard pressed to identify exactly what Wunderland and the other colonies out here are in rebellion against, since the Coalition government no longer exists in any functional form.  Or am I wrong about that?”  Governor Whitmore watched the Admiral curiously.  A lot rode on his answer. 

Admiral Ruston would have been reluctant to admit this point to anyone else, but he could sense that she was trying to hold things together out here, so he settled for nodding.  “The old Coalition is gone, it is true.  However, there will be a conference in less than a month in the Sigma Draconis (Moskva) system to discuss a replacement for the Coalition and ways to move forward.  I hope that you, or your representative, will attend.”

Governor Whitmore nodded.  “We certainly will attend.”  She turned to her assistant and asked him to make a note of that for future attention, then turned back to the admiral, a serious look on her formidable face.  “Your point about the refugees is entirely correct.  The refugees have placed the colonies out here in difficult situations, but there is no excuse for the way that the refugees were treated by the Faraz government.  There is a full investigation of the government’s actions underway, and several high-ranking individuals, including the former army general in command of the resettling effort, are under arrest and will be facing serious charges, as are multiple lower ranked individuals who committed serious crimes against the refugees in the absence of effective oversight.  Governor Faraz herself recognized her error and began to remedy it before she was removed.  Since then we have allowed the refugees, under the leadership of the group that so effectively overthrew Governor Faraz’ corrupt refugee managers, to set up their own refugee resettlement centers, with the assistance of Wunderland’s government.  I will open their books to your people as soon as I return, so that you can assure yourself that their treatment is as fair and equitable as we can make it.”

Admiral Ruston nodded, taken with her obvious distress at the treatment of the refugees from Earth.  “We had gathered as much from the public information networks, but it is good to hear you admit the issue.”

Governor Whitmore smiled.  “As for your second and fourth points, the Coalition naval forces in this system, and the war with the Tarek, they are inextricably linked together.  I’m not a resident of this system, but my colony is just two jumps away and believe me, we have followed the progress of the Tarek since our founding.  The Tarek have not hidden their hostility to humanity, and while reliable communications have never been established, that’s not because we don’t understand their language.  It is because they won’t talk to us.  Wunderland has been monitoring their communications from the start, and the Tarek have never hidden their intent to take their system back from the ‘Invaders’, as they so quaintly call us.  The officers and crews of the Coalition’s Sligo Squadron voted nearly unanimously to join Wunderland’s new nation on the provision that they be sent against the Tarek, to end the threat to their families and their colony.  The Coalition had been ignoring the situation for years, focused as it was on events in the Solar system and various wars with the aliens.  The Coalition government’s response to every attempt to get it to deal with the Tarek was to accuse the colonies out here of alarmism and xenophobia.  While Wunderland might have started the shooting war with the Tarek, that war was inevitable, and if we had waited the Tarek would have just started it when they felt they had an advantage.”  The Wunderland delegation around her were all nodding their heads in agreement.  This was clearly a sore point to not only the Wunderlanders, but also the other colonies in the area. 

Admiral Ruston knew she had a point.  He had argued more than once for an increased naval presence in the Sligo system, to deter the Tarek, but he also had known that such a deterrent only worked while it was present.  Sooner or later any capital ships deployed to this system would have been withdrawn, and the Wunderlanders would have been right back to the start, with the Tarek looking for ways to gain an advantage.  Still, there was no way that the Coalition was going to start an unprovoked war against a nearly helpless alien race, and he had opposed those officers that had argued for a first strike against the Tarek.  He felt then that there had to be a better way.  Of course, the Wunderlanders were pretty sure that the first provocation that the Coalition would receive would be the bombardment of their colony, which was also unthinkable, so the Coalition government, which had many larger issues closer to home to focus on, tended to ignore the situation in Sligo and hoped that the Tarek would become more reasonable with time.  “I agree that the colonists here had a right to defend themselves.  But starting a war that they then promptly lost was clearly not the right way to deal with the situation.”

“Point taken.  Governor Faraz and her people had a credible fear, though, that once the Coalition fleet got organized it would withdraw the bulk of the Sligo squadron to put out fires across the human territories, or to face the D’Bringi, leaving us open to Tarek aggression.  That wasn’t an unreasonable fear, was it?”

Admiral Ruston, wanting to be honest with Whitmore, nodded.  “I had no plans to withdraw the squadron at this time.”  Seeing the look on the Wunderlander’s faces, he continued.  “But I can’t say that I would have left them here.  There is a lot of unrest and instability throughout the human territories.”  He looked at the Wunderlanders, and at Governor Whitmore, and saw the fear underlying everything they had done.  It was clear if you knew to look for it.   “What’s done is done.  I can’t change it any more than you can.  All we can do is deal with the situation as it is.  And the situation is that whatever the Tarek intention was, the shooting war between the Tarek and humanity has started.  The scout I dispatched to watch Tarek Prime reports that the Tarek will launch six escorts at the end of this month, and that six months from now they’ll launch a heavy cruiser that’s been under construction in their yards for quite some time.  In the meantime, the yard being built here won’t even be ready until next month, and you haven’t been able to agree on a plan to build ships on the ground to replace your losses to date.”

Governor Whitmore nodded.  “That’s a fair summary.  The situation is desperate.  Now that we’ve established a government here more representative of all of the colonies that have joined together, we have vastly greater resources available, but the Tarek have the lead and I fear that it would have been only a matter of time until they overwhelmed us here.”  Her gaze sharpened on the Coalition Admiral, and she gestured at the displays showing the fleet surrounding them.  “But now you are here.  May I ask what you plan to do now?” 

Admiral Ruston’s face grew bleak.  “I am going to deal with the Tarek.  They have a legitimate grievance against humanity, but I will not allow them to attack a human colony, or to continue to pose a threat to the humans in this system.  My fleet will remain here while we verify the information you’ve given us, but before the end of the month we will move against the Tarek and ensure that they do not pose a continuing threat against the people of Wunderland.”

For the first time Governor Whitmore looked taken aback.  Perhaps she was truly realizing for the first time that there was no one above Admiral Ruston.  No one that she could appeal to, or who could limit the Admiral’s actions once he decided to act.  “May I ask what exactly you intend to do?”

The Admiral’s face never waivered from its grim set.  “My fleet will advance on Tarek Prime.  We will give them a chance to negotiate peace with the people of Wunderland, and if they refuse, then we will sweep their skies clear of everything capable of shooting back at us.  My fleet will eliminate every armed ship, every orbital station, and all of their shipyards.  And once that is complete, I will warn them against deploying any armed unit outside of their atmosphere.  They can be hostile on their planet’s surface all they want, but if they venture beyond the surface it will be in unarmed ships, or not at all.”

Governor Whitmore was stunned.  While he was avoiding bombarding the surface, this was quite a step for a Coalition Admiral to take.  She looked at her delegation, which was mostly composed of Wunderlanders.  As one they nodded their agreement.   While they didn’t exactly get a say, they approved of anything that limited the Tarek’s ability to attack them. 

Month 123, Day 14, Sligo System
The Coalition fleet was arrayed just outside of basic missile range of the planet, at four point five light seconds.  The Tarek had shown no sign of having anything more advanced during their fight with the Wunderlanders, and Admiral Ruston was confident in his fleet’s ability to deal with anything the Tarek might throw at them, even if they had suddenly deployed more potent weaponry. 

In the months since the failed Wunderland attack on the Tarek, they had repaired the damage to their orbital stations and ground bases, and deployed an additional three ground bases to give themselves complete coverage from any approach.  In addition to the six ground bases, the Tarek had four orbital stations containing full-size shipyards, five stations with medium shipyards, and a grand total of thirty-two armed orbital stations.  It was an impressive defense, especially for such a low-tech race, but they were about to find out what a bad idea it had been to be so blindly hostile as to provoke a war with a much more advanced race.  There was a price to be paid for such blind intransigence, and the Tarek were about to pay it.   

Admiral Ruston checked his uniform once more, then keyed on the video recorder.  “I am Admiral Ruston of the Coalition.  I have come to resolve the state of war that exists between the human residents of this system and the Tarek.  I would like to resolve this war peacefully, and would be willing to discuss reparations along with establishing safeguards to ensure that this does not happen again in the future.  Please respond to me on this channel within one twentieth of your planet’s daily rotation.  If I do not receive a response within the given time period, I will be forced to resolve this war by other means.”  He cut he recording out, and then signaled for his comm officer to send it to the Tarek.  They then settled in to wait. 

The allotted time period went by quickly.  There was no response from the Tarek of any sort.  Admiral Ruston gave them a little more time, then opened the comm channel to the Tarek again.  “You have unwisely decided to ignore my fleet.  I prefer to resolve this situation peacefully, however, it seems you will not allow this.  Therefore, in ten minutes my fleet will attack each and every orbital station over your planet, including your shipyards.  We will do so from beyond your own range to respond. You cannot stop this, and I urge you to either begin negotiations or to evacuate your orbital stations before I destroy them.”  He cut off the comms channel and again they settled in to wait. 

The ten minutes passed without incident, and also without the Tarek doing anything.  It seemed they either didn’t believe his threat, or wanted to make this as hard as possible.  He punched up the battlecruiser’s bridge.  “Captain Hannover.  You may begin.  All units will begin the bombardment as ordered.”

Captain Hannover nodded and the comm channel went dark.  A few seconds later the battlecruiser shivered as it and its consorts moved away from the planet.  They could have launched from their current position, but Admiral Ruston wanted to make a point to the stubborn Tarek. 

The Coalition Fleet moved to five-point-five light seconds, and then turned back towards the planet.  A few seconds later the California resounded with dull thuds as her launchers begin expelling capital missiles.   Each of the human battlecruisers targeted a different armed station, leaving six burning, crippled stations after the first salvo slammed home.  The stations had no active defenses, and the human fleet was a full light second and a half beyond their own missile’s range, so there was nothing they could do as the capital missiles raced towards them.  Every thirty seconds the human battlecruisers launched another salvo of capital-missiles at the orbiting stations, like clockwork. 

After three such salvoes, the situation changed.  Suddenly the stations over Tarek Prime began sprouting life pods, and Admiral Ruston called a temporary halt to the bombardment to allow the life pods to get clear of the immediate area.  One minute later the battlecruisers began launching again.  The battlecruisers launched six full salvoes before they had worked their way through all of the stations.  Only a few had been destroyed outright, but all were damaged and some were heavily damaged.  After that the orbital stations were destroyed one by one as the battlecruisers began firing individually, splitting their salvoes between two targets.  The orbital stations weren’t really like warships or true combat-capable bases, they were more like civilian space stations that had been equipped with armor and weapons.  Once their armor was breached, they fell apart quickly under continued fire, and they had nothing that would stop the incoming missiles.  It took just three additional salvoes to finish off the remaining orbital stations, and then the battlecruisers could focus on the orbital yards. 

Admiral Ruston had noted that the Tarek hadn’t evacuated the shipyards at the same time as the crews abandoned their battle stations, so he ordered his flagship to launch just three missiles against one of the larger shipyards, to get his point across.  Two of the three missiles hit the station, and the Tarek got the point.  There were a lot more Tarek on the orbital yards, so Admiral Ruston gave them several minutes to clear the area before his ships began firing again.  It took two full salvoes to destroy the yards, but in the end the Tarek’s orbital presence was gone. 

Admiral Ruston again opened the comms channel to the Tarek.  “I will not attack your surface installations, but be warned, if you launch any armed units, whether they are ships or orbital battle stations, my ships will return and destroy them as soon as you launch them.  I will allow you to travel throughout this system and beyond, but only in unarmed ships.  And you may only build unarmed orbital stations, such as shipyards.  Everything you launch will be scanned by my ships, and if it is armed it will be destroyed.  If your ground bases fire on any human ship, for any reason, they will all be destroyed by bombardment, regardless of how many collateral casualties this causes.  Be very clear, Humanity wants peace with you, but we will not abide a hostile race threatening us.  Continue as you have and you will be destroyed.”

The human fleet turned away and set out for Wunderland.  As they left, a message reached them from Tarek Prime.  It said only, “We will comply.”  It seemed that Admiral Ruston had finally impressed them with Humanity’s intention to deal with their aggression. 

Admiral Ruston’s fleet returned to Wunderland before setting out for home.  Governor Whitmore invited him to meet with her on the surface, and he agreed, shuttling down later the same day. 

The two met at a small but well-appointed retreat maintained by the Wunderland government in the mountains to the southwest of the capital.  Admiral Ruston’s shuttle landed on the airfield attached to the retreat, where he was met by Governor Whitmore herself.  A few guards were present, watching the perimeter, but she was alone, her aides having apparently been dismissed.  Seeing this, Admiral Ruston told his aides and guards to remain on the shuttle, and he walked out into the cool, crisp evening air to meet with the governor. 

She smiled as he exited the shuttle, and came forward to meet him.  “Our savior!”

He shook his head.  “They never had a chance against my fleet.  They just didn’t know that.  A lot of Tarek spacers died today, learning that lesson.  I didn’t enjoy teaching it.”

Governor Whitmore took in the Admiral’s demeanor and shook her head.  “No, I don’t suppose you did.  Still, it had to be done.”  She gestured back towards the lodge.  “Come, lets get inside.  I’ve got a fire going, and we have a lot to talk about.”

He allowed himself to be led inside, and soon they were seated in front of the warm fire, each with their preferred drink in their hands.  The silence was companionable, but he had been invited here for a reason.  “You clearly have something to say.”

The pensive look on her face fell away, and she smiled.  For a brief second he realized what a truly beautiful woman she must have been in her youth, but to be honest, he preferred the formidable woman in front of him.  She was competent, and appeared to be trustworthy, although that could only be determined after time had passed.  “Admiral, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when you arrived.  We had justifications for what had been done, but none of that would have mattered if you had taken a harder line on our independence than you did.  You could have swept our defenses away as easily as you did the Tarek’s, and our ground forces would have been forced to surrender under threat of bombardment from orbit that we couldn’t answer or defend against.  Some in my government expected you to do just that and were urging either abject surrender or a fight to the death.”

Admiral Ruston looked at Whitmore curiously.  “And what were you preparing for?”

She smiled again.  “I was prepared to do what I do best.  Talk.  As my kids always used to say, I talk and talk and talk, and somehow people just end up agreeing with me.  I think they agree just to get me to stop talking, but there you go.”

“And if I wouldn’t talk to you?  If I demanded your surrender?”

“I would have ordered my people to stand down.  I’m not sure all of them would have.  I’m still something of an outsider here, but most of them would.  I’m a big believer in living to fight another day.”

“That’s not always an option.”

“No, but against the Coalition I thought it was the right move.”  She frowned, watching the Admiral’s face intently.  “Why didn’t you impose martial law and remove the independent government we’ve been setting up?  You have the power.  No one here can stop you, and I suspect that there is no one anywhere that can countermand your orders.”

Admiral Ruston sat silently for a moment, staring into the fire.  Finally, he stirred.  “The Coalition is gone.  No government official higher than a city mayor survived the war on Earth.  A few low-level elected officials have appeared here and there, but no one of consequence.  For all intents and purposes, the Coalition ceased to exist in that war, and what is left is merely an idea.  In the chaos since the fall of Earth, my fleet and the Russian fleet have had to work together to impose order and ensure that the flow of refugees continued and that resources got to Earth to stabilize the situation there, at least as much as possible.  The emergency created by the destruction of the Coalition and Russian governments on Earth gave General Semenov and me all of the authority we needed to impose martial law, and we needed to do so to legally order the civilian colonial governments to accept the refugees.  The imposition of martial law gave us the cloak of legality, however, that cloak only covers so much.  The governments that promulgated those laws are gone, and they aren’t coming back.  If we use those laws to set ourselves up as dictators, or to enforce membership in a government that no longer exists then soon enough the colonies will begin resisting.  I will not see my fleet become an instrument of oppression, and General Semenov feels the same.  He grew up under a military government, and is painfully aware of its failings.”  Admiral Ruston paused, and then looked up from the fire, into her eyes.  “Tell me, if I had returned from destroying the Tarek defenses and announced that you were all guilty of treason against the Coalition, and announced arrests and that I was putting one of my officers in control of this colony, what would you have done?”  He was watching her curiously. 

“I’ve already said it.  We would have complied.  We cannot fight your fleet.”

“But?”  He could hear the word ‘but’ in her answer, in spite of it having gone unsaid. 

She sighed.  “But, the imposition of martial law would be seen as a military dictatorship, particularly if it wasn’t replaced quickly by some sort of civilian government.  That would have caused resistance to grow, not only here, but everywhere throughout the colonies, which are known to be notoriously independent.  In the end I think if you took that path you would succeed for a while, but in the end human space would be rocked by secession and civil war.  Probably sooner rather than later.”

Admiral Ruston nodded.  “Exactly.  General Semenov and I have had this very discussion since the fall of Earth.  Supplies for our fleet are running short, and we must put together an organization of colonies to support our ships or bad things will happen.  If we can’t support our fleets, we will lose control of them, and then piracy will be the least of our problems.  Tinpot dictators will spring up right and left, setting up petty empires and ‘protection-rackets’ to support their ships and crews.  To maintain our fleets, we need a large colonial organization, and If, as some in our staffs suggest, we impose that order on the colonies to create a state capable of supporting our fleets, then we will clearly have to do so by force.  Some of the colonies will resist, if only out of sheer stubbornness, and by using force to impose our solution we will be creating the conditions for our own overthrow.”

She looked at him curiously, growing more and more impressed with this military leader who refused to impose a military solution on the fall of a civilization.  “And so?”

“And so, I find myself here.  Asking you to help put together a voluntary organization of colonies to help support the fleet that defends us all.    As I’ve asked other political leaders elsewhere.”  His gaze sharpened on the governor.  “You said you’re known for talking.  We need that.  I need that.”  He gestured towards the outside, away from the fire they were both watching.  “The fact that the colonies out here joined together so readily means something.  If I come in and deny that, and impose the old conditions by force, I’d be ignoring the reality.  Keep your independence, if you must, but recognize that we have enemies out there and that we must work together to maintain the fleet that is all that stands between these worlds and those enemies.”

Governor Whitmore looked into the fire for a few seconds, shocked at the honesty coming from one of the two most powerful men in the human territories at the current time.  She was deeply impressed by his determination to bring the colonial leaders together to talk, rather than imposing a solution with the force that was so readily available to him.  The temptation to use that force must have been nearly overwhelming, as it was the tool he had trained for his whole adult life to wield.  She came to a decision. 

“I will help.  I will go to your conference personally, and I’ll talk to anyone who’ll listen.  I have to finish up things here, first, to ensure that the government here stays on the right path while I’m gone, but if you’ll leave a ship to convey me to the conference I’ll be there before it starts.”

Admiral Ruston settled back into the couch as relief blossomed in his chest.  There were so many ways this could go wrong, but he had a feeling that something had broken right, for once.  The two talked late into the night, strategizing their approach to the conference, before Admiral Ruston had to return to the fleet.   

Month 123, Day 15, Sligo system
Some of the Coalition fleet leaves Wunderland to return to the Sigma Draconis system.  Admiral Ruston left behind three battlecruisers, three heavy cruisers, and three destroyers, to impress upon the Tarek the need to adhere to their agreement. 

Admiral Ruston and a delegation from the Wunderland Association, the latest name the locals had decided upon, left aboard two small scouts that raced out of the system at full military speed, and would reach the Sigma Draconis system in eleven days.  Another scout was left behind for Governor Whitmore, who would leave when she felt her Deputy Governor had things in hand on Wunderland. 

[Kurt (OP)]

Month 123, Day 26, Sigma Draconis System (Moskva)
The conference to determine the future course of the human colonies begins today.  Premier Noah Clark, leader of the ANIA, is a surprise attendee.  Although the situation on Earth has not yet stabilized, the ANIA has taken a leading position in recovery and stabilization efforts, and can make a credible claim to represent the majority of the people remaining on the planet.   

Month 124, Day 5, Sigma Draconis System
The Colonial Conference has been going relatively well.  Initial attempts by the representatives of the former Coalition colony in the Epsilon Eridani system to get the various colonial governors to sign on to unifying under one flag, with the capital located at their colony, failed spectacularly, with the representatives from the Tomsk Union flatly refusing to agree to such a move, considering it premature, and the representatives of the Wunderland Association preferring to defer judgement on such a thing until the intent of the fleet is made more clear. 

In spite of this failure, it is clear that almost all of the colonies agree that they must band together, at least to a certain extent, and after the failure of this initial initiative, the representatives settled down to the serious work of developing a framework they could all live with. 

Month 124, Day 25, Moskva System (Sigma Draconis)
The first ever Convention of Colonial Governments concludes.  The convention went surprisingly well.  Most attendees attribute this to the abject example of Earth and the failure of the Coalition and the USSR to peacefully resolve their differences.  Premier Clark of Earth, and Governor Whitmore of the Wunderland Association both provided strong leadership examples of cooperation and commitment to overall human welfare, and General Semenov and Admiral Ruston’s limitation of their involvement to pleading the case for support for their fleets went a long way towards encouraging the various colonial government towards looking to a common future rather than to their own immediate needs. 

Several groups of aliens attended the conference as well.  The Tlatelolco from the Redwing system, and the D’Bringi rescued from the Brezhnev system by the Russians both attended the conference and announced their support for the two human fleets.  The D’Bringi, in particular, were fervent in their adulation of the Russian fleet, which is perhaps understandable given the fact that the Russians freed them from their clan masters and then transported them to a benign (for them) world in the Petropavlovsk system, within the Tomsk Union. 

The end result was a commitment to a united future, the Colonial Union.  Although fragmented into multiple separate states at the current time, all of the leaders agreed to mutual defense and trade treaties, and to support the former Russian and Coalition Fleets.  Admiral Ruston and General Semenov agreed to support all of the governments in attendance, regardless of former nationalities, and to act together in support of the common defense.  Every colony agreed to send its resources to support the fleet, as none of the new colonial nations could support the fleet on its own. 

During the conference, General Semenov and Admiral Ruston announced the formation of the United Colonial Defense Fleet.  While the announcement is more ceremonial than anything else, it signals their clear intention to amalgamate their fleets into a single combat force dedicated to protecting humanity throughout the colonial territories.