10/16/909
Strug Home System
Strug Home and The Sister are the eighth and eleventh moons of the Eye, respectively. Strug Home?s orbit is 306,000 km?s, while The Sister?s is 408,000 km?s. Currently, they are close to opposition, and are almost 690,000 km?s apart.
Strug Planetary Defense Command Intelligence has identified seven PDC?s on the surface of The Sister, and all appear to be the same class as that encountered during the Five Minute War, with five heavy launchers and five defensive missile launchers. Strug Orbital Defense Command telescopes have identified numerous small to medium sized objects in orbit around The Sister, but they appear to be under emissions control and the ODC has not been able to gather any information on them. Currently, ODC analysts believe that the objects are defensive bases. To date both the ODC and the PDC have been prohibited from using their active sensors to scan The Sister and its satellites by the government, which fears that the use of active sensors would be seen as a provocative act by the Colonists.
Eighteen minutes into a new day, nearly every early warning sensor in the Strug ODC and PDC net went off. Thirty two active sensors were detected in use in orbit around The Sister, along with a single sensor on a ground base.
The Strug ODC and PDC took immediate steps. The first was to report the events to the central command center, and the second was for the ODC to light off every sensor it had. Independently, the ODC base commanders ordered their commands to begin raising their shields. The PDC commanders, under standing orders to refrain from using their sensors until missiles were in space, limited themselves to double and triple checking their systems and preparing for battle in ways that wouldn?t prematurely reveal their presence.
The Strug Navy, all four cruisers, immediately went to EC-1 (Emergency Condition 1), and like the orbital bases they lit off their sensors and began raising their shields. Acting under standing orders, the four cruisers, accompanied by the lone Strug armed survey ship, began moving towards Alpha point, a position in between Strug Home and the Sister.
The Strug freighter group immediately began running directly away from the Sister, covered by the defenses on Strug Home. Unfortunately, the colony group was in low orbit, in the middle of loading colonists for Five, and was unable to break away. They would be sitting targets.
All of this pretty much happened automatically, as the Strug reacted to the sudden activity by the Colonists. Once the Strug active sensors came up the thirty-two targets in orbit around The Sister solidified. PDC commanders began calling for permission to engage the orbital Colonist units, but without approval from the government, or a visible incoming attack, they couldn?t engage. At the current separation, Strug planetary missiles would take sixty nine seconds to reach The Sister, while the known Colonist planetary missile would take forty-six seconds.
Twenty-five seconds after the Strug units activated their sensors they detected the first incoming missiles. Nine salvoes of five missiles each appeared on Strug displays at just over five hundred and fifty thousand km?s out. Alarms began ringing again and started a very complex set of actions into motion. Strug forces were prohibited from firing on Colonist surface targets without approval from their political leadership, however, everyone recognized the reality that the delay that imposed could be fatal and so a compromise had been reached. Once Colonist missiles were detected inbound, Strug forces were free to attack any Colonist unit in space. Seconds after the first inbound missiles were detected all eight Strug PDC?s launched their missiles at the bases orbiting The Sister.
Thirty-five seconds later the missile salvo came into range of the 12 cm lasers on the Tharsis Montes Flight II cruisers stationed at Alpha Point. The powerful laser cannons slewed under computer control, struggling to intercept the fast missiles. The enemy missiles were screaming in at 15,000 kps, faster than the Strug systems were designed for, but the lasers stabbed out defiantly, desperately. Each cruiser mounted three twin 12 cm turrets, giving the small fleet a total of twelve turrets to engage the incoming missiles. The first attempt to engage the missiles took place at just over fifty-three thousand km?s. The Strug ships managed to get nine hits, but only six missiles were destroyed. The Strug fears were reality. The Colonists had armored their missiles. Thirty-nine missiles continued towards Strug Home.
The cruisers got a second chance to engage the missiles, five seconds later when their lasers had recharged. By this time the missiles were at 22,000 km?s range, in between the cruisers and Strug Home. Strug fire control had steadied up, and the cruisers got more hits, but the armor on the enemy missiles proved its worth. Only one missile was destroyed, out of fifteen hits. Frustration began to mount on the cruisers.
The cruisers were only the first line of defense for Strug Home, though. The enemy missile salvo streaked towards Strug Home, targeted on the orbiting bases. The bases, under control of their computers, waited until the last second to engage the incoming missiles. For the first time, meson weaponry entered the fray as the Archeron Catena Anti-Missile PDC?s went into action in support of the orbital bases.
Down below, on the surface of Strug Home, citizens looked up in fear as the sky was pocked with the flares and streaks of the battle. Brilliant pinpricks of light marked the destruction of incoming missiles. The battle was now in full swing.
The orbital bases struck at the incoming missiles with incredible violence, at point blank range. At that range the missile?s armor had only a limited ability to protect it. Each base had three twin 12 cm laser turrets, and now the base?s lasers struck down missile after missile. Still, in spite of the incredible fury of the defensive fire, four missiles shrugged off hits and closed on their targets, two of the orbiting bases. At the last second, the meson cannons of the defensive PDC?s below struck. The meson cannons reached right through the attacking missile?s armor and swatted all four missiles. The bases were safe, for now.
Ten seconds later the first wave of Strug missiles was 192,000 kilometers from The Sister when the Colonists launched their first anti-missiles. Only eight of the fifty-five anti-missiles hit their targets, leaving thirty-two missiles inbound for the Colonist?s orbital bases. It took the Strug missiles ten more seconds before they approached their targets, but they ran into a solid wall of anti-missile laser fire, and unlike the Colonist?s missiles, the Strug missiles had no armor. They were completely wiped out. Strug tactical analysts evaluated the data obtained from their active sensors and were able to define the Colonist orbital units as bases equipped with 10 cm laser weaponry, possibly triple turrets. If correct, this meant that the Colonists had at least 96 lasers in orbit over The Sister.
In the meantime, the second wave of Colonist missiles was streaking toward the Strug. It soon became clear that this wave was not targeted on Strug Home, but instead the ships that had been deployed to Point Alpha. This put the Strug Navy in a difficult position. If they maintained their position as a forward picket, it was entirely likely that they would be overwhelmed as the planetary lasers were too far away to provide effective assistance. If they turned and retreated behind Strug Home they would gain the home world?s defenses, but they would no longer be able to assist and, even worse, the enemy could change targeting and redirect their missiles onto the planet once the fleet moved.
After a few seconds of consideration the Squadron Commander, Padwar, fell back on prepared plans. The fleet was ordered to retreat to Strug orbit. The Strug would loose the benefit of having the fleet out in front of the planet, but the ship?s lasers would still be able to assist in the defense and the planet?s defenses would be able to assist in their defense.
The second Colonist salvo streaked in, but once again it met a solid wall of fire and every missile was destroyed short of its target. The third Colonist salvo encountered the same fate. Strug orbital defensive fire, bolstered by the Fleet?s lasers, was so effective that the meson ground bases had nothing to do.
The second Strug salvo encountered improved Colonist anti-missile fire and lost thirty-three out of forty missiles to three successive anti-missile waves. The remaining seven missiles were easily destroyed by Colonist orbital laser fire.
Senax, the Strug in charge of the Planetary Defense Command, watched in dismay as the second salvo fell apart under enemy fire. Eighty percent fell to anti-missiles and the rest were easy prey for the enemy?s orbital lasers. After watching the failure of the second salvo, he was forced to send a message to the Central Command Center for relay to the Supreme Leader. Their offense had failed. They would continue, of course, but there was little hope that they would be able to penetrate the enemy?s defenses.
Just after Senax sent his message an urgent call came from the data coordination center. The enemy was overdue to launch his next missile salvo. It appeared that this attack was over.
Ten minutes later it was confirmed, the enemy had stopped their attack. No missiles on either side had gotten through.
The attack was a mystery to the Strug. It seemed to be totally unprovoked, and it stopped for no more apparent reason than it started. The reactions among the top levels of the Strug government and military were mixed. The Navy Commander, Odwar Nekhwenmut (Odwar being a flag rank), was gratified that his command had performed well, but chagrined that they had been forced to retreat under the defenses of the ODC. He immediately began pushing for increased spending on the Navy. Senax, CO of the Planetary Defense Command, was embarrassed that his command had been unable to penetrate the enemy?s defenses. He accepted full responsibility and offered to resign, an offer that was rejected by the government. He then began campaigning for increased funding for the construction of new PDC?s and research on the improvement of the standard planetary defense missile. Odwar Heltoh, the CO of the Orbital Defense Command, was very proud of how his units performed, and pointed out to everyone that only once out of four salvoes did the ground-based meson cannons have to join the fight. He also pushed for increased funding to ensure that the enemy would never be able to penetrate their defenses.
The political leadership had their own concerns. This second attack had shown the Colonists for what they were ? enemies. Many had suggested that the Five Minute War was somehow provoked by Strug actions, that the Colonists had felt threatened by the launch of a Strug ship. This attack, though, made the Colonist?s intentions clear. They were enemies that intended to destroy the Strug if they got a chance. This changed everything. First and foremost, some way to penetrate the enemy?s defenses must be found. Secondly, as Strug Home was now nearly out of duranium, the colonies on Five and Twelve were extremely important to the future of the Strug civilization. The fact that they were completely undefended wore heavily on the Strug leaders. So far the enemy had ignored completely the other Strug settlements and focused their efforts on Strug Home. Should that change though, the Strug military was not ready to act away from Strug Home. So far the Navy?s ships were entirely defensive. This would have to change. If the Colonists managed to attack the millions of Strug on Five, or the hundreds of automated mines on Twelve, not only would it be a political disaster for the leadership, it would be a grievous setback for the Strug people, and perhaps one that they would be unable to recover from.
The day after the second attack, now called the Four Minute War, the Supreme Leader went before the Strug people and declared war on the Colonists, naming them a threat to the continued existence of the Strug Race. There would be no more waiting for the Colonists to attack on their timetable. The Strug would take matters into their own hands and act to eliminate the threat to their existence. In the same speech the Supreme Leader announced that the bulk of the Navy was being dispatched to Five to defend the colony for the indefinite future.
Over the next several weeks the government developed a plan to deal with the Colonist threat. Construction resources would have to be devoted to dealing with the duranium shortage for now, but once that was dealt with they would be devoted to tripling the number of launchers available to the Planetary Defense Command. To do this quickly and economically a new PDC would be designed, one with less armor and more launchers. In addition, research resources would be devoted to developing more advanced missiles capable of penetrating the enemy?s defenses. Senax seemed sure that with the additional launchers and improved missiles, his command would be able to penetrate the enemy?s defenses.
Finally, the Navy would receive priority on orbital yard space, over both the ODC and the civilian fleet. More Tharsis Montes cruisers would be built, along with units capable of attacking the enemy?s orbital bases directly, or moving to attack anything that threatened the Strug colonies.
Reactions were mixed on The Sister, as well. The attack had not gone as well as had been hoped. Heads rolled for that, in some cases literally. The new defenses had performed very well, though. Efforts to improve their offensive capabilities were already underway.
One thing that changed was that neither side was willing to deactivate their sensors. Both sides remained on high alert. In the aftermath of the hostilities the Strug cautiously allowed civilian flights to Twelve and Five to begin again, but they did so under extreme caution and safeguards. Each group of civilian ships departed or approached the home world on a course that kept them covered by the planetary defenses for as long as possible.
Vastitas Borealis class Planetary Defence Centre 18600 tons 3200 Crew 2609.4 BP TCS 74.4 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 3 Sensors 1/192 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 300
Magazine 800
PDC Missile Launcher 20-100 (15) Missile Size 20 Rate of Fire 100
PDC Missile Fire Control (1) Range: 1200k km
Ship Sensor, Large (1) GPS 7680 Range 76.8m km Resolution 40
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre
The Vastitas Borealis was designed in response to the Four Minute War. The complete inability of the existing Strug bases to get any missiles through the Colonist?s defenses pointed out the need to build more launchers and better missiles. The Vastitas Borealis mounts three times the launchers of the Syria Planum PDC for only 3,000 additional tons. The cost is that the Vastitas Borealis has much lighter armor.
Tartarus Montes class Monitor 10000 tons 1248 Crew 1612.6 BP TCS 200 TH 120 EM 1200
600 km/s Armour 1 Shields 40-400 Sensors 32/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 82
Magazine 600 Replacement Parts 15
Ion Engine (2) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 27.0 billion km (520 days at full power)
Gamma R400/16 Shields (20) Total Fuel Cost 320 Litres per day
Twin 12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser Turret (2x2) Range 96,000km TS: 12800 km/s Power 8-8 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 0
PD Fire Control (2) Max Range: 96,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Pebble Bed Reactor (2) Total Power Output 18 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Missile Launcher 06-060 (10) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 60
Standard Missile Fire Control (2) Range: 1200k km
Missile Sensor, Small (1) GPS 12.8 Range 128k km Resolution 0.2
Ship Sensor, Small (1) GPS 2560 Range 25.6m km Resolution 40
Thermal Sensor, Small (1) Sensitivity 32 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 32m km
The Planetary Defense Monitor class is intended to provide defense for Strug colonies against any threat from the Colonists. Strug military analysts have grown increasingly concerned about the possibility that the Colonists might build small, fast units to make an attack run on Strug colonies. Initial design proposals were for similar units intended to chase down and destroy Colonist fast-movers. Unfortunately, with no idea of Colonist capabilities the Strug designers had no way to know if they could design a ship that was faster than the hypothetical Colonist units. The designers then turned to countering possible fast-movers in other ways. The ultimate answer was the Monitor class.
The Monitor is, in effect, a mobile base. Current plans are to maintain a number in orbit over Five to protect the colony, along with several Tharsis Montes cruisers for missile defense.
