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Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 07, 2025, 09:59:19 AM »

March 1, 2163, Rift System, 2nd Rift Incursion

Imperial Rift System Defense Forces
Stationed within the Rift: 7x10,000 ton Long Duration Missile Bases

Stationed at Rift Base (Moon 7, Planet VII)
Rift System Defense Squadron: 1xCV, 2xCVS, 2xBC, 3xDD, 48xStrike Fighters, 4xScout Fighters
Rift Base Orbital Missile Bases: 6xAggressor class Missile Bases, 6xSeige Class Missile Bases
Rift Base Orbital Fighter Bases: 5xAdamant class 17,943 ton fighter bases, 65 Eagle Strike Fighters, 5 Aegis scout fighters
Rift Base Ground Defenses: 5th Guard Division (132,242 tons), 69,000 tons of STO units

The deployment of forces in the Rift system has been controversial, with factions in both the navy and the senate pushing for deployments to the surrounding systems instead of within the Rift system itself, to quarantine the Rift system.  While dispersing forces to the surrounding system would not normally be considered, as each force would be weaker than a consolidated force in the Rift system, the unknown nature of the threat from the Rifters made such a deployment at least somewhat attractive.  After some delay, though, the Emperor resolved the impasse by issuing an Imperial decree ordering the establishment of a base in the Rift system. 

The selection of the base site then became a point of contention, but, as the Empire’s attention began shifting to the Bobruisk and their hostile neighbors the Oct’s, interest in the Rift system began declining.  This is where Captain Thornton Black came into the picture.  Captain Black was an ambitious young officer with highly placed and powerful patrons in both the admiralty and the senate.  He had begun his career as a pilot of a Forward class FAC, and moved on from there to be a science officer on a long-range survey ship, after which he rose to command another survey ship.  After several successful survey voyages, he was ready to make a move that would ensure his admiral’s stars and a bright future in the navy.  Even as the planners were arguing about what shape the deployment to the Rift system would take, and the size of the deployment, the Imperial government’s interest in the Rift system was declining.  Captain Black and his supporters saw this as the perfect time to seize an opportunity, and Captain Black stepped forward with a plan, cutting through the arguing bureaus and contending officers.  Perhaps with a sense of relief, his plan was rapidly approved with minimal oversight, and the transfer of forces to the Rift system began.  Captain Black was promoted to Commodore and given command of the new naval district, and oversaw its initial deployment and dispositions.  Unfortunately, as would eventually become clear, Commodore Black was an idiot.  His patrons had consistently covered up negative performance reviews, and no one senior to him knew that his peers considered him to be an arrogant, resentful, egomaniac with no real experience and at best an academic’s understanding of naval strategy and tactics. 

Commodore Black decided to locate the main base for the Rift system forces on a moon of the seventh planet.  The seventh planet was the primary star’s outermost planet, and had an orbit that most closely approached the Rift.  At the time the base was being established, the planet was quite close to the rift, and would allow any forces stationed there to respond quickly to any incursion.  However, for most of its orbit the seventh planet would be quite far from the Rift, and for at least half of the orbit it would be farther from the rift than any other body in the system.  This fact was pointed out to Commodore Black, repeatedly, but he was intolerant of criticism and once he had chosen the location, he refused to change his mind.  Thus, the base was established on a moon of the outer gas giant. 

With the base location decided, Commodore Black then began establishing the deployment of forces for the system.  By this time, the base, and its anchoring gas giant, had moved fairly far from the Rift, meaning that the system defense force now had an inconveniently long response time to an incursion.  Not being willing to admit to a mistake, Commodore Black developed a plan.  He requested the deployment of all existing long-duration missile bases to bolster his defenses.  These bases had been developed in the early days of interstellar expansion, when it had been thought that the Raiders were transiting standard jump points, and had been designed with ten-year deployment schedules as jump point interdiction units.  Once it was clear the Raiders had their own interstellar transit system and were not using jump points, the bases had been left with no reason for their existence.  Even so they had been modernized and had been deployed to bolster the defensive strength of colonies and forward bases.  Now, Commodore Black asked for them and all six were transferred to his command.  He ordered them deployed to the Rift, to act as an immediate deterrent to Rifter incursions, giving the system defense fleet time to move to the Rift. 

This deployment scheme found little favor with the officers of the system defense force, and even less with the officers of the long-duration bases.  The original commander of the base squadron protested the deployment as reckless and foolish, but was overruled by Commodore Black, and then, when she protested to fleet command in the solar system, she was relieved of her command by Black’s patrons in the admiralty.  Commander Gang, the former second in command of the base squadron, considered resigning to highlight the idiocy of Commodore Black’s deployments, but in the end decided to stay with his people and do the best he could to protect them.  And so, when Rifter ships began appearing in the Rift, Rift Base and its attendant gas giant, were, of course, on the far side of the system, and the Rift Defense Fleet was over a billion kilometers away, leaving the six long-duration bases on their own within the Rift.   

At 0538 hours on the 1st, three groups of Rift ships arrived within the rift, forming a triangle with its points close to the outer edge of the rift.  Two of the groups consisted of two ships each, and matched the designs seen in the last incursion.  These units had remained immobile, were equipped with short-ranged weaponry, and were presumed to be some sort of base.  The main group of twelve ships appeared closer to the Terran missile bases stationed in the rift than the other groups, but immediately set a course away from the bases.  The main group consisted of four heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, and three light destroyers. 

The commander of the missile base group, Commander Gang, ordered his crews to combat stations and to begin preparations for immediate launch on the main group.  Seconds later power failed on all seven long duration missile bases, leaving them drifting and helpless. 

The Rift system’s main fleet base orbited the outer moon of the seventh planet, which was currently just over one billion kilometers distant.  The contact message from the buoys at the Rift arrived fifty-five minutes after the arrival of the Rifter ships, and it took nearly another hour to organize the response.  The fighter bases orbiting the moon launched their fighters, which joined the Rift Defense Fleet’s fighters, and they set out to intercept the main Rifter fleet.  That put one hundred and fifteen fighters in space, racing towards the main Rifter group. 

Back at the Rift, Commander Gang’s crews finally restored power to the seven bases.  The chief engineers all agreed that the missile bases had been sabotaged by unknown software resident in the power system control computers.  With their system’s back up they were finally able to engage the enemy, however, the main fleet had moved beyond their range.  The four Rifter medium bases deployed to the edges of the rift were within their range, but were known to be equipped with short range weapons, meaning they were no threat and could be ignored for now.  Commander Gang decided to remain on alert against further incursions.  Besides, he had teams frantically inspecting the missiles in the base’s magazines.  Given the sabotage to the base’s power systems, he had no desire to launch nuclear-tipped missiles until they could be inspected. 

The Rifter fleet moved to a point just past 120 mkm’s from the bases in the Rift, then split.  The bulk of the fleet headed back towards the rift, and the bases stationed there, while the light destroyers split up and headed across the system.  One of the destroyers was headed towards the inner system, while the other two were headed in the direction of the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system.  The fighters speeding away from Rift Base split, with each group intercepting a light destroyer, while on the missile bases stationed in the Rift, Commander Gang told his inspection crews to hurry, as they would have to engage the Rift main fleet before it could reach firing range of the bases. 

One hour and forty-five minutes later the Rifter fleet entered extreme range for the Archer IV ASM’s in the bases’ launchers.  Commander Gang waited to fire until the Rifter ships reached 20 mkm’s, then launched every missile in his arsenal.  Three hundred and fifty big ASM’s raced away from the bases at 35,000 km/s.  The Archer IV was the Fleet’s last-generation long range ship-killer.  The Archer V had recently gone into production, and was faster and had a longer range, but none were available in the Rift system.  The Archer IV was still a potent ASM though.  The IV still had the Empire’s best ECCM and active terminal guidance, two decoys, and a heavy warhead.  The strike was devastating.  When the explosions cleared, three of the Rifter heavy cruisers and three light cruisers were simply gone, wiped from space.  Two CL’s appeared to be untouched, and the remaining heavy cruiser had been heavily damaged and were drifting.  It was a stunning validation of the Archer IV ASM and the missile base concept.  Except for the two remaining mobile CL’s, and the fact that the bases had expended their entire missile supply in the massive alpha strike, leaving them with only short-ranged AMM’s to defend themselves.  And worse, the base’s magazines weren’t stocked with a full load of AMM’s due to an oversight at the time of deployment. 

Commander Gang and his crews watched, wondering whether the light cruisers were going to continue their charge, but they left the crippled heavy cruiser and set out on a tangent towards the outer system.  Five minutes later, though, they turned and headed inwards towards the bases.  Eight minutes later they were seven million kilometers from the bases, which opened fire with their anti-missiles.  Each salvo contained seventy AMM’s, and they sped away from the bases at 102,400 km/s.   

For a while the light cruisers played cat-and-mouse with the AAM salvoes, but in the end the bases, which did not have full stocks of the AMM’s in the first place, ran out before inflicting serious damage on the two remaining Rifter warships.  Once the bases ran out of defensive missiles, the Rifter warships closed and began firing at the bases at 150,000 kilometers range.  At that point Commander Gang ordered his crews to abandon ship.  Life pods began racing away from the doomed bases, and once they were all away the bases self-destructed. 

The Rifter ships, in an act disturbingly reminiscent of the Raiders, destroyed the life pods before moving away, eventually appearing on the sensors of a nearby sensor drone, apparently waiting for something within the Rift.  After several hours of loitering, they set out away from the oncoming fighters, towards the jump point to 82 Draconis.  One of the fighter groups diverted to chase the CL’s, having lost its light destroyer target, while the other fighter group continued chasing the two light destroyers headed towards the Omicron Tucanae jump point. 

At 2236 hours on the 1st, the heavy cruiser crippled by the missile bases repaired at least one of its engines and began moving slowly away from the Rift, following the light cruisers towards the jump point to 82 Draconis. 

By 0218 hours on the 2nd, the fighters from the Rift System Fleet had managed to close to 80 mkm’s from the two light destroyers they had been pursuing, finally picking them up on their own sensors and verifying their position and status.  The two LDD’s were hovering around the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system, moving on and off of the jump point.  The Omicron Tucanae defense force had been warned via the ICN to expect visitors, so if the LDD’s jumped away they would be the problem of that system’s forces, but for now the Rifters seemed content to hover around the jump point. 

Several minutes later, though, one of the two LDD’s jumped into Omicron Tucanae, leaving the other LDD in the Rift System.  The Rift Defense Force fighters diverted towards the remaining LDD, which was moving away from the jump point.  Twenty minutes later the LDD jumped back into the Rift system.  The fighters continued on towards the LDD further from the jump point. 

At 0428 hours the fighters reached optimum missile range of their targeted LDD and launched eighty Sparrow IIb light ASM’s.  The missiles completely overwhelmed the LDD and left only scattered wreckage floating in space.  The fighters then turned towards the second LDD, which was now 60 mkm’s away and headed in the general direction of the Rift base’s location.  Just over an hour later the fighters were in position and launched a salvo of sixty-four Sparrow IIb light ASM’s at the fleeing LDD.  The result was the same, the LDD was left a drifting wreck.  Their targets destroyed, the fighter group turned towards the Rift, and the four Rifter bases located there.   

At 1349 hours the fighter group from the Rift System Defense Force arrived at its waypoint, one point five million kilometers from the two Rifter bases located to one side of the Rift.  The bases had proved to be tough to kill, so the group commander split her remaining missiles between the two, emptying the fighter group’s racks.  Two hundred and forty light ASM’s raced away from the fighters towards the two waiting bases.  The results were less than satisfying.  Forty-four missiles were intercepted by energy weapons fire, and one hundred and twenty-three were decoyed.  One of the bases suffered eleven penetrating hits, the other none.  The fighters turned towards their carriers, which were now approaching the Rift with the rest of the Rift Defense Force. 

While the fleet’s fighters had been tangling with the LDD’s and the bases, the fighters launched from the fighter bases orbiting Rift Base had been chasing down the two CL’s headed towards the jump point to 82 Draconis.  It had been a long stern chase, and from the first it was clear that the fighters wouldn’t be able to catch the CL’s before they reached the jump point.  Indeed, they were still 71 mkm’s from the jump point when the CL’s reach their target.  Both CL’s immediately jumped out to the 82 Draconis system.  The 82 Draconis system is a planet-less system located on the edge of the Kraken Frontier, two jumps from the 111 Virginis system.  There is no Terran presence in the system aside from sensor buoys located near the jump points. 

At 0108 hours on the 3rd the System Defense Fleet, having rescued the few life pods that had somehow escaped destruction and rearmed its fighters, launched its fighter group with orders to destroy the intact pair of bases on the far side of the Rift.  At 0211 hours the fighters launched three hundred and eighty-four missiles at the two bases.  It took forty seconds for the missiles to reach their targets.  Fifty-seven were stopped by energy weapons fire, two hundred and six were decoyed, and the remainder caused thirty-six penetrating hits between the two bases.  The fighters turned back towards their carriers.  The fighters landed and were rapidly rearmed, but Captain Kitzmiller, the CO of the defense force, decided against launching another strike as his carriers were low on missiles at this point, and at least three of the four bases had suffered significant internal damage.  The defense fleet retreated from the Rift at this point, but only to a ten million kilometer standoff distance. 

At this point the Rift forces in-system consisted of the four bases, three of which had suffered internal damage, and a damaged CA and undamaged LDD headed towards the jump point to 82 Draconis.  Two Rifter CL’s were known to have jumped out to 82 Draconis.  The fighters from the defense fleet had landed on their carriers, and the fighters from Rift Base were stationed at the jump point to 82 Draconis.  Captain Kitzmiller, who had taken some time to take stock of the situation, ordered the base fighter group to intercept the LDD and CA that were headed towards the jump point to 82 Draconis, and then to return to base, unless the CL’s returned from 82 Eridani.  That done, he ordered Captain Lynd to take her battlecruiser group into the rift, accompanied by their destroyer group, and eliminate the damaged bases.  Captain Kitzmiller’s carriers would remain outside the rift, on overwatch. 

The two battlecruisers and three destroyers of the Rift Strike Force opened fire at 0511 hours on the 3rd, at 346,000 kilometers.  All five ships targeted one of the bases, The destroyers scored several minor hits before one of the Mercury’s 30cm lasers carved deeply into the already damaged base, causing a secondary explosion that destroyed it.  The Terran ships shifted fire to the second base and began scoring hits, but this base was in better shape.  The Terran ships pounded the base until they reached 200,000 kilometers, at which point the BC’s 30cm lasers recharged and carved the base into three separate chunks.  Their mission here finished, the Strike Group turned for the second pair of bases, located on the far side of the rift. 

At 0637 hours the Strike Group was within range of its lasers and opened fire on one of the pair of bases, scoring several hits with the group’s smaller 15cm lasers.  The Strike Group came to a halt 150,000 kilometers from the bases and continued to pour fire into the immobile units, which did not return fire.  Whether they possessed weapons that couldn’t reach that far, or had been too damaged by the missile attack to engage was unknown.  At any rate it took five more salvoes before the targeted base blew up, at which time the group shifted fire to the last remaining base.  It took five salvoes to pound this base into scattered debris, after which the group turned to leave the rift and rejoin the carrier group. 

At 1235 hours, the LDD, which had dropped off everyone’s sensors, reappeared on the active sensors of the returning fighter group, which immediately went into pursuit.  The Rifter LDD turned and ran, but was much slower and had no chance of getting away.   Eighty minutes later the fighters had reached optimum firing range and launched 80 Sparrow IIb light ASM’s.  The LDD was completely overwhelmed by the missile strike and left drifting, powerless, as the fighters continued on towards the last Rifter heavy cruiser.   

At 2151 hours the base fighters had finally chased down the last Rift ship in the system, a damaged heavy cruiser.  The fighter group launched a salvo of forty light ASM’s at the CA.  The missiles were more than enough to destroy the last Rifter ship, after which the fighters headed for their home base.  The incursion was over. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: March 29, 2025, 11:04:59 AM »

December 20, 2158, 111 Virginis System, Kraken Frontier
Cargo Group 08, consisting of forty 44,000-ton freighters, had just entered the 111 Virginis system with a cargo of factories and auto-mines recovered from the ruins in the Xi Bootis system.  It was fifty-six million kilometers from the jump point and headed towards the base on 111 Virginis II, which had been designated as the central collection point for the facilities and ore recovered from the ruins in the surrounding systems, when a Kraken Iku class ship jumped into the system behind it.  Messages from the freighters and the buoy at the jump point were sent to the base, which immediately launched its fighters to intercept.  Fortunately, the Iku class ship didn’t seem interested in pursuing the freighters, but instead set out across the system on a course towards one of the other jump points.  The fighters continued their pursuit, while the freighter captains tried to regain their composure. 

The fighters caught up to the Hive Fleet Kraken ship a number of hours later and promptly swatted it out of the sky with missiles from three of the fighters.  The Iku class was a small ship, at just under 4,000 tons, and had never demonstrated any offensive capability, although it did mount military engines.  Naval intelligence theorized that it was some sort of survey ship.  In any case, it was gone, and the fighters turned back towards base.   

December 23, 2158
Grand Senator Durant looked around the room with carefully concealed contempt.  His fellow “movers and shakers” within the Expansionist Party, commonly and derisively referred to as the war party, were arguing as usual.  And as usual, they were arguing about fine points within the party’s platform, and the purity of their philosophical positions, rather than trying to hash out an actual plan of action.  Durant sighed and settled back into his chair.  He knew he was part of the problem. He was the single most powerful person in the room, but he wasn’t trying to get the members to cooperate because he knew why they argued about arcane points of purity.  As long as the emperor opposed their position there was little that they could do but argue amongst themselves.  The Expansionist Party was the second largest party in the Imperial Senate, but the Emperor and his lackies in the Imperial Party, had been very successful at limiting their attempts to enact their agenda, or to expand their ranks.  The frustration at this was why the members were arguing now.  It was easier to do that than dream of actually getting anything done. 

Senator Durant was working himself into a funk when the door to the retreat’s conference room opened and his aide rushed in, looking around for him.  Durant waved and the aide rushed over.  The room fell silent as the aide whispered into Durant’s ear, handed him a reader, and then turned and left.  The color left Durant’s face as he looked at the reader.  When he looked up, he saw that everyone’s eyes were on him.  He stood.  “Senators, we’ve been recalled to the capital.  I’m afraid the Emperor has died.”  There were gasps around the room as the senators looked at each other. “The palace has released a statement that the emperor passed peacefully this morning.  They have called for the Senate to be convened to confirm Prince Roger as the new Emperor.”  Again, the Senators looked at each other. 

Durant’s mind raced as the senators began talking amongst themselves.  Senate confirmation was required, but was considered little more than a rubber stamp, as the Emperor had no other heirs.  However, Prince Roger was all of eight years old, and obviously would not be expected to make any decisions for a long time.  A Regent would have to be appointed.  Durant signaled for the others to quiet down.  This was the opportunity they had been waiting for. 

December 24, 2158
The palace announced the death of the Emperor and the plans to crown Prince Roger on January 1st, 2159.  The Senate voted unanimously to support the coronation of Prince Roger, and issued a statement that meetings between the senate leadership and the court were underway to agree on a Regent and a Regency Council. 

The Emperor is widely mourned and the mood across the Empire is somber.  The Empress is beloved by most, and Prince Roger is adored, but the Emperor was the rock that the empire rested on, and with his passing most feel at least a little uncertain about the future, even though Terran might is ascendant across known space.  The Emperor’s funeral is held on the 31st and Prince Roger is crowned on the first day of the new year.  Empress Cordelia is named Regent, and a Regency Council consisting of Sky Marshal Ni, Governor Cicalese of Luna, and three Senators stand behind the new, young, Emperor as he is crowned. Senator Durant is among the senators standing behind the new Emperor.   

January, 2159
The new Regency Council almost immediately sets a more militaristic tone for the Empire, holding out the Navy and Marines as the backbone of the Empire. 

April, 2159
After years of research and development, the Cowan R&D team completed work on the solid core anti-matter drive.  Drive units will now be developed for the navy and for civilian ships.  The Regency Council, dominated by the war hawks, sees this as both an opportunity and a setback.  They had been pushing hard to increase the fleet presence in the Bobruisk Territories, and to move into the new alien’s space, so that the numerous wrecks in the system can be salvaged, hopefully yielding advanced technology.  The navy will now resist this move until their ships can be upgraded, to reduce the speed disparity between humanity’s ships and the ships of the various aliens. 

June 20, 2159, Omicron Tucanae System, Leviathan Frontier
A single light raider was detected heading in system, and as a response, the CV France, orbiting the base over Omicron Tucanae I, launched her fighters to intercept.  The fighters reached the target at 1501 hours and destroyed it with missiles from a single fighter.  The fighters turned back to their carrier, but fifteen minutes later a second raider, this one a heavy raider, was detected in the outer system.  The fighters immediately turned to intercept.  When they reached active sensor range they found that it wasn’t just one raider, but a heavy raider escorted by nine raiders and four light raiders.  This was the largest raider group seen in over a decade. 

The fighters continued to close and launched all of their remaining missiles.  The alpha strike left the heavy raider and four light raiders drifting, heavily damaged.  The fighters sent a strike report and turned for home. 

When the strike report arrived, instead of waiting for the fighters to arrive and rearm, Commodore Hong aboard the Star class battleship Antares, decided to take her ship out and eliminate the survivors.  Thirty hours later a single salvo of heavy lasers from the Antares blew the heavy raider out of space, and then took out the light raiders one by one.  Finally, the battleship chased down the fleeing light raider and took it out as well. 

July, 2159, Terra
The naval yards orbiting Luna are busy as they begin retooling before refitting the fleet with the latest technology, most notably, the solid-core anti-matter drives that will push the standard Fleet speed to 9,600 km/s.  The Admiralty is giddy with the improved performance, and with the new missiles designed with the new drive tech, and with the newest laser-warhead tech, that are even now being manufactured in the munitions plants of the home-world.  Not everyone is as enthusiastic as the admirals, though. 

Deep within the senate complex, Senator Durant looked on with irritation as Senator Singh, probably the second most powerful senator in the Expansionist Party, ranted about the Navy’s decision to upgrade its ships before undertaking the campaign against the Oct’s (the new hostile race beyond the Bobruisk).  In truth, Durant was at least as irritated as Singh, but he was a good enough politician to know that indulging his irritation was counterproductive.  That was the reason he was on the Regency Council, and Singh was not.

Finally, Durant held up his hand, and Singh fell silent.  “Senator Singh, you are, of course, right.”  Singh’s face expressed surprise, as Durant had not joined in with the Navy-bashing.  Durant sighed.  “They are delaying, and they are damned good at it.”  Seeing the looks on his colleague’s faces, he shook his head.  “No, if we try to force the issue it will just make us look weak.  Too many ships are already in the yards, and their plans are too advanced.  If we try to force them to launch the offensive now, we’ll just throw everything into chaos and in the end, we’ll be forced to wait anyway.”  He sighed theatrically, then shook his head again.  “No, we must admit, our opponents outwitted us this time.”  He looked around the room, noting who looked mulish, or rebellious.  “But, if we are realistic, this is an opportunity.  Now we have time to reshape the navy into the force we want.  To promote admirals who think like we do, and to reorganize the fleet along the lines we want.  So, by the time we are in a position to launch the offensive, we will have a force that is not only technologically supreme, but is also led by the kind of admirals we want, who agree with us, instead of officers that will stab us in the back the first opportunity they get.” 

Durant continued for some time, and by the time he finished talking he had them convinced.  They would wait, but by waiting they would have the opportunity to achieve what they had long dreamed of.  Making the Empire not on the dominant force in known space, but the only force in known space.   

December 8, 2159, V1216 Sagittarii
A single light raider was detected headed towards the gas giant orbiting outside the Super Jovian orbited by V-Sag base and its attendant fuel harvesters.  The base commander dispatched his interceptor group to eliminate the intruding starship.  Five hours later, as the six interceptors closed to combat range of the light raider, a second, much larger, force was detected.  This force consisted of two heavy raiders, two raiders, and six light raiders.  Captain Davison, the base commander, ordered the interceptors to continue their attack, and issued orders for the three destroyers and twelve attack fighters orbiting the base to ready for action. 

The interceptors quickly chased down the fleeing raider and destroyed it with long range fire from their lasers.  They then turned towards V-Sag base, detouring around the oncoming raider fleet.  The raider fleet continued to close on the location of the destroyed light raider for a short period of time, then turned back the way they came. 

Almost five hours after the destruction of the light raider, the 1st DD Group, V-Sag Interceptor Group, and V-Sag Fighter Group rendezvoused just over 100 million kilometers from the raider fleet, which was sitting in space close to the position where it had been first detected.  Once the defense force was reunited, it set out for the raider fleet. 

The Terran warships opened fire at 310,000 kilometers with their soft x-ray lasers.  The attack fighters, with their shorter ranged near UV lasers, were forced to wait.  The destroyers and interceptors all targeted a single heavy raider, but the hit probability was low at long range.  As the Terran squadron closed, It took three salvoes before the lasers penetrated the heavy raider’s armor.  Thirty seconds later the Terran lasers carved through the heavy raider’s armor and took out one of its engines, causing it to fall behind its consorts. 

Suddenly, as the Terrans continued to pound the heavy raider, the other enemy ships turned back and began racing towards the Terran squadron, closing to 150,000 kilometers before the Terran ships could turn away.  The raiders scored eleven hits on one of the interceptors, while the Terran ships continued to pick away at the damaged heavy raider.  Commander Platten, the CO of the DD Ganna Shvets and senior officer of the squadron, ordered her ships to shift fire to the light raiders that made up the bulk of the enemy fleet.  Two salvoes sufficed to slow two of the light raiders, leaving four with the main fleet.  Two more salvoes caused a third to fall behind.  The next salvo caused the fourth to lag.  At that point Commander Platten ordered the squadron to shift fire to the two raiders, leaving only the fighters to engage the last light raider.  The following salvo killed the last light raider’s engines, as well as one of the raiders. 

At this point Commander Platten ordered her squadron to divide its fire between the two raider ships that continued to pursue them, a heavy raider and a standard raider.  The next salvo of laser fire knocking out the raider’s engines, leaving only the heavy raider to face the Terran ship’s fire. 

It took five more salvoes at 150,000 kilometers range to kill the heavy raider, at which time the Terran fleet turned back to eliminate the cripples.  One by one the Terran squadron eliminated the crippled raiders.  No quarter was asked or given, and no escape pods left the doomed ships.  Their mission finished the squadron turned for V-Sag Base to replenish their fuel and supplies. 

December 9, 2159, Monoceri System
Report from New Wyoming Planetary Defense Command
At 1618 hours engaged a lone Light Raider approaching New Wyoming.  The engagement resulted in the destruction of the raider before it could reach orbit.  The enemy ship caused 6,000 civilian deaths; however, the local defense forces took no losses.  Details to follow.     

March 22, 2160, Rift System
A Rift ship is detected entering the Rift system, not through the Rift as expected, but through the jump point to Mu Cassiopeiae.  This is a new class, with an observed speed of over 9,000 km/s.  A carrier, escorted by a battlecruiser and a destroyer, are detached to intercept.  Unfortunately, the new contact heads outwards, away from the pursuing squadron, which is almost 2,000 km/s slower.  Eventually, though, the Rift ship came to a halt 430 mkm’s from the jump point.  As the Terran squadron approached, their sensors got a better look at the Rift ship, revealing that it was 8,500 tons. 

The Terran squadron came to a halt just a hair over 8- mkm’s from the Rift ship and the carrier Canada launched her fighters.  The fighters raced towards the Rift ship on their attack run, and throughout the alien ship sat in the outer system, doing nothing. The fighters launched their missiles at 2 m km’s and then turned away.   The sixty-four missiles obliterated the alien ship, leaving a drifting wreck behind. 

Twenty-three hours later, just as the squadron turned for Rift Base, a second Rift ship appeared at the jump point, behind the squadron.  The new ship was 7,400 tons, and slightly faster than the last ship, at 10,625 km/s.  Captain Ni, squadron CO, ordered her squadron to intercept the Rift ship.  The alien ship set out across the system, headed inwards, towards the inner planets, none of which were inhabited our exploited.  As the Canada and her escorts would never be able to catch the faster Rift ship, Captain Ni ordered the carrier to launch her fighters.  The fighters were soon away and pursuing the alien ship. 

It took the fighters fifteen hours to run down the alien ship as it headed in-system, and they quickly destroyed it with a deluge of missiles.  As the fighters returned to their carrier, Captain Ni received new orders from Rift Base.  She was to take her squadron through the jump point to the Mu Cassiopeia system and probe the system for further Rift ships. 

At 131 hours on the 26th, the DD Jun Hsu jumped through to the Mu Cassiopeia system.  It soon jumped back to report that the far side was clear of enemy ships.  Captain Ni took her squadron through the jump point to picket the far side. 

August, 2160, Terra
Development work is completed on the Titan, an ultraheavy class ground vehicle.  Unlike other Terran war-machines, the Titan is a walker, with a rectangular war-hull low-slung on six legs that allow it to traverse almost any terrain.  The Titan’s main turret is equipped with two super-heavy anti-vehicle lasers, and has two smaller turrets each equipped with a heavy auto-laser to deal with smaller enemies.  The Titan weighs in at 520 tons, 60% more massive than a continental siege unit. 

November 1, 2160, 111 Virginis System, Kraken Frontier
An Iku class Kraken ship jumps into the 111 Virginis system from 103 Ceti and is immediately detected by a sensor buoy, which sends a warning out.  Virginis Base dispatches the CV China’s fighters to deal with the Kraken scout/survey ship.  The fighters streak away from the orbital anchorage as the Kraken survey ship begins to head across the system, likely towards the jump point to the 63 Hydrae system on the far side.  Fortunately, this puts it on a near intercept course with the fighters coming out of the inner system.  When the Kraken ship reached the fighter’s active sensor range it suddenly turned and headed away from the fighters, which were faster and so continued to overhaul it.  At 2110 hours the fighters reached attack range and a single fighter launched its eight Sparrow IIb missiles at the Iku.  It took all eight missiles, but in the end the Kraken ship succumbed to the attack, leaving nothing substantial behind.  The fighters turned for home. 

January 15, 2162, Lalande 21185 system
A light raider is detected in the outer system.  The Terra Nova Interceptor Group is dispatched to eliminate the threat. 

There is a sigh of relief in the naval HQ on Terra Nova when the interceptor’s sensors confirm that the contact is indeed a lone light raider, however, that relief turns to consternation when a new contact composed of three raiders and six light raiders appears 138 mkm’s behind the first.  The BC Terra, fresh out of refit in the yards orbiting Luna, is dispatched to back the interceptors up, leaving a destroyer group behind to guard Terra’s most important colony. 

The Interceptors begin firing at the fleeing light raider at 300,000 kilometers, and continue pounding it as they close.  They get several hits at long range, but as they close their accuracy increases.  The light raider returns fire at 155,000 kilometers, scoring a hit on the lead interceptor’s armor, but the Terrans just continue pouring fire into the raider.  The light raider manages to get off a second salvo, scoring the interceptor’s armor, before the Terrans pound it into scrap.  The interceptors set their course for the fleeing raider fleet, with the Terran battlecruiser coming up behind. 

At 1958 hours on the 15th, the battlecruiser Terra rendezvoused with the interceptor group, and the combined force began closing on the raider fleet.  The Terran ships opened fire at 250,000 kilometers, scoring a single hit.  The Terran force ran ahead of the raider group, maintaining the range at 200,000 kilometers, out of range of the raider’s weapons.  After three salvos the leading medium raider began falling behind, and the Terran ships shifted to targeting a second medium raider.  After five salvoes that raider was falling behind, and the Terrans shifted fire to the last medium raider.  Two salvoes were enough to savage that ship, as several of the battlecruiser’s heavy lasers carved massive holes in the raider’s thin armor. 

Now it was the light raiders turn.  Once by one the Terran ships picked them off, crippling or destroying them from beyond the range at which they could respond.  Once the last intact raider was destroyed, the Terran squadron came about and closed on the cripples, which they mercilessly destroyed.  The action was over in less than five minutes, after which the Terran ships returned to base to refuel and resupply. 

January 24, 2162, Alpha Centauri
The Alpha Centauri system held little interest for the Empire, except in that it was located along the route from Terra to the Groombridge system, which harbored a naval base and several mining installations.  A base with refueling and maintenance facilities had been established in the system to protect the civilian shipping moving back and forth, and the Imperial freighters bound for Groombridge to pick up the mined resources, or returning with those resources.  At 0521 hours a light raider appeared in the outer system, and the commander of the base dispatched his interceptors to deal with the threat. 

The contact proved to be a single light raider, and the interceptors opened fire at 1111 hours.  It took ninety seconds to batter the raider into rubble, after which the interceptors turned for home.   
Posted by: Kurt
« on: February 02, 2025, 11:57:29 AM »

Note: These events occur during the same time period as the last post, but were separated out for clarity.  The last event in this post occurs just before the end of the Rift Campaign.

April 10, 2157, Bobruisk Territories
A ship from the 2nd LRSS working in the Bobruisk system of 86 Cygni, jumps through a newly discovered jump point to find itself in a binary yellow/red star system.  The system’s third planet, a super Jovian gas giant, is orbited by twenty-one moons, three of which have oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.  None of them are particularly Terra-like, but given the system’s proximity to the battle grounds in the 86 Cygni and HIP 84051 systems, it is certainly possible that this system contains the long-searched for Bobruisk home world.  The system’s secondary star is very distant from the primary, over two trillion kilometers, and has no planets or moons with oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.  As the jump point is located almost six billion kilometers from the primary star, the survey ship immediately begins moving in-system to reach a point at which it can launch sensor probes towards the habitable planets to determine if they are populated.  The system is designated as the Mu Puppis system.

April 23, 2157, Mu Puppis System, Bobruisk Territories
The first of the sensor missiles launched by the survey ship arrives over one of the habitable moons of the third planet and deploys its sensor buoy.  It immediately detects over three hundred Bobruisk ships in orbit over the moon and another eighty in orbit over the planet.  The moon has a thermal signature five times that of Terra. The other two probes find a small Bobruisk population on the sixth moon, and nothing on the eleventh moon. 

May 22, 2157, HIP 84051 system, Bobruisk Territories
Three ships of the 2nd LR Survey Group were occupied surveying this system when their sensors alerted them that numerous small nuclear explosions had been detected at the jump point to 86 Cygni.  Seconds later, the wreck of a 16,190 ton unknown ship appeared on the jump point.  The HIP 84051 system was controlled by the new race the Terran ships had discovered when they jumped into the system, and the Bobruisk had had ships stationed on the far side of the jump point.  It wasn’t clear if the destroyed ship was Bobruisk, the local aliens, or someone else. 

May 24, 2157, 86 Cygni system, Bobruisk Territories
Units of the 2nd LR Survey Group in operating in this system pick up sixty-two strength 12 nuclear detonations on the jump point to the HP 84051 system, along with a large secondary power system explosion.  This occurs just over two days after the incident in the HIP 84051 system.  It is clear that the Bobruisk and the new race are engaged in a war. 

June 12, 2157, Bobruisk Territories
A survey ship in the 2nd LR Survey Group jumps out of the HIP Alien controlled HIP 84051 system through a newly discovered jump point and finds itself in the Rho Camelopardalis system.  The system has a red M0-V primary, orbited by three terrestrial class planets, two gas giants, and a small outer dwarf.  The second planet was a colony cost 0.0 world for humans, and the other two appeared to be easily terraformed.   Of extreme interest were twelve wrecks, mostly clustered around the jump point.  Five wrecks were of unknown type, likely meaning they belonged to the new alien race encountered in the HIP 48051 system.  These wrecks included three mammoth 89,159 ton ships, and two smaller 25,517 ton ships.  In addition, there were five wrecked Bobruisk warships on the jump point, two light battleships and three cruisers.  There was an additional wrecked HIP alien ship 75 mkm’s out-system from the jump point, and a wrecked Bobruisk light battleship 800 mkm’s in-system, towards the habitable planet. 

The Terran survey ship immediately launched sensor drones towards all of the planets and then jumped out to inform the rest of the survey group about its find. 



Known Bobruisk Military Ships
2xLDN
30xHBB
3xBB
48x LBB
4xHBC
7xLBC
19xCA,
3xCL
12xHDD

The armaments of Bobruisk ships are unknown, but assumed to be advanced as their speeds range from 5,575 to 17,314 km/s for capital ships, and speeds in excess of 18,000 km/s for the CL and DD classes.  In addition to the military ships listed above, the Bobruisk are known to operate two hundred and six commercial ships of varying sizes.  Finally, there are four hundred and thirty-two ships of unknown design operating within the Bobruisk territories.  At the current time they have not been observed closely enough to determine if they are military or commercial ships. 

Currently, a fleet scout is en route to the Bobruisk Territories to scan both Bob and HIP ships and gather useful intelligence on their military capabilities.  In addition, a group of diplomatic ships is on its way to the HIP 84051 system to establish contact with the HIP aliens, and several salvage ships have been sent to begin recovering whatever we can from wrecked Bob and HIP ships. 

June 16, 2157, Rho Camelopardalis system, Bobruisk Territories, suspected New Alien home system
A Terran sensor buoy is deployed over the innermost terrestrial planet, detecting a thermal signature twice as strong as the Ganymede colony, which has 527 million colonists but little industry as of yet.  The innermost planet is much smaller than Terra, and has no atmosphere.  No ships are detected in proximity to the planet. 

The sensor buoy also detects a population on the second planet, which is the Terra-like colony cost 0.0 planet.  This population has a thermal signature close to that of Terra’s, indicating it is a heavily populated and industrialized world. 

Shortly after, a sensor buoy is deployed over the fourth planet, a gas giant.  This buoy detects two outposts, on the fifth and six moons, and nine HIP ships orbiting the sixth moon. 

Several hours later the drone assigned to the second planet deploys its sensor buoy, and when the data reaches the survey ship, its plot is littered with HIP ship contacts over the world, making it clear that it is almost certainly the HIP home world.  In fact, there were over four hundred ships in orbit over the planet.  The buoys deployed to the two outer planets, five and six, detected no settlements or ships.   

Sometime later, as the survey ship explores the system, it discovers a mining outpost on one of the comets, and deploys a sensor buoy.  Seven 956 ton HIP ships are accompanying the comet. 

June 19, 2157, HIP 84051 System, Bobruisk Territories
The survey of the HIP 84051 system is complete.  It contains two jump points, which see, to connect the HIP and Bob empires.  The innermost planet has large deposits of seven TN resources, some at good availability levels.  And, of course, dozens of wrecked starships. 

June 28, 2157, Rho Camelopardalis, Bobruisk Territories
The Long-Range Survey Ship Husband was conducting a geo survey on an asteroid when its sensors began picking up explosions on or around the HIP home world.  Out of the blue there were thousands of energy weapons discharges, and nearly simultaneously the survey ship’s sensors detected over a hundred HIP ships bound for their position at the asteroid, or intent on moving past it, perhaps fleeing the fighting in the inner system.  Based on the number of energy weapons discharges there was clearly a major battle ongoing over the HIP home world.  The captain of the Husband ordered his ship to abandon the survey and move in-system. 

It was at this point that the Husband was attacked by a missile wave, seriously damaging her armor.  The Husband’s captain sent out an emergency alert to the other survey ships in the system, and turned to run.  Unfortunately, the Husband wasn’t fast enough to escape the groups of HIP ships closing on their position, and they certainly weren’t fast enough to escape the missile waves approaching at 86,000 km/s and 53,000 km/s.  The ship wasn’t a warship, and her box launchers were filled with sensor drones. 

The first wave of missiles to reach the Husband was composed of four fast missiles, and they devastated the ship.  The missiles exploded short of the Husband and sent powerful laser blasts into the ship, which had already had much of its armor stripped away.  The four strikes penetrated the remaining armor and destroyed much of the ship’s critical systems, including its engines.  This left it a sitting duck for the next wave of missiles, which stripped away more armor and did even more internal damage.  At this point the ship’s captain ordered his crew to abandon ship and sent off his last report. 

There was one other survey ship in the system, the LRS McAuliffe.  When it received the Husband’s distress call and warning, the ship’s captain immediately ordered his ship to head for the jump point.  Their ETA was 3.3 days.  Once the HIP aliens began taking out the sensor buoys the captain of the McAuliffe decided to detour out to the outer system before heading for the jump point, to try and avoid any alien warships. 

June 30, 2157, 86 Cygni system, Bobruisk Territories
A survey ship in the 86 Cygni system picked up explosions at the jump point to the HIP alien-controlled HIP 84051 system, and shortly afterwards a new wreck of a small HIP alien ship appears on the jump point. 

July 4, 2157, Rho Camelopardalis, Bobruisk Territories
The LRS McAuliffe is on final approach to the jump point out of the HIP aliens’ system.  At a range of sixty million kilometers the survey ship’s sensors detect four corvette class HIP warships on the jump point.  The captain of the McAuliffe is determined to run the gauntlet and leave the system, to get word back to the empire of the treachery of the HIP aliens.  An hour later a light cruiser becomes visible on the jump point. 

When the survey ship reaches 38 mkm’s from the jump point the HIP squadron leaves its station and heads for the oncoming survey ship.  As the alien ships are much faster than the Terran survey ship, Captain Quinn knows that she will have little chance to make it to the jump point, and they cannot outrun their pursuers.  Therefore, she issues orders for a sensor buoy to be launched.  Seconds later a sensor drone races away from the ship, headed towards a point away from the jump point.  Before it was launched the McAuliffe’s comm officer downloaded the ship’s logs into the databank of the buoy carried by the drone. 

Two minutes later a missile salvo consisting of thirty-three missiles moving at 104,000 mkm’s appeared on the survey ship’s sensors.  Just before the missiles hit, Captain Quinn ordered a final download to the buoy’s databanks.  Then the missiles exploded and sent rods of coherent light spearing out, cutting through the survey ship’s armor and carving it in half. 

The sensor drone was too close to the survey ship when the missiles arrived, and died in the same salvo. 

July 7, 2157, HIP 84051 system, Bobruisk Territories
The LRS Smith, which was in the HIP 84051 system, on the jump point heading back towards Bobruisk territory, detected a group of four HIP ships inbound towards the jump point.  The captain ordered his science officer to continue to try to establish communications with the aliens, but was otherwise unconcerned.  When the HIP ships reached firing range they opened fire at the Smith, annihilating it in one salvo.  The Smith had been waiting on the jump point for one of the survey ships in the HIP home system to report in. 

July 20, 2157, 86 Cygni system, Bobruisk Territory
LRS-10 Resnik arrived at the jump point to HIP 84051 and found a single Bobruisk ship guarding the point.  As the Resnik approached the jump point, the Bobruisk ship transmitted a short message to the Terran survey ship.  This was an unusual development, from the normally standoffish Bobruisk, so Captain Jian ordered his ship to halt before they transited and waited for the message to be deciphered.  They discovered it was a picture of a wrecked starship.  As the survey ship’s officers examined it, they realized that it was a destroyed Terran Long Range Survey ship.  The Bobruisk were warning them. 

That was enough for Captain Jian.  The Resnik had been preparing to jump into HIP 84051 to determine the status of the other four survey ships of the 2nd LRSS, which had all been in the HIP 84051 system, or the HIP alien’s home system.  They had been overdue for check in, and now it appeared that they had been destroyed.  Captain Jian was tempted to jump through anyway, to see for himself, but his ship wasn’t a warship and couldn’t take a point-blank attack.  So, he did the only thing he could.  First, he sent a message to the only other remaining ship from the 2nd, which was heading towards the jump point back to the Empire.  The message informed them of the warning from the Bobruisk and detailed his plan to meet the 1st LRSS, which was surveying in Bobruisk territory beyond their home system and inform them of the possible destruction of the rest of the 2nd.  In the meantime, the Onizuka would head back to Shield Base with their information.     

It would take the Onizuka forty-three days to reach the Groombridge system and Shield Base. 

July 24, 2157, Mu Puppis (Bobruisk Home system), Bobruisk territories
A survey ship from the 1st LRSS jumps out of the system through a newly discovered jump point, finding itself in the omega Lyrae system.  This system has a G8-V primary, orbited by a inner terrestrial planet, a dwarf, two gas giants, and a super Jovian.  None of the planets have atmospheres, but the jump point is surrounded by forty-one Bobruisk ships.  While all of the ship classes are known, little is known about these classes, even whether they are military or commercial. 

July 26, 2157, Mu Puppis (Bobruisk Home System), Bobruisk Territories
The survey of the Bobruisk home system is complete.  In addition to a total of three jump points, the system contains a small number of resource deposits of limited interest.  The only major deposit is a sorium deposit on the same super Jovian the Bobruisk home world orbits.  Interestingly, the Bobruisk home world appears to have no TN resources, indicating that they must have mined it out and are dependent on out-system mining, much like the Empire.  The survey ships move on to the two systems found through the newly discovered jump points, both of which have been stabilized. 

August 1, 2157, Omega Lyrae System, Bobruisk Territories
The 1st LRSS Komarov, headed in-system and nine hundred and eighty million kilometers from the system, detects two Bobruisk light battleships apparently sitting in deep space. 

August 24, 2157, HIP 48659 (Original Bob contact point), Bobruisk Territories
The two surviving survey ships of the 2nd LRSS jump into the HIP 48659 system and immediately send their reports to the courier waiting on the jump point back to the Empire.  It will take twenty-three hours for the courier network to relay the message back to Terra. 

August 25. 2157, Terra
The arrival of the news of the destruction of the bulk of the 2nd LRSS at the hands of the enemies of the Bobruisk causes consternation throughout both the admiralty and the senate, however, that is a distant problem, and for now the Empire is focused on securing the GJ 1128-Rift system.  This new enemy is thirteen jumps from Terra and almost 39 billion kilometers.  It can wait. 

September 4, 2157, 86 Cygni System, Bobruisk Territories
Three Terran salvage ships and their six accompanying freighters jump into the 86 Cygni system.  The group immediately breaks up and heads for the wrecks clustered around their entry point into the system.  There are two Bob wrecks, a LBB and an LBC, and a lone 30,644 ton unknown class, probably belonging to the HIP aliens. 

The salvage ships are relatively safe in this position, deep within Bob territory, and a Terran scout is located on the far side of the system watching the jump point to HIP alien territory, so there will be warning if the HIP aliens jump into the system. 

This is a high priority operation, as salvaging Bob and HIP ships will give the Empire valuable insight into their technological capabilities.   

December 19, 2157, Sol
The Imperial Navy puts into action Operation Tollhouse, a plan to establish a hidden base in the Bobruisk Territories.  This base will eventually contain ground defenses, refueling and resupply capability, and maintenance support and R&D facilities.  The plan calls for the base to be established on one of the moons of the third planet of Upsilon Puppis, which is adjacent to 86 Cygni, where salvage operations are currently underway, and two jumps from the Bob home system and the disputed system of HIP 48069.

The Navy views this as a necessary step to enable a military expedition against the HIP aliens, now officially code named the Oct’s (rather unimaginatively, as the aliens look as if they are descended from Terran octopi).  The closest Oct controlled system to the solar system is HIP 48069, and it is fourteen jumps and 42 billion kilometers away from Terra.  The Upsilon Puppis system does not appear to be used by the Bob’s, so if they happen to stumble across our base, they hopefully will not be too upset.  It will take quite some time to ship all the necessary installations to the system, though.

December 29, 2157, 86 Cygni System, Bobruisk Territories
Three salvage ships had been working in this system for the last several months to recover everything possible from the five wrecks located in the system.  These wrecks belonged to both the Bob’s and the Oct’s, and the Empire desperately needed information on their capabilities.  The recovery effort was done, and the salvage ships were withdrawing from the vicinity of the jump point to HIP 86059 to rendezvous with the scout assigned to watch over them.  It had been a risky move to salvage so closely to the jump point, when the Oct’s were known to launch periodic attacks, but the jump point was guarded by two Bob light battleships, so the risk had been fairly low. 

The salvage ships had recovered numerous ship’s systems, including ECM systems equal to those the Empire used, various sensors, and size 8, 2.5, and 9 missile launchers.  The size 9 missile launchers came from the unknown wrecks, which were presumed to be Oct warships, and interestingly they were reduced size, slow-loading designs.  Additionally, one of the salvage ships stripped some data from one of the wrecks that would give Imperial R&D a leg up on fuel efficiency research. 

The real prize was in the HIP 48069 system, where over eighty wrecks drifted.  Unfortunately, the loss of the survey ships argued that the jump point was defended, so until the Empire could dispatch a fleet to the area there would be no way to recover those wrecks.   
Posted by: Kurt
« on: February 01, 2025, 09:51:52 AM »

May 13, 2157, 1210 hours, GJ 1128 system
The 1st Expeditionary Force has arrived at its waypoint.  Admiral Casella issues the order to fire to her DDG’s, and soon thereafter twenty Archer III ASM’s were on their way, headed towards the closest pair of Rift Alien ships.  Little was known about this ship class, which had been designated the Kurhah class.  It was 15,231 tons, putting it in between a Terran DD and a BC, but nothing more was known.  Twelve minutes later the missiles hit, scoring seven hits on the two ships, with the rest being intercepted. 

The Terran fleet waited another two minutes, bit the Rift Alien ships didn’t move.  At that point Admiral Casella ordered a second strike to be launched against all four ships.  Seconds later eighty Archer III ASM’s were on their way.  The missiles reached the closer group first, and this was the same group that was attacked by the first salvo.  Nearly half of the missiles avoided point defense fire, but a quarter of those were decoyed away from the ships.  The remainder hit the ships and scarred their armor, but none penetrated.  The second missile strike scored thirteen hits between the two ships, all of which were absorbed by the armor.  Five were decoyed and twenty-two were shot down short of their targets. 

The alien ships were proving to be more difficult targets than anticipated.  Admiral Casella ordered the five DDG’s to empty their missile pods, and seconds later one hundred and ten missiles were on their way towards the four Rift Alien ships. 

Once again, the closer group came under attack first.  One of the ships took seventeen hits, ten of which penetrated.  The other took seven, none of which penetrated.  The two ships of the further group took ten hits each, and both suffered penetrating hits.   
 
The survival of the four ships left Admiral Casella in a difficult position.  She could withdraw and head to the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system and relieve the BB Antares, leaving the four ships on the rift.  They were damaged, and it was possible they no longer represented a threat.  Or she could advance into the rift and force a close engagement.  Even taking the enemy’s superior technology into account, her fleet vastly outmatched the four ships, even if they were intact.  She had no idea what was sitting on the far side of the rift, though, and for all she knew the aliens might be waiting for her to move into the rift area so that her fleet could be ambushed. 

In the end she decided to launch a fighter strike against the four ships, to eliminate them before moving on to relieve the Antares.  Twenty-two minutes later the forty-four strike fighters from the Allegiance of Terra and the two DN’s Andromeda and Pegasus were on station and ready to launch.  Seconds later three hundred and twenty Sparrow IIb missiles were on their way towards the four alien ships.  When the explosions around the four ships cleared, three were little more than debris, while the fourth had suffered eight penetrating hits. 

The two strike groups reunited one point five mkm’s from the remaining alien ship, and then the four fighters with ordnance launched their missiles against that last alien ship.  The thirty-two missiles destroyed the last ship, but it took twelve penetrating hits to kill it.  Their job finished; the fighters returned to their bays. 

With the fighters safely in their bays, the 1st Expeditionary Force set out for the jump point to Omicron Tucanae and the Antares.  The five DDG’s, now out of missiles, detached from the main force and jumped out of GJ 1128, headed for Sol to rearm. 

May 13, 2157, 1814 hours, Omicron Tucanae
The CV France has rearmed her fighters, and launches again as soon as they are ready.  The enemy’s location is not known, as they pursued the fighters until they fell off the fighter’s sensors.  The France’s squadron will head towards the jump point in the hopes of reacquiring them. 

At 2330 hours the fighters are close enough to re-acquire the alien ships, which have returned to the jump point.  Once again, the alien ships begin to pursue the fighters once they get close enough, and again the fighters launch against the alien ships.  This time the fighters focused their fire on three of the Caripare class escorts, in the hopes of stripping their missile defense capabilities from the Rift Alien fleet.  The two hundred and eight Sparrow IIb missiles reached their targets twenty seconds later, scoring twenty-one, fifteen, and sixteen armor hits on the three ships, none of which penetrated.  Once again, the fighters turned back towards the carriers, leaving the alien ships to fall behind them.  The aliens pursued the fighters for over an hour, until they fell off the fighter’s sensors. 

May 14, 2157, 0639 hours, Omicron Tucanae
The France has reloaded her fighters, but has nearly drained her magazines to do so.  Captain Zhen launches his last strike, but with orders to remain four million kilometers from the jump point as Admiral Casella’s ETA to the jump point is approximately an hour after the France’s fighters will arrive.  It is Captain Zhen’s intent to have his fighters draw the aliens away from the jump point, so that Admiral Casella can get her carriers and warships into the Omicron Tucanae system without having to engage the enemy ships after jumping in. 

At 1155 hours the France’s fighters pick up the nine Rift Alien ships on their sensors as they approach the jump point.  The fighters approached to 11 mkm’s from the jump point, at which time the Rift Alien ships began pursuing them.  Lt Commander You ordered his fighters to turn away, and the fighter group set out to lead the alien ships away from the jump point.  Lt Commander You let the alien ships close to three million kilometers from the fighter group, then accelerated to match the alien ship’s speed, leading them on a course away from anything important in the system.

Almost two hours later, at 1345 hours, the 1st Expeditionary Force arrived at the jump point in the GJ 1128 system to the Omicron Tucanae system.  Admiral Casella ordered her assault units through the jump point and they arrived in Omicron Tucanae to find the nine Rift Alien ships pursuing the France’s fighters, now 71 mkm’s from the jump point. 

The 1st Expeditionary Force’s assault ships were content to wait on the jump point for the rest of the fleet’s carriers to join them.  The alien ships continued to pursue the France’s fighters, but then, just as the fleet’s carriers jumped into the system, the aliens turned back towards the jump point.  It was too late, though.  Admiral Casella ordered her ships to launch every fighter they had, and soon one hundred and forty-four fighters were in space, headed towards the alien fleet.  Once the fighters were away, the carriers jumped back to the GJ 1128 system and put some distance between themselves and the jump point. 

At 1429 hours the three fighter groups were in position to launch.  Admiral Casella had decided to launch an overwhelming strike against the alien fleet, as the range was too close to try again, or conserve missiles.  In seconds, one thousand, three hundred and sixty Sparrow IIb missiles were in space, racing towards the alien ships.  The Rift Alien ships all turned towards the France’s fighters after the launch, perhaps running from the bigger missile strike coming from the 1st Expeditionary Force’s fighters.  The aliens soon turned back towards the larger fighter group, meaning the alpha strike from the 1st Expeditionary Force’s fighters would arrive first.

The missile wave washed over the alien force in a flurry of explosions.  When the first wave’s fireballs cleared, three of the heavy cruisers and three of the light cruisers were just gone, leaving one heavy cruiser and two light cruisers to face the fury of the remaining missiles.  The next attack took out the remaining heavy cruiser and one of the light cruisers, leaving a single light cruiser in the midst of fifty-nine remaining missiles.  The remaining missiles took out the last light cruiser, meaning that the strike cleared the area of the remaining alien ships.  The threat to the Omicron Tucanae system was decisively ended. 

While the fighters returned to their carriers, messages were sent to recall the terraformers so they could begin working on the innermost planet once again. 

Once the 1st Expeditionary Force’s fighters were back in their bays, Admiral Casella issued orders for the fleet to return to the GJ 1128 system and begin to advance on the jump point to the Mu Cassiopeiae system.  A civilian jump gate stabilization ship had been destroyed at the jump point, and the sensor buoy watching the jump point had been destroyed.  If there were any more Rift Alien ships in the system, there were likely located there. 

Once the France’s fighters landed, the carrier would return to Shield Base for replenishment and overhaul, as it had expended almost all of its missiles.  The Antares was left to watch the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system, and Admiral Casella detached a DD and a DDE to join the battleship.   

May 16, 2157, GJ 1128 system
The 1st Expeditionary Force assault groups have arrived at their staging point fifteen million kilometers from the jump point to the Mu Cassiopeiae system without spotting any alien ships.  Once the carriers are in position, the assault groups advance and jump to the Mu Cassiopeiae system, where they find a single stabilization ship hovering off of the jump point.  No Rift Alien ships have entered the system, so the fleet returns to the GJ 1128 system and heads for the rift.  Before they depart, a missile cruiser launches a buoy carrier missile to station a sensor buoy near the jump point. 

With the system clear of alien ships, Admiral Casella orders the Contact Force, which had advanced out of the 111 Virginis system and had been guarding the jump point to the adjacent 82 Draconis system, to detach its support ships and return to Sol for overhauls.  The support ships would join the 1st Expeditionary Fleet’s support units. 

May 18, 2157, GJ 1128 system
The 1st Expeditionary Force is in position 141 mkm’s from the Rift.  Admiral Casella orders her missile cruisers to establish another ring of sensor buoys around the rift, to ensure complete coverage. 

June 30, 2157, GJ 1128 (Rift) system, Leviathan frontier
A group of tugs drops off four missile bases over the newly established Rift Base, located on the thirteenth moon of the seventh planet, a gas giant.  The base is still in the early stages, and does not have ground forces, or most of its installations yet. 

July 12, 2157, GJ 1128 (Rift) system, Leviathan Frontier
Assault transports finished unloading the 5th Guard Division and 69,00 tons of STO units for planetary defense.  So far, a refueling station and a munitions transfer station had been positioned at the base, and tracking stations and maintenance and R&R bases were on their way. 

July 13, 2157, EQ Pegasi System, Kraken Frontier
Xeno study teams have completed their work in the ruined colony found on the innermost planet, discovering seventy-six installations that appear to be recoverable. 

September 23,2 157, GJ 1128 (Rift System), Leviathan Frontier
Rift Naval Base is officially declared operational on this date.  The base is located on the outer moon of the system’s seventh planet, a gas giant whose orbit will keep it near the rift for some time.  The base currently consists of a naval command center, a refueling station, an ordnance transfer station, a cargo shuttle station, and thirty deep space tracking stations.  The tankers and UNREP ships assigned to the 1st Expeditionary force have transferred their fuel and maintenance supplies to the base, and heavy ground defenses, including the 5th Guard Division and a large STO contingent, are present.  The first group of maintenance and recreation bases are en route and will arrive in five and a half days.  Finally, fourteen missile bases are in orbit over the base, with more on the way. 

With the establishment of the base, the Senate officially renames the system to the Rift System. 

September 29, 2157, Rift System, Leviathan Frontier
The first set of five maintenance bases and a recreation base are delivered to Rift Base.  These bases aren’t enough to maintain the missile bases in orbit, much less the 1st Expeditionary Force, but it is a start.  The heavy tugs that dropped off the bases immediately leave, headed back to Sol to pick up more maintenance bases. 

December 29, 2157, Rift System, Leviathan Frontier
The heavy tug group delivers six more maintenance stations, increasing the Rift Base’s maintenance capacity to the point where it can maintain the nineteen missile bases currently in orbit, with a bit additional for ships.  The tugs will return to the Solar system for another group of maintenance bases to enlarge the base’s capability to support additional ships. 

January 20, 2158, Rift System, Leviathan Frontier
A salvage ship, working on one of the Rift alien ships destroyed within the rift, recovers a solid-core antimatter power plant, and a soft X-ray laser turret, along with assorted other standard ship’s systems and resources.

January 23, 2158
Both the Hive and the Rift ships have been difficult targets for standard Imperial missiles, so, after the recent engagements in the Rift and Omicron Tucanae system, the Navy began an R&D effort aimed at developing missiles with advanced point defense penetration capabilities.  The researchers soon settled on a capability first seen in use by the Rift Aliens, laser warheads, which could attack from a standoff distance that would hopefully allow them to attack before being engaged by point defense.  The result is the Assegai-LW ASM.  The Assegai is the same size as an Archer IV ASM, and has similar capabilities, except the warhead of the Archer has been replaced with a laser warhead set to engage at 20,000 kilometers.  Construction has started and the missile will be deployed aboard the Absolution class missile destroyers as soon as they become available.   

The base in the Rift system is now fully operational.  The base’s ground defenses are in place, and   twelve missile bases orbit the moon.  The missile bases do not have the range to engage ships in the rift, but are in place to defend the base should the Rift Aliens attempt to attack the base.  The base has enough orbiting maintenance bases to support the orbiting missile bases as well as almost two hundred thousand tons of naval ships.  Admiral Casella has decided to depart the system for home, as her ships are in dire need of overhauls.  She detaches a battleship, two battlecruisers and three destroyers, along with the 1st Carrier Group, composed of a carrier and two strike carriers, to act as the Rift System Defense Force.  These ships immediately set out for Rift Base, where they will undergo overhauls before taking up their system defense duties.  The rest of the fleet sets out for Sol. 

In addition to the twelve missile bases in orbit over Rift Base, seven long duration missile bases have been towed into position to engage anything coming out of the Rift.  Because the rift is now thirty million kilometers across, which more or less matches the missile base’s engagement range, the missile bases will be positioned within the rift. 

This is the first time the missile bases have been used in such a critical and exposed role.  This, in turn, has caused the missile base program to be examined more closely, and has revealed just how critically neglected the missile base program has been.  The bases were originally conceived and built decades ago when naval planners believed that the Raiders were using standard jump points to travel between systems.  The bases were built to bolster Terra’s defenses, and long-duration bases were built to be stationed at jump points to interdict Raiders trying to travel between systems.  When it became clear that Raiders used other methods to travel between systems, the bases were relegated to colony defense duties, and over the decades they fell behind as naval ships were kept current with successive upgrades.  Before being deployed to the Rift system the bases were loaded with the latest missiles, but most of their other systems are woefully out of date.  This has caused the Navy to re-examine the bases and planning for a major upgrade and expansion of the base program is underway.     

The Rift Campaign is officially over. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: January 22, 2025, 09:55:50 AM »

Shield Sector
April 7, 2157
The Tau Cephei system is located just within the borders of the Shield Sector.  It is an uninteresting red star system with three planets, a number of moons, and several comets.  Two of the planets are gas giants and contain significant amounts of sorium at good availability levels, marking them as targets for future exploitation should sources closer to the inner empire run out, but otherwise the system has largely been ignored.  It is, however, on the route between the Shield Sector and the GJ 1128 system, which contains the anomalous region of space dubbed the “Aether Rift” by the scientific team sent to study it.  Because of this, the sensor buoy network and the courier network have been extended through the system so that if something comes out of the rift the empire will know about it.   

At 01441 hours the courier and the sensor buoy stationed on the jump point in the Tau Cephei system that leads to the GJ 1128 system detects an unknown ship just off of the jump point.  The ship’s thermal signature is similar to that of an Imperial battleship, and its observed speed is 13,794 km/s.  The courier immediately jumps out to the Tau Cephei system, while the buoy sends a contact report to the other jump point.  As soon as the contact report is received it is forwarded on to the Shield Sector Capital.  This takes eight and a half hours. 

At nearly the same time, the buoys deployed around the Aether Rift in the GJ 1128 system detect a second ship in close proximity to the rift.  This ship’s thermal signature is between that of a battleship and a battlecruiser, and its observed speed is 10,626 km/s.   This contact report is sent off as well. 

About an hour later, a third ship is detected in the GJ 1128 system, headed towards the jump point to Tau Cephei.  This ship has a similar signature to that of the one still hovering over the rift, but is moving slightly slower.  The ship moves past the jump point, possibly headed to the system’s other jump point. 

The contact report arrived at Shield Base at approximately midnight, and their reaction was immediate.  Their course was clear, as the Naval HQ on Terra had directed a very clear response should ships emerge from the rift.  The bulk of the base’s mobile strength, the 1st Battle Group and the Battlecruiser Pluto’s battle group, were dispatched to the Tau Cephei system to make contact with the aliens.  They were not to move into the GJ 1128 system without direct orders from Sol, though. 

Meanwhile, the contact report, and Shield Base’s response, were forwarded up the chain to all other commands.  They would reach Terra in approximately 11 hours, and 111 Virginis in just over 10. 

When the contact report arrived in the 111 Virginis system, on the Kraken Frontier, it was received by Commodore Zadrozny, the Contact Force CO, who was on the verge of ordering his ships to return to the Solar system after the disastrous contact mission’s aftermath and cleanup.  His mission to the Kraken Frontier was done, he had merely been putting off returning to help the system garrison chase down the Hive Fleet Kraken survey ships that had been popping up occasionally. His squadron was still well within its endurance limits, and they had plenty of supplies and fuel.  So, after a short stop at Virginis Base to refuel one final time and give his crews R&R, he ordered his force to the Mu Cassiopeiae system.   They would approach GJ 1128 from the secondary route from the Kraken Frontier.  He sent his intentions to fleet command in the Solar System before he departed, but once en route would be beyond the courier network and out of touch. 

The contact report arrived in the Solar System one hour later.  The Admiralty had been electrified by the recent arrival of the news from the Bobruisk territories of the discovery of numerous wrecks and apparent fighting, but this was far more alarming.  Unknown ships coming out of a mysterious rift, something never mentioned in any of the records recovered from the alien Imperium. It could only be a threat of stupendous magnitude.  Therefore, a fleet was assembled and designated as the 1st Expeditionary Force.  It consisted of 1xCVA, 1xDN, 2xBB, 2xCV, 1xCVS, 6xDD, 5xDDE, 100xStrike Fighters, and 8xSensor Fighters.  Rear Admiral Paglinawan is placed in command with orders to establish contact with the new aliens.  Support units will follow as they are organized. 

April 13, 2157
The new aliens, already being referred to as Rift Aliens, have appeared in the Omicron Tucanae system.  The news is alarming, as the Omicron Tucanae garrison force is returning from several system’s away, where it had been chasing contact reports of an elusive Hive Fleet Leviathan warship. 

After hesitating on the jump point, the Rift ship begins moving in-system.  This causes a problem on the second planet, which has been settled by over five million colonists.  The system’s naval base is located on the first planet, where an ancient construct is located.  This is where the terraformers are currently stationed, and they are defended by the base’s STO’s in the absence of the garrison squadron.  The Imperial Army has not yet stationed a defensive force on the second planet, as it was not scheduled to be settled yet.  As has happened before, though, once the terraformers were finished civilian ships began transporting colonists to the now planet whether the government wanted them to or not.  So, the naval base in the system is defended, as are the terraformers, but the population on the second planet is not. 

Fortunately, the Rift Aliens reach the fourth planet and then turn for the outer system and the jump point, without moving towards the inner system planets. 

Once the alien ship departs the system, the base commander orders the terraformers to leave the system, fearing the disappearance of the aliens is only temporary.  The massive ships slowly lift away from the first planet and begin moving towards the distant jump point out of the system. 

April 14, 2157
A Rift Alien fleet is detected closing on the jump point to Omicron Tucanae in the GJ 1128 system.  The fleet is composed of nine ships of two different classes.  Five of the ships have thermal profiles consistent with that of an Imperial dreadnought, while five have profiles 50% higher than a dreadnought.  All are moving at 13,734 km/s.  When the ships arrive at the jump point, they casually swat the Terran sensor buoy before jumping to Omicron Tucanae.  The other buoys in the system record the death of the sensor buoy, along with the energy profile of the weapons that took it out.  If those weapons had been aimed at an Imperial dreadnought, they would have taken out its shields in one shot. 

April 17, 2157
The Shield Base Battlegroup, under Rear Admiral Casella, jumps into the Tau Cephei system from Gamma Carinae on this date.  The sensor buoy at the jump point reports the presence of a single Rift Alien ship at the system’s second jump point to the GJ 1128 system.  At this point, Admiral Casella is unaware of the destruction of the sensor buoy in the GJ 1128 system, however, that information would have been of interest to her, but would hardly have been pivotal in her planning.  The destruction of an automated buoy was not a friendly act, but it also wasn’t a declaration of war.  And she could hardly be any more cautious than she planned on being anyway. 

For now, the Shield Base Battlegroup was on its own.  The 1st Expeditionary Fleet, advancing out of Sol, was still twenty-two days away.  And the Contact Expedition hadn’t left the 111 Virginis system yet, and would need time to move up the chain to a flanking position on the far side of the GJ 1128 system.  Admiral Casella’s battlegroup was not an inconsiderable force in its own right.  The battlegroup consisted of the DN Pegasus, the battleship Rigel, four battlecruisers, four missile cruisers, six destroyers, five missile destroyers, four destroyer escorts, a fleet scout, and a carrier and strike carrier with forty-four fighters embarked. 

Admiral Casella’s orders were to block the aliens from moving further into the Empire, and, if possible, establish contact with them and determine their intentions.  Mindful of the fact that the alien ships were almost twice as fast as Terran warships, she was not willing to advance her force very far from the jump point back to the Empire.  Neither was she willing to risk her capital ships, or God forbid her carriers, in close contact with an alien race of unknown intent and capabilities.  Therefore, she ordered her force to advance 850 mkm’s towards the jump point on the far side of the system, and from that vantage point she would launch her strike group towards the lone alien ship.  The strike group would position themselves approximately fifty mkm’s from the alien ship, at which point a single automated sensor fighter would move into close contact with the aliens to determine their intent. 

April 19, 2157, Tau Cephei – Leviathan Frontier
The Shield Base Battlegroup’s strike fighters jumped through the system’s La Grange point into the inner system, bound for a waypoint that would position themselves approximately 60 mkm’s from the jump point to the GJ 1128 Rift System and the Rift Alien ship last seen on the jump point.  Shortly after jumping into the inner system, the Aegis sensor fighters with the fighter group detect a 7,423 ton Rift Alien ship in orbit over Tau Cephei I, an airless terrestrial class planet.  Instead of continuing on as planned, the strike group remained on the La Grange point and dispatches the specially prepared automated sensor fighter towards the Rift alien ship.  Shortly after that, the Rift Alien ship departed the planet, bound for the jump point to GJ 1128. 

The automated fighter makes contact with the Rift Alien ship short of the jump point, but is ignored as the alien ship continues to retreat.  Once the alien ship reaches the jump point it jumps out, followed by the sensor fighter.  The automated fighter is programmed to follow the alien ship through the jump point and return as soon as possible to report on the conditions on the far side. 

Two minutes and forty seconds later the fighter reappears in the Tau Cephei system and sends its report to the waiting fighter group.  The Rift Alien ship continued its retreat when the fighter appeared in the GJ 1128 system.  No other Rift Alien ships were within detection range of the jump point.  As ordered, the fighter stripped the logs from the sensor buoy near the jump point and transmitted those as well.  The logs were very interesting.  The buoys at the jump points to Omicron Tucanae and Mu Cassiopeiae had both been destroyed by Rift Alien ships, which was not in and of itself necessarily a hostile act.  While not exactly friendly, it was completely understandable that an alien race might not want sensor buoys from another race in territory they considered their own.  However, much more important was the destruction of an Imperial jump point stabilization ship that had apparently been in transit through the GJ 1128 system before it was placed off limits.  The commercial ship had been attacked without warning and destroyed within seconds of entering the system.  When that report reached Admiral Casella, it settled the question of whether the aliens were peaceful or not rather definitively. 

Admiral Casella was tempted to proceed to the jump point and picket it with her heavy ships, but her orders were clear, she was not to unnecessarily risk her command but rather to block any advance into the Empire.  To that end she recalled her fighters and ordered one of her missile cruisers to re-establish the sensor buoy coverage of the jump point to the GJ 1128 system. 

April 20, 2157, Omicron Tucanae, Leviathan Frontier
For days now a Rift Alien ship had been sitting on the jump point to the GJ 1128 system, watched by a sensor buoy sitting off of the jump point.  Now it was joined by a second ship, which immediately headed in-system, towards the Imperial base on the innermost planet.  Eventually this new ship would be matched to the ship which ran from the sensor fighter in the Tau Cephei system, but for now it remained unknown to the Imperial forces in this system. 

Several hours after leaving the jump point the ship stopped at about 350 mkm’s from the jump point, and the second ship, which had been sitting on the jump point, left and started heading in-system.  About an hour later the second ship returned to the jump point, while the first began heading across the system towards a different destination.   

April 23, 2157, Omicron Tucanae, Leviathan Frontier
The Omicron Tucanae Carrier Group was back in the system and finally in between the retreating terraformer squadron and the Rift Alien ship that had been poking around the system.  The Terraforming Group, one hundred and thirty-four terraformers strong and very slow, was still over eleven days from jumping out of the system.  The Rift Alien ship was five hundred and thirty mkm’s ahead of the Terran squadron, and was 7,400 tons and moving at 10,626 km/s.  Commodore Hong, CO of the carrier group, was very suspicious of the aliens.  They had not been confirmed as hostile, but the immense industrial investment represented by the terraformers meant he couldn’t just avoid contact with them, he had to be aggressive and try to establish whether they represented a threat or not. 

Unfortunately, his “carrier group” was, in reality, a single carrier supported by a jump capable battleship.  Doctrine demanded that the carrier not be exposed to close attack by a potential threat, but the battleship Antares was built for just such a situation.  Commodore Hong ordered the carrier France to retreat and follow behind the Antares from one million kilometers, while the battleship closed on the alien ship and tried to establish contact. 

April 24, 2157, Omicron Tucanae, Leviathan Frontier
The battleship Antares reached three hundred thousand kilometers from the alien ship without incident.  The battleship had been transmitting contact messages the entire way in, but the alien had not responded.  In fact, the alien was doing nothing, just sitting in space.  Since the alien hadn’t reacted, Commodore Hong ordered the Antares to close to one hundred thousand kilometers.  It was at this point that the alien ship began running, and as it was faster, soon pulled out of the Antares’ weapons range.  After ten minutes Commodore Hong called a halt to the chase.  After consulting with his officers, Commodore Hong decided on a different approach.  He ordered his ships to close on the second alien ship, a faster ship equipped with military engines that had been hovering around the jump point to GJ 1128. 

After several hours of following the alien ship as it maneuvered apparently aimlessly across the system, Commodore Hong was losing his patience.  The alien ship was faster than the Terran warships, almost twice as fast, and hadn’t allowed then any closer than seventy million kilometers before darting away again.  What made it even more frustrating to Hong was that he knew that he could order the France to launch its fighters and they’d be able to chase it down.  After some thought he raised the commander of the France and ordered him to launch the carrier’s fighters.  The fighters were to close on the alien ship to 1,000,000 kilometers range, and then send in a lone sensor fighter to try and make contact. 

Two hours later the fighters were in position and a single sensor fighter detached from the group and closed on the alien ship.  The aliens let the fighter close, and changed course towards the jump point, but otherwise ignored the Terran fighter.  As the alien ship raced back towards the jump point, the battleship Antares was able to intercept it by cutting across its course, but it ignored the big warship just as it had ignored the fighters. 

The alien ships both jumped out of the Omicron Tucanae system at 0937 hours on the 25th, leaving the sensor fighter to wait at the jump point for the rest of the squadron to arrive.  The Antares arrived at the jump point five hours later.  Commodore Hong ordered the France to retreat to the 4th planet, which would put it 415 mkm’s from the jump point, but still in between the jump point and the base in the inner system.  He then sent a message to the courier at the jump point back to the Empire to be forwarded on the other fleets involved in the operation and the fleet HQ on Terra. 

The Empire now has blocking forces in place in three of the four systems adjacent to the GJ 1128 system, although two of those forces aren’t particularly strong, and the main force advancing from Sol is still a week away from the Tau Cephei system. 

May 7, 2157, Tau Cephei system
The 1st Expeditionary Force has entered the Tau Cephei system, fresh from refueling from the tankers in the Gamma Carinae system.  Rear Admiral Paglinawan, following orders issued to him on Terra, retires to his quarters to open sealed orders.  Inside the packet he finds that he is ordered to clear Imperial space of the Rift Aliens.  Prior to his departure the Senate declared the Rift system and all associated systems part of the Shield Sector.  He was ordered to establish contact with the aliens and order them to depart, peacefully, if possible, by any means necessary if not.  If the aliens refused to talk, his orders were clear, that would be considered willful refusal of an Imperial order and he was authorized to use force to clear the alien infestation. 

His orders clear, Admiral Paglinawan ordered his fleet towards the jump point to the GJ 1128 system. 

May 13, 2157, Tau Cephei
The three assault groups of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet were arrayed around the jump point to the GJ 1128 system, also known now as the Rift System.  They consisted of an assault carrier, two dreadnoughts, two battleships, a jump battleship, four battlecruisers, and five destroyers.  Five million kilometers back from the jump point were the fleet’s other ships, three carriers, two strike carriers, four missile cruisers, five missile destroyers, seven destroyers, nine destroyer escorts, and several support ships.  On the signal, the assault groups jumped into the Tau Cephei system. 

They materialized in the GJ 1128 system with the familiar 7,602-ton Rift Alien ship sitting on the jump point.  The alien ship immediately set out across the system, towards the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system.  After the fleet’s sensors settled, several things became clear.  First, the rift itself was not only still there, but had significantly expanded, now extending beyond where the sensor buoys had been placed.  The buoys were still there, and still reporting, though.  The buoys on the Omicron Tucanae and Mu Cassiopeiae jump points had apparently been destroyed, and, finally, a commercial stabilization ship had been destroyed at the jump point to Mu Cassiopeiae system.  That last was enough for Admiral Cassella, who had taken over command of the fleet upon its arrival.  The aliens were hostile.  With the jump point secure, she sent a destroyer back to call through the rest of the fleet. 

Unknown to Admiral Casella, shortly after she jumped into the GJ 1128 system, nine large Rift Alien ships jumped into the Omicron Tucanae system, on top of the battleship Antares, which was picketing the jump point.  There were four 22,905-ton ships, and five 15,258-ton ships.  None were as large as the Terran warship, but as a group they significantly out-massed the battleship.  Commodore Hong ordered his crew to prepare to jump, and targeted all his ships weapons on one of the larger ships, but held fire to see what they would do.  After fifteen seconds of staring at the motionless alien ships, Commodore Hong decided to put some space in between his ship and the potentially hostile alien ships.  The Antares moved out to just within weapons range of the jump point and settled in to watch the alien ships. 

Ninety seconds later all uncertainty was removed when the alien ships opened fire on the battleship and the sensor buoy.  Ten lasers of varying strengths hit the Antares, reducing her shields to 91%.  Commodore Hong ordered his ship to open fire and sent a message to the France to launch her fighters.  The fighters wouldn’t arrive in time to decide this battle, but they would avenge the Antares, if nothing else.     

The alien ships accelerated away from the jump point at almost twice the speed of the Terran battleship, racing to close the distance.  The Antares fired her laser weapons, but the alien jammers made hitting the oncoming ships nearly impossible and all the battleship’s lasers missed. 

Commodore Hong saw the nine alien ships rushing towards his command and knew they were doomed.  He couldn’t out run them, and if a single long-range salvo was able to take out 10% of his shields, when he couldn’t even hit their ships, then he wasn’t likely to take very many of them with him.  Worse, based on the latest information he had, Admiral Casella had advanced into the GJ 1128 system to make contact with the aliens, and did not know that they were hostile, unless she had already encountered them.  His comms officer had already dispatched a message to the courier network ship sitting on the jump point back to the Empire, warning them of the attack, but it would take over twenty hours for the message to reach Admiral Casella.  There was a quicker way, though. 

“Helm, set a course to the jump point.  Take us through.  All weapons to continuous fire!”

The Terran BB turned towards the jump point, and the alien fleet, and raced forward. The aliens, perhaps realizing they held the range advantage, turned away to maintain the range.  This amused Commodore Hong, who hadn’t been sure that his ship could stand up to a close pass with the alien ships.  With them running ahead of his ship, the path to the jump point was clear.  The BB took several more hits to her shields during the approach, and scored one low power hit to an alien ship at long range. 

At the last second, as the BB approached the jump point, the aliens must had realized she was going to jump out as they turned and raced towards the human ship.  The battleship took a heavy shield hit that reduced her shields to 86%, and scored several more hits on one of the alien ship’s armor, and then jumped out. 

Once in the GJ 1128 system Commodore Hong ordered his comms officer to send a message towards the jump point to the Tau Cephei system and Admiral Casella’s last reported location.  It would take that message thirty minutes to arrive.  Then they settled in to wait for the Rift Aliens to jump into the system and continue their assault. 

Thirty seconds later they were still waiting.  By then the BB’s shields had recharged almost to 100%.  Thirty minutes later the battleship was still waiting.

Admiral Casella and the fleet received the transmission from the Antares twenty-eight minutes after it was sent.  By that time the Expeditionary Force’s carriers had joined them on the jump point and Admiral Casella had just ordered a fighter strike against the fleeing Rift Alien ship which was now ten million kilometers distant. 

Even as the carriers launched their fighters, the fleet scout accompanying the expeditionary force sent a contact report for four additional Rift Alien ships that had appeared within the Rift.  The four contacts were 15, 231 tons each.  Not wishing to leave a force in her rear when they advanced on the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system, Admiral Casella ordered her fleet to advance on the rift. 

Twenty-five minutes later the fighters had chased down their target and launched their missiles.  It took thirty-five seconds for the missiles to reach their target, which launched a decoy at the last second.  Only two of the twenty-four missiles were decoyed, and it only took five of the remaining missiles to destroy the fleeing ship.  Unlike the Hive aliens, the destruction of the Rift Alien ship left a drifting wreck, which was somehow comforting for all of the Terran crews.  The fighters returned to their bays aboard their carriers, to rearm for a strike against the ships in the rift. 

May 13, 2157, GJ 1128 system (Rift System)
By 0947 hours the Expeditionary Force was 82 million kilometers from the nearest of the Rift Alien ships.  The four ships that had ‘jumped’ into the system were divided into two widely separated groups, and had done nothing since jumping into the system.  This put Admiral Casella in something of a difficult position.  She could launch her fighters and use them to attack the ships within the rift, but she was reluctant to launch an alpha strike with missiles that could only be replaced by UNREP ships that had to travel all the way from Sol, against ships that could jump out of the system seconds before the missiles reached them.  In the alternative, she could take her assault groups into the rift to attack the alien ships, which would avoid wasting missiles, but that would expose her capital ships to a counter-attack by any ships the Rift Aliens had sitting on the far side of the rift. 

After some thought, and conferring with her staff, she decided to close to 25 mkm’s, at which point they would launch a strike from the force’s DDG’s.  The Absolution class DDG’s carried Archer IV missiles with a range of 30 mkm’s.  They would launch a small test strike, to see if the Rift Alien ships would jump out of the system when they came under missile threat. 
 
May 13, 2157, 1132 hours, Omicron Tucanae System
The France’s fighter group had been facing the same problem as Admiral Casella’s expeditionary fleet, in that their targets, the nine Rift Alien ships that had chased the Antares out of the system, were sitting on the jump point.  If the fighters launched their missiles, they would be able to avoid the strike by jumping out.  Here, though, the strike leader was relying on the experience of the France’s captain, who had served as a fighter pilot and fought several engagements against the Reapers and the Hive.  With both of those alien races, if the fighters got close enough to be detected, the aliens would pursue, even if they couldn’t catch the faster fighters.  Captain Zhen had ordered his fighters to approach to one million kilometers, and then, if the aliens didn’t react, to close even further.  The goal was to get them to pursue the fighters and move off of the jump point.  And it worked.  When the fighters reached two million kilometers from the jump point the nine alien ships began to pursue. 

The France’s fighters turned and ran ahead of the Rift Alien ships and salvoed their missile racks, targeting the four enemy ships equipped with heavy lasers, as they were the bigger threat to the Antares.  The heavy laser ships were slightly larger than an Imperial battlecruiser at 22,905 tons, and equipped with nine heavy lasers capable of dealing heavy damage out to 341,000 kilometers.  These had been christened the Espakeh heavy battle cruiser class, while the other five ships were the Caripare light cruiser class, in between battlecruiser and destroyer sized, and equipped with eight small lasers presumably for missile defense. 

Thirty second after launch, the missiles slammed into their targets.  Sixty-three hit their targets, fifty-one were intercepted by laser fire short of their targets, and the remainder came around to attack again.

Espakeh-001: Twelve armor hits, four decoyed
Espakeh-002: Twelve armor hits, two decoyed
Espakeh-003: Eight armor hits, four decoyed
Espakeh-004: Seventeen armor hits, four decoyed

The remaining came around and attacked again, getting only thirteen hits and losing fifty-three to point defense fire. 

Espakeh-001: two armor hits
Espakeh-002: four armor hits
Espakeh-003: two armor hits
Espakeh-004: four armor hits, one decoyed

The rapidly dwindling missile swarm came around again, but only managed to get one hit while losing twenty-six more to point defense fire.  That left one missile in the strike, and it got shot down before it could get close enough to attack again. 

None of the targets suffered breaches in their armor, however, the strike was not a complete failure.  The four ships had suffered an average of fifteen missile hits each, and as they had no shields their armor must be at least somewhat depleted.  The fighters raced away from the slower alien ships to return to the France and rearm. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: January 12, 2025, 09:49:03 AM »

Note: From now on when listing alien ship classes, I will be including a designator based on human ship sizes.  For instance, a Terran battleship is 40,000 tons, and a battlecruiser is 20,000 tons.  An alien warship might have the code name “Backfire”, but to be honest, that doesn’t really mean anything or impart any knowledge, except to differentiate it from other alien ships.  Therefore, a 40,000 ton alien warship with the codename Backfire will now be listed as BB Backfire.  If it doesn’t match a human ship size, then I will give it a designator as close as possible.  Therefore a 35,000 ton ship will be a light battleship, while a 27,000 ton ship will be a heavy battlecruiser.  Hopefully this will work to remind both myself and the reader of what I’m actually dealing with.  Credit to one of the AAR’s on the board where I saw the author doing this.  I wish I could remember which one, so I could give credit by name, as it’s a good idea. 

Bobruisk Territories
February 8, 2156
A survey ship from the 3rd Long Range Survey Ship detects two Bobruisk populations on the innermost moons of the GJ 1241 system’s fourth planet.  The planet is a super Jovian planet, and the two moons are low gravity moons with no atmospheres.  The survey ship launches sensor buoys towards the planet and continues with its survey.  As the survey ship closes on the planet, a number of Bobruisk ships appear in orbit over the larger outpost. 

When the survey ship completes its survey of the moons of the fourth planet, the results are somewhat surprising, and also encouraging.  The two moons being exploited by the Bobruisk have relatively minor deposits of TN resources that show signs of having been extensively mined.  If true, this would certainly mean the survey group is on the right track and hopefully closing in on the Bobruisk home planet. 

Leviathan Frontier
April 11, 2156
A survey ship probing a newly discovered warp point in the 96 Leonis system discovers it links to a jump point in the 53 Capricorni system.  The 96 Leonis system is located in the Leviathan frontier, beyond the Shield sector, and is of note as it links to the EQ Pegasi system in the Kraken Frontier. The newly discovered link to the 53 Capricorni system means it also links to the Bobruisk Territories.   

April 14, 2156
A survey ship working in the 96 Leonis system jumps through another newly discovered jump point and finds itself in a system with a massive A3-V white star primary.  The system is soon identified as the Fomalhaut system, and it possesses four terrestrial planets orbited by several moons.  Three of the planets are Venusian, and none are Terra-like. 

Solar System
May 10, 2156
The Senate has been considering the strange situation with the newly discovered race(s) in the GJ 2097 and the HIP 96183 systems.  The two systems are widely separated and not connected, at least not with any known connection.  The HIP 96183 system is on the periphery of Bobruisk territory, while the GJ 2097 system is on the edge of the Kraken frontier.  Both populations are small, with limited populations and installations, appearing to be little more than outposts.  And, although widely separated, both appear to be the same race. 

Diplomatic ships have been sent to both locations and have been attempting to establish contact, but both expeditions have failed as the aliens have shown no interest in communicating.  While the outposts are not a threat in and of themselves, the possibility that they represent the leading edge of an alien race’s territory cannot be discounted, and given their eccentric behavior, their presence is concerning.  The Senate has therefore decided that a more forceful approach must be taken. 

At the senate’s orders, the Navy is putting together an expeditionary force that will accompany a group of assault transports to the GJ 2097 system, where they will land a force of marines and guard units that will establish contact with the aliens, one way or another. 

Kraken Frontier
December 2, 2156
The Contact Expedition arrived over GJ 2097 II late in the day and dropped the 24th Guard Division and the 5th Marine Division close to the alien outpost.  The Guards immediately set up a defensible position while the Marines prepared to assault the aliens, but no aggressive actions were taken as the mission commander had ordered them not to fire first. 

The aliens waited approximately sixteen hours and then launched a surprise attack on the Terran forces.  The aliens had exchanged the stone aged weapons they had been observed hunting with for modern and very capable weaponry, and their attack was vicious in its brutality.  Dozens of guardsmen and marines were killed and the Terran camp was thrown into confusion for a short period of time. 

Initial intel reports put the enemy strength at 770 infantry and 215 other unknown type units.  As the battle went on, the intel units had begun to study the aliens and had determined that their armor was much heavier than that of the Mk V guardsman combat armor, but slightly weaker than a Mk VI marine battle suit.  The aliens were much tougher than even an augmented marine, though, and their heavy armor and physical toughness made them difficult to kill.   The Terran forces soon rallied after their surprise and fought back, and in the next sixteen hours killed 147 infantry and 27 other units, at the cost of 78 guardsmen and 49 marines.

The marines and guardsmen fought valiantly, but the aliens were vicious and merciless.  They seemed to focus on the marines in particular, often ignoring a group of guardsmen who had the drop on them to attack a marine squad that was not an immediate threat.  For all their fighting prowess and valor, the aliens were completely outnumbered.  Two entire divisions of guardsmen and marines, numbering over twenty thousand humans and vehicles, faced off against several thousand aliens, and the outcome could only go one way.  It took the Terran forces one hundred and sixty hours to finish the aliens off, by which time the total tally of the alien forces was two thousand two hundred and seven warriors and one hundred and forty-two supporting units.  Four hundred and eighty-nine marines, four hundred and twenty-six guardsmen, twenty-four armored combat vehicles, and one battalion HQ were lost in the fight. 

Once the fighting was over, a thorough search of the area found nothing of note.  The alien outpost held nothing but crude living areas for the alien troops.  There was no tech, no industry, and nothing of value to be recovered.  The only thing the troops came away with was a name for their enemies.  The aliens became known as the Rakhas, which came from their battle cry. 

Kraken Frontier
December 10, 2156
The recovery effort on Kappa Ceti ends on this date.  The construction units have recovered the following:

Numerous Alien Artifacts
16xAuto Mine
14xConstruction factory
2xCargo Shuttle Station
4xDSTS
2xFighter Factories
7xFinancial Centers
38,200,000 tons of fuel
4xFuel Refinery
1xGenetic Modification Center
4xGFCC
1260xInfrastructure
640xLow Grav Infrastructure
11xMaintenance Facilities
40,800 maintenance supplies
1xmass driver
25xMine
4xOrdnance Factory
1xOrdnance Transfer Station
1xResearch Lab
2xSector Command
3xTerraformer
55,000xWealth

10,800 tons duranium
21,600 tons gallicite
5,000 tons Uridium
5,200 tons Corbomite
4,200 ton Corundum
7,000 tons Boronide
6,400 tons Vendarite
6,200 tons Neutronium

2xmissile jammer 2
7x20cm Laser
1xCIC
1xCIWS-160
1xDamCon
1x20cm Railgun
4xScience Dept
3xTroop Transport Bay
1xSalvage Module
Info on high power microwave weapons

The ground troops begin packing up their base in preparation for transfer to the EQ Pegasi system. 

Bobruisk Territories
January, 2157
Survey units operating in the Bobruisk territories detect a large group of Bobruisk ships in the HIP 34361 system.  These ships are moving in several groups, consisting of a total of nine massive 107,259 ton commercial ships, along with a Bellicose class commercial ship of 158,876 tons, an Antic class commercial ship of 159,050 tons, and four Tremulous class commercial ships of 97,193 tons.  This sighting seems to confirm that the survey units operating in this are on the right track in their search for the Bobruisk home world. 

Bobruisk Territories
February 5, 2157
A survey ship with the 2nd LRSS, probing a new jump point found in the Upsilon Puppis system in the Bobruisk territories, finds itself in the 86 Cygni System.  The system is populated by the usual assortment of terrestrial, Jovian, and super Jovian planets and their moons and asteroids.  It does not house the hoped for Bobruisk home world, as the only planets with atmospheres have noxious mixes of unbreathable gasses.  What it does have, however, are 8 wrecks scattered around the system, of sizes ranging from 8,651 tons to 35,577 tons.  The survey ship immediately transits out and reports its find to the courier ship accompanying the survey fleet, which then turns for home to carry the report back to the communications network.  None of the wrecks are of a known class of ship. 

Leviathan Frontier
February 17, 2157
A sensor buoy detects a Hive Fleet Leviathan warship in the HIP 31292 system.  This system is adjacent to the Omicron Tucanae system, and is in the jump line running between Omicron Tucanae and the Shield Sector.  A courier immediately jumps back to Omicron Tucanae and warning the guard force there, which sets out to intercept the hostile warship.  The warship was last seen at the jump point to Sigma Draconis, an unexplored frontier system with only two planets. 

Bobruisk Territories
March 6, 2157
A survey ship with the 2nd LRSS probes a newly discovered jump point in the 86 Cygni system (the one with the wrecks), and finds itself in the HIP 84051 system, a red star system with four planets and a total of eight moons.  None of the planets are habitable or have atmospheres remotely conducive to life, but there are over eighty wrecks scattered across the system.   Some of the ships are Bobruisk ships, but the bulk are unknown in origin.  Even more interesting are the two alien ships sitting on the jump point in close proximity to the survey ship.  The survey ship’s captain jumps back to report his find, then returns to try to communicate with the aliens. 

It is apparent that the Bobruisk and these new aliens are or were at war, and given the fact that Bobruisk ships were active in the 86 Cygni system, it was possible that the Terran survey ships would find themselves in the middle of a fight. 

March 16, 2157
One of the 2nd LRSS’s ships detects a Bobruisk outpost on a moon of the fifth planet in the 86 Cygni system.  It sends a sensor buoy towards the population to keep an eye on the area.  Several hours later another survey ship finds a second outpost on another moon of the fifth planet.  A sensor buoy was dispatched to that moon as well.  Both moons proved to have small, mostly depleted, deposits of TN resources. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: December 20, 2024, 10:20:44 AM »

February 2156, State of the Empire
Fifty-six years after the beginning of the interstellar era, the Empire has become somewhat complacent.  While there are still threats to human existence, the Navy has proven more than capable of dealing with all threats encountered to date.  Human population has grown to just under eight billion, and is spread across seven systems, including thirteen planets and moons.  There is no current active threat to the Empire, although the Navy is carefully watching for a resurgence of either of the known hive fleets, or aggression from the Bobruisk.  And, of course, a watch must always be kept for raiders. 

To better administer the Empire, the Senate recently formalized the formation of the Core Sector and the Shield Sector, and has plans to create two additional sectors in the frontier, with one centered on the former Hive Fleet Leviathan territory, which is also the location of an ancient construct deemed critical to Imperial R&D efforts, and the second located in the former Hive Fleet Kraken territories, which contain several critical mining sites soon to be established. 

No major military actions are being planned at this time, although a minor deployment to the Hive Fleet Kraken frontier is in the early planning stages, to explore the potential threat from the anomalous aliens discovered by survey ships in the GJ 2097 system at the edges of explored space. 



Little is known about the race, which has so far refused to talk with the diplomatic ships sent to the system.  Orbital observation of the outpost shows it to have minimal infrastructure or buildings, and a small thermal signature, but other sensor readings indicate the presence of a significant military presence on the planet, perhaps equivalent to human battalion size.  All visual observation shows no indication of what humans would call civilization, but instead rather primitive behavior such as hunts of local wildlife using primitive weapons and what appears to be ritual combat.  Their refusal to communicate, coupled with their apparent primitivism and sensor readings indicating the presence of high technology, creates a conundrum and potential threat that must be investigated. 

Core Sector



The Core Sector is centered on Sol, and extends to Victory Base in the Groombridge 34 system and Terra Nova in the Lalande 21185 system.  Sol contains the Empire’s largest populations and most of the Empire’s industrial and R&D capability.  Terra Nova is the Empire’s primary mining site, and also a secondary manufacturing center and largest out-system population.  V126 Sagittarii is the location of the Empire’s largest fuel extraction and refinery efforts, although a secondary location has been set up in the Shield Sector.  Victory Base in the Groombridge system is intended to guard against a Bobruisk incursion, although it is one of the smaller bases in the Empire due to the continued lack of threatening activity by the Bobruisk.     

Military Forces
The military forces assigned to the Core Sector are concentrated in the Solar System, although interceptor groups are assigned to all of the systems to deal with Raider incursions, and a battlecruiser group and a carrier group have been assigned to the Lalande system as additional protection for the Empire’s largest out-system population which is also its primary mining site.  In addition, a DD group has been assigned as additional firepower for the local interceptor group in the V126 Sagittarii system, as befitting its designation as the Core Sector’s primary fuel producing site.  The naval forces concentrated in the Solar System provide the bulk of the forces for the various expeditionary forces and fleets dispatched to the frontier. 

The ground forces are also concentrated in the Solar system, although guard and territorial guard units garrison every mining outpost and population in the Sector, along with STO forces.   

Sector Naval Forces
3xCVA, 1xDN, 2xBB, 4xBC, 6xCV, 3xCVS, 3xJump Cruiser, 32xDD, 11xDDE, 5xDDG, 291xEagle Strike fighters, 25xAegis Sensor Fighters, 39xForward Class Fighter, 66xInterceptor, 16xMissile Base

Sector Ground Forces
2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th Guard Corps (3,344,000 tons)
23rd Guard Division (172,000 tons)
4th, 138th Guard Brigades (85,000 tons)
1st and 8th Marine Corps (1,428,000 tons)
1st Territorial Division (57,000 tons)
4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 32nd, 43rd, and 47th Territorial Brigades (546,000 tons)
Planetary STO formations (687.000 tons)

Shield Sector


The Shield Sector capital is Shield Base in the V577 Monoceri system, which at 94 million is the largest population in the sector.  Shield Base also contains the bulk of the naval forces in the sector, and is considered a bulwark against any incursions from the frontier.  Other areas of interest in the sector are the ancient constructs in the Omega Pegasi (Defensive Systems) and 8 Centauri systems (Unknown) and the fueling base in the 84 Orionis system, where fifty-nine massive harvester ships gather sorium from the system’s innermost gas giant. 

The Shield Sector is the site of the Empire’s expansion efforts over the last ten years, and several worlds have been terraformed during this time.  The following worlds have been colonized to date (in addition to the Sector capital):
Atlantis, Omega Pegasi I, population 7.11 million
New Wyoming, 70 Ophiuchi II, Population 6.11 million
New Siberia, Gamma Carinae II, population 4.74 million

New Siberia is the newest population, and was unsanctioned by the Imperial Bureau of Colonization.  Its appearance on the outer reaches of the sector, so close to the Leviathan frontier, was of concern to the military, which has not yet provided defenses for the colony, although a mission to transport troops is already underway.  New Wyoming acts as a central collection point for the mines on the inner Venusian planet, but the other two colonies have not yet been classified as to their purpose.  Atlantis will eventually become a scientific research station to take advantage of the ancient construct located there, but New Siberia has only limited deposits of inaccessible TN resources, and no other redeeming features, so it is not clear what use the Empire will make of the population. 

The military forces assigned to the sector are primarily there to defend populations and mining sites, and to provide a base of operations for expeditions to the Leviathan Frontier. 

Sector Naval Forces
1xDN, 1xBB, 1xCV, 4xBC, 1xCVS, 4xCG, 6xDD, 5xDDG, 1xFSC, 4xDDE, 44xEagle Strike Fighters, 10xAegis Sensor Fighters, 81xAttack Fighters, 24xInterceptor, 3xMissile Bases

Ground Forces
1st Guard Corps (295,000 tons)
84th, 167th Guard Brigades (85,000 tons)
7th, 8th, Territorial Divisions (348,000 tons)
39th, 46th, 49th Territorial Brigade (126,000 tons)
1st, 2nd, 4th Marine Divisions (535,000 tons)
STO Defenses (138,000 tons)

Beyond the two settled sectors, the Empire recognizes three frontier territories, the Leviathan Frontier, the Kraken Frontier, and the Bobruisk territories.  The Leviathan and kraken frontier areas are the former territories of the Kraken and Leviathan Hive fleets, both of which have been decimated and scattered.  Both of these territories have military forces assigned to them, to secure them should the hive fleets reappear. 

Kraken Frontier Area


Hive Fleet Kraken, originally contacted in the 111 Virginis system, has been decisively defeated after engagements in the Omega Ceti and Black Hole systems.  To secure the area against future incursions, a fleet base is being set up on the second planet of the 111 Virginis system.  There was some debate about this location, as the planet is otherwise uninteresting, and there are other nearby sites that will almost certainly be exploited and/or colonized in the future, but in the end the central location of the 111 Virginis system won the argument. 

A general survey of the systems surrounding 111 Virginis has been carried out, pushing the frontier out to three to four jumps from 111 Virginis, looking for additional Hive forces.  This survey revealed the location of two Reaper bases, in Xi Bootis and Kappa Ceti.  Kappa Ceti was the scene of significant fighting between the navy and the Reapers, and a salvage effort to clean up the wrecked Reaper ships is underway, even as construction units labor to reactivate installations left behind by the race that inhabited the planet at one time.  In addition, the survey found a small outpost of an unknown alien race in the GJ 2097 system and contact efforts are underway, although the diplomats and scientists are making little progress. 

The Kraken territories hold several locations that have interested both the Imperial colonization bureau and the larger mining conglomerates, now that the immediate threats have been eliminated.  Xi Bootis B-III, the former location of a Reaper base, is fairly easily terraformed and has large TN resource deposits and good to very good availability levels, along with an ancient construct that would aide defense research.  Kappa Ceti III, another former Reaper Base location, is also fairly easily terraformed, and contains both ruins of a dead civilization and large deposits of TN resources at good availability levels.  In addition, there are several other prime mining sites in the system.  The EQ Pegasi system is the location of a ruined colony of some sort, and is easily terraformed.  Several other systems contain prime or secondary mining sites of interest.   For now, expansion into this area is delayed, as the Empire is focused on expansion in the Leviathan Frontier.

Territory Naval Forces (111 Virginis II)
1xBC, 1xCJ, 1xCVS, 2xDD, 1xDDE, 11xEagle Strike Fighters, 1xAegis Sensor Fighter

Territory Ground Forces (111 Virginis II)
1st Territorial Brigade (42,000 tons)
STO Forces (22,000 tons)

Leviathan Frontier


Hive Fleet Leviathan has been defeated and scattered, but ships belonging to this fleet continue to operate in the area, although most seem to be survey ships, or at least not combatants.  A number of combatants are still unaccounted for, and the last major force to be spotted was a fleet of four Abuser class destroyers armed with lasers, in the company of six unknown hive ships, in the 123 Herculis system.  A probe of the 123 Herculis system and the surrounding systems was unable to locate the ships, and their whereabouts continues to be a concerning mystery. 

Two bases have been established to secure the territory.  The first is in the Chi Draconis system, positioned to block an alien advance either from GJ 1128 or from beyond Omicron Tucanae.  This base has become somewhat of a backwater since the establishment of the forward base at Omicron Tucanae.  The Omicron Tucanae base can support 80,000 tons of naval ships, and a tug group is en route with additional maintenance bases to double this capacity.  The enlarged naval group has been deemed necessary to protect the ongoing effort to terraform and colonize the two innermost planets of the Omicron Tucanae system.  The current plan is to terraform Omicron Tucanae II first, as it is the closer to Terran standard of the two, and can be established as Terran standard by merely adding a bit of oxygen and nitrogen to the atmosphere.  Once that is complete the terraformers will move on to the innermost planet, which will take a major effort to terraform as it is very hot and otherwise barren.  Normally such a planet would not be considered for terraforming, but this planet possesses a critical ancient construct, which can accelerate the Empire’s R&D on power and propulsion systems, deemed a critical area of interest by the Emperor.  To this end, almost two hundred terraformer ships are en route, with the first group slated to arrive in forty-five days. 

Territory Naval Forces
(These forces are divided between Chi Draconis and Omicron Tucanae, with the bulk in the latter system)
1xBB, 1xCV, 26xStrike Fighter, 2xSensor Fighter, 6xInterceptor

Territory Ground Forces
(As with the naval forces, these units are divided between the Chi Draconis and Omicron Tucanae systems)
12th Guard Division, 200,000 tons
91st, 95th, 96th Guard Brigades, 128,000 tons
3rd Xeno Study Regiment, 78,000 tons
STO Defenses, 80,000 tons

Bobruisk Territories


The Bobruisk were initial contacted in the HIP 48659 system in 2135, and diplomatic contact continues in that system to this day.  Since then, the Empire has sent several expeditions into Bobruisk territory to explore in the hopes of discovering their home world, or at the very least a major colony.  To date the exploration attempts have only discovered Bobruisk outposts and Bobruisk ships.  The survey efforts have been attempting to follow the network of stabilized jump points, in the theory that the Bobruisk, like the Empire, have such a network radiating out from their central systems.  Assuming this theory is correct, at this point there are only three possibilities, the newly discovered black hole system beyond GJ 1241, the GJ 1241 system itself, and the 52 Capricorni system.  Survey ships are currently finishing their survey of the GJ 1241 system and will then move on to the black hole system if no other stabilized jump points are found. 

No naval units are stationed in the Bobruisk territories at this time. 

Detached Duty
87th Guard Brigade, 42000 tons, assigned to protect 2nd Xeno Study Regiment, in transit to 8 Centauri to examine the construct located there.  8 Centauri is located just beyond the border of the Sheild Sector. 

3rd and 10th Territorial Brigades, 84,000 tons, assigned to protect the 1st Xeno Study Regiment (78,000 tons) and the 1st Construction Group (67,000 tons).  Currently on Kappa Ceti III. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: December 14, 2024, 09:20:32 AM »

April 5, 2154
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force has refueled, resupplied, and taken on all of the missiles carried by the waiting UNREP group.  Unfortunately, the UNREP groups missiles only filled the CVA’s magazines to just over 50%.  Still, it was better than nothing.  With their resupply complete, the expeditionary force sets out for the Xi Bootis system to escort the troop transports headed to the planet with the suspected Reaper infestation. 

May 7, 2154
The Hive Fleet Leviathan Expeditionary Force returns to Omicron Tucanae Base after probing the nearby systems, looking for any trace of Leviathan ships that had been sighted in the area.  Much to Rear Admiral Casella’s frustration, they could find no trace of any hive ships in any of the systems where they had previously been sighted. 

Admiral Casella detaches the carrier France, along with two destroyers and two destroyer escorts, to act as the system defense force.  A jump-capable battleship will be dispatched from the Solar System to provide the force with jump capability, giving the forward base in the Omicron Tucanae system the ability to project force to any of the nearby systems where a hive ship might appear. 

May 10, 2154
The ground assault force has arrived over Xi Bootis B-III, escorted by the Xi Bootis Expeditionary Fleet.  The transports immediately begin dropping the 3rd, 5th, and 29th Marine Divisions(reinforced).  Initial intel reports place the enemy Reaper force at 448 centurion infantry robots, 3 decurion AA mechs, and assorted support and leader units.  They are no match for the augmented and heavily armed and armored marines and their heavy armor and artillery support. 

The Reapers were concentrated in a defensive perimeter around what appeared to be a destroyed outpost, and the marine assault elements immediately attacked, pressing in from all sides.  The small Reaper force was overwhelmed and wiped out in a matter of hours, at the cost of seven marines KIA. 

After mopping up, the marines were loaded onto the transports.  Their next target was in the Kappa Ceti system, and would be a much tougher nut to crack. 

June 18, 2154
The scout left behind in the Kappa Ceti system to watch the Reaper base detects a Hotel class Reaper ship in the outer system.  The Hotel class is 17,772 tons and has commercial engines. 

August 29, 2154
The assault transports have finally rendezvoused with the Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force five million kilometers from Kappa Ceti III.  For several weeks as they waited for the assault transports to arrive, the Terran warships had been watching the planet, the Reaper outpost, and the orbiting Hotel class ship.  Commodore Gabehart and his staff had spent their time working out a plan to attack the Reaper outpost, and had decided to eliminate the ship before beginning landing operations.  In spite of it being a civilian ship and unlikely to interfere, it was a complication.  Shortly after the transports arrive the Angel of Retribution launched her fighters, and they moved forward towards the planet. 

One hour later the fighters were in position and launched against the ship in orbit over the planet.  Twenty-four missiles streaked away from the fighters, and slammed into the orbiting ship.  It only took eight to destroy it, and there was no opposition from the STO’s on the ground. 

The fighters turned back to the Angel, and once they were aboard the next phase started.  The Assault Carriers and battlecruisers detached from the rest of the force and moved forward, to just out of the known range of the STO’s on the planet.  They were followed by the troop transports, which were moving up about 50,000 kilometers from the planet. 

The Eternal Crusader took several hits from heavy particle STO’s at 228,000 kilometers, but her shields absorbed the damage and the force continued to advance, shielding the transports following behind.  The ground batteries pounded the two CVA’s with near continuous fire for the several minutes it took for the transports to close, but then the troop transports arrived and began dropping the three marine divisions.  It didn’t take long for the marines to drop, and then the transports turned and began racing away from the planet.  The warships would remain over the planet as long as it took for the transports to retreat, but the two big CVA’s shields hadn’t dropped below 90% during the engagement, so they were confident in their ability to shield the transports for as long as necessary.  Once the transports were out of range, the Terran warships followed them.  Now it was up to the marines. 

Much like their previous engagement with the Reapers, they were in protective emplacements, but would almost certainly come out to attach the marines when they landed.  Marine intel, gathered by the orbiting ships, estimated the Reaper force as follows:

Centurian Infantry Units: 1,715
Praetorian Combat Mechs: 286
Decurion AA Mech: 49
Support and Leadership: 916
Artillery: 67
Unk: 35

The estimate came with a warning that it should be considered unreliable as it was based on limited orbital observation.  The line marines found the warning hilarious, as they never considered any intel report reliable, ever.  As expected, the Reapers came out to meet the marines as they advanced and the fighting was heavy from the first.  By eight hours into the landing, the marines had destroyed 246 centurions, 10 praetorians, 9 decurions, 42 support units, and 9 STO’s.  In exchange, the 114th Assault Battalion, which was at the forefront of the fighting, lost 22 marines. 

The marines completely overmatched the Reapers, and achieved multiple breakthroughs as they advanced, striking at exposed rear area elements, including the critical STO’s.  Another eight hours of fighting saw 286 centurion, 14 praetorians, and 7 decurions destroyed, along with 42 support units and 13 STO’s.  All this in exchange for 15 marine losses.   

The battle lasted for seventy-two hours.  After the first sixteen, it was mostly mopping up by the marines.  By the end of the battle, the marines lost 197 KIA, most of which were equipped with the older Mk IV or Mk V armor and augments.  The Reaper force totaled 2446 centurion infantry, 151 praetorian combat mechs, 84 Decurion AA mechs, 2268 support units of various types, 37 artillery, and 18 STO’s. 

With the planetary defenses defeated, it was time for the fleet to return to the Solar System for overhaul.  The marines loaded up onto their transports, and the force departed for the 111 Virginis system, where it would rendezvous with the support units. 

September 18,2 154
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force has refueled and resupplied from the support ships in the 111 Virginis system.  They have been out on the frontier for almost a year, and Commodore Gabehart decides it’s time to return home.  The hive menace on this frontier has been destroyed, and the two Reaper infestations have been cleared, opening the way for research teams to begin studying the ruins they protected. 

October 17,2 154
Troop transports arrive over Xi Bootis B-III and begin dropping the 1st Xeno Sturdy Battalion, two territorial guard brigades, and a construction group to begin work on the ruins and the ancient construct on the planet.   

October 24, 2154
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force returned to Terra on this date.  The fleet’s arrival was celebrated by world-wide parades and the government announced the rest of the week would be a holiday for all except essential workers. 

Commodore Gabehart is promoted to rear admiral, and awards are handed out to many of the officers and crewers.  The expeditionary force’s ships are immediately sent to a much-needed overhaul. 

November 22, 2154
The 3rd LR Survey Group has finished its overhaul on Terra and will now be dispatched to the Bobruisk territories to continue the Empire’s effort to determine the location of their home world, or at least a major colony. 

On this same day, the 1st Xeno Study Regiment on Xi Bootis B-III completes its study of the ruined outpost on that planet.  The outpost belongs to an unknown race, given the code-name Hellcat, and the outpost contains ten potentially usable installations.  The Xeno regiment will begin studying the ancient construct, while the construction units begin retrofitting the preserved installations. 

November 28,2 154
The 1st Xeno Study regiment completes its study of the ancient construct on Xi Bootis B-II and determines that it will assist researchers working on defensive technologies. 

December 10, 2154
Surprising no one, a long-range survey ship from the 2nd LR Survey Group confirms the presence of a ruined city on Kappa Ceti III, the site of the Reaper infestation.  In addition, the survey ship finds large deposits of eleven TN resources at moderate availability levels.  The planet has a noxious atmosphere and is too cold for humans, but is fairly easily terraform-able. 

December 22, 2154
The construction units complete their work recovering the stored installations on Xi Bootis B-III.  In all, they recovered a mine, three auto mines, a terraformer, and a deep space tracking station, along with assorted alien artifacts, 10,400 tons of duranium, 5,800,000 tons of fuel, and five fire control jamming units.  The orbiting transports begin loading the ground units to move them to Kappa Ceti. 

January 21, 2154
A raider is detected by the sensor buoy orbiting Zeta Doradus II in the Leviathan Frontier.  The contact report is relayed to the courier at the jump point, which immediately jumps back to Omicron Tucanae to report.  When the report is received several hours later on Omicron Base, the orbiting squadron is dispatched to intercept the raider. 

Just hours later a second raider is detected in the 70 Ophiuchi system, 333 million kilometers from the small colony on the second planet.  The closest warships are at Shield Base in the Monoceri system, nine days away.  A battlegroup is dispatched, but in the meantime the outpost will have to rely on its STO’s. 

The Raider in 70 Ophiuchi heads directly for the innermost planet, which has a mining outpost on it.  Unfortunately, the mining outpost has not yet received its contingent of STO’s, and so is unprotected.  The Raider briefly orbits the mining outpost then departs for A-II and its much larger, and protected, colony.  As it approaches the colony, the raider is brought under fire by the defensive STO’s and quickly destroyed, but not before it gets off one salvo with its lasers, killing four thousand colonists.   

March 4, 2155
A ship from the 3rd LR survey group detects five Bobruisk commercial ships in the NN 4176 system during its survey.  This is a hopeful sign.  The NN 4176 system was selected by the survey command as the most likely of the remaining known systems to lead to Bobruisk territory, as it has an unbroken chain of jump gates leading to it from the first contact point.  The fact that a newly discovered jump point in the system also has been stabilized, and the presence of commercial ships, means that it is increasingly likely that the survey group is on the right track.   

March 20, 2155
A contact report has reached 111 Virginis from the Theta Corvi system, two jumps away.  The report states that an unarmed hive ship, Charon class, has been spotted multiple times in the system, most recently close to the jump point to 103 Ceti (in between Theta Corvi and 111 Virginis).  Captain Luis Bray, CO of the Virginis Garrison Force, would like to take his battlecruiser and supporting ships out to eliminate the threat, but he has no jump ships and the stabilized network has not been extended to Theta Corvi yet. 

May 24, 2155
A sensor probe launched from a survey ship probing the systems in the Bobruisk sphere in the HIP 96183 system detects an outpost from an entirely new race on the innermost planet of the system.  The survey commander had been close to calling their survey efforts off as they were beyond the Bobruisk stabilization network, so out of their territory, but this new discovery has changed his mind. 

July 2, 2155
The ruined city found on Kappa Ceti III has been fully explored and contains 169 buildings that can be recovered. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: December 08, 2024, 12:05:35 PM »

July 20, 2153
A survey ship operating in the Phi Arietis system, adjacent to the 111 Virginis system, detects eight Hive Fleet Kraken ships in close proximity to a comet that was the target of the survey ship.  There are two Mors class escorts, and six new 15,432 ton ships designated as the Camazolz class.  The survey ship immediately turns away and runs for the jump point back to 111 Virginis, but fortunately the hive ships have no interest in fighting and they too turn to run. 

July 25, 2153
A long-range survey ship jumps into the 111 Virginis system from Phi Arietis and sends off a contact warning to the courier network ship on the 111 Virginis to Sigma Eridani jump point.  Once that ship received the message, it jumped out and then returned a few minutes later, after delivering the message to the next ship in the chain.  The message would then be passed back up the chain first to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet, and then to fleet HQ on Terra in a matter of hours.  Admiral Calligaris by then was in the 55 Bootis system headed home.  Because the hive ships didn’t attack the survey ship, she decided to continue home rather than detaching any of her ships, which were badly in need of overhauls. 

July 26, 2153
A group of four survey ships were assembled on the jump point in the 111 Virginis system that led to the Phi Arietis system.  They were waiting for the remaining two ships of their squadron when the eight Hive Fleet Kraken ships that had caused them to abandon the Phi Arietis system jumped into 111 Virginis, leaving them at point blank range of the two Mors class escorts that were accompanying the six other hive ships.  The survey ships immediately sent off a contact report, while the sensor buoy sitting just off the jump point sent off a contact report to the rest of the system. 

Once the survey ships jumped out, the hive ships broke into two groups, neither of which seemed to be headed anywhere in particular. 

August 22, 2153
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet has returned to Terra to honors and acclaim after destroying or scattering Hive Fleet Kraken.  The fleet’s ships have gone into a much-needed overhaul cycle, while the navy begins planning its next move to pacify the frontier. 

September 13, 2153
A survey ship operating in the Xi Bootis system, on the Hive Fleet Kraken frontier, two jumps beyond 111 Virginis, came under fire when approaching the third planet of the secondary star of the system.  The ship was rapidly destroyed by ground fire from Reaper batteries on the planetary surface, having barely enough time to get a warning out to the other ships in the system.  The other survey ships in the system immediately turned for the jump point out of the system. 

The destruction of the survey ship is alarming, for obvious reasons, but when news reaches Terra it will infuriate the admiralty.  After the initial contact with the Reapers, the Admiralty had instituted a requirement for all survey ships to probe planets with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with automated sensor probes, and all survey ships had been refitted to allow them to do just that.  For some reason the survey ship in the Xi Bootis system failed to perform that step before approaching the planet. 

Xi Bootis system
Primary: G8-V Yellow Star
2xTerrestrial – one has a thin C02-Nitrogen atmosphere, the other is Venusian.
3xDwarf
1xSuper Jovian with 23 moons

Secondary: K4-V Orange star
5xTerrestrial with 4 moons, 2x Venusian, 1 with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere
1xDwarf with 2 moons
2xGas Giants with 49 moons

September 25, 2153
A survey ship from the 1st LR Survey Group jumps into the 111 Virginis system and dispatches a Reaper Contact report to the courier network ship on the jump point back to the Empire.  The report will reach Terra in nineteen hours. 

September 26, 2153
The Reaper contact report arrives on Terra.  In response, the Imperial Fleet begins organizing an expedition to Xi Bootis system, and requests Marine and Army support. 

The 1st Expeditionary Fleet is still in overhaul, so the ships will have to be drawn from the system defense fleet.  After much wrangling, the Xi Bootis Expeditionary Fleet will consist of 2xCVA, 3xBC, 4xDD, 5xDDG, 3xDDE, 60xStrikefighter, 4xAegis sensor fighters.  Support units will join the fleet en route. 

The ground contingent will consist of the 5th, 3rd, and 29th Marine Divisions, over five hundred thousand tons of ground force, bolstered by artillery and heavy armor attachments.  The ground transports will have to follow behind the fleet, as they will take time to load and are slower than the fleet’s warships. 

October 6, 2153
The ill-fated 1st LR Survey Group jumps into the 63 Hydrae system, adjacent to the 111 Virginis system, to probe the two jump points detected by an earlier survey.  Shortly after jumping into the system, they come under fire from the two Mors class ships detected earlier, last seen in 111 Virginis.  The survey ships run from the jump point as they will not be able to jump out for some time. 

It soon becomes clear that the hive ships are running from the jump point as well, so the survey ships turn back to jump back to the 111 Virginis system, all except for the lead ship which had lost its jump drive when it was targeted entering the system. 

October 25, 2153
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force has arrived in the 111 Virginis system and refueled from a waiting tanker group.  With that complete, Commodore Gabehart orders his force to proceed to the jump point to 63 Hydrae to determine if the Hive Fleet Kraken ships that attacked the survey group are still present.   

October 26, 2153
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force arrives at its assembly point two million kilometers from the jump point.  There is no sign of the hive ships, so Commodore Gabehart orders his force to divide into two groups.  His two assault carriers will jump through to the far side of the jump point, while his battlecruisers and destroyers will wait on this side of the jump point.  His DDG’s and DDE’s will wait at the assembly point. 

When the two assault carriers jump through to the 63 Hydrae system, they find the eight hive ships sitting just off of the jump point.  The assault carriers materialized 350,000 kilometers from the jump point, so they are just within range of their lasers.  The human ships turn towards the hive ships and begin moving back towards them and the jump point.  As expected, the hive ships run to the jump point and jump to the 111 Virginis system.  Right into the sights of three battlecruisers and four destroyers. 

The Terran warships gutted the Mors class escorts as they came through the jump point, and then turned their fire on the Camazotz class ships, which were clearly civilian ships of some sort, as they had never been observed to fire on any human ship.  Although they carried significant armor, all six Camazotz ships were destroyed in short order.  The fleet reassembled and then set course for the jump point to the 100 Ceti system. 

November 15, 2153
A survey ship working in the EQ Pegasi system discovers a ruined colony on the only planet of the system, a terrestrial world with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, a little hot but otherwise ready for colonization without any terraforming.  EQ Pegasi is on the Hive Fleet Kraken frontier, three jumps from 111 Virginis.  This planet was probed for Reaper presence before the survey ship came near, and this time no Reapers were found, in spite of the ruins. 

November 24, 2153
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force has reached its observation point five million kilometers from Xi Bootis B-III.  The ship’s sensors detect a ground force present on the planet, but no ships.  After observing for a short time, Commodore Gabehart orders his force to close to 1,000,000 kilometer’s range. 

When the Terran ships reach one million kilometers, their sensors reveal the presence of an active sensor on the planet, but no additional information.  Commodore Gabehart orders his assault carriers and his battlecruisers to move to just within laser range of the planet, leaving behind his carriers and destroyers to wait out of range. 

When the big Terran ships reach firing range they begin bombarding the ground force targets with their heavy lasers.  At that range their chance of hitting anything is small, so Commodore Gabehart orders his ships to close to 200,000 kilometers range.  Reaper STO units begin firing on the oncoming ships as they close, and the Eternal Crusader begins taking damage to her shields.  However, the unmasking of the STO’s allows the Terran units to target them instead of random ground units.  While their chance of hitting has increase, Commodore Gabehart is still unhappy with their low accuracy, so he orders his ships to close to 100,000 kilometers. 

The Terran ships continue to fire as they close, but their accuracy is still lacking.  As no new STO’s have opened fire, Commodore Gabehart orders his ships to close to point blank range.  The STO’s opened up with everything they had as the Terran ships closed, including numerous gauss cannon point defense units, but they were barely able to scratch the shields of the big assault carriers.  The five Terran capital ships hovered over the planet and poured fire into the Reaper base, pounding it mercilessly with continuous laser fire.  It took several minutes of laser bombardment to eliminate the STO’s, but it was a forgone conclusion.  The Eternal Crusader’s shields never dropped below 95% during the bombardment, although the three battlecruisers reduced their maintenance stocks to an average of 79% before they were done.  With the threat eliminated, Commodore Gabehart sent a message to the courier at the jump point to signal the ground forces that the way was clear.  It would still take some time for them to arrive, as their transports were much slower than the fleet’s warships.  In the meantime, the survey command would be free to finish their survey of the system. 

Later that same day, a survey ship operating in the EQ Pegasi system (Hive Fleet Kraken frontier), probed a new jump point and discovered that it linked to a known system several jumps from Chi Draconis in the Leviathan frontier. 

November 29, 2153
Another survey ship working in the EQ Pegasi system probes another new jump point and finds itself in the 6 Centauri system, which is located on the frontier beyond Shield Base in the Monoceri system. 

December 11, 2153
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet’s ships have completed their overhauls and been transferred to Sol System Command.  With the ships freed up, a new expeditionary unit is put together to purge the remaining Hive Fleet Leviathan ships beyond Omicron Tucanae.  The new force is designated as the Hive Fleet Leviathan Expeditionary Force, and it consists of one dreadnought, one battleship, two battlecruisers, four missile cruisers, five missile destroyers, two destroyers, four destroyer escorts, a scout, and the dreadnought’s embarked fighters.    The force departs on this date, bound for the forward base in the Chi Draconis system. 

January 5, 2154
A survey ship working in the Kappa Ceti system, in the Hive Fleet Kraken frontier, three jumps from 111 Virginis system, had launched a sensor drone towards the system’s third planet some time ago.  At 1659 hours, the sensor drone bus reached the third planet, but before it could deploy its sensor buoy it was destroyed by a nuclear detonation. 

With the destruction of the sensor drone, the survey ship jumps out to report the contact. 

January 10, 2154
The 2nd LR Survey Group, working in the Xi Bootis system after it was cleared by the navy, discovers an ancient construct and ruins on the planet occupied by the Reapers.  In addition, the planet has massive deposits of eight TN resources at good availability levels, including gallicite, stocks of which have been shrinking. 

January 16,2 154
The contact report concerning possible Reaper presence in the Kappa Ceti system reaches the Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force.  As the ground force is still over two and a half months away, Commodore Gabehart decides to probe Kappa Ceti to determine the extent of the problem.  His expeditionary force sets out for Kappa Ceti on this date. 

February 7, 2154
Survey ships operating in the GJ 2097 system, on the Hive Fleet Kraken frontier, two jumps beyond 111 Virginis, discover a previously unknown alien race on the system’s second planet when the sensor bus deployed by one of the survey ships entered orbit of the planet and deployed its buoy.  The buoy immediately detected a small, outpost sized alien population on the planet, which was terrestrial and boasted an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and temperate climate.  The survey ships began their survey effort while a single ship returned to 111 Virginis to report the contact. 

February 24, 2154
The Xi Bootis Expeditionary Force had entered the Kappa Ceti system, location of the presumed Reaper infestation, several days ago and was headed inwards, towards the third planet.  It was still 2.3 days away when the fleet scout assigned to the expeditionary force detected a Reaper Charlie class ship 235 mkm’s ahead of the Terran ships.  The Charlie class had been encountered before, had a known speed of 8,03 km/s, and although its purpose was unknown it was known to mount a decoy missile launcher.  As the Reaper ship was faster than the Terran ships it could evade the expeditionary force, but it couldn’t run from the Terran fighters.  Commodore Gabehart ordered his force to continue on course towards the planet, curious what the Reaper ship would do. 

After closing for a bit, the Reaper ship turned and started running ahead of the Terran force.  Commodore Gabehart, after consulting with his staff, orders his assault carriers to launch their fighters and destroy the Reaper ship before it can join with other ships at the target.  Shortly after the fighters move away the Reaper ship turns back towards the Terran force and begins closing.  Shortly after that it turns and begins running again. 

At 0149 hours on the 25th, twelve of the sixty fighters launch their Sparrow IIb missiles at 2,000,000 million kilometers range, for a total of ninety-six missiles.  The missiles take forty-five seconds to reach their target and completely overwhelm it, destroying the Charlie in the first pass.  The fighters return to their carriers to rearm. 

Five hours later, when the fleet reached 1.3 billion kilometers from the third planet, the scout’s sensors detected a Reaper fleet closing on the Terran force.  The fleet consisted of six ships, four Deltas, an India, and a new class designated as the Ability class.  Deltas were 26,089 ton offensive missile launching ships, the India was a 17,399 ton defensive missile launching ship, and the Ability was 17,370 tons but otherwise unknown.  The Reaper fleet was just under the maximum range of the Terran scout’s sensors, 400 million kilometers, and closing at 5,333 km/s, which was fortunately below the Terran fleet’s speed of 7,500 km/s.  Once again Commodore Gabehart orders his fighters to launch. 

The sixty Eagle strike fighters raced away from the Terran expeditionary force at their maximum speed of 19,289 km/s while the expeditionary force came to a halt behind them.  When the fighters reached the limit of their escorting Aegis sensor fighter’s active sensors, two additional contacts appeared in close proximity to the Ability class unit, which was leading the other five units by 9.5 mkm’s.  The two new units were Golf class ships, each 8,689 tons and known to mount gauss cannons.  As the fighter’s primary target was the four Delta class ships, the strike commander, Lt. Commander Leota Stach ordered her fighters to detour around the lead force. 

The Terran fighters turned and began moving to the side, while the Reaper ships continued on their course towards the Terran ships.  Once the fighters reached their waypoint seven mkm’s to the side of the Reaper’s course they waited for the Reaper fleet to pass.  Shortly after reaching their waypoint three new contacts appeared trailing eight million kilometers behind the main force, all Foxtrot class ships.  Foxtrots are 8,691 ton ships with heavy particle beam weaponry, and are dangerous close-in combatants. 

One minute later the Reaper fleet grew again, as a single Golf class escort appeared with the main force and two Golf’s appeared with the trailing Foxtrot units.  Lt. Commander Stach waits another eight minutes and then orders her fighters to begin their attack run on the main Reaper force.  The Terran fighters close and the Reaper ships continue on their course until the fighters reach fifteen million kilometers, at which time the Reaper main group and the trailing force turns towards the fighters, while the lead group continues on towards the Expeditionary force. 

Eight minutes later, at near their maximum range of three million kilometers, the Terran fighters launch their missiles.  The Strike planners had no idea what the Reaper’s missile capability would be against the fighters, so they had decided on the maximum range strike as the safest approach.  The sixty fighters concentrated all of their missiles on the four Delta class offensive missile units, as they were the primary threat to the fleet.  Here, the strike planners had been divided.  Previous experience had shown that it was a better allocation of their missiles to eliminate anti-missile escorts first, allowing a later strike to finish off the unprotected offensive ships, but the bulk of the planners felt that the Sparrow IIb missiles, with their improved ECCM and ATG, along with their heavier warheads, would allow them to penetrate the Reaper’s defenses and eliminate the primary targets, leaving the escorts with nothing to protect. 

The four hundred and eighty missiles raced away from the fighters, towards the Reaper force, while the fighters turned away to maintain the range.  Reaper AAM’s began intercepting the missiles 678,000 kilometers from the Reaper force.  Sixteen Sparrow IIb ASM’s were stopped short of the Reaper force by the AMM’s, and then the Terran missiles closed to attack range.  The first attack by the missiles destroyed three of the Delta’s outright, and heavily damaged the fourth.  Point defense fire only took out a relative few of the attacking missiles, but did manage to take out the few missiles that survived the first attack as they came around to attack again.  The strike was a success, with three of the Deltas destroyed and the fourth crippled and reduced to 889 km/s. 

The fighters turned back to their waypoint to the side of the Reaper fleet, and then set out for their carriers, their job done.  The long-range missile threat from the Reaper force was eliminated.  The remaining ships of the main force tried to pursue the fighters, while the lead Reaper force continued on towards the Terran expeditionary force, and the trailing group, along with the damaged Delta, turned back.    After a short period, the lead group turned back as well, followed shortly thereafter by the remnants of the main force.  Shortly after the fighters left the Reaper ship’s detection range, they all turned back towards the Terran force and began closing again, except for the crippled Delta.         

Four hours later the fighters landed on their carriers and Commodore Gabehart ordered his force to close on the oncoming Reaper force, the lead unit of which was now 180 mkm’s away and closing.  As the two forces close on each other, the Terran scout detected a Charlie class ship closing on the damaged Delta from the inner system. 

When the Reaper ships reach 72 mkm’s from the Terran force they turn away and begin running for the inner system, all except the two remaining ships of the main force, which continue to close.  At 2213 hours the India and Golf class units are 27 mkm’s from the Terran force, and Commodore Gabehart orders his DDG’s to engage the oncoming Reaper ships.  The Terran Absolution class DDG’s are armed with forty-two box launchers equipped with the Archer III ASM.  The Archer III has a speed of 35,000 km/s, second generation ECCM and ATG, a range of 30 mkm’s, and a warhead 50% more powerful than the Sparrow IIb’s carried by the fighters.  In addition, the Archer III carries two decoys to help it penetrate fleet defenses.  The lead DDG, the Amnesty, launches twenty-five Archer III ASM’s in response, targeted on the two closing Reaper warships. 

Reaper interceptor missiles began attacking the missile wave when it reached five hundred and sixty-five thousand kilometers from the Reaper force.  For the most part they expended themselves on decoys, but two missiles were destroyed by the AMM’s in the first attack.  Three more missiles were destroyed, and twenty-five of the decoys, before the missiles reached attack range.  Only two missiles penetrated the point defense fire and the ship’s decoys to hit the Golf class escort, expending themselves against the ship’s shields.  Eight missiles survived to hit the India class ship’s shields, and another hit its armor but didn’t penetrate. 

For the next attack, two of the Amnesty’s sister ships launch a total of fifty missiles at the two oncoming Reaper ships at twenty-five million kilometers.  Once again, the interceptions began around 550,000 kilometers. This time the Reapers took out thirteen missiles before they reached attack range.  The India class had its shields stripped again, and took five armor hits, but none penetrated, but the Golf class took a penetrating hit that left it drifting, leaving the India to proceed on its own. 

The third attack consisted of forty Archer III ASM’s, all targeted on the India class ship.  Nineteen of the forty hit the India, stripping her shields again and getting seven penetrating hits, reducing her speed to 2,666 km/s.   

Commodore Gabehart decides that the two Reaper ships have been reduced to irrelevance and orders his fleet to close on them to beam range.  The India doggedly continues to close and managed to get several salvoes of missiles off at the Terran force before the Angel of Retribution’s heavy lasers swatted it from space.  Between the fleet’s point defense and the CVA’s heavy shields the India failed to inflict any damage.  The Terran force set its course for the planet again.  One shot with one of the Angel of Retribution’s 30cm soft X-ray lasers took the crippled Golf class out as the force advanced on the planet. 

In the meantime, the two other Reaper squadrons had turned and were closing on the Terran force, but later turned away. 

February 26, 2154
At 1234 hours, the Terran force picked up a missile salvo of twenty-six missiles closing on their position, apparently launched from the crippled Delta which was now 27 mkm’s away.  Commodore Gabehart decided to avoid wasting any more missiles on the Delta and ride out the attack.  The three DDE’s escorting the capital ships moved forward and prepared to engage, while the rest of the ships ready their point defense weapons. 

The Reaper missiles streaked towards the oncoming Terran ships at 30,085 km/s, while the Delta still limped along at 889 km/s, 30 mkm’s from the Terran fleet and closing.  When the incoming missiles reached three million kilometers AMM’s began racing away from the DDE’s.  The Terran AMM’s were almost three times as fast as the incoming missiles, and they sped away from their DDE’s as if eager to reach their targets.  A second salvo of fifteen AMM’s was launched ten seconds later, followed shortly by a third. 

The first wave of AMM’s only got three hits, two of which were decoys.  The second got seven hits, but again only one was a real missile.  A steady stream of AMM’s raced away from the defending DDE’s as the Reaper missile wave closed, stripping away the decoys.  In the meantime, a second missile wave had appeared on the Terran ship’s sensors, but this missile wave was only composed of eleven missiles. 

By the time the incoming missile salvo reached laser range of the Terran force, it was reduced to seven missiles.  Four more missiles were destroyed by the AMM’s, one more was taken out by last ditch laser fire, and two hit the armor of the DD Wei Zhao, causing minor damage to its armor belt. 

The DDE’s began launching again when the second missile salvo reached three mkm’s range.  Only one missile from the second wave got close, but it was finally shot down by an AMM just 80,000 kilometers short of the fleet.  Space was clear around the expeditionary force again. 

The Terran force chased down the slowly fleeing Delta, and once within range of its lasers, took out the Reaper ship with a single shot from the Angel of Retribution’s spinal laser. 

The next closest group of ships was the Ability class cruiser and its two Golf class escorts.  They were running for the planet at 5,340 km/s, and were sixty-two million kilometers from the expeditionary force.  The other group, composed of three Foxtrots and two Golf’s, was also headed towards the planet and was twenty-four million kilometers farther away than the first group.  Commodore Gabehart ordered his ships to chase them down. 

At 1732 hours the fleet scout attached to the expeditionary force detected two Alpha’s and two Bravo class units orbiting the third planet.  These have been encountered before, and are immobile bases used to protect Reaper anchorages.  The Bravos carry numerous small missile launchers, while the Alphas are suspected to be point defense bases, and possibly beam combatants.  Commodore Gabehart launches his fighters and orders them to close on the suspected Reaper base on the third planet while the expeditionary force continues to chase the Reaper ships. 

February 28, 2154, 0108 hours
The fighters are now within range of the sensors on the Aegis sensor fighters, and they pick up twelve Golf class and a Charlie orbiting the planet, along with the four bases.  The Golf class are small missile combatants, while the Charlie is a beam combatant. 

0144 hours
The fighters are now in their launch position, 1.75 mkm’s from the planet.  The sixty Eagle fighters launch their missiles, eight Sparrow IIb ASM’s each, targeting the four bases and the Golf class fast missile ships.  Twenty seconds later interceptions start, and sixty-eight missiles are destroyed short of the planet.  One hundred and twenty-two are destroyed by point defense fire, and two hundred and fifty-eight hit their targets.  Eight Golf class ships are destroyed outright, and the other four suffered several penetrating hits each.  The missiles were less successful against the bases.  All four bases carried decoy missiles, and succeeded in decoying eighty-six missiles.  Two of the bases suffered two penetrating hits, one suffered one penetrating hit, and one escaped unscathed.  Their missiles expended, the Terran fighters turned back towards their carriers to rearm. 

As the chase grinds on, the closer Reaper force suddenly turned towards the Terran expeditionary force and begins closing.  It quickly turns away again, but the range dropped precipitously for a period of time. 

At 0703 hours the Terran ships drew into range of their lasers and opened fire, with the CVA’s and the BC’s focusing on the Ability class, while the DD’s concentrated on the two Golf class units.  The first hits were low powered and few in number, due to the range, but as the range dropped their accuracy increased, as did the power of the lasers.  When the Terran ships reached 237,000 kilometers the fleeing Reaper ships began returning fire, hitting the Angel of Retribution with several energy weapons that barely scratched her shields. 

The next laser salvo from the Terran ships dropped the Ability’s shields and scored hits on her armor, several of which penetrated.  After several more lasers penetrated her armor, the Ability’s speed began dropping.  With the Ability reduced to 4,000 km/s, the two Golf class units turned back towards the Terran ships and suddenly raced towards them, closing rapidly.  Commodore Gabehart ordered his turreted weapons to focus on the Golf’s, along with the BC’s plasma cannons, which had so far remained silent, to augment the destroyer’s firepower. 

The plasma cannon fire, along with the increased laser fire, stripped the Golf’s remaining shields and shredded their armor, with one suffering a penetrating hit.  The next salvo, at 73,000 kilometers, holed both Golfs, leaving one drifting and the other barely underway.  Two more salvoes and the Golf’s were reduced to wrecks, leaving only the Ability.  One more round of fire from the capital ship’s heavy lasers put paid to the Ability, which had been vainly trying to close the distance. 

With the second group of Reaper ships eliminated, Commodore Gabehart ordered his force to run down the third and last mobile force. 

At 1047 hours the Terran expeditionary force had closed to twenty-eight million kilometers from the third planet and detects a ground force on the planet’s surface.  The third mobile force is now nine million kilometers from the advancing Terran force.  Commodore Gabehart ordered his DDG’s to launch a strike with their remaining Archer III ASM’s against the bases in orbit over the planet.  Seconds later the three DDG’s with missiles left were wreathed in fire and smoke as ninety-five ASM’s left their launchers bound for the planet.  Five minutes later the missiles raced past the last Reaper mobile force on their way to the planet, passing 320,000 kilometers from the ships.  Forty seconds later the active sensors on the missiles picked up nine Reaper missiles out-bound, headed for the fleet. 

As the Reaper missiles approached the fleet the DDE’s went into action again, spewing AMM’s ahead of the capital ships.  Once again, the missiles were stopped short of the fleet.  Reaper AMM’s reduced the Terran missile wave to fifty-six as they closed, and then point defense took a massive toll of the large Terran missiles, leaving only nineteen to hit the two Bravo class bases, neither of which lost their shields. 

Not wishing to face massive waves of small missiles from the two Bravo class bases, Commodore Gabehart authorizes one more strike by the fighters with the last of the expeditionary force’s fighter missiles.  The fighters launch and streak towards the planet shortly thereafter. 

Even as the fighters race towards the planet and its orbiting bases, the third mobile group turns back towards the Terran expeditionary force and races towards it, closing rapidly.  Commodore Gabehart assigns each of his capital ships to target each of the oncoming Reaper small ships, with his destroyers each picking a target as well. 

As the two groups closed the Reaper ships turned away while still out of range, forcing the Terrans into a chase again.  In the meantime, the fighters had reached their launch point and sent their missiles towards the orbiting bases.  All of the fighter’s missiles were targeted on the two Bravo class missile bases, in an attempt to overwhelm them.    As before the Reaper AMM’s began intercepting the fighter’s missiles short of their target, and then a veritable storm of point defense fire tore massive holes in the missile wave, but with two hundred and forty missiles targeted on the two bases there was just no way the Reapers could stop all of them, and the two missile bases disappeared in a series of massive explosions, leaving two point defense bases, a Charlie class beam combatant, and four Golf class escorts orbiting the planet. 

Five minutes later the Terran expeditionary force drew into range of the mobile group and opened fire on the Reaper combatants.  As before the hits were few and low power at long range, serving only to attrit the Reaper ship’s shields, but they increased in power and number as the range dropped.  When the range reached 200,000 kilometers the Terran ships turned to maintain the range just as their fire took down one of the Reaper ship’s shields.  So far, the Reaper ships had not got a shot off at the Terran fleet.  Soon after that the Terran lasers began penetrating the Reaper ship’s armor. 

One by one the Reaper ships were destroyed by the sustained laser fire.  One managed to get close enough to fire its particle lance at a Terran destroyer.  Fortunately, this was a Hero Flight IVd type destroyer, with the latest shields.  The Reaper particle beam took the DD’s shields down, but only scratched her armor.  It took time for the Terran ships to reduce the Reapers to scrap, but Commodore Gabehart was perfectly willing to take the time to do the job right. 

When the last Reaper ship blew up under sustained laser fire, Commodore Gabehart ordered his fleet forward, towards the planet and its remaining defenders.  Fourteen minutes later the fleet came to rest three million kilometers from the planet. 

After holding station for a short period of time, Commodore Gabehart ordered the fleet forward.  The fleet’s sensors still showed a considerable ground force contact on the planet, two Alpha class point defense bases, a Charlie class beam cruiser, and four Golf class small missile ships.  The priority target for the Terran ships would be the two point defense bases, and then the Charlie class cruiser. 

As before, the Terran ships opened fire when they came into range, at 384,000 kilometers, but this time they were all targeting the same Alpha class base.  The hits started becoming more powerful, and more common, as the fleet closed, but Commodore Gabehart ordered them to come to a halt at 300,000 kilometers.  At this range the Terran ships could engage with all of their lasers, and it appeared that the Reapers could not reach them. 

Unfortunately, the Terran weapons weren’t getting enough hits or doing enough damage to get through the Reaper’s shield in a reasonable amount of time, so Commodore Gabehart ordered his ships to close to 250,000 kilometers, and then 200,000 when that didn’t increase their effectiveness enough.  At 212,000 kilometers range the Angel of Retribution and the Eternal Crusader were attacked by twelve powerful ground-based particle weapons each, but fortunately most missed and the Eternal Crusader only took one hit to her shields.  The Terran ships were apparently still too far out to determine which ground units were attacking his ships, so Commodore Gabehart ordered his ships to move back to 250,000 kilometers and to bombard the enemy fleet from there.  Even as the Terran ships moved away, they finally penetrated their target’s shields.  They almost immediately began getting penetrating hits on the base.  It didn’t take long for the base to succumb to the sustained laser fire, at which time the Terran ships shifted to target the second Alpha class unit. 

The long-range laser bombardment soon wore through the base’s shields, and then its armor.  Soon it joined its fellow base as wreckage orbiting the planet.  The fleet then shifted fire to the Charlie class cruiser, and then took out the Golf’s one by one.  Once they were gone, the fleet shifted fire to the STO’s that had revealed themselves. 

After several minutes pounding the planet, Commodore Gabehart called a halt to the bombardment.  The chances of hitting the STO’s was too small, and the wear and tear on his ships was beginning to be a problem.  They had destroyed all of the Reaper mobile forces in the system, and the planet lay open to invasion when the ground forces arrived.  It was time to withdraw.  The Terran expeditionary force turned towards the jump point out of the system, on course to rejoin the tankers and supply ships in the 111 Virginis system. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: November 30, 2024, 09:53:49 AM »

September 8, 2151
A sensor buoy in the 111 Virginis system detects a ship belonging to Hive Fleet Kraken jumping into the system from Omega Ceti.  This is a new kind of ship, and will be eventually designated as the Iku class once the contact report is received on Terra.  It is small, at 3,950 tons, has military engines, and its observed speed in 17,392 km/s. 

The ship leaves the vicinity of the jump point and is soon out of sensor range of the buoy.  Thirty-six hours later the buoy on the fourth jump point, to an un-surveyed system named 103 Ceti, detects the hive ship approaching the jump point.  The Hive ship jumps out shortly thereafter. 

Nine hours later, on the 10th, a buoy tender jumps into the 111 Virginis system and strips the nearest buoy’s logs.  The contact report is noted and the ship jumps back out, headed for the Lalande system to report this newest information. 

September 18,2 151
Battlegroup Indefatigable sets out for the Omicron Tucanae system from Terra on this date.  The battlegroup is composed of three Indefatigable class missile cruisers, two strike carriers, a jump cruiser, and three destroyers.  The missile cruisers are carrying sensor buoys in addition to their standard missile loadout, and will seed the systems around Omicron Tucanae to track Hive Fleet Leviathan ships. 

November 17, 2151
Eight Hive Fleet Kraken ships jump into the 111 Virginis system.  The nearby sensor buoy notes their arrive and dispatches its contact report to the other buoys in the system.  One day later the buoy tender will jump in and download the logs.  It will take seventeen days for the contact report to reach Terra.

November 25, 2151
The Empire announces the establishment of the courier network.  The network will consist of couriers stationed at each side of jump points connecting inhabited or exploited systems.  Each courier will receive messages transmitted from the inhabited worlds of the system, ships, or bases, and jump through to the far side of the jump point to transfer the messages to the courier on the far side, which will then transmit the messages to the next courier in the network. 

This is a monumental accomplishment, greatly reducing message transit times between bases and planets in the Empire.  Currently, for a courier to get from the frontier at Shield Base in the Monoceri system to the solar system with a message it would take just over thirteen days.  Once the new network is in place, a message will take just eleven hours to get from Shield Base to Terra!  This will revolutionize not only business practices and personal communications, but will also allow for much faster comms between naval bases and forward fleets.   

December 4,2 151: The contact reports detailing Hive Fleet Kraken activity in the 111 Virginis system reach Terra.  Many of the major units of the fleet are in the midst of a major refit, so no action will be taken for now, at least until the buoy seeding force returns from the Omicron Tucanae frontier. 

December 15, 2151
The Buoy Seeding Force has delivered sensor buoys to the three known jump points in the Mu Draconis system, and to the second planet in the inner system.  No hive fleet ships are detected, so the force jumps out to continue seeding the nearby systems. 

January 31, 2152
A light raider is detected in the Lacaille system.  An interceptor group is dispatched from the naval base in the inner system, and a contact report is sent to the solar system via the ICN (Interstellar Communications Network).  Unlike the earlier courier network, where a courier based in Lacaille would have to travel all the way to the Solar system to report, taking days, the message, which is transmitted to a courier on the jump point in Lacaille, and then carried through the jump point to the Wolf system, where it is transmitted to a courier on the jump point to the solar system and then carried through that jump point by that courier, will arrive on Terra in just five hours. 

The light raider is positioned in the outer system, beyond the jump point to the Wolf system.  Fortunately, the interceptors are fast and will intercept the raider before it becomes a problem.  The interceptors close on the raider, until at twenty million kilometers it turns and begins running.  The interceptors steadily close, until at 160,000 kilometers they open fire with their 15 cm lasers.  It takes three salvoes before they get a penetrating hit, and the interceptors continue to pour fire into the fleeing raider.  After eleven additional salvoes and numerous additional hits, the commander of the interceptor group decides to close to enable his lasers to do more damage per hit.  The very next salvo, at 123,000 kilometers, cripples the raider, and the next destroys it.  A second message is sent to the solar system while the interceptors return to base. 

April 29, 2152
The ICN is extended to the 111 Virginis system, establishing a link with the sensor buoys in that system that have been tracking the Hive Fleet Kraken activity in the system. 

May 7, 2152
The 1st LR Survey Group has assembled on the jump point to the Lambda Volantis, joining the Buoy Seeding Force in the area beyond Omicron Tucanae.  Their survey of the 85 Draconis system is complete, and both adjacent systems have been probed. The Buoy Seeding Force has positioned sensor buoys on all three jump points in the system.  At this point, Captain Feng declares his mission complete.  The survey ships will return to Terra for overhaul and possible refits, accompanied by the Buoy Seeding Force.  No contact has been made with Hive Fleet Leviathan.   

May 31, 2152
A force of ten Hive Fleet Leviathan ships is detected by a sensor buoy in the Mu Doradus system, at the jump point to the 26 Draconis system.  The force is composed of four 10,650 ton Abuser class, and six ships of a new class, designated as the Equalizer class.  The ships jump through to the 26 Draconis system.  Shortly thereafter, the ships jump back to the Zeta Doradus system. 

June 11, 2152
The Hive Fleet Leviathan force appears in the 123 Herculis system. 

June 19, 2152
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet begins forming in the Solar System.  Many of its units are still training up, or in overhaul or refit status, but once it is ready it will head out to deal with either of the hive fleets, depending on their activity. 

August 11, 2152
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet leaves Terra for Omega Ceti.  The fleet consists of two dreadnoughts, six carriers, three battleships, one battlecruiser, four missile cruisers, two strike carriers, three jump cruisers, five destroyers, six escort destroyers, five missile destroyers, one hundred and ninety-two strike fighters, sixteen Aegis sensor fighters, a fleet scout, and six military replenishment ships.  Tankers, tugs, and UNREP ships are moving from various bases across the Empire to support the fleet, along with a survey fleet.  The 2nd LR Survey Fleet is being recalled from Bobruisk territory and will join the fleet as soon as possible. 

August 29, 2152
A light raider is spotted in the Lalande system, 365 mkm’s from Terra Nova.  The thirty-five warships of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet just happen to be passing through the system at the time, but are just over a billion kilometers away.  Rear Admiral Casella orders her fleet to continue on towards the jump point out of the system, while the naval forces assigned to Terra Nova respond.  The six interceptors of the Terra Nova squadron chase down the raider and destroy it with two salvoes from 120,000 kilometers range without suffering any damage of their own. 

September 3, 2152
A light raider is detected in the Alpha Centauri system, in between the base on the innermost planet and a group of freighters transporting resources from the Groombridge system to the Solar System.  The interceptors of the Alpha Centauri group are dispatched to intercept.  These interceptors are equipped with the latest soft X-ray lasers, and engage at 261,000 kilometers.  It isn’t long before the raider is reduced to wreckage. 

September 25, 2152
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet has refueled and resupplied from waiting support ships, and jumps into the 111 Virginis system.  The jump point is clear, as confirmed by the ICN ship that has been stationed on the far side.  Once in system, the fleet proceeds to the nearest jump point, to 63 Hydrae.  Given the prior hive activity in the system, Admiral Casella wants to probe each jump point to determine if Hive Fleet Kraken ships are present. 

September 26, 2152
The 63 Hydrae system is clear, and contains no planets, asteroids, or comets.  The fleet jumps out and heads to the next jump point.  Four days later the fleet clears the 100 Ceti system, which, like 63 Hydrae, has no planetary bodies and only a lonely comet. 

September 30, 2152
The fleet is assembled at the jump point to the 101 Ceti system.  To probe the jump point, five warships move away from the rest and then jump through.  The DN Pegasus, followed by the battleships Pride of Sol, Rigel, and Antares, and the battlecruiser Terra.  For these probing jumps, Admiral Casella had decided to only include ships with shields, to avoid exposing her destroyers to microwave and corrosive weapons. 

Unlike the other two probes, there is a Hive Fleet Kraken ship waiting for them on the far side.  It is a 3,298 ton Charon class, just 40,000 kilometers from the jump point.  The assault group appears 290,000 kilometers from the alien ship.  Admiral Casella orders her ships to pursue the alien ship and open fire. 

Reacting quickly, the alien ship jumped out to the 111 Virginis system, and to what it clearly thought would be safety.  Instead, it appeared in the midst of the assembled Expeditionary Fleet.  The alien ship was ravaged by a nearby destroyer and then nearly cut in half by a 30 cm Soft X-ray laser from the DN Andromeda.  The assault group jumped back and the fleet moved on to the next jump point. 

October 6, 2152
Having cleared all of the other jump points, the Expeditionary Fleet has arrived at the jump point to Omega Ceta.   As it is entirely possible that a large proportion of the Hive Fleet is on the other side, Admiral Casella will be taking three assault groups through the jump point.  Two of the groups are composed of five ships, the third is composed of four.  The three groups account for virtually all of the beam combatants in the fleet.  The carriers and missile ships move off of the jump point, in case the hive ships jump through. 

They find nothing on the far side, so Admiral Casella calls forward the support ships so her fleet can refuel before moving into the system.  In the meantime, the missile cruisers begin launching senor buoy carriers to various points in the system, to provide intelligence on the location of the Hive Fleet, if it is present. 

When the main fleet enters the system, the scout’s sensors pick up two contacts in the inner system approximately 350 mkm’s away.  The first contact, designated as Viper-1, consists of one previously unknown 19,762 ton ship designated as Scathach-01.  The second contact, designated Viper-2, is fifteen million kilometers in-system from the first group and consists of the 61.550 ton Osiris class suspected to be the hive’s flagship, two 20,550 ton Anubis class (laser combatant), and four 10,153 ton Mors class (point defense).  Admiral Casella orders an Alpha Strike with every fighter in the fleet, hoping to eliminate the enemy’s flagship in the first strike. 

Seconds later one hundred and eighty-two strike fighters are headed in-system, leaving only the DN’s fighters with the Fleet.  Unfortunately, one hour later the alien forces disappear through the system’s inner LaGrange point, jumping out to the outer system.  The fighters are ordered to hold position.  An hour later Viper-2, including the alien flagship, jumps back into the inner system and sets its course for the jump point where the main fleet is located.  The fighters are ordered to intercept. 

Unfortunately, force Viper-2 soon turns back and jumps back to the outer system.  Admiral Casella orders the fighters to continue to close on the LaGrange Point. 

2144 hours
The fighter group is now 2.3 mkm’s from Viper-2.  The fighter’s sensors have confirmed that the group has no additional ships.  The hive group is moving at 14,663 km/s, over five thousand km/s slower than the fighters.  Lt Command Tupin orders an overwhelming strike against the alien fleet.  Seventeen fighters targeted each of the Anubis class ships, ten each of the Mors, and fifty-two targeted the Osiris class (416 total missiles). 

The Sparrow IIb missiles raced away from the fighters at 41,266 km/s.   Forty seconds later they slammed into Viper-1.  The first wave scored as follows:

Osiris-1: 124 hits, 14 penetrating hits
Anubis-5: 28 hits, 3 penetrating hits
Anubis-6: 26 hits
Mors 1: 28 hits, 4 penetrating
Mors 2: 30 hits, 2 penetrating
Mors 3: 25 hits, 2 penetrating
Mors-4: 24 hits, 1 penetrating, destroyed (internal explosion)
121 missiles destroyed short of their targets by point defense

Second wave attacks
Osiris-1: 17 hits, 9 penetrating, destroyed (internal explosion)
Anubis-5: 15 hits, 1 penetrating, destroyed
Anubis-6: 16 hits, 1 penetrating
Mors-1: 8 hits, 2 penetrating, destroyed (internal explosion)
Mors-2: 7 hits, 2 penetrating, destroyed (internal explosion)
Mors-3: 14 hits, 8 penetrating     
10 missiles destroyed by point defense

Third wave attacks:
Anubis-6: 11 hits, 3 penetrating
Mors-3: 4 hits, 4 penetrating, destroyed
3 missiles destroyed by point defense

Fourth wave attacks:
Anubis-6: 4 hits, 3 penetrating

Fifth wave attacks:
Anubis-6: 4 hits, 3 penetrating

Sixth-tenth wave attacks
Anubis-6: 7 hits, 7 penetrations

The fighters launched a follow-up attack on the last surviving Hive ship, Anubis 5.  Thirty-two missiles raced away from the fighters and wiped the Anubis from space.  Their mission complete, the fighters turned back to their carriers. 

October 24, 2152
The fleet has been refueled and the carriers have rearmed their fighters, and restocked their magazines from the replenishment ships.  As survey ships enter Omega Ceti, the fleet moves in-system towards the inner LaGrange point.   Sensor buoys have been deployed to all critical locations in the system, and there is no sign of the hive. 

November 5, 2152
A new jump point is discovered in the outer system of Omega Ceti.  One of the survey ships launches a buoy carrier to position a buoy to observe the jump point. 

November 22, 2152
A second new jump point is discovered in the Omega Ceti system.  This one is located just inside of the orbit of Omega Ceti VI, and is in the general area that the Hive Fleet Kraken ships seem to retreat towards.  A survey ship launches a buoy carrier towards the jump point.  The grav survey of the system is now complete. 

November 24, 2152
Sensor buoys are now in place surveilling both jump points.  Admiral Casella orders the fleet to move to the most recently discovered jump point to probe it before unleashing the survey ships on the new system. 

November 27, 2152
An assault group jumps through the jump point just inside of the sixth planet’s orbit.  The five warships materialize 123,000 kilometers from the jump point, and 134,000 kilometers from the 19,762 ton Scathach class hive ship hovering just off of the jump point.  The Hive ship dives for the jump point and jumps out before the Terran ships can fire, materializing in the midst of the Terran fleet.  The soft X-ray lasers of the Andromeda and the Pride of Sol ripped the hive ship apart five seconds after it materialized. 

The Fleet jumped into the new system shortly thereafter.  The scout’s sensors were clear out to 400 mkm’s.  The new system was designated as the Iota Ursae Majoris system, with a K-8V primary orbited by two terrestrial planets, three gas giants, and a small rocky dwarf.  Neither of the terrestrial planets were particularly habitable as one was airless and the second had a thin helium-hydrogen atmosphere.  One of the moons orbiting the innermost gas giant was terrestrial class, though, and had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, although its atmosphere was thin and the moon was bitterly cold. 

Admiral Casella ordered a missile cruiser to launch a buoy carrier to the moon, just in case.  With the buoy carrier on the way and the survey fleet moving into the system, Admiral Casella ordered the fleet back to Omega Ceti to probe the other jump point. 

December 1, 2152
A Charon class hive ship appears in the 111 Virginis system, on the jump point to 100 Ceti.  One of the couriers left in the system by the fleet jumps through to Omega Ceti and warns the fleet.  Once Admiral Casella receives the warning, she dispatches her two strike carriers, along with several DDE’s and DD’s, and a jump cruiser, to return to the 111 Virginis system and deal with the threat. 

December 4, 2152
The fleet is now positioned at the second new jump point in the Omega Ceti system.  As before, the three assault groups have assembled on the jump point, and the carriers and other ships have retreated to one million kilometers from the jump point.  The three assault groups have incorporated missile cruisers, to make up for the destroyers sent with the strike carriers. 

1328 hours: The three assault groups jump through to the new system.  They are immediately taken under fire by waiting Hive Fleet Kraken ships.  The three assault groups are spaced almost evenly around the jump point, with the nearest being 270,000 kilometers from the jump point and the farthest 490,000 kilometers.  A Hive Fleet Kraken force composed of Mors class escort, Anubis class laser-cruiser, and two massive 93,890 ton ships designated as the Mania class by the tac computers, sits just 48,000 kilometers from the jump point.  The Anubis class ship fired on the nearest assault group with its heavy lasers, getting seven hits on a jump cruiser that knocked the ship’s shields down and scored her armor. 

As per their orders, the three assault groups accelerated towards the hive ships, their crews struggling to open fire as they came.  All of the Terran ships targeted the Anubis class unit.  The three Terran cruisers remained with their assault groups but did not open fire. 

In response the Hive fleet jumped back to Omega Ceti.  Admiral Casella ordered the assault groups to close on the jump point in case they jumped back. 

In Omega Ceti, the carriers of the Expeditionary Fleet observed the hive ships jump into the system.  Captain Scoggin ordered the fleet to maintain the range and for to prepare to launch their fighters.  The hive squadron set a course away from the Terran carriers, towards the outer system, eliminating the sensor buoy as they passed it on their way towards the outer system.   

Fifteen seconds later the hive ships turned back towards the jump point.  Captain Scoggin had delayed launching the fighters as he wanted the hive ships to get far enough away from the jump point that they couldn’t duck back to the other system if he launched on them, and his hesitation turned out to be prudent.  The hive ships didn’t jump out, though.  Instead, they passed the jump point and continued their pursuit of the fleeing carriers, which were now 1.4 mkm’s away and running at their top speed, just half of the hive’s speed. 

Forty-five seconds later the hive ships had closed to 1.1 mkm’s and were now almost 600,000 kilometers from the jump point.  Captain Scoggins gave the order and the one hundred and fifty-six fighters of the carrier group launched.  Five seconds later over a thousand missiles were in space, streaking towards the hive ships. 

Twenty-five seconds later the missiles slammed into the oncoming hive ships, wreathing them in fire and destruction.  None of them survived. 


First wave results
Mania 01: 139 hits, 8 penetrating hits, drifting
Mania 02: 135 hits, 13 penetrating hits, drifting
Mors 05: 28 hits, 3 penetrating hits
Anubis 08: 40 hits, 2 penetrating hits, destroyed
29 missiles destroyed by PD

Second wave results
Mania 01: 12 hits, 5 penetrating hits, destroyed
Mania 02: 36 hits, 20 penetrating hits, destroyed
Mors 05: 8 hits, 3 penetrating hits, destroyed
18 missiles destroyed by PD

All targets destroyed after 573 hits

Back in the new system, the jump cruiser that had been hit by corrosive fire from the hive ships has suffered light internal damage after the corrosive effect managed to eat through its armor, but the corrosion had stopped after destroying its search sensor and damaging its troop bay.  By then, the assault group’s personnel finally had enough time to look around and realized that they were in a very unusual system.  Approximately 435 mkm’s away lay the accretion disk of a black hole.  There was nothing else in close proximity, aside from dust and gas falling into the maw of the nearby (in galactic terms) beast.  After a short time, the assault ships jumped back to the Omega Ceti system and rejoined the victorious carriers. 

December 7, 2152
The strike carrier group detached from the 1st Expeditionary Fleet has arrived at the last known position of the Charon class hive ship in the 111 Virginis system, the jump point to the 100 Ceti system.  The group’s jump cruiser, along with two destroyers, head to the jump point and jump through, leaving the two strike carriers and their escorting DDE’s waiting one million kilometers from the jump point.  The jump cruiser and destroyers find space clear on the far side and soon jump back to 111 Virginis and join the carriers. 

December 21, 2152
Charon-06 appears in the 111 Virginis system on the jump point to 101 Ceti.    It soon jumps back out. 

February 8, 2153
A survey ship working in the Iota Ursae Majoris system discovers a single new jump point in the system as it finishes up the survey.  Following orders, the survey ship heads back to the Omega Ceti system, where he will report the discovery to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet before heading on to the black hole system. 

February 18, 2153
Admiral Casella dispatches an assault group, reinforced with the 1st Carrier Division, to probe the new jump point in the Iota Ursae Majoris system. 

March 12, 2153
A light raider is detected by a sensor buoy in the Zeta Doradus system.  Zeta Doradus is located in the Hive Fleet Leviathan frontier beyond Omicron Tucanae.  The contact report will be sent back eventually, but as the system is uninhabited and unexploited no ships will be sent. 

March 18, 2153
A Terran assault group jumps through the new jump point in the Iota Ursae Majoris system, leaving the 1st Carrier Division watching the jump point behind them.  They appear in a K5-V star system the computers will later determine to be 1112 Aquarii.  The system has a grand total of one atmosphere-less terrestrial class planet and three lonely comets.  There are no hive ships within sensor range of the jump point, so the assault group jumps back out. 

April 21, 2153
A LR survey ship working in the 63 Hydrae system, adjacent to the 111 Virginis system, detects an Iku class Hive Fleet Kraken ship sitting on top of the survey point it is heading towards.  This seems to confirm the fleet’s suspicion that the Iku is a survey ship of some sort. 

May 19, 2153
A light raider appears in the V577 Monoceri system.  This is a serious mistake on the part of the raiders, as this is the largest Imperial Naval fleet base outside of the solar system.  One of the base’s two interceptor squadrons is dispatched to deal with the raider, while the base’s naval squadron is put on alert in case there are more raiders lurking. 

The interceptors soon overtook the raider, which had turned and run as soon as it detected the Terran ships.  The six interceptors were an older design, not yet refitted to the latest standard, and so had to get relatively close to consistently hit the raider, and so one of the interceptors suffered several minor hits to its armor before the raider was destroyed. 

May 22, 2153
A raider salvage ship is detected two billion kilometers out in the Monoceri outer system.  This is somewhat more serious than the attack by the light raider, as the salvage ships are usually escorted by several larger warships.  The base commander sorties his fleet, two battlecruisers, a strike carrier, and four destroyers, all of the latest design. 

May 24, 2153
When the Monoceri task force reaches sensor range of the raider force the Terran ship’s sensors confirm the presence of the salvage ship, and detect its three escorts, two raiders and a light raider.  As the Terran sensors pick up the raider force, the raiders see the oncoming warships and turn to run.  Their flight will be futile given the Terran overtake speed of 5,700 km/s. 

Captain Galster, the CO of the BC Uranus, decides to directly engage the raider force instead of using the Io’s fighters, and the Terran force closes to 300,000 kilometers, well within range of even the DD’s 15 cm soft X-ray lasers, before opening fire.  The four destroyers concentrate on the light raider, while the two BC’s fire on one of the larger raiders.  They began scoring hits immediately, but all were low power hits from the smaller lasers, so Captain Galster ordered his ships to close to 200,000 kilometers and maintain fire.  Four salvoes later the light raider exploded, and the Terran DD’s turned their fire on the other raider.  Pretty soon only the salvage ship remained.  Captain Galster ordered his squadron to close on the civilian ship and to pound it into scrap.  It took just three salvoes from the devastating laser weapons to destroy the civilian ship. 

Jume 18, 2153
Admiral Casella has been considering declaring the campaign complete and returning to Terra, mostly because her ships are all in increasing need of overhauls, however, on this date two Hive Fleet Kraken ships appear in the Omega Ceti system, close to the jump point to the Iota Ursae Majoris system.  As this is the first sighting in some time, and one of the two ships is a Mors class anti-missile escort, she orders her fleet to relocate to the jump point to investigate the contact.  Their ETA is 3.5 days. 

June 21, 2153
The 1st Assault Group jumps through to the Iota Ursae Majoris system.  They are taken under fire as soon as they materialize close to the jump point.  The two Hive ships, a 10,153 ton Mors class destroyer escort, and a 19,762 ton Scathach class, are sitting just 15,000 kilometers away.  The Mors class fires ten lasers at the Terran destroyer Aydan Calligaris, hitting with all ten and scouring away 20% of her armor.

As the Terran ships struggle to recover from the jump shock, the Hive ships begin running from the jump point at the Scathach’s apparent maximum speed of 3,818 km/s.  A second salvo from the Mors manages to penetrate the Aydan Calligaris’ armor and causes significant internal damage.  Admiral Casella orders the damaged DD to open the range while the rest of the Terran ships pursue the hive ships.     

The Assault Group closes to point blank range as the Terran crews try to get their system’s operational, while the Calligaris flees.  A third laser salvo hits the Calligaris at 65,000 kilometers, causing extensive internal damage and dropping the DD’s speed to 50%.  The hive ships turned and pursued the Calligaris continuing to fire and inflict damage, with the Terran ships in close pursuit.  However, the hive ships weren’t pursuing the Calligaris, they used the opportunity to duck through the jump point.  Unfortunately for them, they appeared in the midst of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet. 

The Mors lasted exactly as long as it took the BC Terra’s soft X-ray lasers to discharge.  The Terra’s 45cm spinal laser tore a massive hole in the Mors’ thin armor, and the rest of her lasers savaged the ship, leaving it breaking up after a single salvo.  The Scathach was destroyed by the Pride of Sol’s lasers immediately after. 

The Aydan Calligaris rejoined the Assault Group and the group jumped back to Omega Ceti.  Damage control teams worked frantically to repair the Calligaris’ damage, fearing the accumulation of additional damage from the corrosive effect of the Hive ship’s weapons.  For some reason, in this case, there was no such corrosion and the DC teams were able to focus on the destroyer’s most significant damage. 

June 27, 2152
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet has returned to the jump point in the Omega Ceti system that ultimately leads back to the Terran Empire.  The Aydan Calligaris has repaired its engines and some of the other damage the DD suffered during the battle, but the ship has run out of maintenance supplies.  Admiral Casella orders the fleet to refuel and resupply from the waiting support ships, and then return to the Solar System.  The campaign is over. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: November 24, 2024, 10:00:29 AM »

April 16, 2150
The courier from Bastion Base arrives in the solar system and transmits its contact report to fleet command. 

For the last month, the Senate, government, and Navy have been struggling with the target for the next expeditionary campaign.  Hive Fleet Kraken in the Omega Ceti system is the favored target of the Navy, as it remains undefeated and a current threat.  The Senate favors launching a campaign against the Bobruisk, as there are powerful business interests that fear that they’ll lose access to resources in the frontier if the Bobruisk continue to expand.  The administration has no clear goal, and all three groups are conflicted.  The arrival of the courier changes everything and makes the target of the next campaign an easy decision.  Hive Fleet Leviathan was still active on the far frontier, and given the presence of an ancient construct in the Omicron Tucanae system, their activities in and around the system could not be tolerated. 

After the last campaign in the Omega Ceti system, the Navy had quietly decommissioned the Retribution Fleet in light of the restructuring of the Navy’s offensive strategies.  In its place the Navy has instituted the Expeditionary Fleet, which, while being composed of mostly the same ships, has a different emphasis.  Ever since the battles in Omega Ceti, the Empire has been building additional carriers and fighters, and carrier training groups have multiplied around Terra. 

On the same day that the courier arrived, the Navy’s newest carrier, the Allegiance of Terra class Heavy Carrier, launched from the yards, along with her two sister ships, the Angel of Retribution and the Eternal Crusader.  These massive ships would not participate in the upcoming campaign, of course, as only the Allegiance of Terra had her fighters, and both the fighter crews and the Allegiance’s crew were untrained.  In addition, there were four newly built carriers either training or refitting after training cruises. 

The core of the new Expeditionary Fleet would be composed of two carriers and five strike carriers, all equipped with Eagle class strike fighters with fully trained crews and magazines full of the latest Sparrow IIb ASM’s.  In addition, there would be two battlecruiser battlegroups, each composed of a battlecruiser and a destroyer and a destroyer escort, a battleship group composed of two battleships, a destroyer and a destroyer escort, and the flagship group, composed of the DN Pegasus, a fleet scout, and a destroyer and a destroyer escort.  An additional four destroyers and two destroyer escorts would accompany the fleet, assigned to escort the carriers.  Two jump cruisers would be assigned to the force as it advanced to the frontier to provide the nucleus of a jump assault force, if needed.  Rear Admiral Casella, an early advocate of carrier power and known as a flexible and pragmatic commander, is placed in command of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet. 

To support the expeditionary force, two Fleet Support Groups are assembled.   The first is a fast group of UNREP ships, including the latest class of combat munitions ships, while the second is composed of slower tugs, older UNREP ships, and tankers.  Finally, the 1st Long-Range Survey Group, currently going through overhaul at Shield Base, will join the fleet in the Omicron Tucanae system if survey efforts are needed in the adjoining systems. 

The combined force will depart for Bastion Base in the Chi Draconis system on May 1, 2150.  Their ETA will be 42 days. 

May 3, 2150
A light Raider appears in the Omicron Tucanae system, in between the first and second planets, detected by the sensor buoy in orbit over the innermost planet.  The buoy network logs the contact and continues to track the raider.  The ship is headed towards innermost planet, which currently is home to the 3rd Xeno Study Regiment and the 91st Guard Brigade, present to study the ancient artifact on the planet.  The Imperial ground forces have no orbital defenses, and when it enters orbit the raider begins a ground bombardment.  But after one salvo the raider departs. 

May 20, 2150
The Long-Range Survey Ship Husband, operating beyond the Bobruisk contact point of HIP 48659, jumps through a newly discovered jump point into the Eho Pyxidis system.  This system was assumed to be known to the Bob’s, like the other eight systems found beyond HIP 48659, as it has a stabilized jump point.  Like the other eight systems, no Bob ships were seen upon jumping into the system.  There was a planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere in the inner system, so the Smith set out to a way point towards the inner system to be in range of her sensor torpedoes. 

May 22, 2150
The Husband detects a previously unknown Bobruisk ship, a 32,000 ton commercial ship their database assigns the class name of Limpid class.  The ship is moving at 2,223 km/s and appears to be on a course for the jump point.  The Husband continues on towards her launch point.     

May 23, 2150
The Husband has reached her firing point and launches a sensor torpedo targeted on the second planet at 1757 hours. 

May 25, 2150
The Husband’s sensor torpedo is closing on the second planet when it detects a Bobruisk ship in orbit over the planet.  It is a Cerulean class ship, 35,164 tons, and assumed to be a warship with a known speed of 13,878 km/s and an observed shield strength of 600.  The sensor torpedo reaches the planet and detects no other ships, but does detect a large ground force on the surface.  No installations or populations are detected, though, ruling this planet out as a candidate for the Bobruisk home planet.  The Husband heads back to the jump point to call through the other ships in the group to survey the system. 

June 12, 2150
The expeditionary fleet has reached Bastion Base in the Chi Draconis system.  Admiral Casella orders the fleet to refuel while the crews take R&D on the orbiting recreation base.  Once the ships are refueled and the crews given a break, the fleet will continue on to the HIP 31292 system and begin sweeping for Hive Fleet Leviathan ships. 

June 20, 2150
The survey ships in the Eho Pyxidis system discover a Bob outpost on an asteroid as they survey the system. 

June 21, 2150
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet enters the HIP 31292 system and strips the logs of the sensor buoy on the jump point.  The logs include a message from the buoy tender, which has been hiding in deep space since its near encounter with a Leviathan warship.  The Hive ship has not been seen since, and the system is barren, containing only two comets. 

Admiral Casella orders her fleet into the system, towards the nearest comet, which is located centrally as it is more or less in between all of the system’s jump points.  In addition, she has her comms section send a message to the buoy tender letting them know they can proceed back to Bastion Base. 

June 26, 2150
The expeditionary fleet has reached its target comet and found nothing.  Instead of casting about the system aimlessly looking for a single Hive ship, Admiral Casella orders her fleet to continue on towards Omicron Tucanae.  She detaches three destroyers and two light carriers to return to their entry point and escort their support ships to the Omicron Tucanae system. 

June 28, 2150
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet, en route to the jump point to the Omicron Tucanae system, detects a Hive Fleet Leviathan Alpha class ship sitting on the jump point, 1.23 billion kilometers away.  The detection comes when the Alpha throttles up its engines and becomes visible on both the fleet’s sensors and the sensor buoy close to the jump point.  Admiral Casella orders the fleet to advance on the jump point.  The Alpha class leaves the jump point and begins closing on the Fleet. 

At 1911 hours, Admiral Casella orders the CVS Europa to launch her fighter group, which then advances on the Alpha.  At 2206 hours the fighter’s sensors confirm that the Alpha is a 4,744 ton ship with military engines and a top observed speed of 13,516 km/s.  At 2244 hours the Europa’s fighters launch forty Sparrow IIb ASM’s at the Alpha.  It took thirty-five seconds for the ASM’s to reach the fleeing Alpha, and it took just half of the missiles to destroy the small ship.  The Europa’s fighters turned back towards the fleet, which had resumed its course towards the jump point. 

June 30, 2150
The expeditionary fleet jumps into the Omicron Tucanae system and strips the logs of the sensor buoy close to the jump point.  The network’s logs indicates that there has been repeated Leviathan activity at the Lambda Volantis and Zeta Doradus jump points.  Admiral Casella orders her fleet to the Lambda Volantis jump point as it is the closest, and the location of the bulk of the activity. 

July 4, 2150
The expeditionary fleet arrives at the jump point to Lambda Volantis without incident.  As she does not know what lies in wait for them on the far side of the jump point, Admiral Casella orders her fleet into assault configuration and then orders the assault elements through the jump point. 

A jump cruiser soon returns to report negative contacts on the far side of the jump point and the fleet jumps into the system.  Lambda Volantis is a small brown dwarf orbited by a single dwarf planet and a small scattering of asteroids and comets.  The system was discovered by surveyors in 2146 and promptly ignored as it held little promise.  Worse, the single planet had an extremely distant orbit, at 5.3 billion kilometers, making it an unlikely target for exploitation even if it had resources.  Now, though, with the Hive known to be operating in the system, the fleet must check the planet to determine if it harbored a hive presence. 

Admiral Casella detaches the Mars II’s battlegroup to watch the jump point, supported by the CVS Io, and sets out for the planet. 

July 12, 2150
The Support Group, accompanied by the warships detached by the Carrier Strike Force, enter the Omicron Tucanae system and remain at the jump point back to the HIP 31292 system.

July 14, 2150
The expeditionary fleet is now 375 mkm’s from the planet and within range of the fleet scout’s powerful active sensors.  No hive ships are detected, but if they were the smaller class of ship it is possible that they would escape detection at this range, so the fleet continues to close.  Early on the 15th the fleet arrives over the planet to find it barren and alone.  Admiral Casella orders her fleet to return to a central location in the system, and sends a message off to the force at the jump point to call the survey group forward as soon as it arrives in Omicron Tucanae. 

August 3, 2150
The 1st LR Survey Group arrives in Lambda Volantis and begins its survey efforts. 

August 7, 2150
The 1st Survey Group discovers a jump point in Lambda Volantis, and Admiral Casella orders the fleet to advance to the new jump point. 

August 11, 2150
The assault elements of the expeditionary fleet jump in through the newly discovered jump point and find themselves in the 85 Draconis system.  This system has an orange star primary with numerous planets, moons, and asteroids, including a planet with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.    Admiral Casella orders the fleet into the system to probe the inner system. 

August 18, 2150
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet has reached orbit of the third planet and has found nothing within range of its sensors.  Admiral Casella orders the fleet back to the Lambda Volantis system.  In addition, she dispatches orders for the support ships and their escorting warships to advance to the jump point to the Lambda Volantis system.  Some of her smaller ships are down to 56% on fuel, and she wants to refuel her ships as soon as possible. 

August 23, 2150
The Imperial Ecological Council declares Luna to be a 0.0 colony cost world and opens it to colonization from Terra. 

September 4, 2150
The survey ships have completed their survey of the Lambda Volantis system without finding any further jump points.  This is disappointing as the sensor buoys have confirmed Hive Fleet Leviathan ships transiting into and out of Omicron Tucanae from this system. 

Admiral Casella orders her fleet back to the Omicron Tucanae system, where they will join the support ships, refuel, rearm, and resupply before heading to the Zeta Doradus system.  The Mars battlegroup will remain in the system for now. 

September 11, 2150
The expeditionary fleet has been rearmed and refueled, and sets out for the jump point to the Zeta Doradus system. 

September 15, 2150
The expeditionary Fleet arrives in the Zeta Doradus to find nothing near the jump point.  Admiral Casella orders her fleet into the system to probe the <almost> habitable world that is the second planet in the system. 

September 18, 2150
A buoy tender in the 68 Andromedae system (Bobruisk frontier) detects a Light Raider five million kilometers ahead of it, sitting motionless in space.  The tender turned away, and the raider went into pursuit, but fortunately the tender was nearly 3,000 km/s faster and it soon pulled away.  Once the raider was out of sight the buoy tender turned towards the jump point that led back to Victory Base in the Groombridge system. 

September 21, 2150
The expeditionary fleet reaches planet 2 in the Zeta Doradus system and finds nothing of note in the inner system.  Admiral Casella decides to probe the four additional jump points in the system. 

Late in the day the buoy tender that encountered the raider in the 68 Andromedae system jumped into the Groombridge system and sent off its contact report.  The base commander only has an interceptor group and no warships, so cannot send a force himself.  Instead, he dispatches a courier to the solar system with the contact report. 

September 27, 2150
The Bobruisk Corporation, in an unexpected move, approached the diplomatic ships in the HIP 48659 system with a request to establish trade relations. 

October 9, 2150
The expeditionary fleet has cleared the 94 Draconis system and will depart for the next system on its list. 

October 7, 2150
The courier from the Groombridge system arrives in the solar system with the news of the contact with the raider in the 68 Andromedae system.  Due to a heated political debate going on within the senate involving several minor scandals in the navy’s administration, the response is delayed several weeks.  Eventually the Pluto Battlegroup, consisting of a battlecruiser and two destroyers, is dispatched to the 68 Andromedae system. 

November 13, 2150
Europa, in the Solar System, has been declared a colony cost 0.0 world and opened to colonization. 

November 16, 2150
Admiral Casella is frustrated.  Her fleet has completed a sweep of the systems surrounding the Omicron Tucanae system, and the systems surrounding them, and found no sign of the Hive fleet.  For now, she orders her fleet back to the Omicron Tucanae system to join the support ships and refuel and resupply.  In the meantime, the survey group assigned to her fleet will continue pushing back the boundaries of known space. 

November 21, 2150
The 2nd LR Survey Group sets out for Terra after completing its survey of the 95 Pegasi system in Bobruisk space.  The results of the 2nd’s efforts have been interesting but ultimately disappointing.  All of the systems beyond HIP 48658 are connected by stabilized jump points, but only one had a Bobruisk presence and it, like HIP 48659, held only an outpost.  The survey will have to continue, but for now the survey group needs to refuel, resupply, and undergo an overhaul cycle. 

December 1, 2150
A massive colonization effort has been underway to transfer population from Terra to the newly terraformed moons in the solar system.  A large population has been transferred to Luna, and, under a plan to diversify Terra’s industrial concentration, tugs begin moving shipyards to Luna.  In addition, several freighter groups begin transferring financial centers to Luna. 

February 2151
A new generation of fire controls is under development in the Silberberg research labs on Terra.  These new fire controls include a new generation of ECCM, and will be the first to include the newly developed hardening technology that will make them resistant to the Hive’s microwave weapons. 

March, 2151
Admiral Casella has decided to return to Terra.  There have been no sightings of ships belonging to Hive Fleet Leviathan since June of last year.  The survey group has pushed back the borders of known space beyond Omicron Tucanae to two or even three jumps out, and no sign of the remaining Hive ships have been found.  Her ships are consuming maintenance supplies at an increasing rate, and there appears to be little remaining to do in this system. 

As the fleet departs for home, she composes her report, which will recommend the establishment of a major fleet base on Omicron Tucanae I.  The planet had already been slated for a base, as it was the location of an ancient construct, but with the Hive still active in the region it would need to be heavily garrisoned to ensure its safety.  In addition, Admiral Casella will propose the establishment of a network of sensor buoys in all surrounding systems, to track any Hive ships still active in the area, and the continuing survey of the surrounding systems to push back the border. 

May 5, 2151
An UNREP group, having been detached from the expeditionary fleet support group, is moving towards Omicron Tucanae I to drop off maintenance supplies for the base to be established there when it detects a light raider 33 mkm’s away.  The UNREP group contains ships of the latest design, capable of the fleet standard speed of 7,500 km/s, so they are faster than the raider, however, they divert away from the base to open the range.  The raider does not pursue, so after a day the support ships turn towards the base.  The support ships send a contact report to the buoy tender moving across the system.

May 10, 2151
A LR survey ship working in the Mu Doradus system, three jumps from Omicron Tucanae, detects ten Hive Fleet Leviathan ships sitting 50 mkm’s from the system primary, in between the orbits of the second and third planets, in apparently empty space.  The small fleet consists of four 10,650 ton Abuser class, armed with lasers, and six ships of a new type of ship of unknown size or capability.  The Komorov is the closest ship to the contact, just 28 mkm’s away.  Fortunately, the alien ships are moving at just 3,801 km/s, much slower than the survey ships.  The Komorov immediately turns away from the contact and dispatches a contact report to the other ships in the system.  Once they receive the message the other ships set out towards their entry jump point.

After an hour it becomes clear the hive ships are not pursuing the withdrawing survey ships, but are on a course across the system. 

May 14, 2151
The LRSS Komorov is the first survey ship to reach the jump point back to Terran space.  Since the initial detection of the hive ships, there has been no further sign of their presence.  The Komorov jumps out to take word back to the Empire, while the other ships will assemble on the jump point before leaving the system. 

May 26, 2151
The 1st Expeditionary Fleet has returned to Terra.  Admiral Casella’s report and recommendations are accepted, and planning begins to establish a major fleet base in the Omicron Tucanae system.  The stabilized jump network to that system is almost complete, and should hasten the establishment of the base considerably.  Transports begin loading STO and Guard units to protect the new base location, along with the ancient artifact found there.  The fact that the fleet only encountered a few hive ships, and that there are still hive warships that have not been accounted for, continues to be a concern for the Admiralty. 

In addition, a group of newly built missile cruisers, with battlecruiser and carrier support, will be dispatched to the area to seed the systems discovered so far with sensor buoys to track the hive ships, should they reappear.  This will have to wait until the Pluto Battlegroup returns to Sol and goes through overhaul, as the jump cruiser Assassin will be needed for this mission. 

June 12, 2151
The LRSS Komorov enters the Chi Draconis system and sends off its contact report to the base in the inner system.  Upon receipt, the base commander dispatches a courier to the Solar system.  The courier’s ETA to the Sol system is 16.3 days.

June 28, 2151
The courier from Bastion base in the Chi Draconis system arrives in the solar system and sends off its contact report relating to the Hive Fleet Leviathan squadron detected in the Mu Doradus system.  Naval HQ decides to stick with its current plan to dispatch a force to seed the area with sensor buoys, with special attention on the Mu Doradus system.   This will take some time, as the fleet is currently undergoing a major refit to update its major combatants with the latest weapons, shields, and fire controls. 

July 21, 2151
Battlegroup Jupiter enters the Omicron Tucanae system to search for the light raider reported by returning support ships.  Two days later, as the battlegroup approaches the third planet, their sensors pick up the raider in orbit over the second planet.  The battlegroup changes course to the second planet.  Twenty-four minutes later, when the battlecruiser and its two escorting destroyers were still 47 mkm’s from the second planet, the raider set its course for the outer system.  It was clearly heading towards something that the Terran ships couldn’t see, because it wasn’t heading directly away, but rather on a tangent to the battlegroup’s course.  The Terran ships were nearly 2,000 km/s faster, and set out in pursuit. 

Three hours and fourteen minutes later the raider was within range of the Terran warship’s weapons.  The squadron opened fire at 248,000 kilometers range, scouring three hits on the light raider’s armor.  It took five salvoes of laser fire to destroy the raider.  The enemy ship only got off one shot at the pursuing Terran ships, and although it got four hits on the Pluto, all four splashed against the big ship’s shields, causing no damage. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: November 20, 2024, 12:04:43 PM »



December 3, 2148: The Europa Detachment is operating in the 111 Virginis system, placing sensor buoys close to all of its jump points to warn of movements by Hive Fleet Kraken in the Omega Ceti System one jump away.  When the strike carrier and her escorts reach thirty-two million kilometers from the jump point to the Omega Ceti system a group of Kraken ships appear on the jump point.  There is a single 20,583 ton Anubis class ship, a 10,153 ton Mors class ship, a 3,296 ton Charon class ship, and two new ships, designated as the 93,890 ton Mania class.  The Kraken ships are divided into two groups, sitting just off of the jump point itself, as if they are guarding against an incursion from the far side. 

Captain Boddy decides against launching an attack with his fighters, as he is tempted to do.  He only has eleven fighters, and has no wish to provoke the swarm ships, which can outrun his squadron, and given the presence of the Anubis class, outranges his ships as well.  Instead, he orders his fighters to launch and deploy a sensor buoy at a point 100,000 kilometers from the jump point, as a test to gage the swarm’s reaction.  He also orders his ships to deactivate their active sensors, so as to not draw the attention of the swarm ships.  With their sensors down, the swarm ships disappear off of the squadron’s displays. 

Just over two hours later the delivery vehicle arrives on target and deploys the sensor buoy, which begins to send data back to the squadron.  Unfortunately, the buoy shows nothing.  This is somewhat alarming, as the buoy’s thermal sensors are powerful enough to detect the larger swarm ships far beyond its current range to the jump point.  Captain Boddy then orders his squadron to activate their sensors, out of fear that the swarm ships might be charging his squadron, but nothing shows up on their screens either. 

After consulting with his sensor chief, Captain Boddy orders his fighters to deploy a second buoy closer to the jump point, just in case, and for his fleet to begin retreating to their entry jump point.  It is clear the swarm ships detected his fleet and retreated through the jump point.  He has no desire to wait until they are reinforced. 

December 5, 2148: While traveling back to the jump point to the 111 Virginis system, the Europa Detachment detects a 3,298 ton Charon class Kraken ship forty-four million kilometers ahead of them.  The Charon class is suspected to be a survey/scout.  Captain Boddy immediately orders his fighters into space to chase down the Kraken ship.  The fighters race away from the strike carrier towards the swarm ship, which is moving on a tangent across the squadron’s course.  Twenty-two minutes later they launch twenty-three Sparrow IIb ASM’s at the target.  Twenty seconds later the missiles intercept the target, swatting it from space.  The fighters turn back to their carrier and the squadron continues on towards its exit point. 

December 21, 2148: The Europa and her escorts jump into the Lalande system and set out for Terra Nova.  The strike carrier sends off a report on its mission to the naval base on the colony as they get under way.  Several hours later the squadron receives a response.  The group is ordered to proceed to Shield Base, and from there establish a sensor network to cover the operational territory of the original swarm.  Their ETA is just over nineteen days. 

January 9, 2148: The terraforming of Terra’s moon is nearly complete.  It will take some time for the water vapor in the atmosphere to settle out, but in all other respects the terraforming is finished.  Colonization will wait until more of the vapor has settled, but for now the terraformers are moving on to Mars. 

January 11, 2149: The Europa is at the jump point to Barnard’s Star in the Monoceri system.  This is the first location that they will leave a buoy.  They will be following the following path to plant their sensor buoys:

Monoceri(Shield Base) – Barnard’s Star – Luhman – 25 Ursae Minoris – Gamma Carinae – Chi Draconis

Their actions from Chi Draconis will be determined by various factors they find when they arrive in the system. 

February 11, 2149: The Europa Group jumps into the GJ 1128 system, located adjacent to the Omicron Tucanae system, home to an ancient construct.  As the strike carrier prepares to launch her fighters to deploy the sensor buoys, the ship’s sensors pick up anomalous readings from an area of space just outside the orbit of the system’s outermost gas giant.  Captain Boddy orders the fighters to deploy a sensor buoy close to the anomaly.  The Anomaly is over thirteen million kilometers across, so the fighters will place four buoys around the outer perimeter.  In addition, the fighters send a buoy bus towards the third planet, which is a colony cost 0.83 world with an oxygen nitrogen atmosphere. 

Unlike the previous systems, where the group moved on after launching the drones, this time the Europa and her consorts waited for the drones to reach their targets and deploy their buoys. 

February 14, 2149: The buoys have been deployed throughout the GJ1128 system and no ships of any type have been detected.  The Europa group continues on to their next target. 

February 16, 2149: The Europa Group sends its last two buoy carrier missiles on their way to seed the jump points in the Tau Cephei system’s jump points with sensor buoys and then sets out for Terra to reload more buoys. 

March 23, 2149: The Europa Battlegroup departs Terra, rearmed with missiles and their crews rested.  They will proceed along the line Sol - Wolf 359 – Alpha Centauri – Groombridge 34 – Beta Antliae – 68 Andromeda – HIP 48659, laying buoys along the way.  The HIP 48659 system is particularly important as that is the only system known to be exploited by the Bobruisk.  Once that line of buoys is complete, the battlegroup will return to the Beta Antliae system to begin laying another line of buoys through the chain that connects to the frontier beyond the Monoceri system. 

 May, 2149: The Europa Battlegroup is approaching the jump point to the 68 Andromeda system when it detects ships belonging to the Bobruisk on the jump point.  There are two, a 72,000 ton ship suspected to be a stabilization ship, and a 17,755 ton ship equipped with shields and believed to be some sort of warship.  The Bobruisk acknowledge the Terran ships’ presence, but aren’t interested in talking.  The Europa launches her fighters, which then launch a buoy carrier missile towards the selected observation point.  The Bob ships watch as the missile races away and places its sensor buoy 65,000 kilometers away.  Once the buoy is placed the Europa’s fighters land and the Terran group jumps out to the 68 Andromeda system. 

The ships arrive in the 68 Andromeda system to find all three local jump points stabilized, apparently by the Bobruisk.   This system is adjacent to the original contact point with the Bobruisk, so it appears they are expanding towards Imperial space.  The Europa continues its mission to seed the jump points with buoys. 

Late in the month the Europa and her escorts arrive in the HIP 48659 system, home of the contact point with the Bobruisk.  The Europa launches her fighters and dispatches buoys to picket the only known jump point and the four planets of the system. 

June, 2149: The Europa Battlegroup has completed its mission to seed sensor buoys in the areas frequented by the old swarm.  The group sets course for the Terra. 

July 2149: The 2nd Long Range Survey Group arrives at Victory Base in the Groombridge system.  The survey ships give their crews R&R after the long trip from Shield Base and begin refueling from the base’s fuel tanks.  Once the R&R is complete, the group will move on to the HIP 48659 system to begin a survey.  The system is claimed by the Bobruisk, but the Empire has grown tired of the Bobruisk Corporation’s standoff nature.  Several diplomatic ships have been stationed close to the Bobruisk forward base on a moon in the system for several years, but have made no progress in getting the Bobruisk to open up.  Despite their continued attempts at diplomacy, the Bobruisk continually reply with requests for our ships to leave the system.  The Imperial government is particularly interested in the extent of the Bobruisk nation, and the Navy is concerned about the Bobruisk expansion towards Shield Base and Bastion Base in the old swarm’s territory.  So, the survey group is being dispatched to the HIP 48659 system to begin probing the Bobruisk territory.  Reinforcements from the Solar System will be dispatched to Victory Base in the near future. 

July, 2149
Overview of Known Threats to Imperial Security

Hive Fleet Leviathan: Thought to be decimated and scattered after the last battle in Chi Draconis in May of 2144.  The Retribution Fleet destroyed 210 Hive ships in multiple battles.  Twenty-seven ships are unaccounted for, including the 130,000 ton Hive Queen.  Just one Hive Fleet Leviathan ship has been spotted since then, an Alpha class ship of unknown type and capability. Most recently in the Omicron Tucanae system in the far frontier. 



The spotting of the Alpha class ship in Omicron Tucanae suggests that Hive Fleet Leviathan may not have left the local area as originally thought, and may be active in the far frontier, or just beyond known space.  As a result, sensor buoys have been deployed to every jump point in the following chain:

Monoceri(Shield Base) – Barnard’s Star – Luhman 16 – 25 Ursae Minoris – Gamma Carinae – Chi Draconis – Hip 31292 – Omicron Tucanae – GJ 1128 – Tau Cephi (linking back to Gamma Carinae)

There have been no further sitings since the buoys were placed. 

Hive Fleet Kraken: Hive Fleet Kraken is known to be active in Omega Ceti and 111 Virginis, and is suspected to be active in an unknown number of systems beyond Omega Ceti.  The Retribution Fleet destroyed one hundred and twelve Kraken ships in the Retribution Fleet’s attack on Omega Ceti, however, the remaining Kraken ships, including the 60,000 ton Osiris class ship that seems to be their Hive Queen, forced the Retribution Fleet to retreat and the Kraken fleet remains a serious threat in the area around Omega Ceti.  Thirteen Hive Fleet Kraken ships are known to still be active in and around Omega Ceti, and the Imperial Navy has no information on the size of the hive’s remaining force. 



To keep track of Hive Fleet Kraken’s expansion towards Imperial territory, the Imperial Navy has laid a series of sensor buoys at the jump points of the following systems:

Lalande(Terra Nova) – Tau Ceti – Sigma Eridani – 111 Virginis

The Bobruisk Corporation: The Bob’s, as they are commonly known in the Empire, are an isolationist race discovered in the HIP 48659 system in August of 2135 by survey ships working in the system.  The system survey was never completed as the survey ships immediately withdrew.  Eventually communications were established and the aliens identified themselves as the Bobruisk Corporation.  Although standoffish, the Bobruisk confirmed that they had suffered something like our Raid Years, however, the scientists and negotiators communicating with them were given the impression that the Bobruisk had been at least somewhat successful in fighting off the raiders that struck their system. 

In the years since communications were established the Bobruisk have tolerated the presence of our diplomatic ships in their frontier system, however, they have been unwilling to be more forthcoming with our ambassadors or make any agreements with the Empire.  In the years since contact the Bobruisk have expanded towards the Empire.  They have stabilized the jump point in HIP 48659 that leads to 68 Andromedae and then to Beta Antliae, and based on the traffic in the 68 Andromedae system they have expanded into the chain beginning there and leading through 7 Centauri.  That chain was surveyed by Imperial ships some time ago and deemed of little interest at the time, due to its distance from Sol and its proximity to the unknown threat of the Bobruisk, as well as the chain’s connection to the frontier beyond the base at Monoceri.  Of the four systems beyond 68 Andromedae, one is planet-less, and the next two are of limited interest due to containing only minor resource deposits.  The fourth, 58 Cassiopeiae, has not been surveyed, but possessed only two planets, one of which was a gas giant. 

As the Bobruisk have been contained to the 68 Andromedae – 7 Centauri chain, the Empire has been content to leave them alone, however, the establishment of a stabilized jump point pair between 68 Andromedae and Beta Antliae is of concern, as it implies that the Bobruisk have the intention of expanding towards territory the Empire considers its property. 

Over the years Imperial ships have observed a total of twenty-seven Bobruisk ships in and around HIP 48659.  Eight of these ships were obviously military, and range in speed from 1,769 km/s to the astounding Caustic class ships that were only observed at a distance, but were seen to be moving at 20,294 km/s.  Seventeen of the ships were commercial in nature, with the largest being the 158,876 ton Belligerent class.  Most of the commercial ships have speeds in the 1 to 1,500 km/s range.  Two of the ships were only observed briefly and at a distance, and could not be determined to be either commercial or military.   

Currently, the Bobruisk have five 32,261 ton commercial Calamitous class ships, one 12,105 ton Corpulent class warship, an 36, 029 ton Effulgent class commercial ship, and a 158,876 ton Bellicose class commercial ship stationed at their forward base in the HIP 48659 system, and one of their fast Caustic class warships in the 68 Andromedae system at the jump point to HIP 48659. 

July 30, 2149: The 2nd LR Survey Group enters the HIP 48659 system and begins surveying for additional jump points and resources.   

August 4, 2149: One of the 2nd LR Survey group’s ships determines that the 7th moon of the 4th planet, the location of the Bobruisk outpost, is the site of large deposits of seven TN resources, all present at high availability levels.  In addition, the Bobruisk Corporation has stationed a large ground force at their moon base. 

September 6, 2149: The LR Survey Ship Jarvis jumps out of the HIP 48659 system through a newly discovered stabilized jump point and discovers the Mu Delphini system.  The system has a small red primary star and seven planets, five of which are gas giants.  One of the inner terrestrial planets has an atmosphere of CO2 and Nitrogen.  There are no Bobruisk ships within detection range of the jump point.  The Jarvis jumps back to the HIP 48659 system to report its findings. 

September 7, 2149: The Resnik, another LR survey ship with the 2nd, jumps out of HIP 48659 through a second newly discovered jump point, this one also stabilized.  The survey ship discovers the Gliese 835 system.  The system primary is a small red star orbited by three dwarf planets and a single terrestrial planet.  None of the planets have atmospheres and no Bobruisk ships are detected in the system. 

On that same day another of the 2nd’s survey ships jumps through a third newly discovered jump point, finding itself in the Iota Pegasi system.  This system has a hot F5-V central star, orbited by four terrestrial planets and a dwarf.  None of the planets has an atmosphere, and as before, the jump point is stabilized and no Bobruisk ships are in sight of the jump point. 

September 10, 2149: The Onizuka jumps through the fifth and final jump point found in the HIP 48659 system and finds itself in a planet-less brown dwarf system.  Clearly none of the systems connecting to the HIP 48659 system are the home system of the Bobruisk, although some may be exploited by them.  The survey group’s commander orders the 2nd to move to the Mu Delphini system and begin a survey. 

September 14, 2149
The Imperial Navy commissions an upgrade for the Galaxy class dreadnoughts.  The upgrade includes improved EW systems and the navy’s newly developed soft x-ray laser weaponry and theta class shielding.  In addition, the navy decides to remove the DN design’s extra engine, reducing the class to the fleet standard speed.  While the increased speed was originally intended to give the DN a better ability to chase down enemies, and redundancy to withstand internal damage, the Andromeda’s performance in Omega Ceti was judged to not be worth the 8,000 tons that had to be devoted to the additional engine, or 10% of the mass of the entire vessel.  By removing the engine, the designers were able to significantly increase the design’s shielding, and its laser weaponry.  In fact, between the new class of shield generators and the increased tonnage devoted to them, the Flight Ic’ shielding is twice as powerful as the Ib’s, and its laser weaponry is much more powerful than the Ib’s. 

Code: [Select]
Galaxy Flt Ic class Dreadnought      80,000 tons       1,964 Crew       19,262.1 BP       TCS 1,600    TH 12,000    EM 32,400
7500 km/s    JR 5-500      Armour 9-165       Shields 1080-400       HTK 442      Sensors 108/84/0/0      DCR 78-9      PPV 206.47
Maint Life 1.51 Years     MSP 12,803    AFR 875%    IFR 12.2%    1YR 6,337    5YR 95,049    Max Repair 2,000 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4,000 tons     Troop Capacity 1,200 tons     Magazine 900 / 0   
Commodore    Control Rating 5   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   FLG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 80    Morale Check Required   

J80000(5-500) Military Jump Drive Mk II     Max Ship Size 80000 tons    Distance 500k km     Squadron Size 5

DN IC Fusion Drive   (3)    Power 12000    Fuel Use 10.0%    Signature 4000    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 5,330,000 Litres    Range 119.9 billion km (185 days at full power)
Lg Theta Shield Generator (27)     Recharge Time 400 seconds (2.7 per second)

45.0cm Spinal Soft X-ray Laser (1)    Range 320,000km     TS: 7,500 km/s     Power 53-8     RM 60,000 km    ROF 35       
30cm Soft X-ray Laser (11)    Range 320,000km     TS: 7,500 km/s     Power 24-8     RM 60,000 km    ROF 15       
15.0cm Soft X-ray Laser (4)    Range 320,000km     TS: 7,500 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 60,000 km    ROF 5       
Twin 10cm FUV Laser Turret Mk II (3x2)    Range 150,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 50,000 km    ROF 5       
Twin Gauss Cannon Mk II Turret (2x8)    Range 40,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 40,000 km    ROF 5       
Miain Battery Fire Control MK III (4)     Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 6,250 km/s    ECCM-2     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Turret Fire Control Mk III (1)     Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 25,000 km/s    ECCM-2     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Capital IC Fusion Reactor  (4)     Total Power Output 320    Exp 5%

Sparrow IIb ASM (300)    Speed: 41,267 km/s    End: 1.3m     Range: 3.3m km    WH: 8    Size: 3    TH: 192/115/57

AM Active Search Sensor Mk III (1)     GPS 180     Range 28.3m km    MCR 2.5m km    Resolution 1
Standard Active Search Sensor Mk II (1)     GPS 2016     Range 61.1m km    Resolution 14
Capital EM Sensor  (1)     Sensitivity 84     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  72.5m km
Capital Thermal Sensor Mk II (1)     Sensitivity 108     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  82.2m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers:   Sensor 4    Fire Control 4    Missile 4   

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

The Andromeda is currently in overhaul, and will move into the yards as soon as a yard is reconfigured to handle the refit.  The Pegasus is currently exercising her fighters and will move into refit once the Andromeda is released from the yards. 

November 15, 2149
The Chi Draconis Naval District is declared operational.  A quartet of orbital maintenance bases have been towed to the system, along with a recreation base, and a fuel dump and maintenance supply warehouse have been placed on the surface, along with fueling equipment, a naval headquarters unit, an ordnance transfer station, and a cargo shuttle station.  In addition, an extensive deep space tracking network has been established on the surface.  All of this is protected by the 12th Imperial Guard Division and a large contingent of STO batteries.  Finally, an interceptor group is on its way from Terra to protect the system. 

March 11, 2150: A sensor buoy placed in the Omicron Tucanae system, at the jump point to the unexplored far frontier system of Lambda Volantis, detects a Hive Fleet Leviathan ship jumping into Omicron Tucanae.  The ship is previously unseen Aggravator class ship, 4000 tons, known speed of 10,469 km/s.  The buoy immediately sends off a burst communication to the other buoys in the system, updating their logs.  Unfortunately, the two patrol ships that covered this section of the sensor network were about as far from the system as they would get, and would take around ten days to return to strip the logs.  The Hive ship soon disappeared off of the buoy’s sensors. 

March 15, 2150: A second sensor buoy in the Omicron Tucanae system picks up the Hive ship, this time at the jump point to the Zeta Doradus system, another system beyond Omicron Tucanae in the far frontier.  The Hive ship soon jumps out. 

March 22, 2150: The buoy at the Zeta Doradus jump point in Omicron Tucanae detects a previously identified Alpha class ship from Hive Fleet Leviathan entering the system.  The buoy tender is eight hours away.  The Hvie ship soon moves away from the jump point.

March 23, 2150: A buoy tender ship jumps into the Omicron Tucanae system and strips the logs from the nearest buoy.  The ship’s commander is immediately alerted to the contact report, and the ship turns and jumps out as soon as her jump engines recharge. 

March 24, 2150: The Alpha class is reacquired by buoys picketing the inner system.  The Alpha class ship, a suspected warship, may be on its way to the jump point to the HIP 31292 system.  A second patrol tender is approaching that jump point from the far side. 

March 26, 2150: The Alpha class Hive ship transits from Omicron Tucanae to HIP 31292, appearing on the sensors of buoy’s stationed on both sides of the jump point.  Both buoys send out updates to the other buoys in the system, and to any other Imperial ships in the system.  Thus, the buoy tender five hundred and twenty-five million kilometers from the jump point is warned about the appearance of the hive warship and immediately turns back to warn Bastion Base in Chi Draconis.  The Alpha class sets out on a course that is either a pursuit course for the buoy tender, or headed in the same direction but towards one of the three other jump points in the same general direction. 

After a short period of consideration, the buoy tender’s commander orders his ship to detour away from their current course, as the Alpha class is 5,000 km/s faster and if it isn’t pursuing them, it may overtake and detect them on its way to whatever its target is. 

March 30, 2150
The buoy tender that received the original warning of hive ships in the Omicron Tucanae system arrives in Chi Draconis and sends off a warning transmission to Bastion Base.  The base commander immediately dispatches a courier to warn Shield Base and fleet command on Terra of the incursion.  It will take 16 days for the courier to arrive in the solar system. 

March 31, 2150
A Hive Fleet Leviathan ship arrives in the Omicron Tucanae system through the jump point to Lambda Volantis.  The ship is a previously seen Aggravator class unit which immediately heads away from the jump point. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: November 10, 2024, 09:47:45 AM »

May 8, 2148: The Retribution Fleet enters the solar system and transmits its reports to Naval HQ on Terra.  The reports are disturbing, given the technology available to this new swarm race, and their demonstrated capabilities.  In spite of this the Emperor announces a great victory, emphasizing the number of swarm ships destroyed by the fleet during the campaign.  The Navy’s losses are downplayed, although the government is eventually forced to admit that an entire carrier was lost in action against the aliens. 

Admiral McCullick tenders his resignation two days after returning from the campaign.  He cites the loss of the America, and the near loss of the entire fleet as his reasons for resigning.  Several hours after the resignation is delivered to the Admiralty, Admiral McCullick is summoned to a meeting in the Palace.  Once there, he is escorted to a small comfortable study where the Emperor and Admiral Shatswell, the CNO, are waiting for him.  They spend the next several hours picking his brain for every detail of the campaign, and his plans and intentions going into the fight.  When the questions finally stop, the Emperor informs him that his resignation is denied, and that his orders will be forthcoming.  In the meantime, his ordered to write up recommendations for future engagements with the new swarm.   

Several days later Admiral McCullick receives orders to take command of the Terran Naval Academy, along with a promotion to Vice Admiral.  The orders come with a personal message from the Emperor, asking him to prepare the next generation of the navy’s leaders for the threats that face humanity. 

Admiral Mccullick’s recommendations are almost universally accepted.  The missile construction program is revitalized, and plans are made to begin constructing more ordnance factories as soon as possible.  In addition, an upgraded Sparrow IIb ASM is to be put into production as soon as possible.  The IIb has the same speed and range, but has a warhead that is 33% more powerful than the block II, and has better ECCM and ATG packages. 

As for R&D, new tech for engines is still 4-6 years away, even with the Empire’s best scientists working on the project.  A team looks into boosted engines capable of generating speeds to match the aliens with current tech, but the design will gobble fuel at a prohibitive rate, approximately six times the rate of current designs.  Mounted on a Country class carrier, the new engines would reduce its range to approximately 25 days, an unacceptable limitation even with tanker support. 

Without being able to match the aliens in terms of speed, R&D resources will be focused on matching them in other areas.  Projects deemed of no immediate use are cancelled, and R&D teams are reassigned.  The first project is to improve the ability of our electronic systems to survive microwave attack.  The top-secret labs on Io are devoted to improving current shielding (a project already underway), and improving our laser weaponry. 

The Imperial Navy, after analyzing the battle results, realizes that its most effective weapon is the Eagle class strike fighter, which is both faster than almost all of the alien ships, and armed with missiles that can outrange the enemy’s long-range lasers.  The development of hard-hitting battlegroups based on carriers and their fighter wings is emphasized.  The Forward class attack fighters currently carried by the fleet’s dreadnoughts and strike carriers are deemed to be inadequate for front line service, as they are not fast enough to force an engagement with the aliens.  They will be relegated to system defense duties and the dreadnoughts and strike carriers will be rearmed with strike fighters.   

Data, bodies, and debris collected from destroyed alien ships brought back by the fleet are immediately distributed to the labs on Io for study.  It is immediately apparent to the researchers that this alien race is similar to the swarm encountered in the Chi Draconis system, but not identical.  Genetic studies show that they were descended from the same race, however, at some point they diverged to the point that they may not be able to interbreed. 

The Emperor’s ministers, after consultation with the navy and with the Emperor, decide that the swarm threat must be rebranded for public consumption, both to emphasize the threat and to make the situation clearer.  Therefore, the swarm will be renamed to The Hive, and each instance encountered will be given a different designation.  The original swarm, encountered in the Chi Draconis system, will be designated Hive Fleet Leviathan, while the new swarm, in Omega Ceti, will be designated Hive Fleet Kraken.  The new names will make clear that the two instances are related to each other, but are also separate. 

May 26, 2148: The Andromeda finally goes into the yards for repairs.  As most of its systems had been repaired by the time it returned to the solar system, it will only take two months in the docks before it is battle-worthy again. 

August 13, 2148: A stabilization ship working in the Omicron Tucanae system detects a ship belonging to Hive Fleet Leviathan entering the system through the jump point it is stabilizing.  The stabilization ship immediately sends a warning off to the other stabilization ship working in the system, then turns and slowly moves away from the jump point.  The hive ship is an Alpha class, of an unknown size and capability, only seen once in previous encounters with the Hive Fleet Leviathan.  This news is particularly alarming as Hive Fleet Leviathan was believed to have been neutralized and either destroyed or to have retreated from the frontier after the battles in Chia Draconis and the nearby systems.   

As the ponderous stabilization ship slowly moves away from the jump point at 1,036 km/s, the hive ship runs past it at 13,516 km/s, ignoring the slow Terran ship.  The hive ship is on the same course as the Terran ship, towards the jump point to the chain of systems that leads back to the site of previous engagements with Hive Fleet Leviathan, Chi Draconis.  It will take the nearer stabilization ship eighty days to reach Chi Draconis and the base located there.  The hive ship will arrive much sooner. 

October 12, 2148: Unrest has been rising on Terra Nova after the information that a new swarm was encountered in the Omega Ceti system was released to the public.  The fact that the Omega Ceti system is five jumps from Terra Nova, and 13.6 billion kilometers away, has not reassured the public given the fact that no Terran forces are currently deployed between Lalande and Omega Ceti.  To allay public fears, the Emperor orders the Navy to deploy two carriers and their escorts to the colony to bolster the system’s defenses. 

In addition, the Navy sends a battlecruiser group and a strike carrier to the Lalande system, with orders to deploy a string of newly developed sensor buoys at jump points along the path to the Omega Ceti system.  This path will be patrolled by a pair of jump cruisers assigned to the Lalande system, to download the buoy’s sensor data and determine if the swarm is advancing on the colony, giving the Imperial navy some warning of the threat. 

November 1, 2148: One of the two stabilization ships that detected the hive ship in the Omicron Tucanae system jumps into the Chi Draconis system and transmits its warning to the base located on the former hive infested planet orbiting the system’s secondary star.   The scout Avenger-01, orbiting Bastion Base, immediately departs for the base at the Monoceri system with the warning.  The scout’s ETA at the Monoceri system is just over 15 days. 

November 2, 2148: The CVS Europa and her detachment arrive over Terra Nova and refuel.  The mission commander, Captain Boddy aboard the jump cruiser Eradicator, decides to give the crews R&R on Terra Nova before continuing. 

November 12, 2148: Fresh from R&R on Terra Nova, the Europa arrives at the jump point to the Tau Ceti system in the Lalande system.  There, she launches her fighters, which proceed to deploy a two-stage sensor buoy at a location 50,000 kilometers from the jump point.  There were cheers on the carrier when the delivery vehicle raced straight to the target location and deployed its sensor buoy, exactly as planned.  This marked the first successful deployment of a deliverable sensor buoy by the Imperial navy.

Its mission complete, the fighter returned to the Europa and the squadron set out for the far side of the jump point, where they would deploy a second buoy. 

November 16, 2148: The Avenger-01 arrives in the Monoceri system and immediately sends its contact report to Shield Base.  The Base’s commander immediately dispatches a courier to the solar system with the report. 

November 24, 2148: The Long-Range Survey Ship Komarov, operating in the 8 Centauri system six jumps beyond Shield Base in the Monoceri system, discovers an ancient construct on the innermost planet of the primary star.  8 Centauri is a binary system with a yellow star primary and a distant small red star companion.  The companion star has no orbiting planets or asteroids, while the primary has a robust planetary system boasting three gas giants, two terrestrial planets, and two dwarf planets.  The gas giants boast forty-eight moons between them, and the system is home to a large asteroid belt.  None of the planets or moons have atmospheres.  The innermost planet is terrestrial, with no atmosphere, and an average temperature of 621 C.  There is no indication of the reason the construct is located here, as the planet isn’t habitable by any known standard and has no TN resources. 

November 24, 2148: The courier from Shield Base arrives in the Solar System and sends its report to Terra.  The report’s arrive causes consternation and alarm in Fleet HQ and within the upper levels of the government. 

The Imperial Secured Operations Room (SOR) was, in fact, a heavily protected bunker buried far beneath the Imperial capital city.  Intended to give the Emperor and his military advisors a secure command center should Terra come under attack, the center was also used by the Emperor for meetings that absolutely had to be kept secret.  That was the use it was being put to today.  Word of the discovery of ships belonging to Hive Fleet Leviathan had just arrived in the solar system, and that, coupled with the fleet’s near defeat in the Omega Ceti system, had caused the Emperor to summon Commodore Jian, the head of Naval Intelligence, to the SOR.  Commodore Jian, the recipient of the Lion of Terra for his actions in the Second Battle of Ophiuchi, had been the head of INI for five years, and had transformed what had been a small, insular organization into the premier investigative service looking into the various alien races that threatened humanity. 

A marine sentry escorted Commodore Jian to the conference room where the Emperor waited.  Once the commodore entered the room, the sentry closed the door and assumed a guard position outside.  Jian found himself in the conference room with the Emperor of all Humanity, who was sitting in one of the chairs at a large table, apparently relaxed in sweat pants and an old T-shirt.  The only other person in the small conference room was Declan Baker, who had no official position in the government but was known to be the emperor’s oldest friend, a fellow combatant from the Raid Years, and suspected to be the Emperor’s confidant, bodyguard, fixer, and all-around general handyman. 

As Commodore Jian braced to attention the emperor waved him to a seat.  “No time for that, Jin.  All hell’s about to break loose out there when the new sighting report is released.  I need information before that happens, and I need it now.”

Commodore Jian nodded and sat in one of the chairs opposite the Emperor and his confidant/bodyguard.  “Very well, sire, what can I do for you this morning?”

The emperor leaned forward.  “I know your shop is working on the data seized from the various raider ships we’ve destroyed over the years, and the two Reaper bases we’ve taken.  I’ve seen your reports, but you’ve been awfully vague on details.  I need to know what you know.”

Commodore Jian stirred uncomfortably in his seat.  “Sire, we’ve had this conversation before.  We have very little in the way of direct facts.  We have reams of data that constitutes little more than rumor or supposition, second or third hand references.  I am reluctant to pass on what may be little more than fever dreams of isolated fanatics, or fiction written by inspired idiots.  We have no way of verifying most of the information we’ve taken.”

The Emperor shook his head.  “Jin, I understand all of that.  If you remember, I concurred with your request to withhold the information your team was developing until you could verify at least some of it.  But now, given the position we are in, I need you to give me the broad outline that you are most comfortable with at this point.”

“Very well, sire.  I will, of course, but under protest.  Taking this information into account in making strategic deployment decisions is dangerous, given its largely speculative nature.”  Commodore Jian lifted his satchel to the table and began removing folders marked with his agency’s logo and numerous classification markings. 

The Emperor chuckled.  “I see that in spite of your protests, you anticipated my request.”

Commodore Jian looked at the Emperor, suddenly formal.  “Of course, your majesty.”  Once he had the folders spread out on the table in front of him, he gestured at them.  “I will give you the overview, but if you need details, or to see the actual reports the over view is based on, they are here.”  He settled back in his chair, and at a nod from the Emperor he continued.  “The cause of the Raid Years has long been a subject of speculation amongst the academics who study that period.  One of the most prominent theories is that a large multi-stellar government that controlled the regions close to our solar system collapsed, causing chaos, war, starvation, and societal collapse both inside this ‘empire’ and outside its borders, where presumably our system lay.  We believe, based on the preponderance of evidence gathered since that time, that this theory is indeed true.  This is based on data recovered on Terra during the Raid Years, from disabled Raider ships, from the two Reaper bases taken by our forces, and from contacts with the Bobruisk Corporation in the HIP 48659.  While there are conflicting data in places, the majority of recovered information agrees that a vast interstellar government did exist, and covered an appreciable portion of the galaxy, perhaps even as much as one to three percent.  It seems clear that the center of this government, which we will refer to as the Imperium for simplicity’s sake, was far from here, and that the Solar System is located beyond the borders of the Imperium.  We have very little information on what they called their government, or its structures, thus our use of the title ‘Imperium’, which should not be taken to denote an actual form of government.  What little information we do have is contradictory and unclear.  Still, we can say with some authority that the Imperium existed, and that it ruled a significant portion of the galaxy for a time period estimated to be in the thousands of years, perhaps longer.”

Commodore Jian leaned forward, looking at the other two, confirming that they were following his words.  “It is a matter of much speculation within my study groups as to whether Imperium actually existed for thousands of years, or whether that was propaganda or political rhetoric.  Certainly, given the capabilities of the remnants we have encountered, it does not seem that the Imperium possessed technology sufficiently advanced to sync with being in existence for thousands of years.”

Baker, sitting next to the Emperor and following the briefing raptly, grimaced.  “They seemed advanced enough to us at the time.”

Commodore Jian shook his head.  “Advanced yes, but thousands of years ahead of us?  No.  In some areas our current technology is more advanced that what most of the Raid Races demonstrated during the Raids.  My teams are divided on this, and we have little evidence to support any position.  A bare majority hold to the view that the Imperium did exist for thousands of years, as claimed in some of the records, but that it did so by suppressing technological development.  There is some evidence for this point of view.  There are references in some of the documents recovered from the Reaper Base in 70 Ophiuchi to the “Proscriptions”, and the importance of enforcing such in the border lands of the Imperium.  It would certainly explain how a government could exist for that long in the first place, and also why it was not impossibly advanced compared to us at the time of contact.”

Commodore Jian leaned back again, looking up from his documents and seeing that the two were paying him rapt attention.  “At any rate, some time before the Raid Years it is clear that the authority of the Imperium collapsed, at least in the central regions.  The cause of this is unknown.  Civil war, external threats, plague, widespread civil unrest, or all or some of the above.  None of the reports we have access to at this point are clear, and it is possible that the sources we have access to simply did not know what caused this calamity.  There are several references to travel times to the central areas of the Imperium being multiple years long.  Perhaps as long as five to ten years, to get from the outer frontier to the central sectors.  In contrast, it takes one of our fast couriers thirteen days to get from Terra to the frontier base in the Monoceri system.  Imagine the size of the Empire, if it took five years to get to the frontier.”

The Emperor sagged in his seat.  “I…I can’t.  It’s inconceivable.” 

Baker looked intrigued.  “It would explain these Proscriptions, though.”  The other two looked at him.  He looked at the emperor has he continued.  “Think about your difficulties in keeping the Empire together and moving in the same direction.  Now consider how it would be if you could stifle change and advancement.  How much easier it would be to spot groups that were not cooperating or acting against the central government.”

The Emperor, to his credit, looked aghast.  “But the cost would be enormous.  We would have to build a police state, with tremendous powers of surveillance and internal control, backed up by serious military might, led by leaders who wouldn’t hesitate to use that might against their own people.”

Baker shook his head.  “Remember the Nealon Report.”  The other two nodded.  Florence Nealon had been an Imperial Senator who had retired from the Senate and put together a team to study Imperial governance in light of the expanding borders of the Empire.  Her report, which had immediately been classified by the government, had theorized that it would become increasingly difficult to exert central control once travel times between the capital and the frontier exceeded one month.  Her team had investigated alternatives, such as dividing the empire into sectors and appointing sector governors to exert local control, subject to the ultimate authority of the emperor.  This seemed a promising approach, but introduced problems of its own as giving individuals so much power and authority risked establishing a competitor to central control, rather than an enhancement to that control. 

Commodore Jian shook his head.  “At any rate, we have very little information on the internal governance of the Imperium, and what we do have is very contradictory.  It is clear, though, that the Imperium reached our section of the galaxy some time ago, perhaps as long as five to six hundred years ago, and then stopped advancing before it reached our system.  The fact that our civilization existed just beyond their borders and yet remained relatively unmolested for that entire period of time seems both remarkable and unlikely.  Our best estimate is that this had something to do with the Proscriptions, and that exploration and activity beyond the Imperium’s established borders was actively discouraged.  Our communications with the Bobruisk authorities seems to confirm this, as they had a spacefaring civilization prior to the Raid Years, although it was confined to their home system until approximately the same time that the raids started.  Upon the collapse of central authority, the Proscriptions began breaking down.  While fighting did not start on the local frontier immediately, the information that we have is clear that the local frontier powers began jockeying for position as the Imperium’s resources either failed or withdrawn to deal with emergencies in more important locations.  This brings us to the Raid Years.”

The Emperor shook his head.  “The biggest disaster in humanity’s history.  Arguably.”  He settled back in his chair, intrigued by the briefing being put on by his intel chief.  He had already heard much of this in dry reports regularly forwarded by Commodore Jian, but hearing it all put together like this was fascinating. 

Commodore Jian continued.  “The information we have on this is fairly clear and unequivocal, as it relates to actions and decisions made locally.  When the situation on the border continued to deteriorate, the local races and powers began to make plans, and once it became clear that the Imperium’s local power either no longer existed or was incapable of either protecting the member races or stopping them from taking actions they felt were necessary to defend themselves or to bolster their power, they began to act against one another.  One of these actions was to begin exploring beyond the established borders of the Imperium for resources or assets that they could use against each other.  Races, such as ours, were known to exist, and in addition the Imperium was known to place top secret naval bases and research stations in systems beyond the border to ensure secrecy or for isolation given the dangerous materials they were reputed to be working with.  It seems clear that as the situation in the border area closest to us deteriorated the desperation of the local races increased to the point where they began launching raids on easy targets beyond the border, in desperate actions to bolster their own strength before open fighting broke out.  We have no information on the results of the various raids, or what happened to the races that launched them, but the fact that all such activity ceased over one hundred years ago and that no one has seen most of the involved races since argues that they no longer exist as interstellar powers or are hiding somewhere.  Or possibly that the Imperium has reestablished control over its frontier, although this seems unlikely for various reasons.”

Commodore Jian opened one of the folders in front of him and withdrew several pictures of known aliens. 


Raiders


Reapers

“This brings us to these two ‘races’.  The Reapers are a known Raid Race, and were involved in several of the Terran Raids.  In addition, we have encountered them in two systems, 70 Ophiuchi and Groombridge 34, where they established planetary bases.  The Raiders have been encountered multiple times since we expanded out of the solar system, never communicating and always on the attack.  Both are robotic in nature, and appear to be autonomous.  We believe, based on information recovered from the Reaper base on 70 Ophiuchi II, that the Reapers are in fact an Imperium combat team, probably not intended for completely independent actions but rather as an adjunct and support arm for the Imperium’s military.  The information we have recovered indicates that all of the Reapers we have encountered belong to something called the 1135th Frontier Security and Control Unit.  The doctrinal information we recovered from the base indicates that the Reapers were primarily used in a support role to establish and secure frontier bases that could then be used by their actual military.  Certainly, the Reapers in 70 Ophiuchi had been sent there to establish and secure a forward base for the 1135th, which appears to never have been used for some reason.”

The Emperor leaned forward, an intent look on his face.  “But what about the Reapers that raided Terra?  They didn’t seem to be acting to support a legitimate government at that time, and in fact were and are considered one of the worst and most merciless Raider races.”

“That’s true.  But, while we have no definitive information on this mystery, we do have some indications of what might have happened.  The majority of my researchers now believe that the Reapers that were sent to Terra were in fact dispatched to Terra by the 1135th Frontier Security and Control Unit in an attempt to establish a base to prevent further raids by Imperium members.  However, the programming of their controlling AI’s seems to have been corrupted for reasons unknown.  Both the original mission and the corruption have been corroborated by processing and data units recovered after the end of the raids.  It was until just recently that we had the technology and expertise to interpret the data on the recovered systems.  It appears that the mission sent to the Solar System by the 1135th was sabotaged, perhaps to weaken them, or perhaps to allow the raids to continue, or both.  In fact, the mission to the solar system is the last definitive record we have on the actions of the 1135th, and what happened to them after that is unclear.  It is clear that they no longer seem to be active in the local area, much like the various Raid Races.  It is possible, perhaps even likely, that we will continue to discover them in apparently random locations during exploration, and they will continue to be a localized threat should they be discovered. 

“As for the Raiders, this is a bit more difficult.  Several competing theories exist, and no consensus has been reached.  What is known is that the Raiders are from the Imperium.  The numerous wrecks salvaged have shown that the construction methods used to build the raider ships are common to Imperium races, and show some similarity to the Reapers, a known Imperium enforcement tool.  The Raiders are also robotic, much like the Reapers.  Whatever the true nature or origin of the Raiders, it is apparent now that they are not under the control of a central authority, and appear to be acting randomly and without direction or clear goal. The information we have is not clear, and my teams have no clear consensus on the origins and utility of the Raiders.  From some records recovered from the Reaper bases, it appears that the Imperium’s military had access to some sort of FTL drive technology that did not use standard jump points, but reserved it for special uses.  Certainly, no such technology has ever been found on a wrecked Raider ship.  It is clear that the Raiders are not using known jump points to travel between systems, as they have never been observed to use a known jump point, and no jump point has ever been found on the rare occasion that a Raider ship was observed to leave one of our systems.  Whether the Raiders were some sort of Imperium military auxiliary unit, like the Reapers, that has now escaped their control, or was some sort of experimental R&D development that has no run wild in the absence of Imperium authority, is unknown, and perhaps unknowable.”

Commodore Jian pulled two more pictures out of his folder and placed them on the table. 


Hivers

“That brings us to these ugly beasts.  Bio-analysis of the bodies and bits of alien ships recovered from Omega Ceti shows that these new aliens are indeed a cousin of the first swarm encountered in Chi Draconis.  While no useful intelligence was recovered from the swarm vessels in either Chi Draconis or Omega Ceti, we have developed interesting intelligence from the analysis of the extensive data captured from the Reaper bases in Groombridge and 70 Ophiuchi, and from the data recovered during the Raid Years and recently interpreted.  Once the Imperium’s control over the frontier began breaking down, the local frontier powers began extensively exploring beyond the established frontier.  This can be considered conclusive given the number of references we have found to this phenomenon in the various databases we have seized or recovered.  What they were searching for is rather less clear, but there are multiple references to hidden Imperium research bases beyond the frontier, and in particular to experiments the Imperium was known to be conducting into bio-weaponry, and self-replicating bio-ships.  While there is no direct connection to the hivers we have encountered, this seems like too much of a coincidence to be discounted, especially given the recent developments in the study of the two different hiver fleet’s genomes.  Doctor Im’s determination that the two swarms are genetically linked, and that both swarms’ genome was artificially altered, perhaps even engineered by some technology that remains unknown, seems definitive.  The likelihood that the swarms were some sort of Imperium research and development project that escaped their control, perhaps when Imperium resources were withdrawn from the frontier, or perhaps when the local powers discovered the R&D center and inadvertently released the swarms from confinement, is unknown.     

The three continued to talk for an hour, but little additional information was imparted. 

In response to the reappearance of Hive Fleet Leviathan beyond Shield Forward Base, the Empire commissions two new ship designs:

The Allegiance class Heavy Carrier is intended to be the Empire’s ultimate answer to the threats that hover on its border.  Starting with the Galaxy class DN design, the design team stripped off the extraneous engine, which reduced the new design to the fleet standard speed, some of the weaponry and defenses, and added a spacious hanger deck and vastly enlarged the design’s magazine capacity. 
Code: [Select]
Allegiance of Terra class Heavy Carrier      80,000 tons       1,613 Crew       16,042 BP       TCS 1,600    TH 12,000    EM 18,000
7500 km/s    JR 5-500      Armour 6-165       Shields 600-400       HTK 389      Sensors 108/84/0/0      DCR 77-9      PPV 70.76
Maint Life 1.41 Years     MSP 11,269    AFR 883%    IFR 12.3%    1YR 6,194    5YR 92,909    Max Repair 2,000 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 16,000 tons     Troop Capacity 1,200 tons     Magazine 1,800 / 0   
Commodore    Control Rating 5   BRG   AUX   ENG   CIC   FLG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 320    Morale Check Required   

J80000(5-500) Military Jump Drive Mk II     Max Ship Size 80000 tons    Distance 500k km     Squadron Size 5

DN IC Fusion Drive   (3)    Power 12000    Fuel Use 10.0%    Signature 4000    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 5,345,000 Litres    Range 120.3 billion km (185 days at full power)
Lg Theta Shield Generator (15)     Recharge Time 400 seconds (1.5 per second)

45.0cm FUV Spinal Laser (1)    Range 320,000km     TS: 7,500 km/s     Power 53-8     RM 50,000 km    ROF 35       
30cm FUV Laser Mk II (2)    Range 320,000km     TS: 7,500 km/s     Power 24-8     RM 50,000 km    ROF 15       
Twin Gauss Cannon Mk II Turret (2x8)    Range 40,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 40,000 km    ROF 5       
Miain Battery Fire Control MK III (2)     Max Range: 320,000 km   TS: 6,250 km/s    ECCM-2     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Turret Fire Control Mk III (1)     Max Range: 200,000 km   TS: 25,000 km/s    ECCM-2     95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50
Capital IC Fusion Reactor  (3)     Total Power Output 240    Exp 5%

AM Active Search Sensor Mk III (1)     GPS 180     Range 28.3m km    MCR 2.5m km    Resolution 1
Standard Active Search Sensor Mk II (1)     GPS 2016     Range 61.1m km    Resolution 14
Capital EM Sensor  (1)     Sensitivity 84     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  72.5m km
Capital Thermal Sensor Mk II (1)     Sensitivity 108     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  82.2m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers:   Sensor 4    Fire Control 4    Missile 4   

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Carrier for auto-assignment purposes

The missile destroyer design is intended to give planetary defense squadrons some standoff capabilities, and to boost the long-range engagement abilities of mobile fleets. 
Code: [Select]
Absolution class Missile Destroyer      10,000 tons       118 Crew       1,914.3 BP       TCS 200    TH 1,500    EM 0
7500 km/s      Armour 6-41       Shields 0-0       HTK 74      Sensors 54/0/0/0      DCR 4-4      PPV 50.4
Maint Life 2.70 Years     MSP 1,378    AFR 200%    IFR 2.8%    1YR 270    5YR 4,043    Max Repair 375 MSP
Troop Capacity 400 tons     Magazine 336 / 0   
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Morale Check Required   

IC Fusion Drive   (2)    Power 1500    Fuel Use 23.09%    Signature 750    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,823,000 Litres    Range 142.1 billion km (219 days at full power)

Standard Box Launcher (42)     Missile Size: 8    Hangar Reload 141 minutes    MF Reload 23 hours
Missile Fire Control Mk II (2)     Range 117.6m km    Resolution 100   ECCM-2

AM Active Search Sensor Mk III (1)     GPS 180     Range 28.3m km    MCR 2.5m km    Resolution 1
Standard Active Search Sensor Mk II (1)     GPS 2016     Range 61.1m km    Resolution 14
Standard Thermal Sensor Mk IV (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  58.1m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

The shift of the navy from a beam intensive focus to a missile-based approach has necessitated the creation of a vast munitions capability to supply all of these missile-equipped ships.  The effort to bolster this capability is ongoing. 
Posted by: Kurt
« on: October 20, 2024, 12:10:28 PM »

I just noticed that on one of the pictures in the post above it had ship class names for the alien ships that were different than the class names used in the write-up.  At some point in the write-up I decided I didn't like the auto-assign class names and changed them, but it must have been after taking the screen shot. 

Indomita = Osiris in the writeup
Delfin = Anubis in the writeup
Mocovi = Mors
Posted by: Kurt
« on: October 20, 2024, 12:06:00 PM »

Admiral McCullick realized that his strategy had failed.  The aliens were out of range again, and while his fleet could duck through the LaGrange point again, the aliens would just begin chasing the retreating carriers again.  And positioned as they were, they would be getting farther away from the LaGrange point, not closer, so he couldn’t mousetrap them again.  His eyes drifted to the carriers.  The aliens were fast enough to chase them down and destroy them before they could reach the jump point.  But…he could use them to draw the aliens into a position he wanted.  He issued orders for the carriers to come about and move in nearly the opposite direction as they had been traveling.  At the same time, he ordered his fleet to come about and begin moving in roughly the same direction as the carriers, in an attempt to draw the aliens into a better position for his next move. 

Even as the terran fleet turned the aliens fired on the Andromeda again, reducing her shields to 64%.  For thirty seconds the fleets danced, and then Admiral McCullick ordered his fleet back to the LaGrange point.  Just before transiting the Andromeda was hit again, reducing her constantly recharging shields to 63%.  After that the fleet slipped through the LaGrange point. 

Admiral McCullick waited for twenty seconds at the far LaGrange point, and then ordered the fleet back through the LaGrange point to the inner system.  They caught the alien fleet at 133,000 kilometers.  Both sides started firing as soon as the first terran ship appeared.  The aliens targeted the flagship, hitting the big dreadnought thirty-six times, knocking her shields out and shredding her armor.  While her passive defenses stopped most of the damage, the Andromeda lost an engine, reducing her to the fleet standard speed of 7,500 km/s.  In response the terran fleet targeted one of the Anubis class ships, hitting it twenty-six times, penetrating its armor four times and reducing its speed to 10,997 km/s. 

With one of the alien ships slowed, McCullick ordered the bulk of the fleet’s firepower to be focused on a different Anubis class ship, and ordered the fleet into pursuit to keep them in range for as long as possible.  The alien lasers were silent as they ran ahead of the terran fleet, trying to open the range, presumably recharging.  The alien fleet left its damaged ship behind while it tried to open the range.  The Terrans scored eight hits on the second Anubis, getting one penetration, but it continued on at the same speed as its consorts. 

On board the Andromeda the situation was critical.  The damage inflicted by the aliens appeared to have an acid-based component, and it continued doing damage, taking out another engine, reducing the Andromeda to half speed.  Admiral McCullick, knowing he couldn’t slow the fleet down to the flagship’s speed, ordered the Andromeda back through the LaGrange point while the fleet continued to engine. 



The fleet continued firing on the aliens as the fled, continuing to target the same Anubis class ship, which just stubbornly continued to soak up damage.  The aliens fired on the Andromeda again before she could reach the LaGrange point, but only got one hit that was absorbed by the ship’s armor, and then again just as she slipped through the point, destroying a crew compartment.  The Terrans got another penetrating hit on the Anubis, but were forced to refocus their fire on the slower Anubis as the other ships were nearly out of range. 

Just before the Andromeda jumped, Admiral McCullick ordered the carriers to go into EMCON mode in the hopes that they would drop off the alien’s sensors.  Fifteen seconds after the Andromeda jumped out, the aliens targeted the BB Pride of Sol with their long-range lasers, dropping her shields to 86%.  The Terrans had continued to bombard the lagging Anubis with their lasers getting multiple hits and several penetrations, but the stubborn ship just continued on as if the damage meant nothing.  The next long range laser attack from the aliens dropped the Pride of Sol’s shields to 81%. 

On the far side of the jump point the Andromeda continued to suffer damage from the corrosive acid, losing her jump drive and another engine leaving her at a quarter of her maximum speed.  With the aliens slipping out of range, Commodore Sessions, in command of the fleet with Admiral McCullick on the far side of the system, ordered the fleet back to the LaGrange point.  Meanwhile, the Andromeda continued to suffer, losing her last engine, a laser emplacement, and a fuel tank.  The fleet jumped out at 1125 to find the Andromeda drifting near the LaGrange point, powerless. 

The aliens didn’t hesitate, after the fleet jumped out, they turned and set out for the carriers.  The carrier force immediately activated their engines and began running.  The carriers wouldn’t get far, though, with the far faster aliens in pursuit.  At their current speed the aliens would run the carriers down in 887 seconds, or just under fifteen minutes, long before they could reach the jump point or any place important. 

Sixty seconds after the fleet jumped to the outer system the acid finally stopped eating away at the Andromeda.  The ship was a near wreck.  Her engines were inoperative, as were two thirds of her shield generators and crew quarters, and her tanks had been breached and the fuel lost.  Her jump drive was gone, and her weapons had been severely damaged.  If the aliens came through the LaGrange point, she wouldn’t last five seconds, although her active shield generators were recharging.  At Commodore Sessions’ urging, Admiral McCullick transferred to the Battleship Antares, leaving the crippled flagship behind. 

While the fleet was focused on the Andromeda’s problems, the aliens had split up.  One Anubis class ship, the damaged and slowed ship, was pursuing the carriers, while the other seven ships were on a reciprocal course towards an unknown target.  They were passing the LaGrange point, but were out of weapons range of the point and would not get any closer on their current point.  Captain Brennan, commander of the detached carriers, felt some relief.  Her crews were reloading the fighters with their remaining missiles, but it would take time.  While they didn’t have enough to take out the entire alien fleet, or load all of the fighter’s racks, they did likely have enough to take out one alien ship, even one of the tough Anubis.  The problem was time.  The Anubis would catch them before they could reload the fighters. 

Two minutes passed.  The main alien fleet was 1.7 mkm’s from the LaGrange point, while the lone Anubis was 2.2 mkm’s from the LaGrange Point in the opposite direction.  At McCullick’s order, the fleet jumped back to the inner system in an attempt to distract the alien ships from the retreating carriers.  Inexplicably, the alien ships continued on their original courses, ignoring the fleet sitting on the LaGrange point.  This left McCullick in a difficult position. 



If he did nothing the Anubis class ship would overtake the carriers before they could rearm their fighters with their remaining missiles.  If he ordered his fleet to pursue the Anubis, they wouldn’t be able to catch it before it reached the carriers, and the main alien fleet could turn and trap them away from the LaGrange point, which would be disastrous.   

In the end, having no real choice, McCullick ordered his fleet to remain on the LaGrange point and sent a transmission to the carriers informing them that they were on their own. 

1134 hours:  The Retribution Fleet remained on the inner LaGrange point.  The main alien fleet was now 6.9 mkm’s away and speeding towards an unknown location, perhaps an unplotted jump point.  The Retribution Fleet’s carrier group was 9.3 mkm’s away in the opposition direction, on course for the jump point and the force stationed there to secure it.  The lone Anubis class ship pursuing the carriers was 3.3 mkm’s from the carriers and closing at nearly 3,500 km/s, meaning it would reach weapons range of the carriers in 858 seconds.  That was approximately fifty minutes before the carrier group’s fighters would be rearmed. 

Playing her last card, Captain Brennan ordered the China to launch her fighters.  The China’s fighters had no missiles as their carrier’s magazines had run dry after the last strike, but in spite of this Captain Brennan had a mission for them.  The fighters immediately streaked away from the three carriers on a tangent towards the Anubis class ship.  The twenty-eight fighters were much faster than either their carriers or the alien ship, and soon arrived at a waypoint offset from the alien ship’s course. 

Two minutes later the fighters were 1.5 mkm’s from the alien ship, off to one side.  They then turned towards the Anubis with orders to close to within 300,000 kilometers from the alien ship, theoretically within range of its long-range lasers.  One minute later they reached 300,000 kilometers from the alien ship and the fighter group slowed down to 10,700 km/s, just under the alien ship’s speed. 

Unfortunately, the alien ship did not take the bait.  Instead, it continued on course and began firing at long-range.  Ten seconds after slowing two fighters exploded.  The commander of the strike group, Lt Commander Hsieh Hui Guo, and orphaned survivor of the Raid Years and the destruction of China, knew that it was only his fighters that stood between the vulnerable carriers and destruction, so he ordered his group to full speed and closed on the alien ship.  Perhaps if they got close enough, they could distract the alien ship from its target. 

Twenty seconds later the fighters were ninety thousand kilometers from the alien when it fired again, destroying two more fighters with powerful laser blasts that simply vaporized the small ships.  The alien continued on course towards the carriers.  At this point, Captain Brennan did the only thing she could and ordered the carriers to split up.  Five seconds later the Anubis fired a massively powerful laser that vaporized another fighter.  Seeing the fighters’ valiant charge was futile, Captain Brennan ordered them back to the China. 

The Anubis destroys four more fighters before they can get out of range, and appears to be chasing the China.  It soon becomes clear that the Anubis is angling to move between the China and America in a bid to engage both.  Captain Brennan orders the Phobos to join the China, and for the China to change course further away from the America, as the China is the only carrier with fighters capable of engaging the alien ship, if they can be rearmed.  Unfortunately, the alien ship changes course to pursue the America.   Knowing that the America’s time is limited, Captain Brennan orders the America’s strike group to launch and transfer to the China, which will continue its rearming.  She then orders the China’s strike group to join with the Phobos, and for the Phobos to take a course radically divergent from the China’s, in the hopes that the alien will chase the Phobos next. 

1146 hours: While still at 462,000 kilometers range, the Anubis opened fire on the America with twelve lasers, a stunning feat of technology.  Fortunately, they all missed, but Brennan knew that wouldn’t last with the aliens closing on her ship.  She was tempted to order her crew to abandon ship, in the hopes that at least some of them would survive, but she needed to distract the alien ship from the other carriers for as long as possible.  In addition, she wasn’t sure the Imperial Fleet would be returning to this system any time soon, so a quick death was probably preferable to lingering in a life pod that would never be picked up. 

The pursuit continued.  The smaller alien lasers fired again in twenty seconds, at 392,000 kilometers, scoring one hit that penetrated the America’s thin armor and destroyed a hanger deck.  The next salvo, twenty seconds later and seventy thousand kilometers closer, scored five hits, all of which penetrated.  Two more hangar decks were destroyed, but so far, the America’s engines were undamaged and she could continue drawing the alien ship away from the other carriers.  Fortunately, when the alien ship fired its large and powerful laser again, five seconds later, it missed, but the acid damage from the previous hits had begun eating away at the America’s interior, causing additional damage.  The next salvo, fifteen seconds later, caused massive damage to the carrier, but her engines were still intact and she kept running, pulling the aliens further away from the other carriers. 

1148 hours: The next salvo at the America was the beginning of the end.  Ten powerful lasers struck the carrier, destroying her engines and leaving her drifting.  Ten seconds later the Anubis’s powerful spinal laser carved the valiant carrier in two, gutting the ship.  Captain Brennan died on the ship’s bridge, fighting her ship to the last. 

The alien Anubis class ship overran the hulk of the America and kept going, running towards nothing that could be seen on any Terran plot or sensor, moving farther away from the two remaining carriers every second.  Meanwhile, the main alien fleet was twenty million kilometers away from the LaGrange point and moving further away as well. 

1232 hours: The China launches America’s rearmed strike group, and the twenty-six fighters and two sensor fighters raced away on an interception course for the lone Anubis. 

1350 hours: The America’s fighters reach their launch point and in seconds one hundred and seventy-six missiles are in space and racing towards the Anubis.  Twenty seconds later the missiles slammed into the Anubis, stripping her armor and scoring twenty-seven penetrating hits and reducing the tough ship to 1,832 km/s.  The remaining missiles attacked again, and this time they took out the alien ship once and for all.   

With the America’s destruction, they no longer had a mother ship to return to.  However, the Fleet’s fighter losses had been bad enough that there were enough for them to return to.  So, the squadron split up.  Twelve headed for the strike carrier Phobos, to land on her empty decks.  Eight headed for the China, to replace her lost fighters.  And the remaining six fighters and two sensor fighters headed for the Retribution Fleet and the LaGrange point, so they could land on the Andromeda’s bays in the outer system.  The two remaining carriers, the CV China and the CVS Phobos, set their course for the main fleet’s location on the LaGrange point. 

1655 hours: The carriers have rejoined the fleet and the fighters have landed.  The alien fleet is crossing the orbit of Omega Ceti V and is still headed out-system at full speed. 

1710 hours: Just as the alien fleet reaches the orbit of Omega Ceti V they turn back and begin heading in-system again. 

1810 hours: The Andromeda’s crew successfully repairs one of the DN’s engine rooms.  The crippled ship immediately moves away from the LaGrange point on a course for the jump point.  It will take the flagship nearly three days to reach the jump point at its current speed.  With an engine repaired, her damage control teams begin working on her hangar bays, so the fighters from America that were diverted to her location can finally land.

1910 hours: For some unknown reason the alien fleet has turned again, and is heading out-system. 

February 1, 2148, 0824 hours: The alien fleet continues to move aimlessly back and forth, ranging from 240 to 300 mkm’s from the Retribution Fleet.  This is not far enough from the Retribution Fleet to allow them to run directly for the jump point, and the Andromeda is still limping towards the jump point from the outer LaGrange point.  Once the Andromeda reaches the jump point the main fleet will be able to jump back to the outer LaGrange point and proceed from there to the jump point without being concerned that the alien fleet could run it down before it reaches the jump point.  The Andromeda is still twenty-one hours from the jump point. 

1848 hours: The main alien fleet has returned to the inner system and is headed for the LaGrange point and the Retribution Fleet’s location.  It is now 110 mkm’s out and closing.  Strangely, it reaches 100 mkm’s and then turns and begins heading for the outer system.  Admiral McCullick has begun to wonder if the aliens are trying to tempt him away from the LaGrange point. 

February 2, 2148, 0003 hours: The aliens are now 280 mkm’s away and about as far as they usually get before turning back, so Admiral McCullick orders his fleet through the LaGrange point.  Once through they settle on the LaGrange point to see what the aliens will do.  Admiral McCullick doesn’t want to get too far away from the La Grange point until he knows where the alien fleet is going. 

0505 hours: The Andromeda has reached the jump point and joined with the five destroyers and escort destroyers left there to guard the jump point.  Unfortunately, the Andromeda’s crew ran out of maintenance supplies for repairs during the trip, and were unable to repair the ship’s jump drive, meaning the ship cannot jump point of the system.  They did manage to get the ship up to half speed, and repaired most of her bays, so most of the fighters were able to land.  In the inner system the aliens have passed the innermost LaGrange point and are headed towards the outer system, on a course that will take them in between the outer LaGrange point and the jump point. 

Unexpectedly, when the alien fleet reaches the orbit of Omega Ceti II it comes to a halt, 15 mkm’s from the second planet’s LaGrange point.  Admiral McCullick is now in a difficult position.  If he moves towards the jump point, the aliens have enough speed to intercept him before he can reach the jump point. 

With the Andromeda unable to make the jump out of the system, the fleet is effectively trapped.  A support squadron is due to arrive in the system in approximately 40 days. The support group carries fuel, maintenance supplies, but no missiles for the carriers, as the UNREP ships were taken from locations away from the solar system and thus had no stocks of missiles to draw from.  A second support group was en route, but was several weeks behind the first group. 

February 3, 2148, 0854 hours: The wreck of a Forward II class fighter disappears from the fleet’s sensors, in the location where the alien fleet is sitting.  That explains what the alien fleet is doing.  Admiral McCullick has begun to wonder if the aliens can see him in the outer system, but leaving the LaGrange point is risky.  If he leaves the point and the aliens can see him, they will be in the perfect position to jump in behind him and run his fleet down in deep space, then destroy the entire fleet from beyond their own range.  At least now he knows what they are doing.  Admiral McCullick orders shields lowered and sensors off, then orders the fleet to proceed to the jump point. 

February 4, 2148: The Retribution Fleet has reached the jump point.  While the Andromeda is still not able to jump out, the fleet is reassembled and ready to be reloaded once the support ships arrive. 

February 5, 2148: Another fighter wreck disappears from the fleet’s sensors. 

March 12, 2148: The long-awaited support group jumps into the system.  The group is composed of five tankers and three UNREP ships loaded with supplies.  Admiral McCullick orders the jump-capable tanker that conveyed the group to the Omega Ceti system to jump back and rendezvous with the second support group, which is carrying the missiles desperately needed by his fleet.  Meanwhile, the UNREP ships begin transferring supplies to the Andromeda so that she can continue repairs, and the tankers begin refueling the rest of the fleet. 

While the fleet waited for the support group, the alien fleet in the inner system salvaged all of the wrecked fighters, and was now working on the wreck of the America. 

Immediately after receiving the much-needed maintenance supplies, the Andromeda’s crew finished their repairs of the flagship’s hangar bays, meaning that the America’s two long-suffering sensor fighters could finally come on board. 

March 14, 2148: As the crew of the Andromeda frantically works to repair her systems, in particular her jump drive, a new alien contact appears on the fleet’s thermal sensors.  It is a single contact of a new class of ship, coming in from the general direction of the alien fleet, although somewhat offset.  Its speed is 13,972 km/s, and current distance is just over 200 mkm’s.  Fortunately, it is not headed directly towards the fleet, but rather across the system towards some unknown point.  Several hours later the contact disappears from the fleet’s sensors, perhaps indicating it powered down.  The contact then reappeared, but remained stationary approximately 152 mkm’s from the fleet. 

March 16,2148, 0615 hours: The alien fleet in Omega Ceti’s inner system suddenly leaves its position and heads for the jump point and the Retribution Fleet.  Three hours pass and the alien fleet, now composed of the large Osiris class ship, two Anubis class, and four destroyer-sized Mors class ships, reaches 200 mkm’s.  Admiral McCullick orders the support group to jump out to the 111 Virginis system, and for the Andromeda, which has not managed to repair its jump engines yet, to begin moving directly away from the jump point. 

When the alien fleet reaches 154 mkm’s from the jump point it turns and begins heading back into the system, away from the fleet.  It then begins vacillating between 150 and 190 mkm’s, as if its commander cannot make up its mind.  Admiral McCullick decides to take a risk, and orders his jump cruiser through the jump point to bring the jump tanker and an UNREP ship back to escort the Andromeda.  If they can transfer enough supplies to the Andromeda, the ship’s crew may be able to repair its jump drive and the fleet can leave the system. 

1201 hours: The Andromeda has come to a halt one million kilometers from the jump point, on the far side from the alien fleet, waiting for the support ships to return.  At this point the alien fleet blows past its previous turn point and continues towards the jump point.  The alien fleet closes to 125 mkm’s then turns away yet again. 

1349 hours: The alien fleet is now 220 mkm’s from the fleet and is apparently headed back in-system, towards the two remaining wrecks. 

March 18, 2148: The alien fleet headed back into the inner system several days ago, and ultimately dropped off of the fleet’s sensors.  The lone alien ship within range of the jump point, tentatively ID’d as a scout, has been gradually inching closer to the jump point over the last several days, and is now 118 mkm’s from the fleet.  The Andromeda is accumulating enough maintenance supplies to attempt a repair on her jump drive. 

March 20, 2148: The Andromeda’s crew finally repairs her jump drive.  The ship is still reduced to half speed, and has several other systems that need to be repairs, but she is finally jump capable.  Admiral McCullick orders her to return to the jump point and rejoin the fleet.  There is even better news that arrives through the jump point shortly after the Andromeda completed her jump drive repairs.  A jump transport dispatched from the Monoceri naval base arrived in the Sigma Eridani system and escorted the UNREP ships carrying the fleet’s missile resupply through the jump point into the 111 Virginis system, and the UNREP ships were now speeding towards the jump point to the Omega Ceti system.  They would arrive in eleven days.

At this point there are no alien ships within detection range, as the small alien ship that had been hovering in the fleet’s vicinity disappeared off its sensors some time ago.  Admiral McCullick decides to wait on the jump point for the arrival of the support ships. 

March 24, 2148: The alien Osiris class flagship reappears on the fleet’s sensors 918 mkm’s away, far out in the outer system.  The ship moves in-system jumps through the outer LaGrange point, and then begins heading towards the fleet and the jump point.  When it appears in the inner system the fleet’s sensors reacquire the other six ships escorting the large flagship. 

For a times the alien fleet heads towards the Retribution fleet, but then it turns away and begins its vacillating course again, turning towards the fleet and away again. 

March 25, 2148: The alien fleet jumps back through the inner LaGrange point to the outer system, and begins moving across the system, in the general direction of a suspected jump point.  It then turns back and returns to the inner system.   

March 26, 2148, 0449 hours: For the last thirty hours the alien fleet had been cruising back and forth between the inner system and the jump point that the Retribution fleet was located at.  Now, that has changed.  During its current run the alien fleet blew past all previous turning points, and is now just over five million kilometers from the jump point and the Terran fleet. 

Admiral McCullick orders the Andromeda, which still has not been able to repair all of its engines, and the remaining support ships and carriers, to jump to 111 Virginis.  Once through the jump point the carriers and support ships accelerate away from the jump point, while the Andromeda remains on station.     

The alien fleet approaches to four point nine million kilometers and then turns away, back towards the inner system.  Admiral McCullick sends a ship through the jump point to recall the support ships, so that the resupply and refueling of the Andromeda could continue.  The carrier group continues away from the jump point to meet the missile resupply ships. 

March 28, 2148: The carrier group meets the UNREP ships carrying the fleet’s missile resupply, and both groups turn towards the jump point to Omega Ceti.  While they travel towards the jump point, the UNREP ships begin transferring missiles the China and the Phobos.  Crews on the carriers immediately begin rearming their fighters. 

March 31, 2148: The carrier group and its attendant UNREP ships join the Andromeda on the jump point to Omega Ceti.  The UNREP ships immediately start filling the dreadnought’s magazines, so that its fighter complement can be rearmed.  The Andromeda still has not been able to repair one of its engines, but is capable of the fleet standard speed.  All of its other damage has been repaired, aside from the gouges in its armor belt. 

At 1517 hours the Andromeda and the UNREP ships and tanker jumps into the Omega Ceti system and joins the fleet on the jump point.  Once the UNREP ships and the tanker are through the jump point, the ships of the Retribution Fleet line up to begin resupplying and refueling.  The alien fleet is on the far side of the system and out of sensor range. 

1759 hours: The refueling and resupply is not yet complete, but the aliens are rising out of the inner system again.  Admiral McCullick orders every strike fighter in the fleet to be launched for a strike on the alien ships.  In short order forty-four strike fighters streak away from the fleet towards the oncoming alien ships. 

The unpredictable alien ships almost immediately turn away, although they almost certainly could not detect the fighters at a distance of 260 million kilometers.  Sure enough, the alien ships reach the inner system and then turn back towards the oncoming fighters. 

2126 hours: The strike group has reached attack range.  As one they fired off their missiles at the hated alien ships.  The missiles were targeted on the two Anubis class ships, which had given the fleet so much trouble, and on one of the Mors class destroyers.  Thirty seconds later the three hundred and fifty-two missiles slammed into the alien ships.  The first attack caused armor hits on all three targets, but no penetrations.  The second attack also caused armor damage, but there were again no penetrations.  The third and last attack was stopped by alien point defense fire with no hits.  The results were astounding. 

Anubis 05: 24 hits
Anubis 06: 22 hits
Mors 01: 20 hits

An Imperial destroyer, approximately the same size as the alien Mors class ship, had armor that could possibly withstand twenty hits from Imperial Sparrow II ASM’s, but it would almost certainly suffer burn throughs.  And the two Anubis had been attacked multiple times over the last month.  How they would withstand the new attack was unknown.  The fighters turned away to rearm. 

The alien fleet followed the fighters for over an hour then turned away towards the inner system.  The fighters landed on their carriers and rearming began at 0054 hours on the 1st. 

By 0221 hours the fighters were rearmed, and the unknown class of alien ship tentatively ID’d as a scout was approaching the fleet from the general direction of Omega Ceti V.  It was 103 mkm’s out when Admiral McCullick ordered the Andromeda to launch its six strike fighters to intercept.  The fighters raced away from the fleet towards the contact, which was suspected to be small, as it was well within the active range of the fleet scout’s active sensors, but was only showing on the fleet’s thermal sensors. 

Sure enough, when the fighters closed to forty-three million kilometers their sensitive active sensors determined that the alien ship was 3,246 tons, and was designated as a Charon class unit by the fleet’s tactical department.  The fighters launched their forty-eight missiles at one point five million kilometers.  The alien ship managed to intercept one missile, and took twenty-one hits before a massive internal explosion ripped it apart. 

April 1, 2148, 0609 hours: The Terran fleet launches a second strike on the alien fleet, still vacillating just outside the inner system.  The Andromeda’s fighters only have a partial load, but the two carrier’s fighter strike groups are fully loaded with missiles. 

1240 hours: The fighters have closed to 750,000 kilometers, well within their missile’s range, as the alien fleet is fleeing directly away from the fighters.  They launch as one, with all of the missiles targeted on the two Anubis class ships.  Three hundred and twelve missiles streak away from the fighters and race towards the alien fleet. 

The missile wave reaches the alien fleet, and one hundred and thirty are blown out of space before they can reach their targets.  Forty-two hit the two Anubis class ships, and the remainder come around for a second attack.  One hundred and two were shot down short of their targets, and only nine hit their targets, but one penetrated one of the Anubis’s armor.  The remaining missiles were shot down before they could hit their targets. The damaged Anubis showed no signs of slowing. 

Anubis 05: 29 armor hits
Anubis 06: 21 armor hits, 1 penetration

The fighters turned back towards their carriers.  The land at 1713 hours, and by that time Admiral McCullick has made his decision.  The carriers have enough missiles to rearm their fighters for one last strike, but he has decided against it.  The previous strikes have shown little results, and while a change of targets might show improved results, McCullick decides that leaving the fleet with no long-range striking power in exchange for negligible gain.  It is clear to Admiral McCullick that the alien ships were equipped with some sort of regenerating armor, as the two remaining Anubis class ships had been subjected to repeated attacks that should have destroyed them several times over. 

Admiral McCullick orders the fleet to continue refueling from the tankers in preparation for leaving the system. 

The fleet leaves the Omega Ceti system at 1136 hours on the 2nd of April.