When I said last post "before the rest of 2129 makes this post any longer", I wasn't kidding.
2129 (cont.)Background information
There were originally three major Mars colonies: A European one, an American one and a Chinese one, despite American protests (see Battle of Mars, 2082). The American colony eventually turned into the Martian Consortium as the economic power base shifted there. In 2104 the Chinese (PRL) colony got annexed by the Martian Consortium. While large swaths of population and industry are directly under the control of the Martian Consortium now, the large European colony with it's own government as a member state of the European Union nominally "owns" the planet. An honest grassroots support for a Martian national identity has been growing for decades and has been receiving political and monetary support from the Consortium, who seek to eliminate the influence of the other interstellar powers on "their" planet.
The EU colony of Taíno on Santa María II shares the planet with the original Argentine colony there and has recently undergone explosive growth, achieving economic self-sustainability. They do not have a strong national identity as it has been built on Mars, but see Earth as only the place that all their hard-earned wealth and minerals are undeservedly flowing away to.
The War of IndependenceNegotiations between the governments of the EU colonies of Taíno in Santa María and the planet of Mars finish. Both declare their independence and their support for another. The Mars colony in particular has concrete promises from the private militaries of the Martian Consortium that their actions will be supported. Reasons cited for independence are: Stopping the drain of wealth and resources away from their colonies, freeing themselves from having policy dictated by Earth and dissatisfation with the political system of the European Union in particular, which is characterized as unfit for the interstellar age. The declaration is published on the last day of May 2129.
As was pre-arranged, the Martian Consortium releases a statement acknowledging the independence of the two former colonies. The other powers refrain from making any strong statements at this uncertain point in time. European officials on Earth are, of course, livid. Despite the declarations having wide support among both colonies populations, the EU parliament on Earth rules the move invalid and demands the colonies go through the proper legal parliamentary processes to determine their possible independence - several such proposals have however been strategically blocked by the Earth nations in recent years. The EU threatens to use force to remove rebellious government officials. They do not back down and Earth-steered attempts to mobilize security forces on Mars and Santa María II fail, with police and other bodies either refusing the orders or pledging their allegiance to their local governments. Out of options, they start contacting military commanders, putting them in a very difficult position. Some refuse outright, following the model of the civilian deserters, some claim that they do not believe their troops would follow any such orders. EU military garrisoning on the colonies is typically a permanent station with most manpower drawn upon locally - not conducive to loyalty to the central government as it now turns out.
A few days have passed now and the question is on everybody's lips: Will the Earth government send ships and troops to subdue the colonies? Heated debates are held in the EU parliament, now in session with only the Earth nations represented. In the meantime the colony on Número Ocho, a low-gravity mining colony in Santa María with 20m inhabitants, has also declared independence and joined the new government of the Taíno colony. This may well be what tipped the balance, Earth needs mineral sources to survive and thrive and another has just turned away.
The decision is made to send in the fleet. Officially to "restore order" and "arrest officials", their actual mandate is to bring the colonies back in line by means of intimidation, using force if necessary. The commander of the destroyer squadron stationed on Santa María II receives an order to blockade the planet, but broadcasts his refusal in a very media-effective manner across the planet and back to Sol, instead pledging his allegiance to the local government of Taíno. The move seems coordinated with both the local government and the commanders of the rest of his squadron. These news aren't good for the Earthers, we're not talking about a few army officers refusing to leave their barracks or being afraid of being arrested by their troops, but the unambiguous defection of major military assets. There is now a chance that European ships may end up shooting each other.
The parts of Santa María II governed by Argentina, small in comparison to the European ones, also experienced their own push for independence. No such declaration ended up being made, primarily because the Martian Consortium would not extend it's offers to the Argentine possessions. It is true that the Argentine government has been a lot less exploitive in their policies than the European counterparts, to the degree where their Earth population sometimes feels forgotten. In either case it is believed that the future of the Argentine colony on Santa María II will be tightly coupled to the fate of Taíno.
Ship defection like in Santa María is unfortunate, but not actually a scenario the EU government was unprepared for. The conflict with Mars had to come to a head eventually and to prevent exactly this kind of outcome the destroyer squadron normally stationed on Mars has not been redeployed there in recent years, instead keeping it in Earth orbit. The fleet stationed on Earth is large, counting 6 cruisers and 10 destroyers - 200k tons total. Even if individual ships and commanders have doubts about their orders or would rather defect, doing so in the middle of the entire fleet is dangerous. The commanding officers of the six Hades-class cruisers in particular are all Earth-born citizens with no particular affiliation to or affection for the colonies.
So the Consortium has thrown down the gauntlet, putting the rebellious colonies under their protection. A full-on conflict with another power's main fleet is something most want to avoid, but there may be no way around it here. The Martian fleet holds a strategic advantage, it does not need to move in order to fulfil it's objective, it's the EU fleet that needs to act. The EU has two targets to visit: Mars and Taíno. It'd be ideal to deal with the Martian fleet (and Mars) first and then send an expedition to Taíno afterwards, but that requires the balls to start a major interstellar battle, one likely to involve the liberal use of nuclear warheads against targets in space. The Martian navy is considered inferior to the EU's Earth fleet, but a full-on confrontation like that is still not something the European leaders can agree on. So the decision is made to split off part of the fleet and tackle Taíno first - as long as a large enough force is also kept in Sol the Martian navy can't afford to send it's fleet away from Mars. It is unlikely that retaking Taíno will cause the Mars colony to concede as well, but it will put the EU government in a better position.
On the Martian side sending a large fleet detachment all the way to Santa María was never really an option anyway, despite their promises to both colonies - the PRL is still looking for an opportunity to exploit Consortium weakness and retake their old colony, despite their claim growing weaker and weaker every year that it remains under Consortium control. It has been 25 years now since the Consortium annexed the PRL Mars colony and the two powers entered a state of cold war. As such a scenario that leaves the Consortium navy at home is preferrable to them anyways. Their greatest fear is an alliance between the EU and PRL against them, but for now that does not happen.
The European Earth government makes it's move: two cruisers and four destroyers leave orbit accompanied by a troop ship and a support vessel. Martian observation detects this. Their options are limited, and they must act now before the group gets too far away from Earth and an interception would leave Mars undefended. On the other hand, too close to Earth and the navy will have to contend with the entire EU fleet.
It'd be very nice if you could remove civilian ship contacts from the map.Any move by major Martian fleet assets will be detected as easily as the EU move, so their first instinct is to launch a fighter strike at the leaving force. Estimates show that, even with just four destroyers escorting the cruisers, not enough missiles will get through. The Mega-class missile destroyers can put out a volume of fire twice as big which can potentially be combined with a fighter strike. If some Megas need to visibly break orbit anyway it is decided to send all of them to strike at the leaving fleet and keep the fighter squadrons in reserve. A counter-missile strike is not feared as EU missiles have lower range and both their cruisers and their fighters can't catch up to the Megas.
EU military command detects the Megas setting course for their detachment. They are catching up quickly to the detachment which is slowed down significantly by their escorted troop transport. The warships could potentially reach the Earth LP before the Martians catch up and ambush them at energy range when they come through, but that would mean abandoning the troop transport to the enemy. The troops are mission critical to be able to force a surrender out of the Taíno colony, so their protection is paramount. The cruisers stationed on Earth are too slow to do more than force the Martian task group to adjust their course a little.
The Martians are escorting their strike ships with plasma frigates to preempt a potential intercept with faster EU escort destroyers at energy range.At 28m from target the Martian destroyers activate sensors and lock targets. 32 cruise missiles are locked onto each of the cruisers, 8 on each destroyer.
Fire control settings. (SF) means synchronized fire, important to make sure that all missiles are fired and arrive as one and can't be picked off piecemeal.The missiles are in space. The long manual reload cycles of the Megas mean they probably won't get a second shot off before the fleet transits the LP.
As the enemy is heading away from the launch platforms it must be ensured that by the time of intercept the targets have not gotten out of range, that's why the fire order is given at 28m range despite the missiles having 35m range.At 1.6m from impact the detachment's thermal sensors detect the cruise missiles. Willing to wager on the Martians not having targeted the troop and support ship, the warships break formation to make use of their full speed and activate sensors, preparing for PD fire. Out of 96 cruise missiles 25 miss and a further 43 are hit by PD fire, resulting in 28 impacts. As the targets were distributed no ships are destroyed, but the ES Kirikkale, the oldest escort destroyer in the squadron, loses all engine power. The cruiser Kerberos was hit heavily and loses 43% engine power but otherwise retains operable status, if limited to the speed of a support ship. The other ships range from no damage to minor internal damage. 117 out of 1862 crewmen lose their lives.
Commander Burston on the Olympus Mons, the Martian command ship, is satisfied with the result. Destruction of enemy vessels was not his main objective, he wants to leave escalation of the conflict to the other side as much as possible. With one ship disabled and others wounded they will have to reconsider continuing their mission and will be weakened regardless of whether they press on to Santa María or turn back to Earth.
The disabled destroyer Kirikkale puts the European squadron in a difficult position. Proceeding towards the LP will abandon the ship to the opponent, but staying means being exposed to additional missile volleys. Help from Earth can not arrive in time. The decision is made to leave the Kirikkale behind and continue with the mission. There are four mutinous ships to confront and a colony to bring back in line. Even with battle damage the cruiser's firepower should be more than sufficient to deter the defected destroyers from making any more stupid moves. Seeing the EU ships make their decision Commander Burston reacts impassively, ordering his task force back to Mars and detaching a couple of plasma frigates to force the Kirikkale to surrender and take on it's crew. The ship itself must be scuttled, EU ships from Earth can get here before a tug could begin moving the Kirikkale back to Mars.
The incident gathers much media attention as a major battle in the middle of a busy shipping line in inner Sol. The five nation-state powers consider the Martian Consortium an independent military power, but to the newly independent people of Mars the battle is seen as "their" military beating back an attempt by Earth to reinstate their rule. Ever since the Battle of Procyon at the latest, where much of the resulting footage and reporting happened from the perspective of the distinctly Martian flagship Utopia Planitia, the Consortium's warships have been a symbol of national pride and strength.
So ends the first major exchange in this war of independence. For the next one the Martians are going to play another advantage of theirs. Their allies on Taíno are contacted and the defected EU destroyer squadron is asked to come to the Consortium colony in Salto, between Sol and Santa María.
A month goes by. The EU flotilla proceeds towards Santa María unharried by further Martian aggression and transits the Salto JP. There the unsuspecting ships are immediately assaulted by two Consortium plasma frigates and the defected destroyers they called in to help. The EU listening post in Salto which is supposed to prevent such an ambush from happening is on a moon of planet III - currently near it's farthest point from the Sol JP. On the other hand the Consortium colony on Salto IV is very close to the Sol JP currently. Due to these unfortuntate circumstances the ambushing ships were not detected and achieve total surprise.
The cruiser Nixos, the less damaged of the pair, is blasted by the plasma frigates. An equally if not more destructive barrage is begun by the Taíno-loyal destroyers, directing continuous fire against all warships at once. Standard jump shock is two minutes, best case. An awful lot of time to be on the receiving end of six energy-armed warships. When the plasma frigates reload and fire again the Nixos simply disintegrates. Satisfied that they have made their point, and in order to get outside of the remaining ship's firing range when they recover from jump shock, the ambushing force backs off a small distance and opens communications, demanding surrender. Shortly after the ambushing ships have left immediate weapons range the Kerberos recovers from jump shock, with Captain Cortés heatedly ordering all weapons fire. The chaos (and damage) on the ship proves too great, and five out of the seven heavy batteries remain silent and over half of the missile tubes do not respond. When the Kerberos' remaining missile launchers cycle again the Isparta, commanded by Lutz Brink, a young and courageous Taíno-born officer who distinguished himself in fighter combat simulations, breaks formation, firing on the Kerberos' volley and signalling his surrender to the Taíno forces.
Another defectionAll of the Kerberos' missiles were destroyed and it's few operational batteries are ineffective at this range. It's remaining two escorts still haven't recovered from jump shock and won't win a straight-up fight against what is now seven enemy ships. Captain Cortés has no option but to call off the mission and turn back to Sol. By jumping her ships back through the JP she can at least discourage the enemy from giving chase by threatening to have her remaining ships do to them what just happened to her group; Ambush them behind a JP. After waiting on the JP for a while and confirming they don't chase she sets course back to Earth. Now it's up to the admirals and politicians to decide what to do next.
One of the lessons learned by this engagement is that even if combat is expected to happen in areas of stabilized jump points only it can be beneficial to have jump tenders. A squadron jumped via tender does not suffer jump shock for nearly as long as with an unassisted transit.
The PRL does not really want to participate in a campaign to conquer Mars only to end up in the same or a similar situation as before: with one or two other powers also present on the planet, except now there's blood and a lot more mistrust between them. Their main goal in any such action would be the liberation of their populace, which is not deemed strategically important, and gaining recompense for the state-owned industrial facilities the Consortium appropriated. While those were significant, the state has been doing fine without them, too. Because of this diplomats from Earth, no matter how enthusiastic, have a hard time convincing the PRL of their "shared goals" in the Martian matter.
The Kerberos and the remainder of it's task group return to Earth. The Martian tracking stations confirm the Kerberos is in inner Sol and give the green light for the ships in Salto to jump into Sol: The previous ambush won't work again and with most ships enjoying a speed advantage over the EU fleet there's no reason not to concentrate the forces.
CA Kerberos stats - That's a lot of damageThe Kerberos will be in spacedock for 9 months. It's two escorts have received heavy armor damage, but still have functioning systems. Using them in an operation again is possible, if risky. The expedition sent to Taíno was supposed to be an easy victory and put Earth in a favorable position in dealing with Mars, but all it's done is put a third of the fleet out of action. The additional bloodshed has united Earth's nations to assertively put down this rebellion and authorize planning for direct action against the Martian fleet. Without colonies mining offworld minerals Earth is helpless after all.
The EU plan for taking out the Martian navy is as follows: a direct approach while the Earth-Mars orbits still put the planets closely together so as to give them less reaction time for fighter actions. All undamaged ships will participate, leaving Earth defended by the damaged escorts and the planetary point-defense installations. PD on both the fleet and Earth should be sufficient for the limited Martian missile strike capacity, which was just a little to high for the detached fleet to absorb previously. Once in strike range of Mars, all cruisers will open fire on the Martian ships, preferentially targeting escorts and frigates. It is assumed that the Martian navy will remain on station so as to defend their planet. The first strike wave can be boosted significantly by use of Eurofighter squadron missile launches, however they require a closer distance to target in order to lock on successfully. There are significant STO ground forces stationed on Mars. While many have doubtful loyalty or may even support the enemy side, attempts will be made to mobilize as great a number of these as possible for eventual use against Martian ships in orbit, however doing so would likely precipitate large-scale ground fighting as rebel troops try to shut them down. Since it can't be guaranteed that reinforcements from Earth will land on the ground quickly enough and in sufficient numbers the STO option should only be used in a pinch.
The Earth battle fleet departs. Four cruisers and three Adana C/D escorts each with 31 Eurofighters in tow. 143k tons. On Mars await them 3 carriers, 6 missile destroyers, 3 escort destroyers, 48 light fighters, 6 laser escort frigates, 8 plasma frigates. 298k tons total. On paper this gives the Martian fleet a major advantage, but there are several diminishing factors working against their superiority: All 14 frigates are old and outdated, the escort frigates are rated to only have a fraction of the performance of a kinetic escort destroyer. The fighters all carry only a single cruise missile, as opposed to the ~10 projectiles a Eurofighter carries. The carriers contribute a lot of mass to the total but provide very little actual fighting strength. The final reason why the EU fleet considers itself superior is it's sheer advantage in nuclear firepower, it's fighter squadrons can put up to 300 missiles in the air, at once. The Martian point-defense, consisting of some old frigates and only three newer destroyers who's supply of Qian Interceptors hasn't arrived yet, is considered weak.
Martian observation detects the EU force departing from Earth, fighters included. Prepared procedures are initiated at once. Commercial Consortium-owned ships are evacuated from orbits and all shields begin the charging process. The last supplies of missiles are loaded onto the warships, the escort destroyers in particular only have a limited amount of Martian-built interceptors available to them.
Four hours later the EU fleet has crossed half the distance between the planets and it's time for the Martian navy to make it's first move. As the Martian missile systems are not designed for rapid-fire launches all available time must be used. All six missile destroyers and the 48 fighters, most aboard their carriers, move towards the approaching fleet. All 144 launch tubes are loaded with LRT3 Cruise Missiles - the Consortium's latest model, only produced in small numbers so far. There is only enough for one full strike, all reloads must use LRT2 models, which are the ones used for the strike against the flotilla departing for Taíno, or old low-performance LRT1 models. All Martian ordnance outranges EU missiles and all launch platfroms outspeed the EU launch platforms, so there is no fear of counter-fire. After an hour the Martian strike fleet is in range, deliberating targets. Targeting the fleet's core of cruisers is tempting, as their continual launch capabilities are very dangerous to the navy. Targeting the escorts to achieve higher damage with further volleys is also tempting. Captain Georgia Florek on the flag bridge of the Utopia Planitia is the risk-averse type and would prefer to target the fighters instead, as they with their high alpha-strike capability pose the greatest danger to the Martian navy, but in order to get a lock on them the fleet would need to move within 7.5m km to target, which would cost valuable time and put the fleet inside EU weapons range. Counting on the chance to strike again, Captain Florek orders three escorts targeted.
Missiles awayThe fighters are recalled and begin the rearming process. The EU battle fleet detects the launch. PD fire is being prepared, it is assumed that the volley can be weathered. An uncomfortable 20 minutes follow, knowing that there are 144 warheads incoming and you don't know if they're aimed at your ship and you can't do anything about it until the last second anyway.
53 miss, 45 are intercepted and 46 warheads impact
I'm really missing the verbose damage breakdowns of VB6, they helped a lot with understanding how combat works. I have little idea what happened here, I guess three missiles each were enough to destroy the two dead destroyers? They must have died from secondaries caused by shock damage, given that nothing penetrated? Why does the summary at the bottom list 3 hits on the Edirne but I can count 6 hits on the top? The six hits on the Tarsus are all there is, I snipped a lot of "empty" messages like the second-to-last, which I imagine are "hits" after the ship had already exploded? Then why is there a single message "No hits"? I kinda wish the PD would randomly target an incoming missile instead of working on them volley by volley, this leads to weird results where some ships get fully protected but some get totally destroyed.One targeted destroyer only has armor damage, but two were destroyed. That is worse than expected, but still within mission parameters and the Martians shouldn't be able to use their strike capacity again very soon. The mission will continue, determines Captain Sundberg aboard the Charon.
As more time passes the EU fleet enters missile range from Mars. Martian launch tubes, save for the ones on the fighter squadron still missing a carrier, are ready to fire again before the Earther fleet gets into their own fire range. It is unknown if they will strike as soon as they get within their range or if they will wait until they're closer. Martian Captain Florek would still prefer to target the EU fighters, but a lock on them can't be achieved until they close to 7.5m km range - within the 10m km range of their missiles. The need to pre-empt as much hostile fire as possible wins out, and the second strike is released against the cruisers. There is little the EU ships can do about the ordnance currently approaching them, so they keep moving. While the strike is still in the air the Mega class destroyers reload. The fighters won't be rearmed before the EU fleet gets within range, so an additional strike using old LRT1 cruise missiles is launched with the Megas. It remains to be seen how effective they are, but even if the strike fails the old ordnance can be spared.
The second strike impacts. Despite the usage of less capable LRT2 cruise missiles the previous destruction of two escorts has enough of an effect that 54 missiles impact. 44 are intercepted and 34 miss. The European command cruiser Charon suffers a magazine explosion and is destroyed, forcing the fleet commander Captain Sundberg into a lifepod. The Pluto and especially the Hydra suffer extensive internal damage. This fight is NOT going the way the EU admirals had expected, but at this point it's only a few more million km until Mars is in firing range, and fleeing now would allow the Martians to take their time finishing off the fleet. This endeavor was very much all-in from the start, and without colonial mineral income Earth is very much helpless. Even if most of the fleet does not survive this encounter, if colonial obedience can be restored, it will be worth it.
The third wave approaches. Fewer, notably slower missiles, but can the damaged EU fleet absorb them?
They cannot.The next strike hits the cruiser Styx amidships, causing two munitions caches to ignite at once. The last operational EU cruiser is taken out of the fight. Only four escorts and the fighters remain of the fleet, less than two million km before the cruisers would have entered into firing range of Mars. Shall the fleet push on even now? The fighters have a limited firing range of only 4m km. The exact range at which Martian sensors can get a lock on the fighters is not known, but as the Eurofighter fleet is the oldest space-based military unit built by humans many systems have been made specially to detect such platforms. Quick estimates by intelligence show that, given measured outputs of Consortium sensor systems, they can likely target and fire on the fighters before they get within range. And even if the fighters get to strike, victory is not assured. The recommendation is to recall, and the admirality agrees. Consortium command is contacted and a cease-fire offered, with the promise that the currently en-route forces will retreat without firing. The Martians accept, and little later their victory is publicly proclaimed. Spontaneous jubilations erupt among the nationalist population across the planet.
Many an Earth politician's career who promised to bring the colonies in line no matter the resistance just ended. European politics descend into chaos over the next few days, and the dissolution of the European Union in it's current form seems a foregone conclusion. There are protests about Consortium ships salvaging the wrecks of European ships, ignoring their salvage rights, but might makes right and the EU is neither politically nor military able to defend their claims. The EU fleet at the start of the conflict counted 18 escorts and 6 cruisers, now there are three undamaged and three damaged escorts remaining. Half the cruisers, the core of the EU navy, have been destroyed, and the other ones are still undergoing emergency damage control procedures in Earth orbit. 4 escorts are permanently stationed in deep space, guarding a mining outpost. 5 escorts have deserted and gone over to the enemy. 3 have been destroyed.
July ends and August rolls around, it has now been several weeks since the initial declaration of independence. With the last battle it has become clear that loyalty of the colonies can't be militarily enforced and that Mars and Taíno as independent entities are here to stay, so as a consequence, limited acknowledgements of their sovereignty have been made by the other powers. The EU governments on Earth still refuse such a statement, but colonial independence is starting to be regarded as a fait accompli. A prisoner exchange has been negotiated and safe passage for citizens wishing to return from one world to another has been promised. Due to the questionable loyalties of EU ground forces no orders calling them to action had been given and no significant ground fighting took place during the whole time. Earth is allowed to retrieve any troops wishing to return there, but is not allowed to interfere with any individual, in military service or otherwise, that wishes to remain on their current world. As a consequence some entire brigades have officially joined the Martian and Taíno governments.
Militarily the outcome of the naval showdown between the EU and the Consortium was unexpected. Many of the Consortium's ships were considered second grade to those of other nations and their missile doctrine has always been critiqued as inefficient, but it was their longer range that made the difference here. The Consortium has established itself as a first-rate military power now, especially in light of their wealth and the rapid growth of their fleet, while the EU, or what will become of it, is now looking at a rapid decline in power and influence. To the other powers Mars is still protected by a powerful navy, keeping the ambitions of smaller powers like Russia in check, but Taíno's security may prove a different matter. It remains to be seen if their alliance with the Consortium was only a temporary measure or something that will last.
One of the more immediate results of Taíno's independence is even more heavily increased calls for independence of the Argentine colony on Santa María II as well. It is clear that the governments of Taíno and Mars have been supporting such demands and would back them up militarily. Given what just happened to the EU navy, considered a first-rate power, the Argentine government sees itself forced to make more and more concessions every week, giving virtually every possible degree of autonomy to their Santa María colony. This, in turn, causes the home population of Argentina, who already felt the government was spending too much on off-world matters, to take it to streets en masse. Less than a month later the government fails; a second state in disarray as a result of the war for independence.
Another "failing" state turns out to be the Martian one: the local EU government on the body, which is the one that declared independence several months ago, is finding it's policies and personnel choices increasingly dictated by the powerful Consortium entities which allowed their independence to become a reality in the first place. Rarely can any official body say no when a candidate proposed by the Consortium is suggested for an advisory position or a post directly. Given the current rate of integration it can be assumed that true democratic elections likely won't be a part of Mars' future. The Consortium also seeks to expand the jurisdiction of the government over it's "own" populations, helping legitimize it's rule over Mars and it's citizens.
Other happenings in 2129A Consortium explorer is detecting live fire and wrecks around a JP stabilized by non-humans. The system connected through that JP is where the EU encountered survey ships on a survey point a couple years ago.
This is another shooting incident happening half a year later. A third one then happened in December.
The previously encountered jump ship transits the Grand Bourg JP again. As there is currently a stabilization ship working on the JP the Japanese immediately send their fleet from the orbit over Neo-Kobe City, which is closely approaching the JP once more. The jump tender flees towards the outer system, perhaps upon detecting the Japanese vessel in vicinity of the JP. Two destroyers, barely faster than their quarrel, give chase. Communications attempts continue and the aliens keep responding, but the christmas miracle from over a year ago that allowed diplomatic contact seems all but forgotten.
At some point the alien ship turns back. It may also have been heading towards the nearest survey point, like the initial contact ship did. This opens up a chance to finally intercept it.
The speeds of the hunter and the hunted are almost equal.The destroyer Yamagiri scores several hits. The alien vessel does not appear to change course or attempt to defend itself. As the impact profile suggests the ship is not heavily armored the decision is made to close in to point-blank range with one destroyer and disable it's electronics with microwave weapons. And so it is done. The alien sensors are fried and the ship is being let escape back through the JP, unable to get a reading on the Japanese task force now sitting on it. It is also hoped that the non-lethal application of force is seen as a sign of goodwill by the aliens, assuming they understand such notions.
A mere two months later such hopes are brought to naught as the ship transits yet again and is destroyed by the blockading force.
They didn't want to learn.A few days later another, larger ship transits the JP and immediately returns back through it. Before it disappeared again it activated sensors and got a reading on the JAP blockading force, perhaps that was it's purpose - or investigating the fate of the previous ship. Then it jumps through again, retreats, jumps away again. After a few more of these cycles the commander has enough and orders his ships to open fire. After one volley the ship stops returning. Concerning is that apparently none of the hits penetrated the armor, suggesting that this was indeed a warship.
OOC Note: That's the kind of interrupt loop I have to deal with. Except most of the time it's between NPRs, which makes it non-obvious what's going on or what's causing it.A few months later the ship transits again, perhaps after having received repairs. At least this time it is content not to move, opting to sit just beside the JAP stabilizer and under the watchful eye of the blockade fleet, inside their weapons range. Intermittently sensor emissions can be received from it. An hour later it jumps out and in again, beginning the same game as before, except it stays in system for up to an hour every time now. After a few cycles the Japanese task group fires again. The ship reacts to the long-range volley, all shots of which miss, by fleeing - away from the JP. A few more volleys quickly disable the ship - it appears it was not as well armored as thought. Unwilling to give away a chance for a peaceful resolution the blockade fleet positions itself in the ships prior escape vector and waits.
The Russian excavation in Sverdlovsk recovers 6 000 tons of Corundium from a storage area of the alien ruins. Suddenly receiving enough minerals for 25 automines is an unexpected windfall for the economically weak nation.
As a result of their botched transition to manned mining operations on Venus and the temporary income stop of Gallicite that resulted from it, the Japanese navy is now in a state of maintenance crisis. Engine units are starting to fail on ships orbiting Earth which can't be immediately repaired. The task force keeping Neo-Kobe City in Grand Bourg secure is not hit as hard as the limited facilities in operation there can manufacture spares out of locally produced Gallicite, mined in system in trace amounts. Both the continued deployment of their forces and the supply shortage do not bode well for the nation's preparedness in the face of possible foreign aggression.
