Story thread - chronicles

[Growltigger]

COLD PEACE

Avalon was the jewel of the Federation colony worlds. The adverts run by Federation Command on all Earth media for the Avalon colony portrayed it as a veritable Garden of Eden and the epitome of the unspoiled wilderness. It truly was a beautiful planet, towering mountains, heavily forested uplands, verdant plains sweeping down to oceans which sparkled in the bright sunlight of Tau Ceti. The main settlement, Carthage, was expertly laid out, and despite being a new settlement, was a mass of leafy avenues, clean white buildings, space and room to breathe. To the economists of the Federation, it was a veritable potential powerhouse for mineral and radioactive production, and also had the possibility of producing huge amounts of foodstuffs. To a citizen of Earth, with its environmental contamination, polluted atmosphere, food shortages and industrial complexes, Avalon really was something akin to paradise.

But even paradise had its serpent, and humanity now discovered that it did not have the monopoly on terror and warfare.

Discovery had pulled into orbit around Avalon, and was in the process of transferring its wounded down to hospitals in Carthage, prior to undergoing repairs at Avalon's newly completed spaceyard facility.

The alien vessel transitted the warp point 3 days after Discovery had returned to Avalon, and headed straight for the planet. All warning signals were ignored, and the civilian administration in Carthage ordered the population to disperse. Many people did not, and this did not sit well with the captain of the Discovery, who came to the cold conclusion that his damaged vessel was the only defence Avalon had. Frantic Messages were transmitted to Earth, but the 1st Cruiser Squadron was several months away even at full speed, and the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, redirected from its voyage to Asgard, was the other side of Earth. The captain realised that he was the sole Federation military presence in the system, and who knew how many alien vessels would be lurking the other side of the warp point.

Two weeks later, the alien vessel approached Avalon. A hastily repaired Discovery speeded out to meet it. The captain of the Discovery had been frantically reviewing every tactical handbook he could find. He knew that his primary advantage lay in the fact that his missiles seemed to have better range than the linear accelerators on the alien vessel. Provided he could keep the range open, he could shell the alien ship before it could get in range to fire.

The Battle of Avalon was one sided. The alien ship, damaged from its previous encounter with Discovery, bore straight toward the planet, obviously intent on bLasting Carthage to atoms in a blaze of kinetic projectiles. It barely tried to dodge when the first missile from the Discovery smashed into it. The missile bLast fractured the alien ship, and despite a call to surrender, no signal was received from the alien wreck. The second missile from the Discovery blew it apart. Discovery proceeded to start search and rescue operations to see if any of the alien crew had survived, and also to attempt to obtain technical data on the alien vessel..

Federation Command was in an uproar. All ship production on Earth was cancelled, and new light cruisers, incorporating the latest phased beam, armour and point defence technology, were put into production. Hephaestus and Vulcan would continue to build Nova class colony ships, as Federation Command realised it needed additional mining colonies to provide the resources needed to service a war fleet.

Meanwhile, the linguistics technicians and engineers aboard on Avalon had made some important discoveries.

The alien ship did not appear to be more technically advanced than the Federation. It was the same size as the frigate designs Federation Command had contemplated building in early 2401, but it was still half the size of a Federation light cruiser. It armour was not as technically advanced as the complex composites used by Federation designers, its ion engines were less efficient than comparable Federation designs, and the linear accelerators, whilst initially quite frightening, did not have the range and punch of the phased beams being installed on Federation cruisers. In fact, the military hotheads at Battlefleet had even run analysis's and had reached the conclusion that 4 or more of these vessels would be needed to take on a single Agamemnon class light cruiser of the Terran Federation Navy with any hope of success. On this basis, Federation Command breathed a sigh of relief as whatever these aliens were, they did not appear to be the Asgard Enigma.

Although no bodies had been retrieved from the wreckage, the scientists had managed to decipher the signals received from the alien ship in its first encounter with Discovery. Both audio and visual signals had been decoded. The audio signals were decoded first. The language was unusual, but a linguistics professor at the newly founded Carthage University pointed out that it had disturbing similarities to proto-Aryan and older Earth Languages. The visual signals were decoded later, and what these showed caused massive uproar across the Federation.

It would have been better if the images showed horrible green hairy bug eyed monsters. They didn't. True, the person speaking out of the video channel was generally more slender and taller than the average human, wore strange garments and appeared to have a trenchant for face paint, but they looked undeniably human. Could it possibly be that humanity on Earth was just part of a wider human civilisation across the stars? Every lunatic and fringer on Earth went into overdrive, and political bodies demanding that Earth be reunited with its brethren across the stars appeared overnight. Every scientist on Earth and Avalon was dreaming of the chance to get its hands on some of the alien DNA.

Federation Command ignored the political upheaval. Its linguistic experts had managed to decipher the alien language, and although certain words had to extrapolated or inferred by reference, they had enough of the general meaning of the Messages to be worried. Apparently, the ship had been warning Discovery that it had entered into a star system claimed by the alien empire. Astronomy data indicated that the star system was Sigma Draconis, and that in addition to several gas giants and ice planets, it had one habitable world. In addition, it had an unexplored warp point. Data on what the alien empire was could not be interpreted, as the linguists could not determine enough information.

The 1st Cruiser Squadron had entered Tau Ceti space and was only 1 month away from reaching Avalon. The Hainan was only a month behind carrying 200 million colonists. A second alien vessel, which closely matched the first ship in design, transitted the warp point from Sigma Draconis. Unlike its predecessor, it did not charge towards Avalon all guns blazing, but sat on the warp point, not moving.

Messages were sent, and were responded to, and the linguistics and diplomatic experts finally opened the dialogue they wanted to with the aliens.

The aliens came from the Proxima Centauri star system, which was somewhere beyond Sigma Draconis. They called themselves the Centauri Republic, and were aggressive, notwithstanding the gift of minerals and foodstuffs sent to them by officials on Avalon. The Centauri would not be drawn, nor did they seem to show any interest in why they and Humans looked so alike. The offer of a non-aggression pact made by the Federation was rebuffed, with the cryptic message from the Centauri that this was not a time for alliances.

However, certain information was obtained from the Centauri. They inhabited 4 star systems, and generally had a technology level less advanced than the Federation. References to other ships however indicated that the Centauri fleet was larger than the Federation Navy. As suddenly as they had appeared, the Centauri vessel slipped back through the warp point and disappeared. The Last communication being an emphatic "no" to the Federation's request for a non-aggression treaty.

In the meantime, Venus, Ganymede and Europa had been colonised by Federation Command, and the resource stockpile was rapidly being replenished. Construction had been completed of the Federation light cruisers Theseus, Acheron, Argonaut and Bellerophon. More were in construction. These ships boosted out of Earth orbit on the long voyage to Avalon. Science Command and Battlefleet worked together to commence research on military techniques which could be used to train and increase the expertise of fleet vessels.

The military might of the Federation was to gather at Avalon. It was obvious to Federation Command that the Centauri Republic were hostile for some reason, and it was only a matter of time before the hammer fell on Avalon. How hard that hammer would fall, and whether the Federation could survive it, was the principal question.