Etheirian Ascendancy

[dumbluck]

author's note, Comments are welcome here.

Our knowledge of the Warppoint Network is slowly expanding. We've now explored 15 star systems, with colonies in 8 of those systems, and 1 more system ready to colonize. Our shipyard capacity has grown with the addition of a third facility at Emminence. Hopefully, with construction of the Resupply Depot at New Cornucopia, we can continue to explore in the north. However, our explorations there might be cut short with the discovery of 3 Caspian colonies in ZYX, two jumps north and east of Velocitas. ZYX also contains SIX ice planets, including Zyx VII, a huge, mild, Oxygen atmosphere planet with 110+% in all three resources. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before we will be able to exploit ZYX as a boon for the Ascendancy; and with the Caspians blocking our movements northward, we can only explore east out of the Gul Nebula.

Ironically, our exploration efforts in the south have taken a back seat to defensive efforts there. Starting in the fifth cycle, the Vikings have made several pushes down into the Ellemm/Cewandi branch of the Network. First, Twilight was just finishing up the construction of their main Civil Government buildings when a single Viking corvette emerged from the Northeast out of the Torren Nebula. It went straight for Twilight, giving it no time to assemble a fighter wing for defense. Fortune was smiling on us, however. A Defolag Carrier was at Helios to unload population. It uploaded fighters from planet-side and interdicted the Viking ship before it reached Twilight, with only minor losses. In fact, the Vikings were only able to successfully shoot down 2 fighters with their only missile that penetrated the wi Mela interceptors' defense screen.

But just one short cycle later, THREE Viking vessels, all larger than anything we can build, emerged from the unexplored northern Cewandi Warppoint. No military vessels were within 5 cycle's travel-time, and Darkwater, the only Ascendancy asset in the system, had yet to complete construction of the first fighters in it's defensive wing. However, the Vikings withdrew their ships the very next cycle, having never left the proximity of the Warppoint. For two cycles we have been going over our sensor logs, trying to determine why the Viking scum turned back. We still don't know the answer, but Gamma fleet, consisting of two Canmar close-assault vessels and an Anilam Maser-based point defense corvette, is already en-route from Yukra to guard the Ellemm side of the Torren Warppoint. It will be joined by the Fo Migan (having earning it's name this last year in combat with the Viking corvette). En route to Cewandi is the Delta fleet, consisting of a Canmar, a Mi Lag class missile corvette, and a to Gamar class torpedo corvette. More carriers are being constructed at New Haven to supplement these two fleets, as well as Alpha fleet at the Yukra/Torren Warppoint.

We have also encountered a new empire, one that had not existed before the Great Calamity. Or, more accurately, they have encountered US. Apparently, there has been some fragmentation in the Galactic Empire, as a vessel claiming to be of some Rebel Alliance entered out of the Gul Nebula in the north and began traveling through our systems. Inconceivably, Command has chosen NOT to interdict this vessel, instead letting it scout our systems, one by one. So far it has traveled through Velocitas and Rizzil, and is currently heading south through Vendrin on an apparent course toward the Vendrin/Emminence Warppoint. To date, it has shown no hostile action, but initial diplomatic inroads show that their government is becoming more and more unhappy with us.

On a brighter note, we've colonized 5 more planets this year. Cewandi VII has been colonized and christened Darkwater for it's strange microbe-rich oceans. Because it is far beyond the Yukra military system, it is building a fighter wing for defense, and none too soon! Because of the continued threat of Viking attacks, Darkwater's main emphasis will probably be of a military nature. Ellemm IV in the south was also colonized; it was christened Twilight. It has almost continuous geyser activity, and the cloud cover that results almost never allows the sun through. It's low resource values and murky atmosphere make it a dismal, desolate place to live, but the Scientists plan to build several labs there, as well. As previously mentioned, however, a defensive fighter wing is it's first priority. We also have a new colony on Rizzil VII. Although it has a Hydrogen atmosphere, it is seismically inactive. This made the Dome construction and maintenance simple and efficient. The colony was christened Advance, and is intended to compliment Forward as a northern military outpost.


Several of the new colonies have R&D excited. Vendrin I (south of Rizzil) was christened Ridgeline for it's impressive and numerous ridge-like mountain ranges. The conditions there are quite mild, except for the toxic Carbon Dioxide atmosphere. But it is pleasantly cold all year long there, and the Dome's temperature management equipment hardly sees any use. In addition, it is seismically inactive, like Advance. Ridgeline's stable environment has proven to be quite a boon for the scientific community, as they have set up numerous laboratories there. And then there is Emminence III. It was colonized initially to set up a base to analyze the extensive ruins there. Already, an ancient metal ... something has been discovered. The leading theory is that it is a container for some unknown fluid, but there are strong arguments against this theory, as well. At any rate, the colony was christened Glop for the planet's putrid oceans and poisonous atmosphere.

And speaking of the scientific community, they have made a major discovery that has increased the power of our Masers significantly. They tried to explain the technical issues to me, but all they accomplished was to give me a headache. Another thing that is causing my head to hurt is the economy. Things are beginning to get worrisome there; we are running a small deficit in Organics. And although we are still running small surpluses in Minerals and Rads, those will likely soon dry up as wartime spending increases. More emphasis needs to be placed on Infrastructure soon, but how can we do that and fight a war with the technologically superior Vikings, as well? There are also many worlds between Velocitas and New Haven that have yet to be colonized, several with promising archaeological features that have proved so fruitful in the past. But all of our shipyards are busy supporting the war effort, so how can we colonize them? And of coarse, there is the continuing Viking threat. Our military is not moving fast enough to deal with them, and I've yet to hear any promising plans that could. I've the feeling that we've got a rough year ahead of us.