Abrubtly halted.

[Intimidator]

HA, I thought you we're ussing Devnull.......

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Could you post that mod here? I'd be interested.

WARNING: If you do there will likely be parts of your mod showing up in Capship.....

[El_Phil]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:
Could you post that mod here? I'd be interested.

WARNING: If you do there will likely be parts of your mod showing up in Capship.....

Well.. Frankly I'd be surprised if it did, I'm not entirely convinced its balanced and there's not really any big changes, a few new weapson and ship sizes and some odds and ends.

But if anyone would like a look I should be able to post it tommorow (no internet where I'm staying so I can't do it today.)

And hopefully I should be posting the next part sometime today.

[El_Phil]

As (sort of) promised the next chapter!

"I've heard self-reliance is a virtue. Now you've heard it." The Cheshire Cat
2401.6
Captain Delap breathed a sigh of relief, the tactical display showed the Jraenar ships heading back to the planet. He just hoped they'd keep on that course, or anywhere away from him, until his reinforcements arrived.

Despite the war effort it had been decided that exploration should continue, even if at a reduced pace, so the Batch 4 Pegasus class Loki was sent from Hope to transit the final unexplored warp point in the Styris system. The Admiralty had convinced the council that additional ships were needed to join Javelin's squadron so Hades was despatched the moment she finished her shakedown run.

Sword transited the warp point with big news for Captain Delap, as all four ships were to work together they were now part of Task Force One, under Delap's command.
‘Working together watching a superior force sit in orbit around their home planet,’ Delap thought ‘I think we can probably manage that. It’s the not getting killed part that may be tricky.’

Back in Cignus the colony ship set down and the colonists disembarked and founded Helix. There was little time for celebration however as constructing a spaceport was a high priority, so after a big party on the first night the work started first thing the next day. Of course it didn't start quickly for some people who'd enjoyed the party too much…
In orbit Pioneer was ordered back to Ocelot for refit with the new Hellstorm Mod 2s, while the shipyards began work on the first transport ship. El Presidente and the council had decided those not only was Ocelot getting over crowded but that additional population on the colonies could only make them more productive and so help the war effort. So the yards began work on the first Rover class transport.

2401.7
This was not how it was supposed to turn out Commander Linton thought to herself. Loki should have found an exciting system teeming with lost alien cities and amazing stellar phenomenon. Failing that a couple of large oxygen worlds would have done. Instead they’d found a large asteroid belt in the Bersallis system and no warp points. In short a useless dead end. When the scans were complete she’d set course back for a refuel and then maybe find something exciting in the next system.

While Linton may have been disappointed it was but nothing compared to Commander Bell’s annoyance. ‘Report to the shipyard for induction and preparation for your new command.’ Yeah and if they’d told me it was a damn transport ship I might just of not turned up. Still Gold Rover was his new command so he’d better do a good job and hope for a promotion.
“Helm set a course for Oberon. Lets gets these damn colonists on their way.”
‘You never know some of these guys could end up working on the new shipyard there that builds my next ship.’ Bell thought.

Task Force One was not a happy place if your happened to be from the sensor section or had just come off night watch. ‘Captain Delap’s on a rampage.’ was the word going around all the ships in the task force and that didn’t cover half of it.
“How do you lose three enemy frigates? I mean that’s over half a million tonnes of metal it’s not like its hard to miss!”
“Well captain they must have found the gaps in our sensor coverage and slipped out through the unexplored warp point, it’s impossible for them to have got through the other warp point in the time they had.” Lively's sensor officer answered. He had been on watch when Lively had stood turn as lead sensor ship, so it had fallen to him to explain.
“But we don’t have that on sensor do we?” Delap retored instantly
“No sir, but it is the only plausible explanation.”
Delap forced himself not to shout back at the Lieutenant. Yelling his throat raw, while it would cheer him up, was counter productive and wasn’t going to help morale on any of the ships. He was the task force leader, time to lead.
“That is true. I want all sensors crews on all vessels running constant drills, we are not going to be caught out like this again am I making myself clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“How long until Pegasus arrives?”
“Four hours, according to their last transmission.” Jennings answered.
“Close enough. We have orders to engage targets of opportunity and I think that Bolivar and transport in orbit fits the criteria. I want Javelin and Falcon ready to leave within the hour, in our absence Captain Vickers is taking command of the task force.”

As the two Ocelot vessels closed in on the Jraenar home planet it became clear this would be easier than they thought, the space stations were unarmed shipyards and the transport vessel was running as fast as it could.
‘At least the transport’s captain isn’t as suicidal as that colony ship Vickers told me about.’ Delap thought. Try as he might he couldn’t, or perhaps didn’t, want to understand that sort of mentality.
“Sensors do you have a fix on that Bolivar yet?” he asked
“Faint, but we’re reading two missile launchers with slightly different configuration than an Azul and different energy emission patterns.”
“Threat assessment.”
“She’s seems slightly more manoeuvrable than an Azul but not faster, unless she’s holding back. The missile tubes are an unknown, at least as good probably better than an Azuls.”
“Have you passed the good news to Falcon?”
“Yes sir and they confirm our reading and assessment.”
“OK close to maximum range then open fire”

Both ships crew’s were well drilled and Javelin's crew had been in combat with Jraeanar before, they were trained, prepared and composed, right up until:
"Missile launch!” Jennings announced to the bridge
“What? We’re still 10 clicks out.” Delap replied
“Confirmed two inbound missiles.”
Delap went with his first instinct.
“Split and run, let’s find out how much legs these missiles really have.”

As Javelin and Falcon turned and went to full power they soon found out that the Bolivar’s captain had launched at maximum range as the missiles burned out at ten clicks. ‘That was lucky, that Captain shot his bolt too early. If he’d held his fire we’d have assumed they were standard eight clickers and might have got caught. Doesn’t solve our problem though, how do we get close enough to launch without being hit ourselves?’ Delap thought. ‘Wait a minute..’
”Mr Miller what were targets of those missiles?”
”Both missiles were targeted at Falcon sir.”
“So either he didn’t or couldn’t spit his fire. That’s our way in. Turn us around and get me Falcon on comms.”

“I can’t see any other way, it’s our only chance Julia. Unless you’re really sure that Goalkeeper of yours can take out two missiles before they hit”
“It’s untested and I don’t think this is the best way to test it. I can’t see any better plan and you are officer commanding. Let’s do this and hope you're right”

Both ships entered range of the Bolivar which again opened fire with two missiles at Falcon which turned to run, but Javelin kept on going to close the range.
“We’re on limited time here PWO, we should have time for two volleys before they return fire, but it’ll be tight. Nothing fancy just take the best solution you can and get reloading.”
”Aye sir.”
'If they've improved the reload time on that ship we are in trouble.' Lieutenant Miller thought to himself. ‘The Captain was right about them not splitting their fire, he’ll be right about this. And if I say it enough times I might even believe myself’


The first volley was outrun, but the manoeuvrings cost the Bolivar time and speed so the second volley homed in with deadly precision. The Hellstorms hit the middle of the drive assembly knocking the Bolivar down to 2/3rds speed and doing massive secondary damage, but not before the Bolivar managed to get two missiles away on Javelin. While Javelin ran, Falcon, having outran her missiles, closed the distance and engaged with her single tube. The first took out one of the Bolivar’s launchers and heavily damaged the other while the second volley destroyed the bridge and the remaining tube.

“She’s dead in the water Julia, do you want to finish her or get that transport.” Delap asked
“I’ll take the Bolivar” Locke replied slowly
“OK, after you’ve done that start on those shipyards. Delap out”
The victorious euphoria Locke had been feeling had all evaporated during that brief exchange. ‘How can that be the same Michael Delap I knew back on Ocelot? Calmly talking about destroying a ship full of civilians.’ ‘What had happened to him?’ She asked herself.

The transport never stood a chance, neither did the orbital shipyards. However after watching the fate of her sister yard, and being on the receiving end of a full Hellstorm barrage, the commander of the remaining yard asked for a ceasefire so he could evacuate the civilian contractors onboard. After a quick discussion it was agreed, but any hostile action would result in instant retribution.

The battle had been a nasty shock to all in the Admiralty and the Ministry of Defence, it was clear that ship for ship any vessel with Mod 1 Hellstorms would be outclassed. With that in mind the shipyards were ordered to crash research on 200kT vessels and Lively was pulled back to the Oberon yards for refit.

2401.8
News of Captain Delap’s victory raised morale throughout the fleet, well almost all the fleet. For Commander Linton it just emphasised how far from the action Loki actually was and for Commander Bell… Suffice to say the entire crew kept well clear of him for a few days.

The latest colonisation vessel set course for Styris, while Pioneer having finished her refit headed for Oberon as a staging point to the frontline where she would join the blockade.

‘Well at least we’ll know for next time’ Locke thought. While it was true the Jraenar had indeed evacuated the station, they had also filled the damaged station with demolition charges and detonated them the moment the last shuttle cleared. ‘Saves us the missiles I suppose.’
“Enemy vessel being launched from the planet, erratic power fluctuations from the engines, I think they rushed it just for us.”
‘Which we’ll probably need now’ Locke thought to herself with a grin
“Javelin on the comm link.”
“Put it through” Locke ordered.
“Same plan as last time, no need to risk being fancy let’s keep it simple.” Delap didn’t beat around the bush.

The Jraenar vessel, despite knowing the fate of the last Bolivar again fired both her missiles at one target, confirming that Jraenar launchers couldn’t cope with multiple independent targets. The combat was swift and efficient, although Captain Locke did take a chance on live fire testing Goalkeeper on am enemy missile. The results weren’t positive, yes it could track and hit Jraenar missiles, unfortunately it took two sustained bursts to destroy them.

Back on Ocelot the Admiralty was pleased with the way things were progressing, the Jraenar home world was blockaded and a significant amount of their ship building infrastructure had been knocked out. The only fly in the ointment was the relatively poor performance of the Goalkeeper system in its field trial, something for the R&D boys to work on, if they ever got a chance in between all their other work.
Admiral Watson however was thinking about a bigger problem, the Jraenar colony or colonies. The only plan they had for dealing with them was either forcing them to surrender, but he held little hope that would work judging by their ship captains or destroying them from orbit, which he was certain would work but had little appetite for. ‘There had to be another way’ he thought ‘and perhaps there was.’
“Get me General Kirkland on the line.”

[El_Phil]

So as requested the wonderfully named 'Epp' Mod as used in this story.

Just to check the views keep going up but I haven't had any comments about the actual story. People seem to be reading it but is it just out of morbid curiosity? No-one can quite believe how bad it is?

As for why it's named Epp, well I have no idea. There may have been a reason but that was long ago lost in the mists of time and alcohol.

[El_Phil]

The next part! Now with added plot and additional back story.

2401.9
The Javelin Batch 2s continued to enter the fleet at a rapid rate with both Grafton and Saintes launched and sent to the frontline. The yards were then given an unexpected break, the final work on 200kT sized hulls had been complete, but the new designs hadn’t been approved for construction.

"So Admiral how do your designers plan to use the extra space on the new ship hulls?" Presidente Marks asked
"We have encountered one major design problem, we can only fit three Hellstorm launchers on board, but that leaves significant spare space in the hull. So we decided to go radical, the R&D boffins have used the sensor scans we’ve gathered along with a bit of ingenuity to reverse engineer our version of the Jraenar heavy missiles. We've designated them the Brimstone class and they pack 50% more warhead than a Hellstorm."
"Any disadvantages?"
"They won't fit on standard rotary launchers, they need a special launcher almost double the size. This means we can fit a twin Hellstorm launcher and a Brimstone tube into these new hull sizes as opposed to three Hellstorm tubes. The designers think, and I agree, that the advantage of having a heavy hitting missile as an option for the captain in addition to the faster Hellstorms will be invaluable."
"Well I don't see any problems with that Admiral, however your other proposal… It's not going to be popular on the council."
"With respect I only need your approval, not that of the council." Admiral Watson replied, carefully avoiding meeting his Presidente's eyes.
"If I have to force it I will, but there's no point unnecessarily aggravating people. Usually."

In Balosnee Captain Delap, with the Admiralty’s agreement, ordered a re-deployment. He would take Javelin to Balosnee VI to recon the planet and attack the colony ship the Jraenar had launched just days ago, while Pegasus would take Javelin’s place in Task Force One. While it was a risk sending Javelin out on her own, it was felt to be worth it to prevent yet another colony being founded.

As expected the proposal for the Leander class frigate passed the council with minimal comment and orders were issued for the Oberon shipyard to lay down the first hull. The Ocelot yard was ordered to start on a Coloniser. With the war going well and the economy stable with no deficits the council seemed to be ending on a good note, however Admiral Watson had not yet made his main proposal
"As you all are aware the fleet has made great progress repelling Jraenar aggression and taking the war to the enemies home systems. However this success has left us with a problem: What to do with the Jraenar colonies. We cannot leave them, as they will contribute to the Jraenar economy and so war effort, indeed we have confirmation that at least one has shipyard capabilities. We don't have the fleet strength to blockade every colony so that leaves us a stark choice: Capture them or destroy them from orbit. I have no intention of ordering the mass murder of civilians, regardless of species, so my staff, working with the Ministry of Defence, has worked out a plan to capture the Jraenar colonies. I would like General Kirkland to continue as this will be as much an army operation as navy."
"Thank you Admiral. Conducting a planetary assault is unlike any problem the Ocelot Army has ever had to face, even opposed beach landings do not come close. As such the ideal solution would be specially trained and equipped units formed specifically for the mission. However time constraints rule this out, our best case estimates have such a unit taking a year to be equipped and trained, assuming no problems in developing orbital assault craft, which is probably unduly optimistic."
Heads around the table turned to Dr Felix who nodded his agreement. Developing from scratch not only a new form of warfare but a new type of craft would inevitably encounter delays and difficulties.
"Therefore the best option we have is to use an existing army unit, deployed by modified ship to surface shuttles from an orbiting transport. With this in mind we would request that the Gold Rover be re-assigned to military duty and that we start work on converting the shuttles immediately." General Kirkland finished
It was vice Presidente Sheldon who asked the question that was buzzing around
"Which army unit or units are you proposing to use?"
"The unit chosen will have to be familiar with the latest generation of powered personal armour and at full operational readiness. Ideally they would also have just completed a full scale exercise to sharpen their skills. With these parameters there is only one choice of unit and we're confident we have made the right choice." Kirkland responded
"And that unit is?" Taunolin bristled
Admiral Watson stared straight ahead and in a flat voice said
"The 3rd Wessex Regiment."
The chill in the room was sudden, several members of the council snapped their heads round to glare at the Admiral.
"Very impressive, I can see you put a great deal of work into this. If there are no objections I think you should get straight onto this." Marks broke the silence in the room
"El Presidente I can't believe.." The trade minister tried to break in
"Can't believe what? If you think you know more than our two most senior and experienced military commanders then I think we could all benefit from your insights." Marks made 'insights' sound like it was a particularly nasty disease.
"Nothing El Presidente."
"Excellent, it's agreed then. A very productive meeting ladies and gentlemen."

As the meeting wound down Sheldon walked over to Marks.
"What on earth was all that about, when the Admiral mention the unit I thought some of the council were going to kill him!"
"Well it goes back a couple of years to how I got this job in the first place."
Sheldon's heart jumped. So it involved about how Marks' became Presidente. It had been bothering her since… well it had happened.
"It is however a long story, get these orders all implemented and I'll tell you this evening."

Javelin closed in on Balosnee VI and the Jraenar colony ship in orbit. Despite Popov's best efforts the Jraenar captain refused to surrender, indeed he tried to ram the Javelin. Not that Captain Delap minded, civilian or military, it didn't matter he just wanted to kill some Jraenar and so Javelin did, with ruthless precision.

"The council's problem with the 3rd Wessex goes right back to the last big army re-organisation under my father. Essentially the Wessex has always had it's own particular oath, not to council, parliament or even the office of El Presidente. Their oath is to the people of Ocelots and the values and traditions of the Regiment, which when you think about it is a hell of a loophole. However a posting to the Wessex is one of the prime assignments in the military so trying to get it changed would mean facing down most of the General Staff, most of them have served in or with the 3rd."
Marks explained
"That doesn’t explain the reaction today." Sheldon replied
"True, but the fact that they backed my bid to replace my father and that several members of the council backed other candidates does."
Sheldon was shell-shocked. Why had this most elite of military units backed a non-military man for the Presidency when Admiral Bosnitch had been in the running. Navy army rivalry couldn't be that bad could it?
"With the greatest respect, why did they back you not Bosnitch?"
"Admiral Bosnitch was a political creature, not a military man. Most of his career was out in logistics, administration or other desk jobs. More than that he was a reckless loose cannon on his few actual commands. A man like that heading the entire military? That terrified most of the armed forces." Marks replied with a smile
"But what about the Breves rebellion? He was a hero!" Sheldon retorted
"To the public maybe, but to the forces. They knew the real story, not the spin put on it by Bosnitch after the event. Breves started as little more than a few farmers annoyed that the local council hadn't installed a much promised irrigation system, then a drought hit and things escalated. The farmers went in force to the council hall, the local police tried to stop them but they forced their way inside to confront the councillors. One thing lead to another and suddenly it's become a hostage situation as some of the farmers had brought along their shotguns. What was needed was a police perimeter and a negotiator to talk them down and get a solution, unfortunately what Breves got was vice-Admiral Bosnitch who was commander of the local sector. Seeing a chance to get some publicity and make a name for himself he took two marine battalions and air support down to the town hall, for a bunch of annoyed farmers! But to give Bosnitch his credit he did spin it well, rebels threatening the rule of law, military coming to the aid of overrun civil authority all that jazz. Very well done, so well that my father was forced to promote him up to full Admiral just to keep a closer eye on him and keep him out of trouble."
"What?! If what you say is true then he should have been in front of a court martial or something." Sheldon exploded
"Ahh but to do that would mean admitting that the Ministry of Defence, and by extension El Presidente, didn't have full control of the military. As a way to spread panic and alarm admitting that military units can do whatever they want free of government control is fairly high up the list."
"But Bosnitch could do whatever he wanted, you just told me as much!"
Marks sighed, he'd had high hopes for Sheldon. Then sometimes he wondered if she'd learnt anything.
"There's an old saying 'The truth should be heard on all occasions, but spoken as events dictate'. Does that make things any clearer?"
Enlightenment spread across Sheldon's face. Then just as suddenly was replaced by confusion.
"So I can see why the military wouldn't back Bosnitch, but why you not vice-Presidente Rogers?"
"Rogers had been against the space programme as a waste of resources and wanted the army cut back as there were no threats to justify it's existence. My father had kept him in check, indeed he was the main force behind the space programme and the increases in the defence budget. That breads a lot of loyalty, so as he'd named me as his successor the forces supported me."
"But how did you beat Rogers?" Sheldon asked
"That is a story for another time." Marks replied with a grin

[El_Phil]

Right here's a question: Is anyone reading this and/or enjoying it?

Just wondering if I should continue posting the next parts of the story here or not, which should be around tomorrow. Assuming nothing jumps out and buggers the schedule.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Please, go on! It's a good read!

[rdouglass]

Yes, I agree. Have not posted on this thread but am reading all and am enjoying it.

[Mudshark]

Good story, I'm enjoying it