Abrubtly halted.

[El_Phil]

So after threatening it many time (Mostly to myself) I've ran out of excuses so here's my first stab at a game story. Any comments would be good, preferably nice ones
Here goes nothing

"The King is dead! Long live the King!" - Anon
2399.7
Whatever else was said about the Ocelonian constitution and a great deal was but mainly behind closed doors, it was at least clear. If the Presidente died during his term of office then the vice Presidente took over until new elections were held. Of course the one flaw was that the law was written before President Marks refused to hold elections and declared himself El Presidente for life, with 100% accuracy as it turned out.

2399.8
The word on the street, well the very quiet word among trusted friends, was that it was between vice Presidente Rogers and Admiral Bosnitch for next leader of the Ocelonian Republic. Rogers had the parliament on his side thanks to years of being Marks’ liason man, he also had the law on his side. However Bosnitch was a hero from the Breves rebellion and more importantly had the armed forces and all the guns on his side. Only a handful thought that Marks’ son Phil had a chance, he had no obvious power base and no legal leg to stand on. All he had was his father’s request he take over and a handful of loyal friends, not enough to take on the armed forces and parliament surely?

2400.0
The official meeting room of Presidente was only recently re-decorated, to fit in with the new incumbent’s tastes, and those tastes were whatever was needed for holding long, involved and technical discussions about important matters of state, which this next meeting promised to be.
“Gentleman the reports from the ship yards and research institutes are clear. The Ocelot Republic is ready to launch it’s first long ranged, fully crewed space craft. The Navy has prepared to alternate designs, design Alpha fitted with long ranged tanks or design Beta fitted with a rotary nuclear missile launcher. So it is this council’s job to decide which design we go with.”
“I believe it is a clear decision Mr Presidente”, Admiral Watson said “We must go with the armed design, to send our men out unable to defend themselves is unacceptable.”
“Defend themselves against who? None of our radio telescopes have picked up any signals or found any evidence of alien life. No it’s just a waste of valuable space.” The position of Dr Felix and indeed most of the research ministry was well known.
“I agree with Dr Felix, but for different reasons. If there are aliens out there then sending out armed ships would send entirely the wrong message, far better to go out unarmed and in peace.” The foreign ministry could be depended upon to take any line that would limit the military’s power, so Taunolin was almost as predictable as Dr Felix.
“Unless whoever we do meet isn’t friendly! What then?” Admiral Watson thundered.
The arguments raged back and forth with no-one changing anyone else’s mind, although the only opinion that mattered was that of the Presidente, who was keeping quiet and watching the arguments. Finally he spoke.
“Your arguments are all convincing gentlemen, sadly they are also all contradictory. However I have decided that design Beta will enter production. Frankly I believe that at this stage exploration of local space is our priority and as such the extra supply tanks are more important. But I want the plans for the missile equipped version kept updated and ready for crash production if we do encounter anyone. Meeting dismissed.”
As the council members filed out vice Presidente Sheldon stopped by the head of the table for a word with her boss, “I really thought you’d go with design Alpha, you really surprised me there.”
El Presidente Marks leaned back in his chair and grinned. “In politics the day you stop surprising people is probably the day before someone surprise you out of a job.”


"Every adventure requires a first step. Trite but true." - The Cheshire Cat
2400.1
It was the grand launch of the ORS Pegasus, the first true spaceship launched from the Ocelot yards but certainly not the last. As the ship eased itself from its docking clamps and out of the bay into orbit the invited guest held there breath at this incredible first step, all except a small group in the yard managers office. This small group weren’t breathless as they witnessed the Pegasus, make their races first step into the stars, mainly because they’d watched the real first launch the previous week. The most basic rule of grand official launches: Make sure you’ve already tested it before the VIPs get anywhere near it. But for Presidente Marks, Admiral Watson and all the others who’d been in on the secret it was still both proud and reassuring to see the Pegasus making official, if not actual, history.

On board even Captain Micheal Delap had to time to enjoy the moment, the crew had been in almost continuous training for the last month and were the pick of the recruits. Last weeks launch and shakedown had been a great nerve calmer as the Pegasus had passed with flying colours, apart from a series of minor and easily fixed problems. But now shakedown was over and the time had come to head for the nearest warp point. Even as he thought his stomach suddenly turned a loop, it was all well and good the scientists saying it was safe, that the ship and crew would survive perfectly well, the fact remained he was expected to throw his ship into a large spacial anomaly. Still he could hardly claim it was a surprise, he’d always known he’d have to do it if he joined the navy, but… Well to be honest he’d always thought a different officer would get the first command and so he wouldn’t be the first. He grinned to himself, thinking he was probably the only person to graduate top of a class wishing they hadn’t worked as hard. OK they’d cleared the yard, time to go.
“Helm set a course for the warp point, Engineering full cruise when you’re ready.”
“Course laid in Captain, and the Chief reports full power on your command.”
Ahh Lieutenant Commander Vickers, he’d been lucky to get her as first officer. She had looked certain to get a command, instead here she was on the Pegasus.
”Excellent Commander, let’s go make some real history.”

As the Pegasus cruised across the ship streamed back data, this when combined with the information from the shakedown was enough for the Ministry of Research and the Rolls-Royce engineers to produce the MkII Ion Engine, which was incorporated into the design of the Pegasus Batch 2. The updated design was passed to the shipyards currently laying down the next ship in the class.

Finally the Pegasus was on the brink of the warp point. Captain Delap had ordered all bar a skeleton crew to take a break in the preceding hours, he wanted everyone bright eyed and bushy tailed for this.
“All stations confirm readiness before we go in.”
“Reports in all systems 100%, we’re in as good a state as possible.” Said Lieutenant Commander Vickers.
“Very well, Helm take us in.” He breathed in and blinked before entering….

“Captain we have entered the Cignus system, no damage reports but sensor systems still distorted and all ship velocity has been lost.” Vickers reported
‘That was it?’ thought Delap to himself, ‘Unbelievably easy.’ Out loud “Helm, take us in full power. Vickers get those sensors up pronto, I want to know what’s out there. Comms see if that bock of tricks from the R&D boys works and get onto Naval Command.”

For Presidente Marks and the council the news from Cignus was good and not so good. The good news was obvious; the Pegasus had made it and warp point travel was possible and had no obvious side effects on people or ships. While if you’d asked the council they would all have professed complete confidence that the Pegasus would be fine, there wasn’t a single member who hadn’t had at least one sleepless night worrying about them. The less good news was that the Cignus system like their home system contained no planets with breathable atmospheres. It did contain several colonisable planets, but they would have to be domed. So the Pegasus had been ordered to push on to the next warp point while the shipyards worked on the next in class, the Pioneer.

[NullAshton]

Stories! Yay!

Tell us more!

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Good story, slight inconsistency though..... you sadi design Alpha had supply tanks and Beta had a Capital Ship Missile, but later on you say you want Beta "because the supply tanks are important".

[El_Phil]

Whoops completely missed that, sorry. Anyway here's the next bit, hope everyone likes it and it's mistake free

“The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill.” – Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
2400.2
The launch of the ORS Pioneer was always going to struggle to match the huge celebration that accompanied the launch of her sister ship, but everyone involved gave it their best shot. So as the ship slipped out of the dockyard to start her shakedown cruise the bands played and the crowds cheered and onboard Captain Julia Locke and the crew sat back briefly to enjoy the experience. “Helm lets put the ship through her paces, the faster we get this finished the sooner we can start the real mission.”

For the navy the launch was joy tempered with apprehension, the Pioneer was still an unarmed ship. There’d been no sign of any alien life in Cignus or on any of the long range radio telescopes, but that didn’t calm all the nerves. With both ships on route to their warp points to continue the exploration there was little to be done at the Admiralty, bar approving the plans for Ocelot’s first colony ship being built in the hope that a planet with an oxygen atmosphere would be found, if not then a domed colony it would have to be.

“Doctor that is excellent news, when can we expect any tangible results though?” Asked Presidente Marks.
“It could be many months and much of the work will be theoretical but with so many minds at so many institutions all across Ocelot breakthroughs are inevitable.”
“Thank you Doctor, please keep me informed of any further breakthroughs.”
As the Presidente leaned back he reflected on the last few days, the shipyards had expected that the recent material sciences development could be adapted for larger ship hulls within a month and the vice chancellors association had agreed to co-ordinate university research with the Ministry of Research. Despite all that he could barely wait for the next warp points to be explored, ahh the excitement of discovery, even by proxy, was intoxicating.

2400.3
As Pioneer entered the Styris system the scans revealed what everyone was hoping for, two rock worlds with oxygen atmospheres. Captain Locke smiled to herself, her crew had found one of the things that El Presidente had sent the navy out to find, other worlds to colonise. The supply situation was better than expected, the MkII Ion Engines were more efficient than the old MkIs, so after scanning the system and sending a message back to Ocelot the Pioneer set course for the next warp point.

As the Pioneer was travelling across the Styris system the Pegasus completed its jump into the Balosnee system.
“Captain sensors coming back momentarily… we’re reading unknown contacts and an inhabited planet!”
Delap’s first reaction was it must be a sensor error. “Confirm that isn’t just a sensor error”
“Confirmed sir, all diagnostics check out 100%. Additional information coming in the planet’s population has to be in the billions and is heavily industrialised. There’s also some kind of orbiting space station.” Lieutenant Commander Vickers reported
“No ships?”
“No captain.”
“That simplifies thing, if a first contact can be simple. Well people you know the drill lets go through it, nice and slow with no mistakes. Comms get a message back to the Admiralty they will want to know about this you can be sure.”

It took several days, but eventually the language problems were overcome and communications became possible. Captain Delap discovered that the planet was inhabited by a race called the Jraenar Imperium who bore an alarming resemblance to short dinosaurs. He just hoped they weren’t as aggressive, but he knew that he was just projecting his stereotypes on to them, hopefully…

After much discussion and every department that could have a say chipping in, as well as many ministers with nothing useful to say but a desperate need to contribute, it was decided. The Pegasus would try and arrange a non-aggression treaty with the Jraenar and that the Pegasus should stay at least a couple of sectors away from the planet, partly to avoid angering them but mainly so she had a head start if she had to run.

The council meeting was particularly stormy as the matter of the next ship design had to be decided; with the Corvette sized hull perfected there was an additional 30kT of space to fill. The doves, lead by Taunolin wanted supplies or indeed anything non-military so supported the proposed Starchaser design, while the rest of the council wanted to at least be prepared for the worst and backed the Javelin design with its twin rotary launched nuclear missile launchers and reinforced bulkheads to increase survivability. The matter was decided when the Presidente backed the Javelin and the first in class would be the next ship to be built after the colony ship was completed.

2400.4
"We do not entirely trust you. Your treaty can wait for now" - Transmission from the Jraenar Imperium planet

It was not a good way to start the month all agreed. On the other hand it wasn’t the worst news, at least they weren’t at war. The Pegasus was reporting that the Jraenar had launched a colony ship and a 150kT vessel, designated the Azul class. With a communication relay buoy deployed the Admiralty decided to pull the Pegasus back for refit and re-supply. Captain Delap wasn’t sad to be going, sitting that close to an unknown alien race who had just refused a non-agression treaty, in an unarmed ship was not good for the nerves.

Back on Ocelot the first coloniser vessel was launched and set course for the Styris system to colonise one of the breathable worlds there. Filled to the gills with brave souls looking to start a new life on a new world she expected to make planet fall within six weeks, her progress would be watched by the whole planet, there was racial soft spot and respectul attitude for pioneers and you didn’t get more pioneering than starting life on a new planet

The month ended with the Pioneer entering the Cerebus system, however it was nothing but a massive asteroid belt. Of great interest to scientist and astrophysicist, but not exactly what Captain Locke had been hoping for, still she reasoned, if you always succeed and found what you were looking for you wouldn’t appreciate it. With that though she order the Pioneer to carry on to the next warp point

[El_Phil]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" – A Tale of Two Cities
2400.5
The month started with the Pegasus returning home to a hero’s welcome, half the planet turned out for the ceremony when she docked at the yard, or so it seemed to Captain Delap. As the dock crews started the refit Delap was down on the planet at the Admiralty meeting Admiral Watson and going through his debrief.
“First off Delap I want you to know that no-one blames you for the Jraenar rejecting the treaty, you followed procedures perfectly and did sterling work on getting their language translated.”
“Thank you Admiral.” Delap was totally sincere, he had been worried about that ever since the message from the Jraenar had been relayed to his ship. It was a massive weight off his mind and he couldn’t wait to tell the rest of the crew.
“Next captain you may have noticed the other ship in the dockyard.” Indeed Delap had, it was hard to miss. The Javelin was hard to miss, the first true warship in the fleet and she looked it. Sleek lines only disrupted by the twin missile tubes and the exhausts of the engines she looked dangerous even at rest. “Well we want you to have her, you’re the only captain with any experience of the Jraenar an as the Javelin is heading back that way we want you onboard.”
“I’d be honoured sir. Is the rest of my crew being re-assigned as well?”
“Some of the Delap, but we’re keeping back Lieutenant Commander Vickers and a few others.”
Delap’s mind raced, why was Vickers being kept back? He hadn’t given Vickers a bad performance review, he hoped she wasn’t taking the fall for the Jraenar mission. It would kill her not to be out in space. And who were these ‘few others’? Admiral Watson watched the reaction on Delap’s face and smiled, it was good to see that sort of concern in a captain for his crew, time to put him out of his misery.
”Don’t worry Delap, I suppose I’d better tell you what’s happening just to calm you down. Vickers is being promoted to full Commander and we’re giving her the Pegasus. If anything she gets the best part of the deal, the yard superintendent estimates 6 weeks before the refit is finished, so Vickers is going to get at least a clear month of leave. You however will be lucky to get a weekend as Javelin is all but complete.” Delap visibly cheered up as the Admiral spoke and by the end both men were smiling, the conversation then turned to a detailed debrief of Delap’s impressions of the Jraenar.

Newly promoted Commander Susan Vickers looked at her new command and marvelled at the massed crews crawling all over her. Pegasus was going through the full upgrade to Batch 3 standard so her engines were being replaced with the more efficient MkIIs, the long range tanks ripped out and replaced with a rotary launcher and reinforced bulkheads fitted throughout the ship. There was no question that if Vickers had to go back to Balosnee she was going to feel a hell of a lot happier in an armed ship than the first time she was there.

It was later estimated that the arrival of the colony ship at Styris V was watched live by almost half the planet. The ceremony, as the flag was planted and the planet claimed for the Ocelot Republic in the name of El Presidente Marks was repeated endlessly on every news broadcast for days afterwards. There would be other colonised worlds everyone was certain, but one would always have a special place; Hope.

Captain Delap didn’t even get his single weekend of leave, the entire navy was called back from leave and the yard was ordered to rush the Javelin to completion. A transmission had been received from the Jraenar and while no one claimed to fully understand it, it clearly wasn’t friendly: "Your cities shall burn with our vengeful fire" was not what you sent to anyone you liked.

“So Taunolin does anyone have any idea what the message is actually referring to? Could it just be a miss-translation or is this for real?” The Presidente asked his foreign minister at the emergency council session.
“We have no idea Mr Presidente, but we don’t think it was a miss-translation. The Jraenar detonated our relay buoy immediately after the message was sent. I think we have to assume that they knew exactly what they were sending.”
Marks cursed to himself, the last thing Ocelot wanted or was prepared for was any kind of conflict. What had they done to offend the Jraenar? It could be anything he’d have to get Taunolin to pour over every transmission looking for something, but deep down he doubted that they’d ever find out.
“Understood. Admiral how bad is this?”
“Our main problem is lack of information on the enemy, is the planet in Balosnee their homeworld or a colony. While we have only encountered two enemy vessels it would be foolish to assume that they don’t have any more. The Admiralty therefore recommends that Javelin be sent to the Balosnee system to conduct some reconnaissance and try to intercept any attack before it reaches the home system. We would also like the Research Ministry to prioritise weapons research in light of the obvious threat.”
“Very well Admiral get Javelin deployed, Dr Felix have your staff liase with the Admiralty over R&D. In addition I want Hope to start work on a shipyard ahead of any other priority, we may need more ships and I don’t want to be reliant on just one yard. Unless there are any other points, this meeting is adjured.

2400.6
The Pioneer had received her orders, jump into the Praxilla system, conduct a brief scan and survey and then return home for refit. The system showed promise with one oxygen atmosphere world and several rock worlds that were suitable for domed colonies. However while that may have brought a smile to Captain Locke’s face barely a month ago, priorities had changed. Discovering potential colonies was all well and good, but her race was now at war and going exploring in an unarmed ship had lost almost all of its charm. The sooner the Pioneer got back and was refitted for war the better, if the Jraenar wanted a war then she would give it to them!

Captain Delap had the crew running weapons drills all the way through the Cignus system, he didn’t know what he was going to meet but Javelin and her crew would be as ready as he could make them.

2400.7
The second coloniser was launched from the Ocelot shipyard and headed for the Cignus system to establish an outpost nearer the enemy. Whereas the first colony ship had been full of excited adventures looking for a new life, this ship was much more grim faced and determined. The military need a forward base, they were the people to do it. There was nothing more to be said.
The dockyard wasn’t idle for long, almost as soon as the coloniser had cleared its moorings and the camera crews had left workers descended to start work on the second Javelin class corvette.

The Research Guild produced the first results of its labours, the second generation depleted uranium cannon. Although the original first generation had not been included in the proposed design of Javelin it had shown enough promise for development to continue. The naval design bureau instantly began studies to integrate the weapon and compare its combat effectiveness.

Captain Delap ordered the crew to prepare for entry to the warp point, he knew the sensors would be confused for several moments after arrival he wanted everyone ready and prepared to overcome that. All the crew was so focused that the energy spike of the warp point wasn’t noticed until Javelin had already passed the event horizon. Javelin and the Azul corvette passed within less than half a click of each other as they traversed the warp point in opposite directions.
‘How did I miss that!’ Delpa thought to himself the moment the sensors relayed the information to his tactical display.
“Helm, turn us around, full speed pursuit! Commander Jennings sound battle stations, Lieutenant Miller get your birds warmed up and ready to fly.”

Javelin caught up with the Azul two sectors away from the warp point, as the ranged closed Delap order Comms to attempt to hail the Jraenar vessel, because frankly nobody was totally sure if they were at war and Delap had no intention of starting one if they weren’t.
‘Jraenar vessel you are violating Ocelot space. Please turn around and return to your own system.’
“Captain, reply coming through.”
“Put it on.” Captain Delap ordered.
‘It is you who violated and defiled the ancient territory of the Imperium. For this terrible crime you must all be put to fire and the sword!’
“I think we can safely say we’re at war.” Jennings commented.
“Your probably right. PWO time to weapons range?”
Lieutenant Miller was the Javelin's PWO, Primary Weapons Officer and along with the first officer one of the new crew who hadn’t served under Captain Delap on the Pegasus. Right now he was wondering exactly how much difference there was between the endless drills and simulations and a real battle. ‘If you lose a battle you can’t try and do better next time.’ He thought to himself with a grim smile. He forced himself to focus and concentrate on his station.
“Range nineteen clicks, maximum weapons range in 30 seconds.”
“OK Lieutenant open fire at maximum range, Helm the moment he fires turn us around and go to full power.”
Delap, like every member of the bridge crew, had studied the scan data of the Azul and the tentative naval intelligence assessments. It had identified only a single missile tube and ion engines that appeared slightly inferior to the Rolls Royce Isis MkIIs. So he should have a speed advantage but that missile launcher was still a big unknown. Not for much longer Delap thought.

The Hellstorm nuclear tipped anti-ship missile had a range of eight clicks and the two rotary launchers on board the Javelin were capable of sustained rapid fire of one missile every ten seconds. When the Javelin got to maximum range both launchers spit out their missiles and the Javelin sharply turned away and tried to open the range.
“Good work Helm, PWO status of your birds?” Captain Delap asked
“All telemetry good no problems.”
“Captain enemy launch detected, single missile.” Jennings announced
“Get a scan and threat assessment, now.”
“The missile is larger but slower than out Hellstorms. It seems to have a much bigger warhead as well, we definitely don’t want to be on the wrong end of one.”
“Captain the Jraenar ship has outran the Hellstorm’s range. They’re out of fuel.” Miller reported.
“The enemy missile has also burnt out Captain.”
Delap thought furiously, they’d have to close in so that the Azul was inside the Hellstorm’s engagement envelope. But at least the enemy missiles didn't have a range advantage.
“Helm close to within five clicks of the Jraenar vessel then PWO open fire.”

This time both Hellstorm’s managed to catch the Azul, the first hit the engine room dead on, taking out two of the engines with secondary explosions taking out a third engine. The second missile hit the vessel amidships causing massive internal damage. The Azul slowed to 1/3rd speed but didn’t fire.
“Captain I think the Jraenar launcher must have a slower reload time than our rotary launchers, they had a good opportunity to fire but didn’t.”
“It’s a possibility Jennings. Right Helm when Mr Miller is ready to fire close the range and lets finish this.”
As the Javelin came round for a third time the Azul’s missile tube burst into life in one last burst of defiance. While the two Hellstorms homed in on the offending tube, taking it and two more engines out the Javelin had closed in too far and was unable to out run the Jraenar missile.
“Damage report chief!” Captain Delap yelled over the alarms sounding across the bridge.
“We’ve lost two of the engines, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. The bulkheads absorbed a hell of a lot of the damage” The chief engineer Molby reported.
“Casulaties?”
“We lost five people and a few of my lads are hurt pretty bad but the doctor is on his way. It’s under control. Just make sure you get that bastard!”
“Good work chief and don’t worry we will. Right lets finish this.”
“Captain they have no weapons, shouldn’t we ask for their surrender?” The communications officer asked.
“Why don’t you ask the chief that Mr Popov? Mr Miller open fire when ready.”
The Javelin closed right in on the defenceless Azul and open fired with both tubes, the Hellstorm’s found their targets with lethal accuracy and the Jraenar vessel violently exploded as the main reactor went up leaving little more than floating debris.

When the report and accompanying recording was transmitted back to the Admiralty on Ocelot Admiral Watson came under pressure from some quarters to pull the Javelin back and relieve Captain Delap. Not from anyone in the Ministry of Defence or the Admiralty, but several other goverment figures had mentioned it. It was true that he could have asked for their surrender, but then the Jraenar could also have signalled offering to surrender. And Delap had just lost five men, not counting the two engine hands who didn’t survive their injuries. Hell Watson himself might have done just what Delap did, still he would probably have to run this pass the Presidente as this incident could get all political.

It was only the Presidente, vice Presidente Mary Sheldon and Admiral Andrew Watson for the private briefing on “The Battle of Cignus” as it had started to become referred to. At the end Admiral Watson mentioned the disquiet in some quarters at Captain Delap’s actions.
“Let me get this straight, their problem is that Delap didn’t ask for a surrender from an enemy that declared war on us just for entering their system, had vowed to put our entire species to the sword and had just fired at his ship killing several of his crew?”
“Well when you put it that way…”
“It sounds as ridiculous as it is Andy. Frankly I think Delap deserves a medal but that is a matter for the Admiralty and the Ministry of Defence isn’t it?”
Sheldon sighed to herself, sometimes her boss could be so unsubtle it was ridiculous. Still he had managed to get the job in the first place and she still had no idea how he had pulled it off, so probably best not to underestimate him.
“Anyway Admiral what are the current orders for the Javelin?”
“She went back through the warp point to get a full scan of the system, we doubted we could make the Jraenar more angry with us than they already are, and she’s currently headed back to Ocelot for repairs to her engines.”
“What did the scans reveal” Sheldon asked
“That the Jraenar have colonised another planet and that a second Azul was cruising the system. In light of the Javelin’s damage Captain Delap decided not to engage it.”
“Very good Admiral. I think that covers it all, see you at the next council meeting if not before.” Presidente Marks closed the meeting.

2400.8
This was getting ridiculous Vickers thought to herself, she’d been all prepared to take the Pegasus out as her repairs were almost finished, then at the last minute the Admiralty had pushed her up to Captain and given her the Lively fresh from the yard. Her old ship, and she supposed her first command despite never having commanded it, was instead being given to Commander Stensgaard. Not that Vickers was complaining, the Pegasus was being sent to explore the 3rd in system warp point while Lively was going to the newly established Oberon colony in the Cignus system. Until the colonists got those weapons platforms up the colony was defenceless.

“Not what I expected Reggy I’ll be honest,”
“Those damned dinos are just one warp point away so I’m not complaining!”
Such conversations were common across Oberon, the colonists had expected to be building a re-supply facility and then start work on a shipyard, instead at the last minute they had been sent plans for the ‘Rapier MkI’ weapons platform. Boasting two large bore 2nd generation DUCs, a Hellstorm rotary missile launcher and a ‘Goalkeeper’ point defence system the two platforms under construction would hopefully protect the colony if there were no friendly ships in the system.

Back on Ocelot the shipyards started work on another coloniser, it was clear that the Republic would need additional sources of material to continue to grow, mining, refining and farming colonies would all be needed.

[El_Phil]

Well I guess people are reading it, the number of views keeps going up. Anyway time to bump it back to the front page with the next part:

“If ignorance is bliss I must be ecstatic” - Alice
2401.0
The month started with Ocelot launching the third coloniser, this one headed for the second oxygen planet in the Styris system. With the shipyard on Hope also completed Styris would soon be of greater importance to the Republic than many provinces on Ocelot.

"El Presidente we've just received a message from the Jraenar."
"Well Taunolin what does it say" Marks seriously doubted it was good news, but hoped otherwise.
"'You must immediately remove all your ships from the Cignus system' it came from a burst transmission through the warp point." Taunolin's voice was flat, during all council meetings he had been one of the leading 'Doves', stridently stating that any aliens they encountered would undoubtedly be friendly. Marks was impressed he'd held together so well after being proved so comprehensively wrong.
"Have the Admiralty and Ministry of Defence been informed?"
"Yes Presidente, they've put the Oberon defence force on high alert and ordered the Lively to the warp point to intercept any attack."
"Good work Taunolin, we'll have to discuss this at the next council meeting. See you there" Marks ended the call and leaned back. 'Have we got them scared?' he though to himself. 'Or is it a threat or a bluff to draw our forces away.' And that's what it all came back to; no-one really understood how the Jraenar thought, perhaps it was a great dishonour not to give the enemy a chance to run away, or perhaps they were stupid enough to telegraph their attacks.

In orbit of Ocelot Pioneer was crashed through her refit and despatched immediately to the Cignus system to back up Lively. Commander Wilkinson would have preferred a shakedown cruise before deploying, especially for his first ever command, but he fully understood that when you're at war a few corners have to be cut. As she left the system Pioneer passed Javelin heading the other direction for repair and re-supply at Ocelot. 'If I can do half as well as Delap has, that'll do me' Wilkinson thought to himself as he approached the warp point.

Pegasus reported back to Ocelot that the Paradas system contained no oxygen world, but several rock worlds and two more warp points. The Admiralty order commander Stensgaard to head back to Gamma and transit the remaining unexplored warp point. The Ocelot shipyards were ordered to start work on the next colonisation vessel, which was expected to be finished within the month, thanks to an improved design.

"Captain enemy craft just emerging from the warp point!" de Valio yelled at his captain
"Helm lay in an intercept course, full speed. Time to intercept?"
"27 hours captain, assuming no change in enemy course or speed." Her first officer de Valio replied.
"Threat assessment?"
"Seems to be an Azul class identical to the one engaged by Javelin captain, but detailed scanning is impossible at this range." The sensor officer called out.
"Then lets get closer and find out."

As the two ships closed the Lively's sensors confirmed that the Jraenar vessel was indeed an identical Azul class. Both ships raced towards missile range, but Lively got her shot off first before turning to try and open the range. This forced the Azul to enter the Hellstorm's no escape envelope in order to get her missiles away and despite her crews best efforts both missiles homed in and struck the Jraenar vessel, one in the stern destroying two engines while the other doing severe damage to the mid-section.
"She's down to 2/3rds speed Captain." de Valio reported
"PWO try and target her weapons with the next volley."
The second volley from Lively did indeed hit the Azul in the weapons section taking out her missile tube and inflicting heavy damage around her crew section.
"Good shooting PWO! Well orders are orders so let's see if they want to surrender. Comms send the message"
Vickers wasn't entirely happy about this, for starters she had no way of securing the enemy vessel and no spare personnel to guard any prisoners if the Azul did surrender. 'And spending the entire journey back to Ocelot having to watch for any sign of treachery is not top of my wish list.'
Luckily, from Vicker's point of view anyway, the Jraenar vessel didn't respond.
"That's a relief." Vickers commented. "Let's finish this."
"Yes captain."
Lively then closed in for the kill with her last Hellstorms fracturing the hull into sections with secondary explosions reducing those into even smaller pieces.

Presidente Marks and Admiral Watson were in the situation room watching the relayed reports from the battle. When the Azul was disarmed both men visibly sagged with relief as the tension flowed out. When the Jraenar vessel didn't respond to the call for surrender the Admiral turned and started to speak
"It's what we expected and it'll probably help take some of the flack of Captain Delap."
"Still I think it’s a bad sign. If an individual ship in a hopeless position won't talk to us then what chance of any negotiations? I think we're in this war for the long haul." His Presidente answered.

2401.1
The month was only a few days old when Pegasus reported that she had found two new oxygen worlds in the Benthan system, thus complicating the plans for the newly launched colony ship. Did she head for those tempting planets two system or play safe and set-up a domed colony in the home system. Finally the Presidente himself intervened and ordered that the safer option be taken. Until there had been adequate exploration in that direction no colonists were to be risked on the frontiers. With that issue decided Commander Stensgaard set course back to Ocelot to refill his depleted supply tanks.

The third colony of the Republic was founded in the second week of the month, Crofty was the first mining colony and the first task of the colonists, after getting over their hangovers, was to start work on a radioactive material refinery.

Lively re-entered the Balosnee system and reported that the Jraenar had build a second space station in addition to another colony ship and a vessel of unknown configuration, but seemingly unarmed. Captain Vickers was order to proceed with maximum caution and attempt a better identification of these vessels. Pioneer was order to follow Lively through the warp point then investigation beyond the other warp points to try and determine the extent of the Jraenar Imperium.

Back on Ocelot Captain Locke's work at trials command was nearing completion. The design of the Falcon class was complete and ready for submission to the council for approval. Hopefully it would be approved and be commissioned within the month.

2401.2
ORS Falcon, while based on the same hull as the Javelin class was radically different in her weapon load out. One of her missile tubes had been removed and replaced with a modified 'Goalkeeper' point defence system from the Rapier platform. Fitting a 'Goalkeeper' to the Javelin had been considered, but had been stopped by two problems. Firstly the weapons technology of the Jraenar wasn't known, if they had used projectile weapons their was no point having point defence and secondly the system had been designed to fire from a stationary or slow moving platform. In space speed wasn't life but it was very important, so slowing down in the face of enemy missiles wasn't an option. However trials command had convinced the Admiralty that this problem had been fixed and so the Presidente had authorised construction, on the condition that Captain Locke captained her. In his words
"You say it'll work perfectly, so it's only fair you're onboard if it doesn't. Good luck captain."
So with those words still ringing in her Captain's ears, Falcon headed for Oberon as a staging point to Balosnee and the Jraenar.

The mining colony on Medford was also founded that month, but wouldn't be able to ship anything out until the Hope space port was completed which was scheduled to take almost three months. Still that was no excuse not to work so construction of the first phase of the mining project started.

With almost impeccable timing the Ministry of Research announced that the project to upgrade the Hellstorm missile had been completed barely days after the Falcon left orbit. The Hellstorm Mod 2 had a 25% more destructive warhead and an extended range out to 10 clicks. The new missile launchers were integrated into all existing ship designs.

'Things are just going from bad to worse.' Captain Vickers thought to herself. The Jraenar had just launched two 200kT class ships within a week and a second coloniser had been launched only a couple of days later. 'If they come after me before Javelin arrives…" She rapidly stopped that thought and focused on the colony ship she had been ordered to pursue. The council had decided, after a very stormy debate, that enemy colony ships were fair game, provided they got a chance to surrender.
"Course and threat confirmation." She asked.
"It's confirmed captain she's unarmed and on a collision course with us." de Valio answered.
"Very well if they want to die lets make sure they don't take us with them. PWO open fire, helm keep us well away but within missile range."
During the following slaughter Vickers felt sick to her stomach, what kind of captain would try a suicidal ramming attack on a warship in a ship full of civilians? The battle may have been efficient and one sided but it wasn't quick, a 300kT ship takes a lot of missiles before it goes up and Lively expended a large amount of her magazine before the ship died. So much that Vickers asked the Admiralty if she could return to Oberon for re-supply, the request was granted and with considerable relief Vickers turned to leave the system.

2401.3
Development of off world resources continued throughout the month and the latest coloniser set course for the final coloniseable planet in the Ocelot system.

Pioneer discovered that the Gorn system adjacent to the Jraenar home system not only contained no enemy presence but also two oxygen atmosphere planets, as such it could be important in any future expansion plans. However with more than half her supplies expended Commander Wilkinson order the crew to set course for Oberon and a re-supply rather than explore further.

Javelin entered the Balosnee system in the middle of the month and got a nasty surprise to find a third 200kT vessel in orbit of the Jraenar home world. The Admiralty order Captain Delap to pull back and rendezvous with the Falcon. The two vessels were then to operate together, with Delap as senior officer. 'It'll be nice to meet Julia again, but even together we'll still be out numbered and out massed. This could get interesting.' Delap thought to himself

2401.4
Unlike the colonists of the other domed worlds, on Gobi the dome may well have been fitted even if the atmosphere was breathable. Gobi was the driest most arid world in the system and the dome structure had to be specially adapted to cope with the extreme temperatures. Still the vast mineral wealth beneath the planet's surface would make it all worth while or so Jamie Bell kept telling himself. He'd joined an off-world mining company as a chance to see the other planets for free, now he was realising what the price was. Gobi would become a prosperous place to live, but not until the mines were in full production and that was going to be months of hard work.

For the admiralty it was a quiet month with Pegasus returning to Ocelot for refit with Hellstorm Mod 2s, while Lively's crew managed barely one ten hour pass down to Oberon before their ship left orbit straight back to the frontline. Javelin and Falcon met up in the Cignus system and jointly proceeded through the warp point to find the three Jraenar ships operating together away from the planet. Naval intelligence had code named them the Bolivar class and they were completely in the dark as to capabilities or weaponry. Delap was ordered to hold position and wait for Lively to arrive, she would be followed by Sword the first of the Batch 2 Javelin's with the new Mod 2 Hellstorms. However he was ordered to engage any targets of opportunity without exposing his force to needless risk.

2401.5
Despite the situation on the Jraenar front the Presidente had personally ordered that the shipyards produce a colony ship, which was despatched to the Cignus system to set-up a research compound. The technology edge the Jraenar seemed to possess had to be cut back, so the Ministry of Research had been ordered to start its first colonial facility.

Despite the arrival of Lively Captain Delap knew that he was in trouble, while the numbers may still be equal those Jraenar ships were still 50kT each larger. All he could do was wait for Sword with her newer missiles to alive and hopefully give him an edge. Sword was still some two weeks away but when she arrived Delap had decided to go on the offensive, assuming he was still alive.

Hope colony had completed the Styris system spaceport and the merchant ships had started establishing convoy routes between the systems. The shipyards of Ocelot started on a new Javelin Batch 2 while the Hope colony laid down the hull of Pegasus Batch 4 as it could be completed in less than a month.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

2400.4
"We do not entirely trust you. Your treaty can wait for now" - Transmission from the Jraenar Imperium planet

AIs NEVER take non-aggression as a first treaty unless you're signing it in wartime. To get the AI to accept a treaty propose a Trade treaty, they'll probably agree to that most of the time.

[El_Phil]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:

AIs NEVER take non-aggression as a first treaty unless you're signing it in wartime. To get the AI to accept a treaty propose a Trade treaty, they'll probably agree to that most of the time.

Oh I knew that, I just couldn't see it working for the story. If you think about it, they've just discovered that they aren't alone in the universe and that the aliens are very nearby. Oh and the aliens are 6ft tall agressive dinosaurs. I couldn't see El Presidente asking for a trade agreement before a non-agression pact, it just didn't seem right.

Plus stories are always more exciting when your fighting someone

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Which mod are you using? I mean, you MUST be using a mod, if you say they removed a Hellstorm missile (thought that was Capital Ship Missile at first) and replace it with one point defence cannon, so you'd replace a 50kT missile with a 20kT PDC. Also, you state the Jraenar missiles are slower and shorter ranged, which doesn't fit with stock CSMs.

[El_Phil]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:
Which mod are you using? I mean, you MUST be using a mod, if you say they removed a Hellstorm missile (thought that was Capital Ship Missile at first) and replace it with one point defence cannon, so you'd replace a 50kT missile with a 20kT PDC. Also, you state the Jraenar missiles are slower and shorter ranged, which doesn't fit with stock CSMs.

Uhhh my own mod of great mystery. Essentially any idea I saw from other mods (ultimate ship size, the repairing crew quarters from ST 1.75 and loads of others), a selection of my own ideas (mounted rail guns, chain guns and fleet tankers) and the guts of the TDM AI tweaked to use the new weapons I chucked in. It all seems to work in the test games as the AI was designing and building all the ships, but how it actually works, well fingers crossed.

Anyway CSMs were kept the same but I added a seperate missile family, 30kT launcher, faster but less damage resistance and does less damage. So a 20kT PDC and a 10kT supply pod take the place of a 30kT launcher.