Tsar Nicolae

Emperor of Romania

The first, and so far only, Tsar of unified Romania started his life on January 17, 1918, in the village of Scornicesti in the Wallachian Balkan Socialist Republic. Unlike many future leaders in the Balkans, Nicolae Ceausescu was born a peasant on the eve of the U.B.S.R.’s founding. Little is known about his early years, save for the official biography commissioned during his reign as Tsar. At the age of fourteen, he left his hometown and was relocated to work in the factories during the industrialization process along the Danube. Working conditions were tough, though nowhere near as difficult in the labor camps or those that Ceausescu would later impose upon his enemies.

During World War II, the official biography runs accounts that has Ceausescu leading his own resistance band against Nazi occupation and their Fascist puppet state of Rhomania. There is little evidence ever fired a shot against the Nazis, or was in the resistance. Gestapo documentation recovered after the war reports that Ceausescu was arrest and interned for his membership in the Wallachian Worker’s Party. It is said that much of what he inflicted upon his countrymen later in life, he learned first hand from his German captors.

Following the war, the Balkan Union tore itself apart in civil war, as the German occupation brought back ancient ethnic rivalries and vendettas. Ceausescu did participate in these wars, rising quickly through the ranks of the Wallachian People’s Army, obtaining the equivalent of Colonel by 1960. It was around this time he began to become deeply involved in the Worker’s Party, rising in rank as quickly here as in the army. By 1965, he was within the Party’s inner circle, and by 1967, he had enough support from Party men and the army to launch his own coup.

His enemies were dealt with quickly; some 20,000 alone were executed in his first year as General Secretary. Most of the 1970s were spent in reforming Wallachia, and streamlining the previously inefficient councils. By 1978, Ceausescu had turned the country into a one-man dictatorship. His Romanian National Front soon eclipsed the decaying Worker’s Party as the new face of the state. During his first decade in power, he encouraged a cult of personality around him, elevating him to the Communist pantheon, along side Marx and Karadordevic. His influence expanded well beyond his own borders, into the third incarnation of the Balkan Union, as well as Moldova, Transylvania and Bulgaria.

On January 7, 1980, juntas organized by Ceausescu and his foreign supporters took control simultaneously in Moldova and Transylvania. One of the RNF’s long standing goals were the unification of the Romanian people under one ruler, that being Ceausescu himself. On May 8, the three Romanian states, one independent and the other two with puppet regimes, signed a treaty of unification, establishing Romania. A month later, Ceausescu crowned himself Tsar Nicolae of the Romanian Empire. His first act was to purge Transylvania of its Hungarian minority.

Bulgaria, not being Romanian, was reluctant to join this empire, though it had much support within the government in Sofia. It took the Valentine’s Day Invasion of 1981, with the Tsar in personal command, to make Sofia sign the treaty. Bulgaria was a short-term resident within the empire. The Bulgarian people proved most uncooperative to the Tsar’s plans, and the drain on the Romanian states continued until 1984, when Bulgaria was let go.

During the early 1980s, the Tsar worked thousands to death on constructing the Palace of the People in Bucharest. This palace still holds the record as the largest administrative building in the world, and is only outsized overall by a few aircraft assembly plants. The palace cost ten billion Dutch Guilders, three thousand lives and four years to complete. Several districts of Bucharest, including some dating back to Medieval time, were bulldozed to make room for the neo-classical monstrosity.

Life was not all good within the Palace. The heir designate, Nicu, took over reigns of the puppet parliament, and his sister Valentina was placed in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Both proved to be as ruthless as their father. In the case of Valentina, when the workers in a Sibiu Steel Mill went on strike, she ordered army units in the region to break the strike. Leaders of the union, as well as other Steel Unions, were put on trial as traitors to the Empire and executed between May and July of 1987. The only one of the Tsar’s children who was not cold-hearted and cruel, was Zoia, whose defection to the Italian Federation in 1988, hit the Tsar hard.

What brought down the Emperor was not the will of the people or outside invaders, but his own socialist planning– or at least his own concept of socialism. By 1989, the total debt collected during the Imperial Years nearly equaled the country’s annual income. Banks began to stop handing out loans, and a few demanded payment. Cuts were made across the board, with the Army being the only exception. During the summer of 1989, hard times hit the country as stores ran out of goods and queues wrapped around city blocks. Some citizens were forced to wait in line all day for their bread rations.

Popular uprisings spread like a wildfire across the country in the Fall of 1989. The Tsar became more and more erratic, and in October of that year, turned against his own army chiefs. He went as far as to accuse General Michael Romani of treason when he refused to fire upon crowds of hungry Romanians. When he attempted to have Romani arrested, the Army mutinied. Like Ceausescu before him, Romani had the support of the Army when he pulled off his own coupe.

The Tsar, his wife, and children still in Romania, were put on trial on October 8. The trial lasted for only two hours, and ended with the Imperial Family found guilty of crimes against the people. By the end of the day, the Tsar was taken out into the courtyard and shot. At the end, his iron will that he worked so hard to project broke down, as he offered the guards taking him to his execution two million guilders each if they helped him escape.

Wing Commander reboot, part 33

2666

Escort Carriers

In 2665, the Naval Budget that should have been allocated to the newer, and giant Maui Strait-class carriers, with four reinforced flight decks was diverted to an escort carrier project. Instead of three giant carriers, it went into converting twenty freighters into escort carriers. They were smaller than even the old Concordias, and able to slip through the narrowest gage jump points that most ships have to avoid. The flight decks on the Wake-class escort carriers were small and could barely hold its forty-eight fighter compliment.

The carriers were fast, but lightly armored, and were not intended for a full on fight. Instead, they would free up heavier carriers for front line action. Since they were second-line ships, they were equipped with Ferrets, Rapiers and Sabers for combat missions, but could ferry any fighter to reinforce the compliments of the fleet carriers. Their speed and agility also left open the option for high risk raids. The Wakes were made cheap because they were declared expendable. The loss of a single escort carrier would cost Confed far less than the loss of a larger fleet carrier.

The decisions to shift focus on the Wakes and delay the Maui Straits caused an uproar among naval pilots as well as the admiralty. Banbridge, well over ninety years old, nearly had a stroke during his argument with the design bureau. A fleet carrier extra could tip the balance during a battle, while these glorified transports could not hope to stop a Kilrathi task force, much less a fleet. They did release heavier carriers for combat duty as early as April of 2666, which allowed them to take part in the strike on K’tithrak Mang.

Mang Station

With the Kilrathi in disarray, Confed struck at the heart of the Kilrathi power in the Enigma Sector, K’tithrak Mang. Tolwyn lead the attack from the Concordia and had to fight its way through the Racene, Rar’karahk and Bradbury Systems, clearing each of these outer systems of Kilrathi ships. Losses were heavy, including the destruction of the carrier Fredericksburg in the Racene System. Like with the Venice System, years before, the goal of Confed was simply to destroy Mang Station.

Upon entering the system, Tolwyn launched a full scale assault with fighters from all four of his remaining carriers. The first attack failed, with Confed losing some fifty of its fighters. The Kilrathi counterattack was not much more successful, with the Kilrathi losing some sixty-eight fighters. However, all Mang Station had to do was hold out until Kilrathi ships could reinforce it. Tolwyn was pressed for time, and had to destroy the station before a Kilrathi fleet equal his own could tip the balance in their favor.

The second strike fared slightly better, in that it did not lose as many ships. A Kilrathi task force jumped into the system during the second flight, striking at Tolwyn with only a lone carrier and two cruisers. It was enough to abort a third attack and turn the fighters against the new and more immediate threat. Defying orders, Sabers from the Concordia diverted from the Kilrathi ships and made their own run on Mang Station. The attack coincided with the bulk of Mang Station’s own fighters being away from the station, and aiding the three ships. The station’s point defenses had a single flaw in that they could not be turned directly above or below the vertical axis of the station. This opened a very narrow space, wide enough for fighters to come in one behind the other. This was enough, for all of the anti-ship missiles launched reached their target, and breached ammunition and fuel stores, gutting Mang Station.

With the Station destroyed, the Kilrathi ships attempted to make a break for it, scooping up as many of the Station’s fighters as possible. The carrier and a cruiser escaped, covered by the second and what fighters that could not be retrieved. Instead of dying peacefully in space, the Kilrathi fighters made one last run against Tolwyn, with several fighters colliding with Confed ships. Confed carriers escaped damage, but at the loss of six frigates, three destroyers and the cruiser Ceres.

Gettysburg Mutiny

Strangely absent from the attack on Mang Station was the TCS Gettysburg, which had flown several missions along side the Concordia. Instead, the Gettysburg was placed on patrol duty within the Epsilon Sector, doing all it could to thwart Kilrathi attempts to retake Ghorah Khar. On the rebellious worlds, not all the Prides were in favor of separation with the Empire. Those that were not, fought fiercely against the rebels, and those not killed were forced to flee the planet.

The Gettysburg encountered such ships during its patrol. The captain of the Gettysburg order a flight of Sabers launched to destroy the convoy. However, when it became clear that the convoy they were pursuing was full of refugees and not Kilrathi soldiers, the pilots refused to attack. More over, they refused to launch. When pilots from other squadrons were ordered to take over, they too refused. The captain ordered the pilots arrested, and sent Marines from the ship’s platoon to arrest them. The Marines were divided on the issue, but followed orders. When the pilots resisted, the Marines were not so eager to fight back against their own kind. They had no love for the Kilrathi, but enough of their humanity remained after decades of war to know the difference between the butchers in the Imperial Army and Pride females and cubs.

When the pilots decided to take their grievances to the bridge, the Marines did not stop them. Nor did they aid them. These Kilrathi might be civilians, but that did not mean the Marines liked them in the least bit. The Captain attempted to have the pilots removed from the bridge, which resulted in a fight between pilots and bridge crew. The pilots eventually won the struggle, and placed the Captain and Executive Officer under house arrest, before taking the Gettysburg out of the system.

Word of the mutiny spread fast, and Tolwyn sent in the carriers Waterloo and Mackinac to take back the ship. Marines from both carriers boarded the Gettysburg, which surrendered without a fight. The pilots were arrested and brought before a court marshal. Though all of the pilots were eventually acquitted on charges of treason, they were all transferred from the Gettysburg and placed on duty on board escort carriers. The Captain was also brought up on charges of issuing illegal orders, but he to was acquitted and transferred back to Confed HQ on Earth.

Wing Commander reboot, part 32

2665

Fanning the Flames

With Ghorah Khar achieving de facto independence from the Empire, the resentment towards Kilrah spread to a neighboring system in the Epsilon Sector. The N’tanya System is home to millions of Kilrathi, as well as millions of Terrans held as slave. The revolution did not start in the slave quarters, but amongst the high ranking Prides of the planet. If Ghorah Khar could be free of the oppression of the Eight, then why could their world not be so as well. Rebellion in N’tanya was not as organized as Ghorah Khar, but the Prides did manage to overwhelm Imperial garrisons on the planet. The planet’s industrial output, though owned largely by the Kilrah Pride, was vital in producing munitions for the campaign in the Enigma Sector. This alone prevented the Imperial fleet from bombarding the planet.

Confed did not move into action in favor of this system. However, two aging Bengal-class carriers, as well as half a dozen Gilgamishes did raid into the system, catching the blockading ships with their gaze downwards instead outward, where any sensible captain would be looking. The Kilrathi destroyers blockading were destroyed to the last, with minimal loss to Confed. As with Ghorah Khar, the Kilrathi began to pull units out of the Enigma Sector in order to restore order behind their own lines. Confed was not about to let millions of Kilrathi soldiers go peacefully. Across several systems, Confed carrier task forces struck at Kilrathi convoys, killing untold hundreds of thousands of Kilrathi soldiers in space. After such a prolonged war, the Kilrathi are beginning to have problems filling recruiting quotas.

Battle of Gwynedd

On the road to winning back the Sector, a Confed fleet moved into the Gwynedd System, aiming on destroying the Kilrathi presence in the system. With it clear and Enigma’s flanks secured, K’tithrak Mang would be wide open to attack, as well as systems beyond Ghorah Khar being isolated from reinforcements. With Concordia as his flag ship, Tolwyn commanded a fleet of four carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers and an assortment of smaller vessels. He faced off against the Kilrathi star base and a few ships that had yet to join in suppressing rebellions inside the Empire.

The battle was a tough one and stretched over a week, ending with the invasion of the Kilrathi Starbase. Kilrathi fleet loses were high, losing two of their carriers as well as three of their cruisers. Confed suffered its own losses, including the carrier Congress and cruisers Ganymede and Rhea. Taking the starbase was expensive, with the Marines suffering 40% casualty rates, enough so that fleet security (naval personnel) were called in to reinforce the corridors. The Kilrathi attempted a relief mission, but was turned back by Concordia.

Wing Commander reboot, part 31

2664

Olympus Station

Early in the year, a Confed fleet, built around four carriers, entered the Ghorah Khar System. Only a few Kilrathi warships, at least those still loyal to the Empire, remained. These were swept aside, but not before they inflicted severe damage upon the cruiser Warspite and carrier Kyoto. Six of the new Gilgamish-class destroyers saw battle in the first weeks of the contest for Ghorah Khar,, one of them, the TCS Merlin managed to destroy a Fralthi in single combat (with the aid of its light fighters). The aging Admiral Turner was put in charge of the Ghorah Khar mission, and went immediately to the planet’s surface to meet with the Ghorah Khar Pride. Though he came with a heavily armed escort, ready to fight, the Pride females treated the Admiral with all the dignity of any diplomat. The Kings of the Pride were not so friendly, though after discovering one of Turner’s Marine escorts was also a veteran of Repleetah, gave the man their upmost respect.

Turner’s first move was to start the construction of a station orbiting Ghorah Khar, to protect it from another Kilrathi attack. Olympus Station had its core structure built in several modules and transported into the system. The armor, and extensions were built and provided by the Kilrathi. They also provided various electronic and optronic equipment, along with sensors. These were not installed, but rather secreted back to Confed Intel for analysis. Standard Terran units, more efficient than Kilrathi ones, were installed instead. The station, when completed by the end of the year, was home to over two hundred fighters (included five squadrons of Epees) as well as a dozen corvettes.

His second move was on the various crystal mines upon the planet. There was little in the way of construction concerning stealth technologies upon the planet, but several of the mine workers were also refiners of the crystals, knowing how to cut and polish the raw material into something that can allow a cloaking device to do its thing. This was another prize worth the risk. Though Turner was doubtful a Confed cloaking device could be ready in less than five years, the material and technical knowledge was hoped to give Confed new means of tracking cloaked targets.

Confed and the Ghorah Khar Kilrathi had trouble working together. It was understandable, with both sides being at war with each other for thirty year. The Terrans believed, like Terran cats, the Kilrathi would turn on them quickly, where as the Kilrathi were brought up believing Terrans to be prey, and weak. Both sides proved the other wrong. The Pride females were quite trusting, and Confed never backed away during a Kilrathi raid on the system (a number of which happened in 2664 alone).

End of Tragedy

2664, saw the last battles on the doomed planet of Repleetah. The planet’s formerly weak ecosystem was shattered, and the indiscriminate use of chemical and nuclear weapons slowly but surely wiped out defenders. As the year drug on, various fronts collapsed as soldier die-offs rendered them useless. The closing days of this act came when only division size units remained, each clustered around a single fortress, both separated by a few kilometers of no-man’s land. Around the same time Confed reached Ghorah Khar, the Kilrathi general on Repleetah ordered one final attack, committing all his soldiers to destroying the Terrans.

The battle started an hour before local dawn, with the Kilrathi marching through no-man’s land. Few vehicles remained on either side, and only a limited capacity to produce ammunition locally existed. When the Kilrathi attacked, they did not open fire until they were upon the fort, and too close for artillery support. Over the next three days, both sides battled each other around the fortress and inside. The final report sent from Repleetah to Confed HQ cited high casualties and severe damage to the Kilrathi. The station went off the air an hour later, as each side annihilated the other. The Kilrathi received no message from the planet following the general’s proposed plan. This lead both sides to believe that if anybody actually survived the battle, they died shortly after on the desolate world.

Final Generation of Fighters

Space is vast and rich in resources, but the easily extracted war materials were becoming depleted. At the start of the 2660s, a new generation of fighters were slated for production, and eventual replacement of the 2650s models. Arrows began to slowly replace the Ferrets, which were now largely used for garrison duty. The Rapier II　was finally showing its age, as newer models of the Dralthi (the Dralthi IV) began to take its toll. Tomahawks packed more firepower, but pilots complained that they were not as responsive as the old Rapiers.

The Sabers would still see combat all the way to the end of the war, but the Thunderbolt VII was slated to phase out the old sword by the end of the decade. The lumbering Broadswords, which some were replaced by smaller, more agile Crossbows, would be supplanted by the sleeker Longbows. Again, pilots complained because the new bomber had only a tail gunner and not the three turrets of the giant Broadswords.

What was to be the final world in space superiority fighter came down to a competition between the Morningstar and Excalibur projects. The former packed more fire power, but the later was quicker. At first, Confed awarded the contract to the Morningstar, but only because Confed Intel wanted the Excalibur for their own use. They planned to use much of the captured Kilrathi technology from Ghorah Khar to produce a fighter that would win the war.

Wing Commander reboot, part 30

2663

Revolution

After years of running the mines on Ghorah Khar ruthlessly, and as well as keeping their claws upon the throats of the colonists, a spark finally hit the Kilrathi world of Ghorah Khar. One of the three largest Prides upon the planet, with support of virtually all the minor Prides, lead an attack against upon the garrison. There were three major Prides upon the planet, and not wanting to risk either getting to strong, scions from the Kilrah Pride took over all three Prides. Only a month before the rebellion began, the M’krah Pride was taken over by a pair of veterans from Repleetah, after they successfully defeated the previous three Kings (which happened to be Imperial Cousins) and laid claim to the Pride. Without having anyone from Kilrah looking over their shoulders, the Pride females organized a rebellion.

The garrison defending the largest of the mines was overran before they realized what was happening. Imperial soldiers were accustomed to fighting aliens and Kilrathi males. When a hundred thousands angry Pride females descended upon them, they hesitated, moving to defend themselves only after it was too late. Junior officers upon Kilrathi warship in the system launched their own coups, deciding to side with the Ghorah Khar rebels. Their motivation was not widely known, for Kilrathi will turn upon their own kind if they see an advantage to their own blood line. It is entirely possible these officers hoped to claim a Pride of their own.

As soon as the other two major Prides were defeated, and taken over by local males, the M’krah Pride declared itself the Ghorah Khar Pride, and Ghorah Khar declared its independence from the Empire. Normally, a rebellious planet would be ignored if a greater threat existed, or simply blasted off the face of the planet. However, Ghorah Khar was one of the few places known were a certain crystal vital for cloaking devices could be mined in large quantities. Envoys from Ghorah Khar reached for Confed lines, bringing a message to the Confederation. For the first time, an entire planet was willing to defect. The only thing worse than losing the mines would be losing them to Confed.

Retreat

Due to the rebellion on Ghorah Khar, and mutiny in its defending ships, Kilrathi forces in the Novaya Kiev System packed up and headed back to Ghorah Khar, effectively abandoning the system. When the TCS Wolfhound, on duty in the Enigma Sector between 2661-64, entered the system to raid the Kilrathi, it discovered it devoid of enemies. The Kilrathi did not even bother to destroy everything in sight while they retreated. Confed assembled a rapid response force, with a landing party of only ten thousand Marines, and entered the system. True to Wolfhound’s　report, the system was abandoned. Similar reports across the Sector claimed Kilrathi forces were thinning on the front line as the Kilrathi moved back to secure their rear.

The Ghorah Khar rebellion not only deprived the Kilrathi of the ability to produce cloaking devices in large quantities, but also pulled off forces that were pressing in on Confed. The fighting in Ghorah Khar was fierce, and the rebels gained a victory when the crew of an old Snakier rose up and killed their senior officers, all scions from one or another of the Eight Prides. It was a slight boon, since the newer Brantkara-class carriers, much larger than the old Snakiers. A number of Kilrathi pilots switched sides during one engagement, causing chaos in the Ghorah Khar System. Seeing a chance the Kilrathi might recapture the system, Confed rushed its own forces into Novaya Kiev and massed for a fight.

Last Survivors of Repleetah

With both sides pulling out forces due to shifting balances of power, the last of the Repleetah veterans to ever escape the planet were pulled out in later 2663. The Kilrathi pulled out 200,000 soldiers while Confed moved 300,000 of their own. There were still four million total soldiers left on the planet, and rapidly spiraling into savagery. Over the next year, virtually all of the four million soldiers, regardless of species, would be dead either by enemy fire or a degraded environment.

Wing Commander reboot, part 29

2662

Heaven’s Gate

With attempts to take Enigma itself thwarted (on more than one occasion), in 2662, the Kilrathi attempted to bypass Enigma altogether. By taking the Heaven’s Gate System, the Kilrathi would have only to jump to Callimachus and be able to hit the Sol Sector from there, with Sol itself just being two jumps past the Ella System. The Kilrathi struck the system with complete surprise, overwhelming the destroyer picket and storming Gates’ Station with the minimal loss to themselves. With only a pair of carriers and four cruisers, the Kilrathi took control of the space around the planets of Heaven’s Gate.

Confed reacted as fast as it could, sending the Waterloo, Fredericksburg and Resolution into the system only a week after the Station had fell. At the time, the Kilrathi were preparing to invade to ocean world of Paradise, with its tropical beaches and fertile agricultural land. The Kilrathi cared for neither, of course, and merely wanted the only habitable planet in the system as a staging area for a planned invasion of the Sol Sector. The war had taken its toll on both sides, and Confed was finally starting to feel the loss of ships. An engagement like this only a decade before would have included twice as many capital ships.

The Confed fleet struck at the Kilrathi carriers while they were resupplying near Gates’ Station. With their flight decks full of cargo shuttles, they were not able to launch fighters. Escorting cruisers launched their fighters, a squadron each, to help thwart Confed’s attack, but Rapiers and new Tomahawks kept them busy while Broadswords closed in on the carrier, and destroyed both targets. With their striking ability destroyed, the remaining Kilrathi ships broke in confusion. Without a strong, central commander, individual captains began to look after their own interests. A few ships stayed with Gates’ Station to defend the holdings, but more broke and ran. One cruiser even charged straight for the Terran Fleet, hoping to get within Skipper range. That cruiser made for great target practice for a squadron of Sabers.

The Kilrathi ships around Gates’ Station also never made it anywhere near the Terran fleet, as fighters made short work of them. Confed did move its fleet into weapons’ range to bombard the station. The Kilrathi had moved fast to reinforce it with more shields and point-defense weapons. Confed lost a destroyer to the station’s defenses. Fighting to retake the station was fierce, and virtually the entire station’s civilian population were killed in the process, mostly by hungry Kilrathi soldiers. Out of roughly seven thousand Kilrathi, only sixty-one were taken into captivity, and most of these were incapacitated. Nearly thirty years of war, and the Kilrathi still fought as viciously as they did at McAuliffe.

Dreadnaught

With the PTC proven reliable, a new class of battleships, the Dreadnaught-class, were put into production at shipyards on the other side of the Confederation in respect to Kilrah. With several PTC turrets, the new battleships were expected to have a firepower almost equivalent to the old arsenal ships, but without their vulnerability. Even while the PTCs were recharging, Dreadnaught would have plenty of other armaments, including improved grasers and rapid-reload missile launchers. The new battleships would also carry a squadron of fighters in each of its two flight decks. The class of warships was originally intended to be launched by 2663, but a series of technical problems continue to push the release date back further and further.

Gilgamish

Over the decades of war, Confed lost hundreds of destroyers in various actions, ranging from fleet battles to small raids. The Gilgamish-class destroyers, the first ones launched in 2662, were an improvement over the previous designs. Not only were they larger, and hosted heavier shields, but they also came with their own flight deck. The Gilgamishes could hold a squadron of Ferrets, Epees, Stilettoes or the new Arrows that were preparing to make their debut, or a half squadron of Sabers. Virtually all future captains would opt for the squadron of point-defense fighters to protect his ship against Kilrathi missiles and fighter attacks. These destroyers were designed to operate alone, striking deep into Kilrathi territory, as well as in fleet actions.

The Space Pope

New Vatican

Following the Exchange, which destroyed hundreds of old cities, including Rome, the Catholic Church was in a state of exile. Like hundreds of millions of survivors of the nuclear war of 1 A.L. (2090 by the Church’s own calender), surviving bishops and cardinals were forced into life as nomads. Like a majority of those hundreds of millions, many surviving leaders of the Church died during the first years of the Lunar Calender. Unlike those refugees, the Church had a means of escape. For over a century before the Exchange, humanity had a permanent presence on Luna. During the 2070s, Pope Pius XV appointed the first Bishop of Luna, based in Fort Recife. During the following decade, Catholicism grew slowly on the largely secular moon.

After surviving devastation that wracked Earth completely untouched, a small percentage of Lunatics turned towards religion for answers. Various fundamentalist orders were prohibited from the moon, even before the Exchange, due to the dangerous nature of living on Luna and the volatility such sects can cause. During the first decade of the Lunar Calender, the only denominations on the moon that had enough members to be counted were the Catholic Church (largely in Dutch, Italian and American colonies), the Swedish Orthodox Church (in Swedish colonies), the Lutherans in the German colonies, Shia Islam in the lone Iranian outpost, and a handful of Buddhist monasteries and shrines scattered across all but the Iranian and German settlements.

What drew the Church away from Earth was not religion upon the moon, but the safety and stability that was now found on the airless world. The irony of safety on a world that could kill you with one false step was not lost upon Giovanni Campelli, Bishop of Luna. With so many elder cleric dead on Earth, the surviving College of Cardinals elected Campelli as Pope Benedict XVI. The new Pope decreed, that instead of wondering a rapidly cooling Earth, that the administration of the Church would relocate to Luna. The Church operated out of offices in Gatestown for two decades while funding was raised to create an independent habitat of its own.

New Vatican, called the Holy Crater, was built in a ten kilometer wide crater near the anti-orbitward terminator near the equator. New Vatican took nine years to complete, with most of the money going into programming the nanites, and most of the time taken by actually assembling the dome, molecule by molecule. Unlike fundamentalist sects, the Church did not view nanotechnology as good or evil, but just another tool of man. They did, however, frown upon taking them into the body. Nor did they use it in the habitat’s life-support system; instead depended upon the artificial ecology, supported by carbon-dioxide scrubbers.

By 34 A.L., the Cathedral of St. Benedict stood in the middle of the carter. The Cathedral is best known having one face of its structure made completely out of glass. The reason for this is symbolic. The side made of glass is also the side that faces Earth, which never moves from its spot above the horizon. When mass is held, all eyes face the Pope, and the blue marble of the homeworld which hovers above and behind him. Eyes tend to focus on Earth, rather than the gray landscape below. Though the cathedral has a window of real glass, the habitat’s dome is made of a considerably stronger transparent material.

New Vatican has a small permanent population, mostly of Church officials, but also technicians to keep the equipment running. Priests tend the aeroponic farms as well as the parklands. Thousands of pilgrims from across the moon visit New Vatican annually. The Church uses its new secure bastion to further its own goals of aiding the destitute on Earth. By the time St. Benedict’s Basilica was consecrated, the Atomic Ice Age gripped Earth.

Wing Commander reboot, part 28

2661

Battle of the Tanhausen Nebula

In an attempt to stem the loss of systems in the Enigma Sector, Confed launched a daring strike behind enemy lines in the Epsilon Sector. The Trafalgar System had much in common with its oceanic namesake on Earth. It was a bottleneck of traffic for the Kilrathi, and cutting the line here would add weeks on to any resupply mission. Even a single day could alter the course of a battle. Banbridge sent Tolwyn with the Concordia and its years long sidekick the Gettysburg into the system, escorted by two cruisers and five destroyers. Losses in the Enigma Sector Campaign allowed for little in the way of offensive strikes, not while the Kilrathi were threatening to kick down the back door to Earth.

Tolwyn successfully slipped past Kilrathi patrols and sentries in the Telamon System, entering the Trafalgar System with no difficulty. The system was a young one, not more than a hundred million years old, that still resided within the light-years wide nebula that spawned it. Trafalgar’s age, being the youngest star on the jump point network, gives a minimal age estimate to the network’s existence. Because all known jump points start in one system and end in another, and the statistical fact that virtually all should end in the middle of nowhere, lead many to believe jump points to be artificial in nature.

The Kilrathi had a large supply depot and communication relay center located in the thick dust of the system. Approaching through a nebula was both a boon and a curse. A curse because ships easily stirred up the dust and left a trail. A boon because the dust obscured reliable sensors. The Kilrathi knew something was approaching, but the depot commander assumed it was his own side’s ships. The first hint that these were Confed ships was when the first of the Kilrathi cargo ships exploded in dock.

Battle is too strong of a term to describe the action in Trafalgar in 2661. For over a week, Tolwyn and his two carriers had free reign of the system. The supply depot was destroyed, not only cutting supplies to parts of the Enigma Sector, but also eliminated the means by which Kilrathi could relay messages between jump points. Without that, messages would take hours to days longer to reach Kilrah from the front as they were re-routed through other systems. As soon as the station was destroyed, Tolwyn ambushed several Kilrathi convoys headed towards the front, carrying anything from ammunition to replacement personnel. This "battle" forced the Kilrathi to recall three of their own carriers to patrol the system, but by the time they had arrived, Confed was long gone.

The Forgotten Battle

By the middle of the year, both Confed and the Kilrathi had withdrawn all fleet support for the ongoing war upon Repleetah. Ground support from orbit was no more, and supply convoys were growing less frequent. Supplies were still being shipped in, but reinforcements became sporadic, with the Kilrathi adding only two hundred thousand during the year. The soldiers, for the most part, were now on their own. War industries appeared upon the planet on both sides of the front as the warring factions strove to augment their meager supplies with homegrown ammunition and weapons.

The planet, after years of warfare, was no longer worth anything. It was once a marginally habitable planet, but now it was little more than a wasteland, with fall out from fission weapons (that were used for area denial), as well as dust from earlier planetary bombardments, and toxins from the unrestricted chemical warfare. In the words of a Chaplin of the old Catholic Church, humanity had finally discovered Hell. That being said, the few Confed soldiers transferred to Repleetah wondered just who up the chain of command they offended to get stationed on such a brutal world.

Project Behemoth

Control Center

TCS Edmund Teller

Petunia System

Professor Manson Ellington was just as glad to get off of that ice ball, even if it were just for a single day. He and his staff have been locked away on frozen Petunia IV, off in a quite corner of the Hawking Sector, for the better part of a year. Their home, if one could call it that, was a dome built beneath the glacier of Mt. Pettasiun. Gulagstadt was what the physicists and other scientists that lived there were called. Officially, they were dead. Each and everyone of them has, in the official Confederation papers, their own death certificate. Ellington, former Major Ellington of the Confederation Army, was listed as K.I.A. in the Niven System a couple of years back. Ellington was dead, killed by the Cats in defense of Niven Station.

His family was told that he died a hero, that he made the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. The latter was true enough; he gave up his former life to serve on this project. The brass told him that it would end the war in one swift stroke. Ellington always snorted when he thought about that. Yeah, end the war, he would believe that when it happened. He was but a year old when the Confederation made first contact with the Cats. He was just starting first grade when war was declared. He did not remember much of those first few years, and understood less, save that his parents and all the adults were scared.

Twenty-eight years later, and he fully understood why. Before “giving his life” for this project, he fought the Cats since he was twenty-one, and fought to liberate quite a few worlds in the Vega Sector. Seeing what the Kilrathi had done to those worlds– his parents would have been fools not to be scared witless. Now, they think their only son is dead, and probably eaten by the enemy. As does his wife and children. Who knows, if this project does end the war, years hence, he might be able to return.

Of course, his children would not remember him, and his wife would have moved on. He had no idea if Helen had done so. Confed does not allow personal news to enter Gulagstadt. They must be afraid one too many valued scientists might fly the coop– or blow their precious brains all over the wall. Damn the Kilrathi. He has lost almost everything to them and their damned war. Last he heard, his children and Helen were still in the Tethys System, in the Avalon Sector, about as far from the Kilrathi one could get and still be inside Confederation borders.

Most of the scientists under his command have made similar sacrifices, but they were mostly the types that married their careers. All but seven were childless. They were in a far better mood than Ellington. Part of that had to do with being let out of the glacier, if even for a little while. Ellington was glad to look out the window and see something instead of white. Now, on the bridge of this freighter, he looked out and saw nothing but black. A nice change, but still as monotonous.

On the bridge of the aptly named Edmund Teller, technicians did the last bit of wiring and programming to the ship’s computers. In only a matter of minutes, the first stage of the project would be complete, or it would have to start all over. If it were to fail, Ellington hoped it to be a catastrophic failure, and not something as mundane as having another amp blowing out. That happened more than once under the glacier.

“Professor,” one of his scientists called out. Ellington was still not use to be called that. Even with his own degree in particle physics, he was a long way from being worthy of his new official title.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked, with a slightly bored tone. He tried to stay detached from his crew, like any good commander. It was worse with Doctor Marlene Mistrique. She was a true doctor, with the doctorate in the same field as Ellington. She was the top of her class, everyone of her professors calling her brilliant. She was “killed” only a year out of school. Worst of all, she looked so much like Helen, that it drove the former Major crazy.

Her smile was much the same as well. “The Phase Transit Cannon is ready to fire.”

The Phase Transit Cannon, the biggest cover-up of the whole damned war. PTCs are powerful, single shot weapons. They take quite some time to recharge after they fire, but that one shot is powerful enough to bust a Fralthi-class cruiser outright. Officially, it was to be installed on a new class of battleships, and older battleships would be refitted. Some of the Confederation-class carriers were even having them installed on their bow. All official reports state the cannon will be ready for field actions by 2661– this year.

Hopefully, the Cats will buy that report, and not learn the real reason this cannon was developed. At least not until after it was too late to do a thing about it. Ellington did not make eye-contact with Marlene. “What of the superconductive amps, Doctor Mistrique?” He was always formal with her.

“They are cooled to near zero, Professor Ellington,” she said with a slight with a slight laugh. Like most of the scientists, she saw no reason to be so stiff, especially since they were all legally stiffs to begin with. Most of the Gulagstadt’s female staff took a hint and reciprocated the professionalism. But not Marlene– Ellington was wondering if he had become some sort of challenge for her. Most of the young scientists and staff have already paired off. Marlene was one of the few who had not. He could not understand why; she was certainly attractive enough–

No, he pushed her from his mind. Ellington was still married, and even if the entire universe said that part of his life was gone forever, it would remain in his heart. “If all is well, fire as soon as the target comes into sight,” Ellington ordered.

Marlene gave him a mock salute. “Yes sir,” she said before turning and leaving. Ellington refused to watch her depart, with her provocative sway.

Ellington rubbed the bridge of his nose. Damn this war, and all it has taken away from him. If not for those furballs, he could have lived quite the happy life. Right now, he would be back in Tethystadt, with Helen and the kids. He would probably be working at the spaceport, maintaining starship’s jump drives.

“Are you alright, sir?” asked one of the pilots, who sat below his station. Like Ellington, young Violet was an army officer. She piloted shuttles to and from battlefields, evacuating quite a few wounded soldiers, that is until her own luck ran out. She lost part of her left leg when a shuttle crashed. Had it been an internal organ, a replacement could have been grown and her put back into service after rehab, instead she was listed as KIA in the crash and conscripted into this mad project. Like everybody on board, she was officially dead.

“I’m fine pilot,” Ellington lied, sort of. For him, fine simply met everything was normal. In his case, normal sucked. “Just cursing the war.”

Violet nodded. “Oh, that. Haven’t we all, sir?” Ellington liked the ex-Army, and even ex-Navy personnel on the project. They knew how to behave professionally. Violet had her own man, somewhere out there.

Ellington remained silent, standing on his catwalk above the operations of the bridge. He stared outside, trying to spot their target. It was hopeless, for the kilometer wide asteroid was almost as black as space, and at least fifty kilometers away. With so many valued staff members onboard the Teller, the brass were not about to risk them. Besides, when the full model of this weapon was finished, years from now, it would not be fired anywhere near its target. Hours seemed to pass, but in reality only twelve minutes ticked away before Marlene reported to him again.

Avoiding her was difficult during this little test. He was nominally in command of the test firing, and she was his second-in-command. “Professor,” she said, with a hint of tease in her voice. So utterly unprofessional. “The target is in range, and locked on.”

He glanced over at his shoulder at her. “I assume the PTC is fully charged.”

Marlene nodded. “You assume correct. Both sets of amplifiers are near absolute zero as well.”

“Then by all means; fire,” he ordered.

Marlene did not relay the order. “Would you like to do the honors?”

Ellington snorted. What honors? Blowing up an asteroid was hardly honorable. Vaporizing it was just downright wasteful. “Have Mac fire it; it’s his job after all.”

“Any famous words to record?” Marlene asked.

Ellington’s face twitched. “Just fire the damn cannon!” he snapped.

Marlene gave him a sly grin. “Words for posterity.” She called over to Mac. “You heard the man.”

Lighting on the bridge flickered as the PTC fired. It did not fire directly outwards, but the energy was cycled through one set of superconductive amplifiers, and then another. More power was drawn from the system. As soon as the flickering started, it ceased as a pulse of energy raced across space at light speed. In an instant, the target vanished in blinding flash, as it was rapidly reduced to sub-atomic particles. Ellington covered his eyes as it blew, but still had to blink away the spots from his eyes.

“Target status?” he asked.

“Gone,” came the reply from the gunner, who sounded quite proud of the results.

He was not the only one. The entire civilian partition of the bridge crew let out loud cheers, loud enough to overload his ears in the way the flash did his eyes. Yes, the test was successful. Now, all they had to do was send that same shot through a far larger network of amps. When finished, it would be, without a doubt, the biggest gun in the universe.

“Well Manson, the test was a complete success. Nothing on board blew out.” Marlene said, slapping him on the back. Ellington gave her a look of reproach, but said nothing. Yes, it was a success. He could now report to the brass that Stage One of Project: Behemoth is now complete.

16 Bit Gaming in the AHN Universe

Another fan piece by the Korporal. It's a scene of the Commonwealth Army, but I mentioned to him that it looked like a screen shot from a SNES/SFC or Genesis game. Kind of makes me wonder what sort of video game industry would rise in the AHN Universe.

Wing Commander reboot, part 27

2660

Battle of Enigma

The biggest battle of the year took place in the strategically vital Enigma System. A dozen jump points lead from across the Sector into Enigma. Enigma also offered almost unopposed movement into the Sol Sector. Just why so many jump points were linked to Enigma is not certain, though the heart of the system might offer a clue. The star Enigma was a B-type star, with little in the way of planets orbiting it– or rather the center of the system. Enigma itself orbited Enigma X-1, a five solar mass black hole. After its former star went supernova, the planets in the system were all but wiped out and blown into interstellar space. What little material that remained was rich in heavy metals, and comprised mostly asteroids and planetoids. The largest body in the system was little bigger (in terms of volume) Luna.

Enigma Junction, located five AU from Enigma X-1, was the administrative center of the sector. It was far larger than any station, and was home to over 100,000 personnel. Due to navigational hazards across the system, most of the traffic between jump points must pass within a few million kilometers of Enigma Junction. The Kilrathi planned to take the Junction by attacking the system from both Niven and Gwynedd. To meet them, Admiral Turner was given seven carriers (most of the carriers in the Sector) and hundreds of fighters. Each of the Kilrathi fleets numbered three carriers.

The Kilrathi’s first move was unexpected. A day ahead of their fleets, a Confed Corvette jumped into the system. It was damaged, including communications. Turner sensed something odd about the corvette. Though it was damaged, there appeared to be nothing wrong with its propulsion. He ordered the battleship Half-moon to intercept the corvette and escort it in. When Half-moon reached the corvette, it detected no emissions aside from the engines. The battleship attempted to dock with the corvette, and board it. When the hull was breached, both battleship and corvette vanished in a bright flash. The corvette was an old corvette the Kilrathi had captured years ago, used it some time as a commerce raider, and packed it with several grams of anti-matter. The plan was to fly it close to Enigma Junction, then blow it. Half-moon’s attempt at boarding set off an anti-tamper alarm.

Fighters were scrambled and sent on a sweep of all the jump points leading into Kilrathi space. The Kilrathi knew the ship exploded, and believed it had completed its mission. Thus, they jumped into the system unprepared for immediate combat. The fleet jumping in from Niven jumped into a patrol of Rapiers and Broadswords. In twenty minutes of combat, one Kilrathi carrier was destroyed and the other two disabled. The second Kilrathi fleet jumped into the system unopposed, and took a dangerous trajectory within a single A.U. of Enigma X-1, and used the black hole to cover their own approach. Confed had not anticipated an attack from the direction of the singularity.

The Kilrathi scored a number of hits on Congress and Concordia, and destroyed the Bengal-class carrier Beacontree as well as crippled the Confederation-class carrier Emperor. The Emperor later succumbed to internal explosions, but not before its remaining fighters were launched. Despite the surprise that half the Kilrathi invasion force had gained, the loss of the other half of the force prevented the Kilrathi from following up on their attack. The strike force did not turn for a second pass, but made for the Niven jump point and the aid of the damaged ships. Along with two carriers and a battleship, Confed lost three cruisers and four destroyers.

The Kilrathi force assembled at the Niven jump point but did not retreat. Nor did it advance. Concerned that the Kilrathi might be waiting for reinforcements, Turner ordered a general attack on the Kilrathi. Not just by fighters and bombers, but by a number of cruisers as well. The Battle for the Jump Point cost Confed another two cruisers, and 35% of its fighters, for the Kilrathi detected its approach well in advance. Despite the losses, the Kilrathi decided to yield the system. The Kilrathi were not waiting for reinforcements, but were in fact in conference, attempting to reformulate their plans for the system. Anti-ship missiles from Sabers and Broadswords struck the carrier on which the conference was held, killing several high ranking officers. Thus, without central command, the Kilrathi were forced to retreat.

Phased Transit Cannon

Since 2657, Confed had been working on a new weapon, in reality a prototype for a future, and far more powerful weapon. The prototype was called the Phased Transit Cannon. The PTC concentrated a great deal of energy into a single beam. It would be like a large annihilation warhead exploding into a narrow beam instead of omni-directional. The PTC was designed to punch through shields and strike at the ship itself. The weapon, when first tested, managed to punch through the shields of a drone, and vaporize the drone with a single shot. R&D insisted that it could take out something as large as a Fralthra with a single shot.

There was a catch; the PTC required a large amount of power. It could only be fired after a lengthy charge, which any Kilrathi ship with descent sensors would detect. Several PTCs were integrated into the new Dreadnaught-class battleship design. While the Congress　and Concordia were back in dock for repairs, each had a single PTC installed on their bow. They would have to aim the whole ship, but if the crew could pull it off, both carriers would have more than enough fire power to hold their own in a ship-to-ship engagement.

Dutch Small Arms

This is another creation by a fan who goes by the title Korporal Nooij (he's the creator of the DDR website). It's the standard assault rifle of the Dutch Commonwealth.

Wing Commander reboot, part 26

2659

Battle of Pembroke

The Pembroke System was of vital importance to the Confederation for it sat as a nexus linking the Vega and Enigma Sectors. Loss of the system would not only split the sectors and add weeks to months on a journey between fronts, but would also put the Kilrathi within striking distance of the Sol Sector. Admiral Turner concentrated five carriers and four battleships, along with fifty other capital ships, around Pembroke Station (home to over 100,000 people) upon learning the Kilrathi planned to move against the system during the middle of 2659.

The Kilrathi appeared in the system in June and moved on Pembroke Station. The station had over a hundred Epees patrolling within one A.U. of it, on constant scan for any stealth attacks. As expected, the Kilrathi did deploy a number of Skippers in with their conventional missiles. The Kilrathi brought in four carriers of their own, and launched an immediate attack on Turner’s fleet. The first wave of Kilrathi fighters suffered losses and retreated. To Turner, the Kilrathi gave up a little too easy, and he suspected a trap. Instead of ordering a pursuit, he reigned in all his fighters, including the lumbering Broadswords. Epees detected a number of possible cloaked targets approaching, but the concentration of Terran fighters forced the Kilrathi to call off their own stealth attack.

A second Kilrathi wave came in, this time fighters sweeping in front of corvette. Corvettes were small ships, but still far larger than the largest fighters, and carried a number of anti-ship missiles. The Broadswords concentrated on them, expending their own anti-ship missiles in taking them down. Corvettes were considered a waste of ASMs, and using one was overkill. However, the corvettes probably carried Skippers, as they did. All corvettes fired their loads before three were destroyed and the other five escaped. Most missiles were shot down, but three struck the carrier Java Sea amidship, breaking it in half. Five destroyers were also destroyed in the attack, along with a dozen Confed corvettes. Most of these smaller ships were destroyed by Kilrathi fighters while covering the larger ships.

A third wave was less successful, but did manage to destroy the battleship Endurance, but at a heavy loss in fighters. The Kilrathi lost more fighters than they expected, possibly because they expected to only be facing Pembroke Station. While Turner’s fighters were protecting his fleet, the station’s fighters, two hundred Rapiers, Sabers and Broadswords, swept an arc around Pembroke V, to attack the Kilrathi on their right flank. With most of their own fighters engaging Confed forces, the Kilrathi fleet was in a fight for its life. One of their own carriers was destroyed outright, with another heavily damaged. Three Fralthi and a Fralthra were also destroyed, along with seven destroyers. The losses were high enough, that once their own fighters were recovered, the Kilrathi withdrew from the system, seeking an easier target.

Conquest of Niven

After abandoning designs on Pembroke, the same Kilrathi fleet jumped into the Niven System, via Rigel. Niven was lightly defended, by its own station as well as a couple of fortresses. The fortresses were overwhelmed by the Kilrathi within a day of jumping into the system. Despite being damaged, and down a carrier (broke off from the fleet in Rigel), the Kilrathi fleet re-entered combat faster than anticipated. Confed had yet to rush forces into the Niven System to counter a likely move, that was predicted to be months away. The Kilrathi Admiral was not about to return home with an outright failure on his record.

Terran populations in the Niven System were light, and its proximity to the Enigma System prompted it to have some defenses. The colony on Niven III had but a few hundred thousand people scattered across its surface. The Kilrathi landed unopposed on the planet, in one of its unpopulated deserts, and went about constructing their own base upon the planet. Terrans were rounded up and pressed in unskilled labor as Prides were brought in for the more specialized work. The Kilrathi began their own massing of forces for the planned push into the Enigma System.

To secure the system, and provide themselves with some secrecy, the Kilrathi eventually moved on Niven Station, which orbited the star at the Niven II-Niven L1 point. This was close to the jump point leading into the Enigma System, and must be under Kilrathi control in order to give them surprise in the upcoming campaign. The station was captured after a week of fighting, and only partially in tact. Life support systems self-destructed, and Confed personnel attempted to blow the station. They failed, but did destroy the flight decks on the station, which were filled with outdated Raptors and Hornets, most of the production of new fighters having already been allocated to the Vega Sector. What few survivors captured were killed by the Kilrathi in frustration, and some say they were also eaten by the conquerors.

Raid on H’hral V’krass

V’krass Shipyards, in the H’hral V’Krass System, within the Vukar Tag Sector, and several jumps behind Kilrathi lines, were the prime target of Tolwyn and his strike force in 2659. After spending half the year in transit from the Enigma Sector, a strike force built around the carriers Concordia, Gettysburg and Ranger arrived in the lightly defended system. The shipyards were owned by the Lushkag Pride, one of the Eight, and destroying them would not only weaken Kilrathi production, but was hoped make their government a little more unstable.

The shipyards were small, and mostly given over to the production of destroyers, with secondary facilities for landing ships, with anti-ship missile production facilities. Destroying the shipyards was easy. Tolwyn had his Broadswords concentrate all their missile fire on the shipyard’s own anti-ship missile production facilities. Since anti-ship missiles used anti-matter instead of hydrogen for its warhead, all the attack had to do was disable one of the containment fields within just one of the warheads. Being so deep within their own territory, in a previously uncharted sector (from Confed’s perspective) there was little shielding around the shipyard.

The attacks blew apart the shipyards. Had they been on a planet or moon, it would have left a crater more than a hundred kilometers in diameter. However, given the asymmetry of Kilrathi design, anything larger than a corvette must be built in micro-gravity (space or a small asteroid). Only a few invasion craft were under construction at the time, all of which were destroyed. However, given the centralization of Kilrathi war industries, one-third of their destroyer production had just been eliminated. Tolwyn paid for his attack, not in the H’hral V’krass System, but rather in the several systems he had to pass through in order to reach Confed lines. In each system, the Kilrathi attacked his fleet, but with most of the Kilrathi Navy either defending Munro or fighting in the Enigma Sector, little damage was done to his fleet.

　

Wing Commander reboot, part 25

2658

Fall of Rigel

Rigel was one of the few stars outside of the Sol Sector that had its absolute location known. It is a blue giant that forms one corner of the constellation Orion. Being a blue giant, there were no planets capable of supporting life in the Rigel System, but there were a few planets worth mining, as well as ship repair and fabrications facilities in the system. The Kilrathi fell upon the system on their road towards encircling Enigma itself. Confed aimed to defend the fleet facilities, but with the battle continuing in Repleetah, and other fleet actions planned, only three carriers were available to defend the system.

The Kilrathi hit in force with four carriers, along with six cruisers. One of the cruisers was a Strakha equipped Fralthra. The stealth fighters swept in but were thwarted by two squadrons of Epees rushed into service. The cloaked fighters escaped unscathed, with the Epees trailing them to 0.5 AU distance from the fleet. Instead, the Kilrathi would have to rely on a more conventional attack. Their bombers, new Paktahns. These bombers could carry a pair of anti-ship missiles. Some carried conventional missiles to cover the few Skippers that two of the bombers carried. All four of the Skippers hit as Confed defenses focused on the enemies they could see. None of the carriers were destroyed, but a lone destroyed did stray into the path of one Skipper, breaking in half upon impact.

The carrier Raj suffered significant damage, enough to take it out of the war for three years. The other two carriers were forced to pick up Raj’s fighters and act as both fleet defense and defense for the fleet yards in the system. A second Kilrathi attack came the following day, using the same tactic of hiding Skippers within a conventional attack. Again, no carriers were lost, but the cruiser Ceres took a hit, knocking out half of its propulsion. The Kilrathi fleet began to close within gun range. Realizing his position untenable, Admiral Vander ordered the fleet yards to be blown and personnel to evacuated. The Terran fleet withdrew from the wreckage only an hour ahead of the Kilrathi arrival.

Drones of Repleetah

Entering the third year of the battle, over ten million Confed soldiers battled with a nearly equal number of Kilrathi across several fronts, each reminiscent of the trenches of the Great War, fought nearly three thousand years before. Neither side would yield this system, despite its relative unimportance or the cost so far paid. After three years, both sides have lost more than a million men, and both sides were desperate for any way to break the deadlock.

Confed unleashed its largest concentration of combat drones to date; over ten thousand of them scattered across the planet. Dozens of giant drones operated as units, concentrating fire on a hundred Kilrathi strong points. Confederation forces advanced hundreds of kilometers along the front lines of Repleetah, with the drones cutting swaths through the Kilrathi. Half of the drones were eventually destroyed by Kilrathi armor, but not before the Kilrathi were on the run.

Kilrathi commanders were desperate to prevent their own lines from collapsing and sought a means to blunt Confed’s attack. Their weapon of choice was far more insidious. The first indication of this new weapon was when hundreds of Confed soldiers went down without even a shot fired. The weapon was quickly identified as chemical in nature, a neuro-toxin. Confed response immediately with the cheapest chemical weapon they could put into instant use; chlorine. New chemical weapons were soon employed by both sides, and combat environmental suits became a requirement to survive the continuing war on Repleetah.

Bioships of Sheldon

The Kilrathi incursion was not defeated by Confed, but rather a relic from a long dead civilization. The civilization that once spread across the Sheldon System, millions of years ago, used organic technology to create living ships. They did not build ships, but grew them, and eventually moved on to breeding them. When the civilization collapsed, for whatever means, the bioships continued to survive in space. They thrived and began to evolve to make uses of whatever resources they could capture. Competition between ships drove evolution, as it drove an arms race. When the Kilrathi attacked one of the bioships, it responded in kind. Its whole herd fell upon the Kilrathi task force, built around a lone carrier and cruiser, consuming each of the ships. This was one enemy the Kilrathi could not spare the forces to exterminate at the moment, and the system was declared off-limits, protecting Enigma’s flank.

Ghorah Khar

One of Confed’s attacks for the year took it into the Ghorah Khar System. It was a young Kilrathi colony, but a fast growing one. The Imperial Pride controlled the planet and relocated Prides with technical expertise to the planet. Cloaking devices required extremely rare materials for vital components, a rare material that allows for focusing gravity to bend light. Ghorah Khar has the material on its surface in sufficient quantities to justify the expense of colonizing the world. When Confed Intel learned of this material, they went to launch an immediate attack.

In command of the strike was one of the youngest admirals, Admiral Tolwyn, who used the Concordia as his flag. Concordia along with TCS Bishop, escorted by three cruisers and seven destroyers, hit the system in force. Broadswords bombed the planet, sealing the known mines while Sabers destroyed several freighters loaded with the mineral. The amount destroyed or otherwise scattered across space was estimated to have allowed the Kilrathi to build over a thousand Skippers. Secondary targets of the raid included transfer stations in orbit of Ghorah Khar as well as tankers that scooped the resident gas giants for fuel. Tolwyn exited the system before the Kilrathi Navy could respond.

The Kilrah Pride returned to the planet quickly and set up restoring the mines. The Emperor’s total disregard to the colonists’ health and safety served to alienate thousands of previously loyal Kilrathi, including the three largest Prides, each vying for eventual position as planetary Pride. Not trusting slaves at such a vital resource, the Kilrah Pride pressed many of the colonists into remedial and forced labor to keep the mineral flowing from the mines.

Wing Commander reboot, part 24

2657

The Epee Project

Early in the year, part of the Unseen Death threat was positively identified by Confed Intel. A new anti-ship missile, code-named Skippers, were part of this new threat, though not the whole story. She anti-ship missiles have a level of stealth beyond anything Confed developed. The missiles will actually cloak themselves, using a gravitational field to bend light around them, to elude detection. The code-name came from the fact that the skippers must de-cloak in order to regain lock. The advantage to bending light is it remains invisible; the disadvantage is that the missile can not see where it is going.

To combat the skippers, a new light fighter was put into design. The F-54 Epee is more maneuverable than the P-64 Ferrets, as well as packed with more sensitive sensors. Officially, the Epee was classified as a light fighter. In reality, it was designed solely to detect and destroy cloaked objects. If the Kilrathi can apply these cloaking devices to anti-ship missiles, than they can do the same thing with mines as well as fighters. Unknown at the time of the project’s inception, the Kilrathi had already deployed a limited number of fighters with cloaking technology. All of the Strakha fighters were constructed at an assembly plant at the Kilrah Pride’s shipyards, orbiting Kilrah. Due to navigational problems while cloaked, the production of these stealthy fighters has always been limited, as the scope of their mission parameters.

Destruction at Novaya Kiev

Admiral van Oranje arrived with his fleet of five carriers, three battleships and eight cruisers, as well as other, smaller ships, at Novaya Kiev early in the year, after a several month journey through several systems from the Vega Sector. His crew was tired and demoralized at the sudden turn of events. Unseen Death started to tip the balance of the war back in the Kilrathi’s favor. The Skippers were already a known threat by the time of van Oranje’s arrival. All Ferrets and Rapiers were on constant patrol, and a dozen frigates swept space with a full-spectrum sweep.

A Kilrathi task force, less than half the size of van Oranje’s, jumped into the system from Ghorah Khar, a recently colonized system. Van Oranje ordered an immediate launch of all Sabers and Broadswords to destroy the Kilrathi carriers. The two Kilrathi carriers turned out to be the decoys. Flanking around both sides of the carriers, on long arcs across the system, were one Fralthra　each. These cruisers carried a flight of Strakhas as well as Skippers. The cruisers themselves were too large to cloak, but managed to slip into firing range undetected. The first indication that two large cruisers were approaching the fleet is when the sensors on the Eagle’s Talon, van Oranje’s flagship, detected them.

Four Confed cruisers and two battleships moved to intercept these two Kilrathi cruisers, with a battleship and pair of cruisers targeting each ship. It appeared to be an easy kill. However, the Strakha was still unknown to Confed, and the fighters carried modified IR missiles (each carrying an annihilation warhead instead of the standard fusion warhead). The fighters struck fast enough to kill the cruisers Vesta and Majesty outright, and damaged the rest of the ships. While they were focused on anti-spacecraft combat, the Kilrathi launched a spread of Skippers. The cruisers Salisbury and Praetor were destroyed, along with the battleship King George V. Charles Vreeland managed to limp away from the battle and escape the system.

The Kilrathi cruisers closed in on van Oranje’s main force. In an almost suicidal move, both cruisers attacked at their cruising speed, meaning they could not maneuver or evade. Instead, they swept in at 5 PSL, and launched two spreads of Skippers before passing out of range. A majority of the missiles were killed by the patrolling fighters and pickets. However, a number of them broke through and hit their targets. Admiral van Oranje was killed when the Eagle’s Talon　exploded. The other carriers were damaged, but still functioning. The TCS Mons and Congress took on the Eagle’s Talon’s fighters and was set to rearm them.

The Kilrathi carriers launched a more conventional attack upon the battered fleet near the Heaven’s Gate jump point. After suffering such damage from the stealth attacks, the fleet began to fall back. There was some hope that reinforcements would jump in, but not before the Kilrathi fighters hit. Ferrets and Rapiers held off many of the fighters, and the heavier Sabers were launched as well. Four destroyers and the cruiser Lunapolis were destroyed and Mons had its flight deck destroyed, forcing surviving fighters to divert to the Congress. With such a bloody mess at their hands, Confed was forced to yield the system to the Kilrathi.

For the most part, the Kilrathi ignored the settlements in the system and set up constructing a supply depot in the system,. Kiev Station would serve as a forward base for the Kilrathi, to resupply its ships as well as its crew. Kilrathi ships jumped into the adjacent Talbot System, and captured it without much of a fight. The Terran fighters in the system were destroyed to the last, as were two corvettes. The three million Terrans living upon Talbot VII were put to work in constructing garrisons and fleet repair facilities for the Kilrathi. Part of the reason the system fell so swiftly, despite its weak garrison, was that the planetary defense network was knocked out. It was disabled by a cell of Mandarins operating on the planet.

Though the massacre at Novaya Kiev did much to hurt Confed, it was far from knocking them out of the fight. After twenty years of war, the shipyards across the Sol Sector were able to produce capital ships faster than the Kilrathi could destroy them. Confed would entrench itself at both Enigma and Heaven’s Gate, focusing its war effort on keeping the Kilrathi from reaching any closer to the Sol Sector. Parts of the Enigma Sector would have to be abandoned while Confed shortened its defensive lines and prepared for its own counterattack.

Wing Commander reboot, part 23

2656

Unseen Death

The Sivar was not the only secret weapon the Kilrathi had been working on during the decade. Early in 2656, the Tiger’s Claw ventured into the corner of the Enigma Sector to investigate Mang Station, and perhaps even destroy it. However, the Kilrathi’s new weapon struck, destroying the Tiger’s Claw and most of its patrolling fighters. Only one survivor was recovered, a Lieutenant Commander Christopher Blair. Some in Confed, such as now Admiral Tolwyn, believed him to be a Mandarin, but this was never proven. Instead, he was banished to in-system patrols in a backwater system (until the war visited that system).

The new weapon, what the Kilrathi call Unseen Death, struck across both the Enigma and Vega Sectors. The Kilrathi’s first target were the three tiresome arsenal ships. The Ragnarok, Epoch and Last Judgement were all destroyed within days of each other. Other losses included lone ships and small patrols, such as the carrier Avenger, Kipling and battleship Ho Chi Minh were destroyed, along with their destroyer and frigate escorts. The attacks were all the same; a distant contact with a Kilrathi cruiser or carrier, and hours later, Confed ships abruptly exploded. Supply and troop convoys, with minimal protection, were lost to the last ship, taking tens of thousands to their death.

A general panic spread across the Enigma Sector as word of these stealth attacks became public knowledge. Commerce ground to a halt as shipping companies refused to launch anything. There was a greater panic along the frontier as millions of civilians tried to leave their worlds, but nobody would take to space with these invisible attackers on the loose. As it turned out, their fears were justified. Behind each of these stealthy strikes came a Kilrathi task force.

Invasion of the Enigma Sector

After years of fighting in the Vega Sector, but 2652, the Kilrathi High Command decided the sector too difficult of a route to Earth. They also noticed the great bulk of Confed’s strength was in the Sector. After several retreats, Confed ships were pulled further from the Sol Sector. As it turned out, the reason for Kilrathi retreats became clear in March of 2656, when the Kilrathi struck in force at Bradbury and Telamon, with a fleet of five carriers each. The reason Confed did not see as many ships at Cairo or Venice as they should have, is because the Kilrathi were preparing a massive flanking attack, with TCN several weeks, if not months, away.

Both systems fell with little resistance, and the Kilrathi wasted no time in fortifying them. The next system to fall was Cabrea, and it put up a stiffer resistance. Confed reacted immediately by ordering half of its Vega Sector fleet to the Enigma Sector. Older ships, such as the three remaining Vanguards, were pulled off escort duty and rushed towards the front. There was some serious talk about putting the old Concordias back into front-line service. Several new ships were quickly launched from ships yards at Mercury and other core worlds, manned with any personnel available regardless of the experience.

Ships from the Epsilon Sector, those that survived Unseen Death, were the first to do battle with the Kilrathi. Concordia and Gettysburg gave the Kilrathi a good fight at Cabrea, before Kilrathi numbers forced them to retreat to Niffleheim. The invasion was not nearly as disastrous as the invasion of the Vega Sector, at the start of the war, but losses were high. Kilrathi advances were slowed because Confed had been at war for more than twenty years. Any hope for the invasion of Enigma Sector to be a shining success as the victories in 2634-9 were quickly dashed by the arrival of van Oranje’s fleet in December at Novaya Kiev.

Nuclear Powers in the AHN Universe

Nuclear Powers

United States: 1945
Dutch Commonwealth: 1947
Sweden: 1951
France: 1954
Britain: 1956 (mostly disarmed by 2010)
China: 1964
German Empire: 1966
Italian Federation: 1981
Greece: 2009

Attempting to gain Nuclear Powers

Serbian Empire
Korean People’s Republic
Grand Colombia (New Grenada)
Persia (Iran)