January 1, 2021: To employ the Sparta class more efficiently, a new ship design is developed based on the Lexington class strike carrier.
[IMG]Greece class Assault Transport 15,000 tons 631 Crew 1513 BP TCS 300 TH 1200 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 4-54 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.9 Years MSP 630 AFR 180% IFR 2.5% 1YR 66 5YR 985 Max Repair 40 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4000 tons Troop Capacity: 2 Battalions
Military Magneto-plasma Drive (15) Power 80 Fuel Use 60% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 285,000 Litres Range 57.0 billion km (164 days at full power)[/IMG]Capable of carrying 10 Sparta shuttles and their payload of 10 Marine companies, the Greece will make a valuable addition to the fleet. A shipyard is available, so construction begins immediately.
Freighters in the Sol System continue moving automated mines about as mineral deposits peter out or are completly exploited. The only major deposits left in the Sol system are in deep space comets, but there are still small deposits on various asteroids that can be exploited. Hope system is rapidly becoming humanity's best source for minerals.
February 13, 2021: During a temporary lull in shipbuilding, Earth begins scrapping old model gunboats. The minerals and parts will be put to good use building the newer, much more capable ships.
May 14, 2021: The New York finishes construction, and begins ferrying troops and engineers to Alpha Centauri.
August 6, 2021: Exploring the new system of WX Ursae Majoris, the Newton notices the wrecks of several unknown ships on long range scans. Several hours later, a sensor officer notices that one of the wrecks is no longer there.
Captain Teodoro Naik is no coward, but strange occurences have had a way of destroying survey ships in the past, and the Newton possess no weapons or armor. He sets a return course for Earth and suggests the Navy handle this. Before it reaches the jump point the Newton observes a second wreck disappear as well.
Vice Admiral Hannah Avram decides to take the 1st Fleet to investigate. The 2nd Fleet, slower and more vulnerable, will remain behind to protect Earth.
September 1, 2021: 1st Fleet jumps into the WX Ursae Majoris system and immediately detects active sensors of another vessel. The vessel's location corresponds to the last known location of the unknown wrecks, which are no longer present. The fleet deploys gunboats and begins transmitting a first contact package.
The unknown vessel begins moving towards the 1st Fleet, and the Semmes sensor ship detects a new EM emission that appears to be some sort of energy field. The gunboats set out to intercept the contact before it can reach the carriers.
Approximately half way to the contact, the first fleet gunboats detect 67 800 ton ships on an intercept course for the carriers. Due to the difficulty of detecting such small ships the alien contacts are actually closer to the carriers than the gunboats are, though they are only moving at 10,000 km/s compared to the gunboat's 11,500. The gunboats reverse course and attempt to get between the aliens and the carriers, in case they prove hostile. They alien ships change course to intercept the first fleet gunboats at roughly the same moment.
The situation is not looking good, and the debate rages about whether to order the gunboats to open fire. The decision quickly becomes moot. At a distance of 74,000 km, well out of range of even plasma cannon, space between the two groups lights up with unknown weapons fire, and the Brazwell III 035 suddenly explodes.
The situation does not look good. The gunboats are outnumbered and apparently out-teched. Admiral Avram orders them to use their superior speed to attempt to disengage and return to their carriers.
The range slowly begins to open. The aliens open fire at 89,000 km, then again at 104,000 km, each time destroying another Brazwell. Then the enemy guns fall silent, apparently having exceeded their range. The gunboats begin curving around to return to their carriers without entering enemy weapon range.
Several hours later, the gunboats reach their carriers and perform emergency docking mere minutes ahead of the pursuing enemy vessels. The carriers then jump out of the system and their captains can only pray that the enemy ships do not have Jump drives as they set course for Earth. Luckily, no signs of pursuit are detected.
It has been a rather depressing day for humanity. A second alien race encountered, and they too prove hostile and exceptionally dangerous. Worse, the enemy vessels were in range to watch the first fleet jump out of the system, so if they did not know about the Jump Point's existence before they certainly know now. Even if they do not follow, future missions to the system must be prepared for the enemy fleet to be waiting for them at the jump point.
On the positive side, the decision to scrap the older gunboats is vindicated; they would have been substantially slower than the aliens and have no choice but to fight.
It is possible that a sufficiently large force of gunboats could overwhelm the enemy ships, but they would likely suffer heavy losses. Another strategy would be containment; defenses could be established in Hope, possibly around the jump point, to hold back the aliens until Humanity is ready to deal with them.
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Topic: Let's Play Aurora - Ad Astra per Aspera (Read 38484 times)