Update 15: Through the fire and the flame
The Ik were slightly shaken by the events of Arrakis engagement last year, their overweening confidence made brittle by the deficits revealed in their all-beamer single platform strategy, as well as the construction of new facilities in another system being far more difficult than the colonists had first thought. Desperately sending queries through the Known Net they uncovered the fleeing pirate had not gone to any system within one years travel from Arrakis, and they thus had a two-four year window before it could possible return or summon reinforcements. They thus scrambled a few divisions of troops and a bucketful of resources onto two newly built Yuk cargo ships which immediately dashed for Arrakis. They also began developing an incremental improvement to the Al-Qiyamah sloop that would hopefully not be so outclassed by the long range and fast pirate corsairs. Developments in their construction technology made this ship surprising cheap in resources compared with the old builds. On arrival in Arrakis the new divisions quickly landed on the surface, and after a few days (spent smelling the flowers and luxuriating in the long grass and invigorating atmosphere) assaulted the pirate base in the jungle regions of the planet. It quickly fell, but not before its skeleton staff had managed to wipe all the data records and scoured the base of any clues about their origins, in its said that they died with wide grins underneath their enormous moustaches, the worried and green Ik soldiers not taking any prisoners. This habitat would be ready for occupation at the beginning of next year, but for now the Ik dwelt in the orbital fort, their food supply provided by the support ship when it wasn't using its modules to repair the Al-Qiyamah warship. The returning exploration fleet were shocked at the stories of the pirates on their return to realtime, and wondered about how close they had come to disturbing another nest of such vile and barbaric monsters. On the domestic front the Colonists reigned in their imperialist rhetoric much to the frustration of some of their supporters (after all, didn't the Ik win at Arrakis II?), and tried to keep under wraps how close to the food limit the Errai system was with their new farms on Errai barely producing anything.
The Akresians smirked to themselves deep within the vaults of Errai VIIIa, it seemed the Ik were panicking and overstretching themselves, as the Admirals had predicted so long ago. It might not be long now before the Akresians can start doing exactly what they like. For now though there is still the problem of the food supply, as once more population expansion caused problems. Hopefully completing advances in hydroponics should help out next year, but for now the Akresians continue to roll along and bide their time.
The normally placid Lantians quickly ordered the withdrawal of their scouting corvettes to protect their new population centres in the Horn system, leaving Gemstar unguarded for the moment. Perhaps doing against the trend of heightened militarisation in the post-Arrakis II Trailing Lobe, they also designed a new cargo ship using Solar Sail drive systems and lacking the light weapons its forerunners possessed, to create a capacious but pathetically vulnerable scow. They build an example of this new vessel and send it on its way to Horn with its holds stuffed to the gills with materials. With the additional income from the 'Al the Lantians have accumulated a colossal horde of resources on Horn II for their new floating cities there a tempting target for any marauder. They also get rather involved in international diplomacy as their plan to retrieve the Soulon Pearl floundered after a bevy of threats shot out from Kaus, and they concluded a treaty with the Ik (that the 'Al raved wasn't worth the virtual bytes it was stored as) to demarcate territory. They also put a small space habitat in orbit around Ningbao, the long term plans of which remain a mystery to all those not privy to the secretive governments internal missives.
The Esani begin the next stage of their inner-system utilisation project after the initial push to Heze II (now Rin'esani) as they skipped on to establish their first base on the metal rich world of Heze I,. The heavy elements were soon easing the process of industry all across Esani space and provided a significant economic boon. Some among the Esani courts opined that this focus on the inner system was leaving the outer system exposed to squatters and threats, and that the Esani had no fleet with which to evict trespassers. Others however laughed at this, saying that the Esani had over ten times the volatiles they needed for the foreseeable future already, and that the notion of pirates was laughable considering no other entities had yet been contacted throughout the tuft. A few bureaucratic mishaps saw them try and concentrate energy researchers into two separate facilities - a laughably naïve mistake.
Peace in our time!
-Sri Luiz, Soulon Senator
The decaying forests of Kaus III were a grim and troubling sight, something hard for a man to look at without questioning his own mortality. This sobering visage caused both of the warring Kaus faction to step back from the bring and open negotiations. In a surprisingly quick time an agreement was hashed out that saw Kaus III made into a neutral planet shared by both parties and reopening free and clear communication and trade. Naturally segments of both populations erupted in fury the Soulons falling foul to their years of propaganda demonising the Gardeners and their brutal suppression of anyone with the slightest connection to Kadesh, whilst the Gardeners faced those who considered the Soulon guilty of the gravest crime of all ecocide. Long running terrorism campaigns would likely plague both factions for decades. Meanwhile both governments worked hard to bring their people onside, the Soulon engaging in some tough interstellar diplomacy and both quickly working on the construction of a shared memorial and trade habitat around Kaus III, the Soulon at least calling on their people to cooperate, least they be left behind by the outside universe (the Soulon also acknowledged the sole Ik claim to Arrakis, something condemned by more than a few annoyed at Ik greed and posturing), and moved more of its population to the vast city on Medias that was more and more becoming the hub of Soulon space. Perhaps the action that allowed people to retain the most faith in their government was the prompt efforts to restore the food supply, the construction of additional farming complexes and hard research to improve the operation of those already existing. With work crews from both factions operating round the clock, the memorial habitat was finished in record time, and everything seemed to be going rosily. Fevered visionaries amongst the Soulon even spoke of extending the league to include the Gardeners and forging the greatest power in known space.
However when the Gardeners failed to come through on their promise to transfer mathematics technology and investigate the ruins of Corth, some among the Soulon began to suspect that something wasn't right. Could the Gardeners have been lying through their teeth all the time?
Yes!
The opened communication nets allowed the Soulon to rather easily pick up on things when the Gardeners began a massive campaign of soldier recruitment, and shortly afterwards launched massive war fleets towards Corth and Kaus VIIa, without even the courtesy of redeclaring war. Their intent was clear they would capture the Soulon volatiles mines, both gutting the Soulon economic capabilities, and more importantly inflict a massive food deficit on the Soulon and give them no choice but to surrender or starve. The Soulon senate screamed at the fleet commanders (even as those amongst them who had brokered the peace were arrested for treason), but to no avail the ship movements had been locked months ago, and only three Farragut Cutters stood between the Soulon and defeat. On a minor front the Gardeners quickly seized the space habitat, the advantage of surprise giving them an easy victory over the civilians, though their forces on the ground at Kaus III stayed put, not quite willing to tangle with the Soulon. Naturally the sole remaining Lamassu in orbit reimposed the barricade on Soulon movements, again to cut off the food supply.
Around the icy moon of Kaus VIIa a single Soulon Cutter faced down an opposing Gardener Rakahasa, laser beamer against laser beamer. The Gardeners had expected to catch the Soulon with their trousers down, but the long trip out to the dark had given the Soulon plenty of time to prepare, and the paranoid officers had never truly let their guard down. It wasn't quite an even fight, as although both ships had three powerful laser arrays, the Farragut could endure a single hit from its opponent, and the inverse was not true, meaning the Gardeners would have to be lucky. In the end the battle lasted mere minutes in a single discharge both hit once, and the Rakahasa disintegrated in a burst of molten droplets whilst the Farragut limped on. Unfortunately the Rukh cargo transporter the Rakahasa was escorting only had ion drives, and the iron laws of orbital dynamics meant the heavily laden ship was unable to escape the Farragut as the latter limped to engage, and ten Gardener divisions were soon sucking vacuum.
Gardeners: Lost 1 Rakahasa Gunboat, 1 Rukh Cargo Shell, 10 Divisions
Soulon: Damaged 1 Farragut Cutter
However this was a mere sideshow to the main Gardener attack, at Corth, the capital, oldest city, and economic powerhouse of the Soulon league. Unlike the engagement at the icy moon, the orbital battle here took days as two Soulon Cutters faced a complex gardener fleet of one Lamassu, two Rakahasa and a Fomorian Missile Ketch. Naturally the Lamassu followed the established Gardener battle plan and went in first to hopefully annihilate both opponents in one fell swoop. Whilst this tactic might have worked last year, the Lamassu was now a known quality and so whilst one Farragut rushed forward, the other fell back - keeping out of range of the disco ball of death until it and the first Farragut died in a burst of mutual destruction. The Fomorian had been raining nuclear death throughout the battle space during this time, unfortunately missing the Farraguts by kilometers and giving the watcher on the planet below a gaudy light show in their sky. The remaining Farragut sped on, hoping to destroy the Transport ship before it could be taken out, but the Rakahasas manage to intercept it first, and all three ships disappear in another glow of photons and debris. A Fomorian slightly shocked at the violence escorts the Rukh into low orbit the battle in space is over, the battle on the ground is just beginning...
Gardeners: Lost 1 Lamassu Cutter, 2 Rakahasa Gunboats
Soulon: Lost 2 Farragut Cutters
The vast and murky hydrogen swamps of Kaus VI are pretty much impossible to defend from orbit without enormous man-power, and so the Soulon retreated to their single city to wait for the Gardener invaders that numbered nearly three times their size. The Gardeners were not slow in coming, eager to get out of the horrible mires and pits of the planets surface as they rushed along to battle [1]. The Battle of the Crater Zip, as it would come to be later know, was extraordinary bloody as the Soulon popped in and out of the tunnels and the murky depths of the atmosphere prevented the Gardeners from using their heavy support. However after three months of fighting the Gardeners finally were victorious, but only a single man for each five who had entered the Crater remained standing, and the Soulon had had the time to destroy their mining complexes. There was little off worth left beyond the mere shells of the buildings when the Gardeners let the Soulon civilians lift orbit for Medias and took over the base.
Gardeners: Lost 8 divisions
Soulon: Lost 3 divisions
The domestic fallout for the war on both sides was enormous, the idiocy of the Soulon Senate making them lose legitimacy (indeed the Mayor of Medias' main city called for a return to dictatorial rule), along with the terrible panic over the possibility of starving whilst Gardener bombs fall overhead. Meanwhile the Gardeners were slightly put out and worried by their own governments duplicity, but truly enraged at the throwing away of eighteen divisions, a huge fraction of the up and coming generations, for apparently minimal gain, and as the anti-war movement fought with the ecociders and the authorities one of the major cities of Kadesh slipped into anarchy.
Meanwhile at Zavi, both of the Diamond factions seem to be ramping up for a big interstellar colonisation push to Minkar in the next year, the Vazan not wanting to be left behind and the Kations wishing to secure their early advance. They both thus throw their design efforts into a new colony ship with the expectation of getting it completed next year. The Kations seem to have stolen an advance on building the support vessels for that colony ship, as they churn out a quartet of Cog cargo shells for moving people and resources next year. These cavernous holds provide such a supercapacity of cargo space that the Kations could conceivably relocate their
entire population to Minkar next year and still have room to spare! They also order their Corsair scouts (now looking rather pathetic in the face of a real
Corsair) back to Zavi to provide the necessary computational support for next years colony jump. On the domestic side of things both factions also worry about feeding their increasing populations, and thus both embark on the construction of two new farming complexes, the Vazan on two orbital farms and the Kations on the surface of Zavi III. These developments should provide for a good few years, particularly in the Vazan case where administrative oversight had seen some food lost previously [2]. However for the Vazan at least these new hydroponics facilities were beginning to reach the limit of what their volatiles mines could comfortably supply, though the true population limit of the system was still decades away. Both factions continued a broad research programme into many different fields.
In Horn space the Lantian fleet took up wary positions around their orbital fort and the passenger ship that was feeding it, whilst the 'Al clicked and trembled at the idea of random death from the darkness. They opened negotiations with the Lantians again over the possibility of being sold a Hiel Corvette in two years time, its price perhaps deducted from the first instalment of the Lantian repayment plan.
Meanwhile in the darkness of the void a entirely new and disturbing force was stirring the SPACE PIRATES had merely be the vanguard of the hedonistic and rapacious polity known as the Liberes. Their world ship had had its IS drives crippled in the Tumult and it had had to reach the Hydra tuft under sublight engines, throwing all of their cool damaged gear overboard to lessen weight and decrease the time taken. After the destruction of the foothold on Arrakis the Worldship had used its Magsail to bank and slow, instead arriving at Izar (where the shield too, had to be discarded). Using their last cups of fuel the Liberes had matched orbits with the smallest and easiest gas giant; Izar II and gratefully dropped their refuelling scoop into its brooding red and pink bulk. This wasn't the end of their problems, as they lacked the ability to have the ship retain its structure when not under thrust and were forced to divide it into several independently orbiting units, inventing several new types of colourful curses in the process it appears as if they won't be going anywhere for a good long while. They also unpacked their fleet of powerful cruisers and raiding ships someone was going feel the brunt of their anger at this...
imposition!
And it looks like the Cruiser even now on its way to Izar might give them some ideas on who that should be...
Random Events:
The Liberes arrive in the Tuft: bad event for everyone
The Esani discover some more interesting trinkets in the rubbish heaps outside the alien ruins: +3 materials research.
Karmically blessed nations:
Story bonuses round: +1 Lucky roll Lantians, Kations, and Liberes
Notes:
[1] You needed to have investigated the ruins in the research phase, not whilst rushing through a warzone!
. Additionally since you take the habitat
after the movement phase, you can't move people into it yet.
[2] Yeah I got your orbital farm productivity wrong last year - sorry!
New Discoveries
Pulse Drive (All requirements revealed): With a better understanding of the mechanics of gas flow, a simple fission rocket can be given a reaction chamber that can vary its geometry - this vastly improves specific impulse to a level equal with fusion drives as well as allowing unprecedented control over the propellent stream to aid in fast manoeuvring. These dynamic systems do come with an energy cost however. IP drive with speed 2, gives +2 dodge and costs -1 power. Useful for small ships that need to close fast with the enemy like laser gunships and assault craft.
Intrusion Unit (All requirements revealed): With a combination of grapples chaff, and quick launching penetration pods an intrusion unit can insert troops and EM measures into enemy ships and space habitats when at ramming range, allowing the aggressor to take control. The act of forcible entry damages the victim severely, and nearly all vessels have command locks, thus stealing ships outright is vanishingly rare, but they do disable opposing military vessels and pillage the contents of cargo vessels and station stocks.
Terraform Storms (needs an unknown amount of Maths and Energy): With appropriate modification of the atmosphere and a network of energy satellites under a unified control system, it is possible to manage the weather patterns of a planet so that they feature less violent action, removing the storms trait from the world. Considerably higher skills in energy control and mathematical modelling are needed though. Costs 10e per world size installation cost, and 2e per world size maintenance costs.
Interceptors (Tech requirements revealed)
New Faction: the Liberes
Excellent Free-fall Reflexes (+1): +3 to Ship Boarding/Defence rolls, Space Marines cost half as much e.
Natural Astrogators (+1): Ships of size <6 get +1 dodge. Ships of size >20 get +1 int.
Shipbred (+1): Orbital Habitats have their population max raised by 2, Planet-side habitats have their Population max reduced by 2, people are unhappy about living on 'dirtballs'.
Technological Affinity for Weapons (+3):+100% s to Weapons Research Centres. At Tier 4 and above Weapons cost -25% to research.
Technological Affinity for Propulsion (+3):+100% s to Propulsion Research Centres. At Tier 4 and above Propulsion cost -25% to research.
Low Starting Population (-3): Low Starting Population
duh.
Epic Ham (-1): Must roll play being careless, reckless and over the top.
Ethnic Descriptions:
The Esani are of a Sino-Bantu stock, and are generally short and stocky and prefer their hair cut short and their clothing to be a riot of colours and cuts. Generally go bare armed for the Esani, the most efficient managers and designers of ecosystems in the Hydra tuft, have incorporated symbiotic flora into their very bodies, the tangle of green and orange threads on their arms and torso scrubbing and recycling waste from their circulatory system, powered by light photosynthesis. When not managing their strange ecosystems (unlike the Gardeners the Esani embrace any veriditas instead of sticking to the Earth-life ideal).
The Liberes are of ancient western European stock, generally without much admixture beyond the North African and Asian influx of the few centuries pre-UC. Etiolated, thin and long limbed from the long periods in microgravity environments, their fashions in apparel are mercurial and ever changing, though one constant is the incredibly elaborate moustaches and braids they require sophisticated hairdressing servitors to assemble out of their universally dark hair (small gene pool).
