June 2248

Aboard Space Force One

Neutral Space in the United Planets System of Ilux II

We stood in stunned silence as the Torian Ambassador to the UP bowed low and backed out of the spacious office that was the centrepiece of this most illustrious of Terran spacecraft.  The main movers and shakers in our central Government were all there: Ben Haynes, the UP Ambassador; The President’s Chief of Staff, Luis De Silva; Nancy Dechart, the veteran National Security Advisor and a visibly ailing Juniti Makata, Chief of Pan Terran Intelligence.  We were all powerful and experienced politicians, military men and spy chiefs-and we were all stunned.

So what had led us to this place?  That summer of June 2248, we fully expected to go to war with our water-loving foe.  We had spent the last three years, after all, building not one but two Terror stars off their southern and central worlds.  The brightest scientists on all of our planets had converged on Nuevo Barcelona and had developed the technology in record time leading to a Nobel prize for technology award for Professor Sharp-it had only taken him and his boffins just over a year to fully realise this apocalyptic research that should have taken more like ten.  Construction duly began on TS1 or TASS Shiva in the new year of 2246 and it quickly became the focus for constructor after constructor under the able guidance of the flamboyant business leader Sir Freddie De Mac Ponghorn.  Seven months later Shiva, the destroyer of worlds, was born.

The reaction from the Torians had been immediate: warnings were issued by their Ambassador on earth and the warnings were unequivocal: ‘provide an explanation for this unclassified Starbase that has just sprung up off our worlds in the Lentzlandians system or face the consequences’.  Unfortunately, though the Torians knew that this was something ominous they did not know exactly what the Terror Star presaged because they were not familiar with the technology and so we dissembled.  Meanwhile our anti spy networks remained at maximum alert so that the secret would not get through.  Consequently, our relations with our enemy dropped from warm to cool-the plan was working. 

All the while, I organised, plotted, and directed the Training cycles for our burgeoning Battle Groups.  I missed my son but given that his Fleet was one of the closest to Earth, I made every effort to visit him aboard TASS Iron Duke whenever I could.  The reports that I was given by the Chester A Arthur Battlegroup Commander, General Pierre Song, were glowing in the extreme.  It seemed that none of the officers aboard any of the six ships in the group had ever seen an SGO quite like Starla-he was able to do things with fields of fires and firing solutions that would be beyond most men.  His prowess was such that in nearly all fleet battle simulations the Iron Duke was always assigned Vanguard duty-it’s role to punch a hole in the enemy formation then afford protective fire to the rest of the Fleet-it was a dangerous role and one that usually ended in heavy damage or destruction.  The crew of the Iron Duke veritably welcomed the task given the abilities of their command team of which the young Capt Starla Mormon was a vital part.

In the spring of 2247, we had our second Terror Star: TASS Seth, this one built in the Carinoids system and we were all extremely satisfied to note the apoplectic orange hue of the Ambassador as he railed at this new affront to Torian Sovereignty.  On that occasion, he had been reminded firmly to whom he spoke by Da Silva: affront or no affront there was a protocol to be followed when addressing a President of the Terran Alliance and Ambassador Hruar Thientra had best be mindful of it, Luis had snapped.  If the Torians could prove without a shadow of doubt that the intentions of our "research" Starbases were hostile then they should take the appropriate action-if not then they could take the matter and go bleat to the United Planets.  It was a bravura performance and had stopped the Torian in mid splutter.  He had bowed low and departed at which point we all burst into very undiplomatic gales of laughter no doubt piling more misery and shame on the proud Torian as he hurried away.

It had all seemed so close in spite of the minor distraction, at the beginning of the year, of a brief unavoidable fight to subjugate the Jessuins, who foolishly declined to give over their world Jessuins III (close to our Almada system in the far East corner ofg the galaxy) to our Hegemony. I  had remembered thinking, as I  despatched one of my ablest Generals to conduct the lightning war, how silly the minor race were being, given that the Iconians were hell bent on their destruction and we had been assisting the Jessuins with ships to resist them.  When the Iconians started sending heavy Capitol ships to the fray I knew it was time to act-we could do without an Iconian held world right in our secluded back yard.  Once we had ‘pacified’ our erstwhile ‘friends’, we sent a Governor who was not unfriendly to Jessuin culture and desires-we did have a heart.

The rest of the year was affected by financial worries as once again the galaxy suffered an interstellar recession: this one apparently caused by the extensive speculation by various markets on a widely discredited Iconian invention that was supposed to be the secret of eternal life-some throwback to the Precursor times apparently.  I had scoffed at the whole idea at the first GNN report, laughing with my ADC as we watched a few months prior to the recession but, as had been the case since time immemorial, the markets defied common sense and soon led us all into a severe and sharp depression.  Luckily the Finance Minister, a Japanese Doctor of Economics called Jen Su had been careful to keep our treasury at no less then 20Trillion Credits even with our vastly increased military spending-no small feat!  She was someone I could really get on with and often found myself at lunch with her in the Financial Districts of Tokyo discussing how my plans would impact on the treasury and how she could help: she was, in short, the exact reverse of her predecessor, that odious and officious Finn Johansson.

I had also been seeing more of my friend, Professor Sharpe-a man still vital and young as he was a good ten years my junior.  A genius to be ranked alongside the Einsteins and Da Vincis of the world, he was still a man dedicated to research and the provision of new wonders of innovation and technology.  In the fall of 2247 he had unveiled, upon Britanion I, a Galactic wonder that was nicknamed ‘the eyes of the universe’.  This was something that he had been working on with the Astrologers guild for some years and practically speaking allowed us an instant map of everything in every star system in the known galaxy. He had tried to explain to me the astro physics principles behind such a mind-boggling invention but I simply could not get my head around it.  I had simply been pleased to be in his company again-he was a true friend.

‘You know the technologists have just announced the formation of our first Industrial Sector’ he told me, eyes shining brightly behind his spectacles.

‘I heard: a whole planetary region dominated by highly efficient industrial machinery-quite a feat-aren’t they planning such a project for three regions here on Earth: the Middle East, Brazil, and Eastern Europe?’

‘They are they are my friend.  Can you imagine, Mike, the levels of automation required for such a thing?’

I could not but I reckoned that not only could the Professor envisage it but he probably had a hand in some of the inventions: he had just stunned me with the final blueprints for what he called ‘hyper-warp’ a propulsion system that could double the speed of our Ships!

It had all meant that we were in good spirits as we headed for a UP meet that should have resulted in the Torians declaring war on us and the phony posturing finally coming to an end.  I had briefed my staff to prepare for an urgent despatch announcing the start of hostilities.  All our fleets were in position and we had moved the TADF throughout the Alliance to Alert State Amber.

I had barely remembered the UP meeting itself: a resolution that we had sponsored that asked that the Torians, as the wealthiest nation, spread 2% of their income to the other Star Races for a period of three years.  It was a ridiculous resolution, of course, with virtually no chance of success and even though we held the most influence within the UP there was nothing we could do as each of the other races voted no.  It was a red herring anyway-we had come for rather more weighty matters. To that end, we had all been suitably pleased when, shortly after the Security Council recessed, we had received a missive from the Torian UP Ambassador for a private parley with the President aboard Space Force One.  Ambassador Haynes had been despatched to fetch the Torian with haste and if Syars Adienta was surprised to see a reception party waiting for him when he arrived he did not show it.  Taking a sip from his moisture dispenser, he commenced speaking-his blubbering speech captured perfectly and translated into English by our Universal Translators:

‘Mr President you are well met-greetings from the esteemed Greatness, Tlas Kzientha-‘

‘Let’s dispense with the pleasantries Ambassador’ the President interrupted ‘We know why you are really here’

If this uncharacteristic rudeness from Dr Amponsah ruffled the Ambassador, it did not show at all

‘Sir-if you will allow me-the Greatness wishes to pass on his felicitations and his hopes that our great races can work more productively in the future.  He furthermore wishes to assure you that the recent defection of our worlds, Marie II, Britanion I and Paulos I to Terran control, whilst regrettable, must be reluctantly accepted as it has been done through the will of the residents of those planets’

This last provoked barely concealed pandemonium-what was going on?  Surely, the Torians were not going to just accept the appropriation of three of their most productive worlds?

I could see the President was having difficulty controlling himself:

‘I see.  And what of the Research Starbases that we have built off Carinoids and Lentzlandians?  The last I heard Tlas Kzientha was most displeased at their construction not least because we have not divulged the true nature of them’

It was the nearest that we had come to admitting that they had been built for more sinister purposes: surely they would now take the bait?  The Torian’s beak curled into what approximated a smile

‘Mr President, The Greatness is assured that the Terran Alliance can only have good intent for their construction and wishes to pass on his hopes that our saintly and strong Star Races can work more productively in the future.’

And that was that.  As he left I slammed my fist on the table-what the hell was going on?  I could hardly contain myself-was all the work and the effort of the last few years to go to hell because of some outdated notion of chivalry that was harboured by the enemy?

When I recovered my poise, I realised that the President was speaking to me:

‘....options General?’

‘Sorry Sir-say again.’

The President, clearly irritated repeated himself: ‘What are our options General?  I presume that a first strike is out of the question?’

I was considering the beauty of Ilux II –its many oceans and verdant continents glittering from afar,

‘No Mr President-that would only make us the aggressor and bring all of the three other races in on the side of the Torians-we would be annihilated in short order.

‘What about paying off the other races as soon as the hostilities start-we have a strong treasury?’  This from Nancy Dechart.

I  shook my head,

‘We don’t know how much it would cost us or how quickly we could do it-we are hemmed in from all sides by allies who would instantly be our enemies-we might be defeated before we could effect such a plan even with the best diplomats of the IRM on the job.’

The President eyed me askance,

‘Please tell me that you have some sort of a contingency General?’ he said coolly

I drew a deep breath,

‘All I can offer is this: we have a Transport fleet in our central systems of Trenor, Freya, and Embor.  There are twelve Condor Transports in total: they can carry an invasion force of twelve thousand Marine Battalions-enough to menace several of the Torian’s prime assets. What I will suggest is that I send them along with a sizeable escort to the Torian main systems around Drengi.  If that doesn’t jolt them into action I  don’t know what will frankly.  That’s all have to offer ladies and gentlemen.’

The President smiled

‘Make it happen General’

Aug 22^nd 2248

Aboard the TASS Iron Duke

Southern end of DL4

In truth I should not have been aboard my son’s Battleship at that time but I recall that I had so little faith in my Transport ruse that I had taken the time to go inspect the six Ship Battlegroup nearest Earth defending Defence Line 4.  As it happened, of course, this was the same Fleet that my son was doing such sterling work in and so, for me, it was a welcome chance to get out of the baking sun in Tokyo and kill two birds with one stone.

Having inspected my son’s own ship first, as protocol dictated, I took my shuttle to the Fleet Flagship, the TASS Chester A Arthur where I was warmly greeted by the Group Commanding General, Pierre Song: a flinty Cameroonian who had spent most of his childhood being brought up on Kora and thus had appropriated some of the more warlike traits of his adoptive homeworld: how humans could live there quite escaped me but I liked the earthy General and though some of his pronouncements could raise eyebrows in most Officer’s Messes he was a very able Fleet Commander: my son was in good hands.

His Chief IT Specialist was describing the finer points of the Ship’s AI systems and how the central computer interfaced with the crew: I liked computers but was only what you might describe as an ‘end user’-I could not get too excited about them particularly after the near disaster that unfettered research into AI had caused just after I was born resulting in several Pan Terran edicts limiting the extent of research into the ‘thinking’ capabilities of computers.  They, thus, essentially remained highly efficient ‘dumb’ machines with none of the ability to take on a mind of their own or become sentient that had almost been our undoing.  Just the way I liked it frankly.

‘…….is driven by a twenty core processor that checks and aligns human decisions thousands of times each millisecond.  These are then-‘

I remember the next moments with all the clarity that the memory demanded: there was a commotion from across the Bridge-the direction of Comms from what I remembered of the layout.  Song had looked up in annoyance with an expression that seemed to harbour storm clouds to come.  The storm, when it burst, however, was not from General Song but from the Intercom:

‘Delta One Zero Alpha this is Zero-Emergency Action Message.  Authenticate Zero, Three, Nine, Four, Four, Zero.  This is not a drill-repeat this is not a drill’

We had all frozen for one moment only and then the Bridge was a frenzy of action: the lights immediately dimmed to red and started flashing intermittently-we were at Red Alert.  My mind was racing-that message had come from ‘Zero’ my own Headquarters-what was going on?  I headed for Comms where Song was preparing to accept the highly secure coded message-I looked around: expectant faces everywhere.

The SSO (Ship’s Signals Officer) appeared from the turbo lift-his face flushed and tense, and joined us by the Central Comms Station.  He started to read the code he’d just broken from his keys:

‘This is Delta One Zero Alpha Bravo I authenticate six, seven, four, one’

Song broke open his own sec-key and started to read from it:

‘This is Delta One Zero Alpha I concur: six, seven, four, one.’  As soon as he finished there was a pause and then the Ship’s computer chimed in:

‘Commander Chester A. Arthur Battlegroup this message is being repeated across all Fleets in the TADF.’

One part of me was amused that the system couldn’t account for the fact that I was on board-I had designed the protocol, after all.  I knew what was coming……

The Computer continued:

‘As at 1300 GMT TADF received the following message from the Headquarters of the Torian Confederation:

We’re a kind and peaceful civilisation.  However even we can’t help but notice that you appear to be about to invade our worlds. In the interests of peace we declare war

Message ends. To that end all Fleets not affected by the UP First Strike Resolution are to immediately move to their wartime dispositions-orders from Command will follow. Out.’

And that was it.  I breathed out slowly and surely: after so many years of trying we finally had our war-of one thing I had no doubt: it would be a war of annihilation and one that would determine the very survival of our race…………..

It's all going right off in the game General-am looking forward to posting it believe me-lots happening

AAHHAAA!!! LET LOOSE THE WATER MONKEYS OF WAR!!!.  

Excellent post mambaman..Looking forward to the developments.

Oct 8^th 2248

TADF Star Navy HQ, Kampala

I hurried towards the Situation Room trying to keep my pace as measured as was reasonable, my Staff hastening to keep up.  There was an EAM from The Chester A Arthur Battlegroup off one of the Torian Core worlds in the Unukalhai system.  It was a Class 4 Gas Giant ringed by five planets, one a PQ12, the others uninhabited and only a few parsecs from the extreme northern tip of DL4.  It was where I had sent my son….

The last few weeks had passed in a whirl of planning and action as my Fleet General’s, primed for this moment for so many years and given utmost initiative by me and my Headquarters launched themselves into the attack with a savagery and vigour that stunned the Torian High Command.  I had actually been caught on the TASS Chester A Arthur for seven days whilst the Battlegroup sped to it’s pre-assigned station easily outpacing my shuttlecraft.  It was no matter as I set up a temporary HQ on Song’s Bridge and directed operations from there.  If he was put out by this he did not show it-I wouldn’t have cared if he had-he had a Battlegroup to command-I had a war to run.

The beauty of the Torians declaring war on us was that they had to put in a formal declaration of war and then gather their fleets.  We did not have to play by the same rules as our enemy was the Aggressor and though UP Declaration 501 immediately required several of our Fleets and, indeed, our two Terror Stars, to move to the nearest neutral space, we still retained an aggressive order of battle with the foe singularly unprepared for what would now unfold.

Six of our Battlegroups were in position to attack within a week or one warp jump of the enemy: the commanders did not hesitate.  One week after the commencement of hostilities they attacked across a broad front destroying Torian forward Fleets and several starbases in joint Terran/Torian space.  The actions were minor skirmishes in the grand scheme of things though.  What we all wanted to know was how our Capitol ships would fare against superior numbers of theirs.  Would our more advanced armour and weaponry win out?

We soon had our answer: I had arrived back at HQ on the 1^st September when the James A Polk Battlegroup, commanded by one of our most promising young Brigadiers, swung into action deep in our newly acquired Britannion/Marie systems.  This was crucial space to hold as it bordered the twin Lentzlandians worlds that were vital to our push on the Torian Main planets to our immediate south west.  James A Polk’s captain, Brigadier General Countess Maida, a Korath, had been told in no uncertain terms that I expected her to be the most aggressive of my Commanders-I did not have to stress the point-her response was that of someone who had finally been granted their life’s desire and was going to make the absolute most of it. 

What happened over the course of the next few hours is still taught in Military Naval Academies to this day: an example of controlled aggression and utmost skill in the face of terrifying odds.  Our Intel had been tracking a large Torian Fleet in orbit off the desolate world of Britannion III.  Numbers were unclear but at least five Dreadnoughts and several Battleships were assessed to be in the enemy Orbat. Only several million Km away was another smaller grouping lurking off Britannion IV: the combined threat from these two groups needed to be neutralised straight away.

We had watched the unfolding battle in the Situation Room, rapt, as the 3D Holo-simulator replicated, in miniature, every manoeuvre. The five Mk5 Hawks and accompanying Condor Battlecruiser used the sun to mask their approach and arrowed in to the larger enemy group with all the ferocity of avenging angels.  That first action was really three in one as the Torian Fleet was split.  Maida kept her whole force together, banking on the surprise giving her the lead on the first Torian sub-fleet at least.  There were two massive dreadnoughts, one Battleship and two Frigates in that group.  The Terran ships concentrated their fire, at first, on the Dreadnoughts, whose meagre point defence systems were completely overwhelmed in short order by the waves of missiles that our ships sent arcing in their direction.  That first salvo crippled both Dreadnoughts and the enemy hadn’t even responded at this stage. As the second wave of missiles were loosed the Torian guns opened up, their Battleship and Frigates desperately blasting away as they manoeuvred to bring every one of their ‘Black Hole Guns’ to bear.  I had flinched involuntarily when their salvos impacted our ships and breathed out in relief when the monitors showed little to no damage-our ‘Zero Point’ Armour was doing its job. The Torians appeared to be targeting just one of our ships at a time, a classic if rather inflexible, tactic: the subject of their attentions at this stage was the TASS Zachary Taylor  which took some hits but remained largely undamaged.  I noted, with the pleasure of a teacher witnessing a favoured pupil graduate top of their class, the attack disposition that General Maida now took up-utterly limiting the enemies power to escape. Another exchange of missile and gunfire and the Torian ships started exploding-or should I say imploding-their mighty hulls crushed and sucked into the black hole event horizons that our missiles were generating all around them-it was an eerie and rather disturbing sight even on a holo projector so I could only guess what the battle looked like for real.

We had hardly time to pause for breath though since the Battlegroup was turning immediately as the remaining Torian ships moved in from their immediate west.  This time we didn’t have first strike and were in a more defensive posture.  There were two Dreadnoughts, one Battleship and two Frigates in this force and this time we did all flinch as the Zachary Taylor took some critical hits from the combined group. Maida was an aggressive  commander but also a highly intelligent one and her defensive reconfiguration put the Taylor in a shielded position to the rear of a ‘V’ formation. With missiles ship-aspect was not important as they would always find their target: guns were a different matter entirely. The reply was devastating, taking out both Frigates and leaving the Battleship dead in the water.  Conversely the Dreadnoughts were not able to bring the entirety of their own devastating firepower to bear because of the positioning that Maida had taken up and their captains were soon contemplating this disadvantage as another massive bank of missiles overwhelmed their defences and sent them to oblivion.

The cheering that erupted at this point was quickly silenced by the arrival, to our ships rear, of the final enemy sub-fleet. Their commander had been crafty and had used the previous engagement to hide his own movements. Unfortunately the ship that was now most vulnerable was precisely the one that had been moved there because she had taken some damage in the last fight-the Zachary Taylor.  The Torian Commander was as skilful as his opponent and moved aggressively for the kill even though he only commanded one Dreadnought, one Cruiser and an assortment of fighter and escort craft. It was a suicide mission no doubt but before the combined weight of the first missile salvo smashed into it, the Torian Dreadnought had dealt a crippling blow to the stricken Terran Craft. Even as the lifepods started streaming from the Taylor the James A. Polk moved into deal the death blow to its sister ship’s nemesis and both were consumed within seconds of each other.

And now the cheering did start-it had been a titanic battle but it had lasted no more than forty minutes.  Our ‘little’ fleet of five Battleships and a Battlecruiser had taken out a much larger Torian force of five Dreadnoughts, two Battleships, six Frigates, one Cruiser and a rag tag assortment of Escorts and Fighters. We had lost one of our prized ships in a battle that was a mismatch in favour of the enemy on paper.

I raised my voice above the hubbub addressing my Chief of Staff,

‘Colonel get me an immediate commlink to General Maida and get me some immediate casualty and damage reports!  I’ll take them in my office’

‘Aye sir.’

I headed for my private office, ADC in tow-I needed some privacy. Quite apart from everything I had just seen the vindication of years of planning and training. Our ships, weapons, tactics and commanders appeared to be vastly superior to theirs-it was first blood to the Terran Alliance……………

(Thanks Chancellor-Ed)

……….look after yourself General’

I had signed off.  Maida had managed to rescue some 70 odd souls from the Taylor and was now racing to her second objective, the smaller Torian Battlefleet off Britannion V-it would take her no more than a few hours to reach them.

I had grabbed myself a quick two hours sleep-I was extremely tired: a lot of my energy had been put into the planning of this war and I needed all the rest I could get.  I was awoken by Captain Hardeep Patel, my new ADC, an efficient and tidy Officer who was from New Mumbai.

‘Sir, General Maida reports that she is now in position to attack the Torian Fleet around Britannion V. She is waiting to hear from you sir.’

I rubbed my eyes and snapped myself out of my brief sleep-I had been dreaming about Mirathro.

‘Good good-can you get me an isotonic please Captain-I will be there in ten’

There was an expectant hush as I entered the situation room once more and took my station at the head of the Holo Projector.  I keyed the Intercom,

‘General Maida and all those in the James A Polk Battlegroup, this is Mormon.  You do not need me to repeat how everyone throughout the Alliance has taken the news of your heroic action. All there is for me to do is wish you providence and courage for your next engagement.’

The scratchy voice of the newest hero of the Terran Alliance Star Navy came through in response:

‘Your words are welcome Sir but there will be time enough for medals when this whole business is finished eh?  Maida out!’

I smiled wryly-typical of the Korath-she was not interested in platitudes and words-only action and glory.  Just my sort of Commander. 

The 3D Holo Projector clearly showed the dispositions of the opposing forces. The Torians were not about to be surprised a second time and their fleet, though split into a larger and smaller force for logistical reasons, was set up in a decidedly aggressive stance.  In typical Maida style she sent her Battlegroup zeroing in on the larger enemy formation consisting of three Battleships, two Frigates, two Escorts and two Fighters.  It was typically brave but I noted with alarm that it left her open to a counter by the much smaller Torian force of a Cruiser and its Escorts.  As the James A Polk led the charge discharging a hail of missiles there was no one guarding their rear and it was directly into this opening that the Cruiser was now heading.

Over the next half hour the battle swung back and forth.  I had sent an urgent flash message to guard their rear but trying to get electronic messages through to ships from Command when they were engaged in space combat was nigh on impossible: there was simply  too much electro magnetic and zero point energy around.  She would get the message but only when there was a lull in the fighting.

By which time it was too late: as the Polk and her sister ships were finishing off the much larger Torian sub-fleet the enemy Cruiser had taken up position and let loose several devastating broadsides at the rear right flank of Maida’s flagship.  The hits were critical, not least because they hit at the one of the weakest parts of the ship: Zero point armour was incredibly dense and so it was simply impossible to protect our ships everywhere-all ships had their weak spots and for ours it was to the rear and underneath. It was immediately apparent that Maida’s ship had suffered serious damage. Her flanking ship, the John Tyler, immediately swung about and sent a defensive missile spread towards the Torian Cruiser-it was enough to get the Torian ship to take evasive action but not before it launched one final broadside at the Polk.  The Tyler’s torpedoes struck true and decimated the enemy ship-its escorts had long been taken out by ranging missiles from the rest of the Battlegroup.

Silence….we could all see that the James A Polk had suffered catastrophic damage-indeed the holo projector was already simulating the launch of hundreds of its lifepods and the gathering round of the rest of the fleet to its stricken flagship.

I broke the silence

‘Get me a damage report Colonel Wilson and find out if General Maida still lives’ 

They were already calling it the 'Battle of Britannion'-it would be a grim setback indeed if its heroine had died prosecuting it to its glorious conclusion………….

Yup-a good point Chancellor-I will sort some out when I get home tomorrow-the Battle of Britannion must be pictorially represented

Oct 8^th 2248

TADFSN HQ, Kampala

And yet there remained that nagging doubt and it was growing as I headed for my Situation room.  The same one that had been clawing at me all through that Autumn as my fleets delivered one victory after another to the ever-lengthening bulletins on GNN Prime time. The one that I had remembered made me forego the triumphalism that many of my officers and those of the TADF seemed to be wearing like some newly acquired fashion accessory.

It was the doubt that, a few evenings previously, had even made the President ask me what was wrong as I rather woodenly went through the roll call of our victories thus far:

‘………right after the first battle of Britannion the Warren Harding Battlegroup went into action taking out two Dreadnoughts, a Battleship, a Frigate and two Escorts.  Sadly we lost the Warren Harding and its Commander, Brigadier Lahooso, in that action.’

‘Ok and mid September what happened to the Plymouth Battlegroup my friend?’

I looked up at the President warily but his eyes were kind and concerned-he knew that every loss affected me, even if I did a very good job of hiding it to my service personnel.  I shifted uneasily; it was a bad loss and one that made me minded to order the immediate decommissioning of our few remaining Battlecruiser Fleets. 

‘It was an old Fleet Mr President: five Battlecruisers.  They were jumped in our central systems by a relatively small enemy force. Our guys were poorly armed against state of the Art Torian Dreadnoughts and Battleships.’

‘I heard that they acquitted themselves well nonetheless’

‘They did Mr President-they took down one Battleship and two Escorts but they were undone by the Dreadnought that headed up that particular combat group.’

‘Losses?’

Too many to mention I had thought.  Each of those Condor Battlecruisers carried a crew of three hundred-there were eighteen hundred souls on the six ships in that fleet: barely four hundred had survived the engagement.

‘Three hundred and seventy eight Mr President-not good.’

We sat in silence for awhile as I contemplated how to break the next bit of bad news-the loss of all five Mark I Hawk Battleships in a fight with several Dreadnoughts orbiting the Torian worlds in the Lentzlandians system.  It was Dr Amponsah who broke the silence:

‘Mike I know about the R.B. Hayes Battlegroup-how could I not: I am the President after all-that’s gotta stand for something in the murky world of Military Intel eh?’ He smiled at me, as if to stress that he was making light of things and put a reassuring arm on my shoulder.  Moving gracefully, he sat down at his massive Oak desk and we listened for a while to the screeching of the Cicadas in the heavy autumnal Tokyo night air.  We were in our mid 60s now I reflected and, though human life expectancy was now measured well into the hundreds such that we were both classed as just on the cusp of middle age-he still retained the look and the manner of a young man, whilst I was feeling every one of my 65 odd years.

The President pressed on with his one-man mercy mission:

‘Listen General this is the way that you should be looking at things: we have fought twelve fleet actions and lost two so far. We have destroyed eight of the enemy starbases of all types and lost three of our own.  We still have one Terror Star headed towards one of their undefended systems, we have inflicted serious damage to their attack fleets in the south at a ratio of what, four to one-hell Jane’s Galactic  has recently listed us at a military rating of 138 Mil points to their 126-we’ve overtaken them!’ 

I couldn’t smile-that doubt still…

‘What’s wrong my old friend?  Are you not pleased with the efforts of your people-your sailors and your Generals?  We should be drawing up medal manifests, Mike, not moping about our losses, which are far less than we dared imagine.  What’s the name of that Korath General, “the hero of Britannion”?’

That brought me out in a wan smile at last since the President and I had recently shared a joke about the insistence, by Brigadier General Maida, on having her full Korath honorific announced when she was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) after surviving her battles in the Britannion system.  Her fleet (now renamed the John Tyler Battlegroup) was headed for extensive refitting on Marie II, where they were soon to be joined by three brand new Mark V Hawk Battleships to bring them back to full strength.  She had been given the singular honour of renaming her new Flagship and had chosen to call it the TASS M’rak Ho after one of their scions of her noble house on Kora.

‘It just seems too easy Mr President-why are they being so supine-I have spoken to my oppo General Pzientho Hias-herself a Torian and she is as baffled as I am.  Where is their massed fleet and why are they being so reluctant to take any sort of initiative?’

The President was feeling my frustration and tried to offer some solutions:

‘Maybe they are sticking to their homeworlds General-who knows? Maybe they just lack leadership-not something that afflicts us eh?’

I had smiled wanly at this latest and then made my excuses-it was going to be a long Transcar ride back to Kampala-my paranoid thoughts rattling around in my head…………

‘Situation Report!’ I had demanded on entering the nerve centre of Stellar Naval Ops-my determined mien was hiding the lingering sense of unease-almost fear that sat deep in the pit of my stomach.

My Chief of Staff, Colonel Wilson, came forward, saluting smartly, to describe what the holo-board was displaying:

‘Sir, as you know the Chester A Arthur Battlegroup was ordered by you to screen the Torian Class 12 planet of Unukalhai IV here and ensure no resistance to the Transport fleet headed there from our central systems here.’

‘Indeed-at ease Colonel-I take it that this report concerns the unknown Torian Fleet that is stationed some few parsecs to the immediate south of that system?’

‘Uh yes sir-General Song is on the line now-he can-er fill you in…’

‘Patch him through’ I knew what was coming.

The scratchy voice of Song came through, stretched as the signal was, over the many millions of parsecs that it had travelled,

‘Sir we are currently tracking a massive Torian force-possibly its main Battlefleet-they are at extreme sensor range so we don’t think they’ve seen us.’

‘Roger-what is their strength General?’  The obvious question. I could feel that everyone in the Situation Room was straining to hear what was being reported.

‘Sir-ah. Sir we have 10 fleets-‘

A collective indrawn breath

‘…of 4 Dreadnoughts, 11 Battleships, 20 Cruiser/Frigates and numerous Escorts of various types.  We assess at 15 Heavy Capitol ships, 20 medium Capitol Ships and the same again in Escorts and Space Interdiction Fighters-Fleet totals about 60 craft.  Sir shall we engage? My men and women are ready.’

I did not hesitate:

‘You will not engage General-I repeat do not engage. That is a direct order-you will hold position and shadow until I can vector in some support.’

‘Say again Sir-hold position and shadow?’  I could hear the disappointment in Song’s voice.

‘That’s correct General-going in now would be a suicide mission against a force that large: I have no doubt that you could cause significant casualties but you would be destroyed in the end by their sheer weight of numbers-we cannot afford your whole Fleet-I need more even odds. I am going to vector in the Hampshire Battlegroup under Colonel Dagba-it’s a weaker force of five Mark 1s and 2s but it can only help: they are about a week away-two at most -you will command the combined force. Mormon out’

And that was it. I surveyed the service personnel under my immediate command and saw something in their faces that I didn’t like: too many eyes looking quickly away-was that embarrassment on their faces?  And then it hit me: they had just witnessed their gung-ho Commander give a very uncharacteristic order and one that protected, for a week at least, the fleet that carried his son…

In short they believed that General 'Stormin' Mormon had gone soft…….

Days merged into one another as the war raged on but rather than recount in my own words what happened to my son’s fleet I will let him bring alive his experiences and quote from his own personal e-log.  It is quite illuminating:

Personal E-Log of Captain Starla Mormon, SGO TASS Iron Duke

Sector 12-11 October 21^st 2248

All is readiness aboard.  Apparently Ed (SSO) has gotten into trouble with the old man for using the wrong Batco in yesterday’s drills-silly boy!  Apparently it was down to the rawness of one of his Subalterns but (and I don’t mean to be smug) you’d never one of get my team making such a schoolboy error .

Anyway it looks like, despite my Dad’s best efforts, we will be going into action after all.  Tactically I guess that his order to General Song not to engage the Torian force near Unukalhai was sound given its size (though we are all raring to go), however it seems that the enemy is not massing that fleet but using the location as some sort of staging post.  The 10 fleets that were massed there have all split-we are tracking two westward, one has gone east, two south and five remain in place.  We all reckon the General intends to strike at these two we are following as adjusted our course last week to an intercept vector.

The old man has told us that, as per our Orbat in all our exercises, we will be in the vanguard of the attack-he also made it quite clear to me that me and my guys were absolutely vital to the success or failure of the action: fail to get our missile spreads right and the whole fleet would suffer the consequences. No pressure then….

Sector 12-12 October 22^nd 2248

Well this is it! We are a couple of hours away (at most) from the enemy fleet. It’s medium sized: 13 ships of 1 Dreadnought, 2 Battleships, 5 Frigates and 5 Escorts/fighters.

Bring em on I say!  Let’s see how good our Locksteed XVs are-I am dead keen to see their effect on real ships-real metal and not the simulations that we have been practising on.

All 12 Batteries report their missile codes are enabled-we’re good to go.  All that remains is for me to give the nod to my Dadu gone and my father remaining and visualise those firing solutions.  This is it diary-I am off to the Bridge to join the old man.

We’re going into action-either this will be the last thing I write or we will have victory.

Sector 13-14 October 23^rd 2248

What can I write?  I am utterly exhausted but I need to try and capture some of my thoughts before I snatch a couple of hours of sleep.

The fact that I am writing this means that we prevailed.  We lost 2 of our boats though: the TASS Grover Cleveland and the TASS Willard Pryce.  It had tempered any thought of celebration or triumphalism-we many of us had people we knew on both those ships.  I managed to grab the Doc a few hours ago and he told me that we have managed to rescue some 500 souls from the 2 ships-about an eighth of their compliment-losing so many has been a sobering and chastening experience.

Sick bay Deck was a nightmare-it was packed as we were already taking on board some of the survivors so I beat a hasty retreat.

My boys and girls did well-we suffered no damage at all in the attack and more importantly very few casualties-our armour held well throughout the action.  If I was to pick out any in our team for commendation  then Lieutenants Sharpe and Johansson were the brightest-they always seem to have the ordnance in their Troops ready a couple of seconds before any of the others-ones to watch: I have alerted my 2IC, WO2 Bragga, to that effect.

I should just say that Colonel Tranter has personally commended me for plotting some devastating firing solutions that enabled us to neutralise their most powerful ships, the Dreadnought and the Battleships, in the opening stages of the battle.  I have to say, however,  that I cant feel good about it. Yes the solutions were highly effective but I wish I could have done more-maybe if I had taken my own initiative we wouldn’t have lost the Cleveland and the Pryce.  The problem was I was on weapons hold as we changed our formation-not my concern Bragga tells me-we take our orders and get on with it.

And yet….

Sector 13-15 October 23^rd 2248

No rest for the wicked it seems that, after a mild ticking off from my Dad, Song has been ordered to ‘Shepard’ another Torian force-only 10 ships this time-weaker consisting ‘only’ of 3 Frigates, 1 Battleship and several escorts.  We should knock them over with no trouble, which is just as well-weakened as we are.

I have had only 2 hours sleep but I feel quite alert really.  Tempers are fraying a bit elsewhere though-there was a fight in one of the Galleys earlier-one of our Sailors who had lost a twin on the Cleveland I am told.

Intel reports 2 more Battlegroups several parsecs to our west and north, the Respite BG and the Hampshire BG moving to pincer a medium sized enemy fleet of battleships, frigates and  at least one Dreadnought.  Radio chatter indicates that they are confident but I have to say I am not quite so sanguine: the Respite BG consists of ageing Mark 2 Hawks whilst the Hampshire has newer Mark 4s.  Neither is equipped with either our Zero Point Armour or armed with the Locksteed XV Null Point Generator Missiles we have-in short I think they are dangerously obsolete-the Respite BG for sure.

We shall see….

Sector 13-17 November 1^st 2248

Bad news-another defeat.  The Respite BG went down against that Torian Fleet-initial reports suggest that their armour was no match for the Black Hole guns that the Torians brought to bear against them.  They did, however, manage to take down 5 Frigates and a Battleship leaving the Hampshire BG to clean up the 2 surviving Dreadnoughts.  It’s still a bad loss-a war of attrition against these Greenskins we cannot win.

Sector 13-17 November 8^th 2248

My Dad’s 65^th-I sent a flash e-card via sitcom yesterday-I hope it gets to him.  It’s a little strange, to say the least, only getting comms via his orders to the Fleet: our latest is to destroy the enemy force that we have been shadowing and aggressively patrol the space at the bottom edge of DL4.

We ripped into that force some 3 hours ago-I have just got back from the Colonel’s debrief.  They didn’t stand a chance and we suffered virtually no damage or casualties: for us only 8 minor injuries from sailors being thrown around on impact-mainly in engineering.  So far we have had 5 fatalities and 18 injuries-8 serious.  The Doc was more busy with survivors from other ships, frankly-I shouldn’t complain.

More sleep needed-I have put the Batteries on skeleton shift-we have deserved it the Colonel tells me.  Apparently Dad is sending 2 new ships to join us and bring us back to strength-we are confident, we are strong-bring em on!

I'm still reading, and still enthralled.

KUTGW, Mambaman. Show those Greenskins who's boss!

BTW, if you're interested, could you please  make a story about your version of the Xendar wars, when you're finsihed with this one?

I'm following this, too, though in the last weeks I've been quite busy enjoyng the end of holidays and I haven't visited the AARs page too frequently... I'm still catching up with all the updates. I've just finished reading your latest posts, which are excellent as usual... don't be discouraged by the lack of feedback, and keep this on! 

That's great, though I would prefer to read the story's events as they happened. Don't get me wrong, your use of newspaper articles and the like (in your Altarian story) was original and awesome, but I don't think it would fit the Xendar story.

But then again, what the heck do I know?

I hope you make a come back..dont leave us hanging.