Spaced Out

December 14, 1815 hrs Earth Standard Time, Alliance Light Carrier Constitution, In Jump Transit between the United Star Alliance Constitution star system to Lakota star system, Personal Log of Vice Admiral Franklin

It’s been just under three days since we jumped from Constitution to Lakota. We arrive at Lakota in two days and 7 hours. This is my first Task Force command and I wish it were under better circumstances. My command is an impressive peace time force, but we’re not at peace any more.

Admiral Straker’s last words to me were, “Michael, you’ve got everything but the kitchen sink, kick those bastards out of our space.” Fortunately the 9th fleet was in system enjoying shore leave when the attacks occurred; allowing us to send all the sector naval assets to Lakota. Well, not all, three destroyers are going to Kaliban to rescue the crew of a customs station and mine the jump point into Republic space.

We know we’re out numbered, hopefully our training and better equipment will make the difference. Our Destroyer’s are all state of the art; designed after the end of the Civil War none of the hulls are over 10 years old.

I wish I could say the same for our Light Cruisers, all of them saw service in the Civil War. The newest hull is 46 years old, the oldest over 50 years old, when they were built at the height of the civil war they had a life expectancy of about 10 years. How much maneuver stress can those old hulls take? I remember the defense appropriation committee hearings 5 years ago when the military was told we had no need for updated Light Cruisers, the new Destroyers could handle their duties – part of the ‘continuing peace dividend’ and ‘a matter of priorities’ they called it. I wonder how those politicians would feel about ‘priorities’ if they were going into battle in one of those antiques?

Our Heavy Cruisers were all built in the first decade after the end of the Civil War. Externally then look like the Cruisers that fought in the war, but their modular design means they contain the latest technological advances. They may be 30 years old, but the hulls were built to last at least 100 years. I only wish I had more of them, a lot more of them.

The Battle Cruisers are solid but too few in number for the forces we know are, or at least were, in Lakota. We could be passing them right now in Jump space and we’d never know it.

The Constitution, my flag ship, (that has a ring to it) is an updated version of the carriers we used in the Civil War. She’s technically a Light Carrier, but she sounds and just came out of an overhaul 4 years ago. She’s by far the best ship in the sector. I just hope I don’t let the crew down.

What will we find when we arrive at Lakota? Will the Republic forces still be there? Have they nuked the two populated planets there? There are roughly 3.2 billion Alliance citizens in Lakota, what’s happened to them?

And why the hell did they have to attack now, I was going to retire in 13 months. I swear the universe is out to get me.

I pray we don’t find another Grendal when we get there.

End personal log entry.

Franklin shivered as he thought about Grendal. Grendal had one habitable world and is located on the PSSR border with the Alliance and has a direct jump route to the Lakota system. During the last year of the Civil War Grendal was attacked by PSSR forces and mounted a surprisingly strong defense. In the end determined that if they couldn’t have it, no one could, the PSSR resorted to an orbital bombardment that lasted for 2 weeks. Grendal was devastated, to the point that now almost 50 years later the planet was still quarantined. The Southern continent was rendered lifeless and lethal radiation levels still exist there today. The Northern continent was spared somewhat, and some pathetic struggling life remained. Alliance Intelligence over the last 15 years indicates that the remaining life on the Northern continent has been grotesquely mutated by the radiation levels. Additionally, all indications are that the PSSR forces have been conducting ‘genetic modification’ on the hideously mutated creatures in their quest to ‘build’ the perfect killing machine – the ultimate ground combat soldier.

“Lord I hope the intelligence geeks are wrong about what’s going on at Grendal,” prayed Franklin, “and if those bastards did the same thing at Lakota…”

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Below is a draft of the Sector Map that covers this sector of my universe.

O.K., I think I've tortured all of you enough with this diversion.  This introduces all of the main characters (poorly, but at least they've been introduced) for my post-Historicon Space project.

For the Alliance Destroyers I'll be using the BattleStar 'Brenik' ships from Iron Wind Metals.  With their massive engines they just look like a fast, maneuverable ship.  The poor 'Sheridan Class
Destroyer' below has had at least 3 different paint schemes on her engines, but I think this is the finall scheme I'll go with.  (please excuse the i-phone quality photo)

The Light Cruisers will most likely be Battletech 'McKenna' ships from Iron Wind Metals. They have the basic 'cigar' shape, that looks like it would be cheap to produce which would have been critical during a war lasting almost 100 years.

The Heavy Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, Battle Ships, and Dreadnought's I haven't settled on yet.  The Light Carrier will be the 'not Battle Star' from Studio Bergstrom, and the Heavy Carrier will be the Battle Star from Iron Wind Metals.

Then again, I may see something else shinny and forget all about this for another year.

So much lead, so little time