G.Y. 25 – 28 (T.Y. 2250-2253)
In the earlier part of this period, in order to counter increasing Altairian influence in the South Eastern & Eastern Colonization Zones, the Alliance embarked on an ambitious project to build a chain of 5 massive Influence Starbases…floating structures in space that contained entire cities, cultural centers and diplomatic enclaves. Although a very expensive endeavor, once constructed, these starbases did what they had been designed to do – significantly curbing the aggressive Altairian cultural invasion.
The first shots of what would turn out to become a full galactic war started with a horrific tragedy. One of SolCorps giant Space Freighters, while on final approach to Docking Bay 4 of the massive Alpha-1 Economic Starbase in the heart of Alliance space suddenly and inexplicably exploded, causing massive damage to the station and damaging nearby ships. The holo-feeds of the Galactic News Agency, showing the terrible carnage caused by the blast – mutilated bodies lying scattered around in the docking bay, damaged ships with damaged hulls drifting rudderless in space and the massive inferno in the base itself being fought by hundreds of firefighters and automated Fire-Bots shocked people across the Alliance and for the first time reminded them that they were living in a very violent universe.
Alliance Command, though stunned, assumed that the entire thing was an accident, until a detailed examination of the ships communication logs with SolCorp headquarters revealed that just a few weeks ago, on its last trip to Snathi II, the ships captain had reported a possible break-in while landed on the planets surface. Nothing had been stolen and a cursory examination of the ship had not indicated that anything was amiss or there had been sabotage of some kind…and so SolCorp did not pursue the matter very closely. But to the TBI (Terran Bureau of Investigation) analysts, this entry showed that the incident might not be the accident it seemed.
A few months later Allied diplomats on Altaria alerted President Bradley that their new allies, the Altairians had declared war on the Dark Yor. It seemed that they had destroyed a Dark Yor Freighter that had been heading towards one of their major Mining Starbases, ignoring all hails. Altairian agents had allegedly uncovered a Dark Yor plot to use disguised freighters to strike specific targets in Altairian and Torian space. They suspected a Yor hand behind these events, but this was not confirmed.
The T.A.S. Terra, a Nova class Missile Cruiser, commanded by Captain Luke Hastings was already in the Dark Yor system, since Alliance Command had decided to keep an eye on this volatile system, where the Altairians and Arceans also occupied planets. The Alliance had also targeted this system for colonization, but they had been beaten by the faster ships of the other races. Nevertheless, Starfleet had decided to keep an eye on the system…just in case.
As a result, Alliance Command, through live holo-feeds transmitted by hyper wave from the T.A.S. Terra, could witness the entire battle as if they were there in the system themselves. President Alan Bradley, Commander Hartford and other senior military commanders and analysts watched as the 2 Altairian Republic Battle Fleets converged from different directions on Dark Yor II. Bright blue Phasor beams lit space as they destroyed the couple of Dark Yor Fighters protecting the planets. The green laser beams fired in return bounced harmlessly off the powerful Barrier energy shields of the Republic ships. Then the massive Altairian Battle Transports moved in, releasing hundreds of shuttles that sped to the green world below, while the warships split up to seek and destroy all fleeing Dark Yor transports (which they believed were all armed with specially rigged explosives).
Immediately after, Sensor Operators on the Omega 1 Battle Station in the Southern Colonization Zone reported a small fleet of Altairian Fighters and Battle Transports heading towards Snathi II – the home world of the Snathi. Right about this time Alliance agents inserted into Snathi society after the Alpha-1 incident reported having unearthed a horrific conspiracy by the Snathi, before they went incommunicado (most of them were discovered, tortured and killed). It seemed that the plot unearthed by the Altairians was more widespread than imagined - both the Snathi and Dark Yor had prepared a plan to crash nuke-armed freighters into the Economic Starbases of a few of the major galactic powers, thereby sparking off confusion and, in the worst case full scale war (many said that the Yor were said to have been the masterminds of this plot, and also pointed at the free handing over of a Yor Heavy Fighter to the nascent Snathi Navy, as well as the Collective having flourishing trade routes with both, as additional proof). It was also reported that the Alpha-1 attack had been a test run and the lack of suspicion by Alliance authorities had emboldened them to begin their scheme.
Alan Bradley had no choice but to declare war on the Snathi. This led to the rather hastily planned Alliance Operation Dartfish, with the nearest Alliance Combat Squadron, the Rangers being diverted towards Snathi II, where the Terran ships, led by Commander Alex Gordon, in an intense, but one-sided battle destroyed 8 Snathi Freighters, which were on the verge of heading out towards their respective targets. Luckily the Alliance had recently embarked on an ambitious modernization drive, which had led to all existing Stormrider transports being upgraded to the much faster Warcraft version, whose Novaris Warp Drive IIs could propel it at speeds of LH 7. This enabled the Alliance transports to reach Snathi II first, before the Altairians and launch a successful invasion.
Alliance Invasion Fleet heading towards Snathi II, as Ranger Squadron takes out the enemy freighters and keeps the Altairians at bay.
Although the Alliance had managed to prevent a major disaster and had greatly increased their military reputation, more than 10 million Terran soldiers died in the invasion (though this was nothing against the more than 150 million Snathi troops that had perished). But it seemed that the threat of war had been dealt with successfully and peace would return to the galaxy once again.
Then suddenly an event occurred that immediately changed the balance of power in the quadrant. For some inexplicable reason…perhaps provoked by several border incidents, or to take revenge for their centuries of enslavement in time past and emboldened by the recent discovery of a couple of powerful Precursor Frigates, the Alliance’s Torian allies declared war on the Drengin and the Altairians followed suit immediately after to aid their allies. This news was immediately conveyed by Chief Diplomat Aurius Victus, based on Toria, in a famous ultrawave message, along with a reminder that the Confederation were asking the Alliance to aid them in this war.
This put the Alliance President Alan Bradley in a prickly situation. Although not particularly fond of the Drengin, the Alliance was still not ready for full-scale war. Almost half their relatively small navy still consisted of the Longbow class Heavy Fighters and the 40 Nova Cruisers that formed the combat core were too few and outclassed by the heavier and more powerful Drengin counterparts. Moreover, interstellar war was a very costly enterprise leading to the loss of billions of lives…something that Alan Bradley did not want to undertake, unless it was absolutely imperative. Instead he settled for cutting off trade routes with the Drengin and imposing trade sanctions.
In addition, other than the 10 Combat Squadrons (almost 60 ships) patrolling the Yor, Altairian, Torian and Arcean borders, 3 Combat Squadrons were immediately re-assigned to make all haste to the Southern Colonization Zone…just in case. All available Troop Transports were also similarly re-directed and all Sector Commands were notified to send their newly commissioned ships to the new checkpoints.
However, as the weeks passed, news from the frontier kept getting more alarming. The Torian Navy, despite its huge size was being decimated by the much smaller but technologically far superior Drengin Imperial Fleet. The bulk of the Torian Navy were mostly Fighter and Heavy Fighter class ships, along with a handful of larger medium hulls, all armed with relatively outdated beam weapons and with virtually no defence against the Drengin Escorts, Battle Frigates, War Cruisers and Battleships, equipped with powerful missile weapons and advanced Force shields. In a few weeks the Torians had lost more than 140 ships (half of their standing navy), while the Drengin had lost only 6 ships (although several other Drengin ships were damaged). The Drengin had also successfully invaded 6 Torian planets, leading to the loss of life of 100 million Torian troops and more than 3 billion civilians. The Altairians, though eagerly joining the conflict did little except for a few border skirmishes, in which 3 Republic ships were destroyed for the loss of 2 Drengin ships. Things looked bleak indeed for the Torian Confederation…
The first shots of what would turn out to become a full galactic war started with a horrific tragedy. One of SolCorps giant Space Freighters, while on final approach to Docking Bay 4 of the massive Alpha-1 Economic Starbase in the heart of Alliance space suddenly and inexplicably exploded, causing massive damage to the station and damaging nearby ships. The holo-feeds of the Galactic News Agency, showing the terrible carnage caused by the blast – mutilated bodies lying scattered around in the docking bay, damaged ships with damaged hulls drifting rudderless in space and the massive inferno in the base itself being fought by hundreds of firefighters and automated Fire-Bots shocked people across the Alliance and for the first time reminded them that they were living in a very violent universe.
Alliance Command, though stunned, assumed that the entire thing was an accident, until a detailed examination of the ships communication logs with SolCorp headquarters revealed that just a few weeks ago, on its last trip to Snathi II, the ships captain had reported a possible break-in while landed on the planets surface. Nothing had been stolen and a cursory examination of the ship had not indicated that anything was amiss or there had been sabotage of some kind…and so SolCorp did not pursue the matter very closely. But to the TBI (Terran Bureau of Investigation) analysts, this entry showed that the incident might not be the accident it seemed.
A few months later Allied diplomats on Altaria alerted President Bradley that their new allies, the Altairians had declared war on the Dark Yor. It seemed that they had destroyed a Dark Yor Freighter that had been heading towards one of their major Mining Starbases, ignoring all hails. Altairian agents had allegedly uncovered a Dark Yor plot to use disguised freighters to strike specific targets in Altairian and Torian space. They suspected a Yor hand behind these events, but this was not confirmed.
The T.A.S. Terra, a Nova class Missile Cruiser, commanded by Captain Luke Hastings was already in the Dark Yor system, since Alliance Command had decided to keep an eye on this volatile system, where the Altairians and Arceans also occupied planets. The Alliance had also targeted this system for colonization, but they had been beaten by the faster ships of the other races. Nevertheless, Starfleet had decided to keep an eye on the system…just in case.
As a result, Alliance Command, through live holo-feeds transmitted by hyper wave from the T.A.S. Terra, could witness the entire battle as if they were there in the system themselves. President Alan Bradley, Commander Hartford and other senior military commanders and analysts watched as the 2 Altairian Republic Battle Fleets converged from different directions on Dark Yor II. Bright blue Phasor beams lit space as they destroyed the couple of Dark Yor Fighters protecting the planets. The green laser beams fired in return bounced harmlessly off the powerful Barrier energy shields of the Republic ships. Then the massive Altairian Battle Transports moved in, releasing hundreds of shuttles that sped to the green world below, while the warships split up to seek and destroy all fleeing Dark Yor transports (which they believed were all armed with specially rigged explosives).
Immediately after, Sensor Operators on the Omega 1 Battle Station in the Southern Colonization Zone reported a small fleet of Altairian Fighters and Battle Transports heading towards Snathi II – the home world of the Snathi. Right about this time Alliance agents inserted into Snathi society after the Alpha-1 incident reported having unearthed a horrific conspiracy by the Snathi, before they went incommunicado (most of them were discovered, tortured and killed). It seemed that the plot unearthed by the Altairians was more widespread than imagined - both the Snathi and Dark Yor had prepared a plan to crash nuke-armed freighters into the Economic Starbases of a few of the major galactic powers, thereby sparking off confusion and, in the worst case full scale war (many said that the Yor were said to have been the masterminds of this plot, and also pointed at the free handing over of a Yor Heavy Fighter to the nascent Snathi Navy, as well as the Collective having flourishing trade routes with both, as additional proof). It was also reported that the Alpha-1 attack had been a test run and the lack of suspicion by Alliance authorities had emboldened them to begin their scheme.
Alan Bradley had no choice but to declare war on the Snathi. This led to the rather hastily planned Alliance Operation Dartfish, with the nearest Alliance Combat Squadron, the Rangers being diverted towards Snathi II, where the Terran ships, led by Commander Alex Gordon, in an intense, but one-sided battle destroyed 8 Snathi Freighters, which were on the verge of heading out towards their respective targets. Luckily the Alliance had recently embarked on an ambitious modernization drive, which had led to all existing Stormrider transports being upgraded to the much faster Warcraft version, whose Novaris Warp Drive IIs could propel it at speeds of LH 7. This enabled the Alliance transports to reach Snathi II first, before the Altairians and launch a successful invasion.
Alliance Invasion Fleet heading towards Snathi II, as Ranger Squadron takes out the enemy freighters and keeps the Altairians at bay.
Although the Alliance had managed to prevent a major disaster and had greatly increased their military reputation, more than 10 million Terran soldiers died in the invasion (though this was nothing against the more than 150 million Snathi troops that had perished). But it seemed that the threat of war had been dealt with successfully and peace would return to the galaxy once again.
Then suddenly an event occurred that immediately changed the balance of power in the quadrant. For some inexplicable reason…perhaps provoked by several border incidents, or to take revenge for their centuries of enslavement in time past and emboldened by the recent discovery of a couple of powerful Precursor Frigates, the Alliance’s Torian allies declared war on the Drengin and the Altairians followed suit immediately after to aid their allies. This news was immediately conveyed by Chief Diplomat Aurius Victus, based on Toria, in a famous ultrawave message, along with a reminder that the Confederation were asking the Alliance to aid them in this war.
This put the Alliance President Alan Bradley in a prickly situation. Although not particularly fond of the Drengin, the Alliance was still not ready for full-scale war. Almost half their relatively small navy still consisted of the Longbow class Heavy Fighters and the 40 Nova Cruisers that formed the combat core were too few and outclassed by the heavier and more powerful Drengin counterparts. Moreover, interstellar war was a very costly enterprise leading to the loss of billions of lives…something that Alan Bradley did not want to undertake, unless it was absolutely imperative. Instead he settled for cutting off trade routes with the Drengin and imposing trade sanctions.
In addition, other than the 10 Combat Squadrons (almost 60 ships) patrolling the Yor, Altairian, Torian and Arcean borders, 3 Combat Squadrons were immediately re-assigned to make all haste to the Southern Colonization Zone…just in case. All available Troop Transports were also similarly re-directed and all Sector Commands were notified to send their newly commissioned ships to the new checkpoints.
However, as the weeks passed, news from the frontier kept getting more alarming. The Torian Navy, despite its huge size was being decimated by the much smaller but technologically far superior Drengin Imperial Fleet. The bulk of the Torian Navy were mostly Fighter and Heavy Fighter class ships, along with a handful of larger medium hulls, all armed with relatively outdated beam weapons and with virtually no defence against the Drengin Escorts, Battle Frigates, War Cruisers and Battleships, equipped with powerful missile weapons and advanced Force shields. In a few weeks the Torians had lost more than 140 ships (half of their standing navy), while the Drengin had lost only 6 ships (although several other Drengin ships were damaged). The Drengin had also successfully invaded 6 Torian planets, leading to the loss of life of 100 million Torian troops and more than 3 billion civilians. The Altairians, though eagerly joining the conflict did little except for a few border skirmishes, in which 3 Republic ships were destroyed for the loss of 2 Drengin ships. Things looked bleak indeed for the Torian Confederation…
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