Darkstar Returns

Last Saturday, myself, Damon, and Jennifer had a game of Darkstar.  No big story arc, no campaign background.  Just a fun smash-em-up with some of our favorite ships.   Now, since so many of our “favorite ships” have been upgraded to the point of madness, this means that even a game with a relatively small ship count will be very heavy in points, as upgrades to your ships and command crew naturally increase the point cost of your vessel.

So this was a big one, a 772-point Darkstar game that would up taking about 5.5 hours once we got going.

Damon and Jenn (@gladesrunner) teamed up as the British.  I took a force of my favorite Russians and Americans, with one huge Russian battlecruiser to balance the points.

BRITISH FORCE:

TASK FORCE “A” (Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish)

Trafalgar-class heavy cruiser HMS Agamemnon

Relentless-class light cruiser HMS Retribution

Falklands-class destroyer HMS Sheffield (ISLE upgrade)

TASK FORCE “K” (Commodore Rhea Aubrey)

Iron Duke-class heavy cruiser HMS Kraken

Inflexible-class light cruiser HMS Inflictor

RUSSO-AMERICAN FORCE:

Kirov-class battlecruiser CPK Potemkin

Kutuzov-class light cruiser CPK Admiral Lazarev

San Antonio-class light cruiser USS Northampton

Valcour-class destroyer USS Oriskany (FRAM-I upgrade)

RAID Victory Conditions

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
17:10 SOL GMT, 13 JUNE 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: BATTLE OF MISHA’S WINDFALL (72 Hercules-A, 119 Delta)

The climactic campaign of the Third Hercules War continues, with a joint British, Arab League, and Japanese invasion of the Holy Russian Empire “Krasnaya Nadhezda” (Red Hope) colonies in the 72 Hercules system.  The Russians are the last major power holding out against the “Renkei Alliance” between the British, Arab League, and Japanese, and 72 Hercules is their last major stronghold here along the Hercules Rim.  Finally, after months of preparation, buildup, and coordination, often disrupted by Russian spoiling attacks, counter-invasions, and political maneuver, the Renkei invasion of 72 Hercules is underway.

The 72 Hercules system is a trinary system, with a yellow main sequence star (72 Hercules A), an orange dwarf and a red dwarf (72 Hercules B and C) orbiting around a common gravimetric barycenter.  Although defense and industrial installations exist in 72 Hercules B and C, the main center of the Krasnaya Nadhezda colonies are rooted in 72 Hercules A.

Just over 24 hours ago, the British spearheaded the initial thrust of this invasion, with the Agamemnon cruiser-carrier fleet cracking Russian defenses along the outermost orbital belts of 72 Hercules A.  The assault was a bloody one, with heavy damage inflicted on the Agamemnon squadron, while the defending Russian Admiral Lazarev cruiser task force was effectively destroyed.  What remained of Russian defenses here was the massive “Goryzhont Stanstsiya” (Horizon Station), a naval support and defense facility the British hoped to use as a beachhead for expanded deployments deeper into the inner orbital zones of the 72 Hercules system.

But the British never subdued or took Horizon Station, only destroying its protective cruiser task force and than “laying siege” to the installation.  The British outgun Horizon Station, and the installation’s eventual fall is assured … assuming no reinforcements reach the station.

The only problem is, reinforcements are now on the way – and the Russians are not kidding around, either.  With an enemy foothold now in their primary Hercules colony, their allies long gone, the Duma screaming for an end to this war, and even the Holy Patriarch of Muscovy petitioning the Czar to end hostilities … their time has run out.  The Holy Russian Navy has one last chance to redress the situation, and the time is now.

Fortunately for the Russians, they believe they finally have the tools to mount an effective frontal counterstrike.  Escorted by the veteran heavy cruiser Tatiana Mikhailevna and strike carrier Novorossysk, the Russian task force is built around the Kirov­-class battlecruiser CPK Potemkin.  With upgraded Darkstar drives, this “light” battleship has covered the distance from the larger Russian colony group at Psi Serpentis C – a high-speed voyage from the Psi Serpentis Strategic Command Sector of about 45 light-years covered by the Potempkin covered in just under two months.  Accordingly, Potemkin has made it here long before the larger, full-dreadnought Peter the Great class battleship from the core colonies of the Holy Russian Empire.  Originally she was intended to spearhead a more concerted Russian counter-invasion of the Outer Hebrides or Khaizan’s Haven, but the Russians have clearly run out of time.

The Russian task force sorties from the Red Hope colony at the heart of 72 Hercules A, their mission to engage the British cruisers at Horizon Station and lift the siege.  One of their navigational waypoints is the moon of an outer ice giant, 72 Hercules 119 Delta.  More colorfully nicknamed “Misha’s Windfall,” this tiny moon is being bombarded with debris torn by gravitational tidal forces off an asteroid that Russian industrialists have tugged into a fatally-close orbit.  As shards of asteroids the size of small countries smash into the surface of Misha’s Haven, the moon’s rotation pulls the impact zones an orbital industrial station, which has an easy time mining through the metals, silicates, and even glacial ice hurled up as impact ejecta.

This leads to a very curious battlespace, with two small moons in terribly close (and very unstable) proximity and cascading sheets of debris.  The Russians though the hazardous nature of Misha’s Windfall would make it the last place intercepting ships would look for the Potemkin battlegroup.

They were wrong.  For the Potemkin has indeed been located, and has now been intercepted by converging vectors of two smaller task forces.  These are Task Force Mutamid (Captain Rashid abd-al Maghrebi) of the Arab League Navy, and Task Force Kama under Captain Seizo Yamamoto.  The Mutamid task force in particular has been heavily upgraded after their recent victories at Khaizan’s Haven, and now includes no less than three Almanzor class light hybrid cruisers.  The largest allied ship is of course the heavy cruiser Kama, her massive 18-teravolt EPCs suddenly overshadowed by the Potempkin’s 25-teravolt mass drivers . . . and 12-gigawatt rail guns.  At 347,000 tons, Potempkin outweighs any other ship engaged by 2:1, but the Japanese and Arab League in turn outnumber the Russians by the same factor.  The League also brings a powerful aerospace group from their three Almanzor class cruisers . . . fighters and bombers that will be hardpressed to make a dent in Potempkin’s gigantic point-defense systems or double rack of torpedo tubes . . . of twenty tubes each.

The Battle at Misha’s Windfall will be one for the ages.  For the Russians, this is their last chance.  If they lose here, they are out of the war and as the last power of the Coalition of Eagles . . . that’s the end of the Third Hercules War in general.  The Japanese and Arab League also want a win here, hoping for vindication after some stinging defeats, even their victories have been overshadowed by the British.

Can the Japanese and Arab League score the win that finally ends the Third Hercules War?

JAPANESE: Rasmus
ARAB LEAGUE: Muakhah
HOLY RUSSIAN EMPIRE: Oriskany
RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (568 points)

Here are some new warship classes I’ve been working on for Darkstar.

The first is a new upgrade made to the British Falklands class destroyer, much the same way we did for the Valcour class (USS Oriskany) before.

The Falklands has been a fan favorite of the community ever since I brought Darkstar to the OTT community, with at least four players having at least one in their fleets.   At least two players have told me its one of their favorites, and two of them (HMS Sheffield and HMS Burke) are well on their ways to becoming the next “USS Oriskany” – legendary destroyers of the Darkstar ‘verse.  😀

The second ship presented … wait for it … the Russians finally have a battleship.  Technically she’s a battlecruiser, the Kirov class (obvious homage to the Cold War era Kirov class nuclear-powered missile battlecruiser).  This one’s already been upgraded and will now form the core of the Russian force in tomorrow’s game against @rasmus and @muakhah!

When the Falklands class destroyer was first brought into service, many within the Royal Navy doubted the newest “glass cannon” in the fleet.  A personally-sponsored program of the immensely powerful and influential Lord Admiral Nathaniel Byron Annistaire, he pushed the design and construction of these ships after the death of his son Daniel aboard the aging Bristol class destroyer HMS Stamford.  This intense personal attachment, the high cost of the Falklands design, and the lack of any real improvement in shielding, armor, or speed, made many question whether Annistaire’s “pet destroyers” were really worth it.

Sixteen years later, the debate is over.  Since 2504 the Falklands has proven the most capable (and most sought-after) destroyer design in the FTL-era history of the Royal Navy.  An entire spin-off class has been commissioned (the Commonwealth class) and units continue to be produced to this day.  Famous ships of this class include the HMS Burke (Commander Robert Lewis), HMNZS Aotearoa (Commander James Matapaere), HMS Singapore, HMS Dignity and especially HMS Sheffield (Commander Howard Bowen).

Finally the decision was made to prepare this ship for the next two decades of service.  This was the “In-Service Life Extension” program (ISLE), a particularly fitting suffix to the “Falklands” name of the class.  The HMS Sheffield was the first ship selected to undergo the overhaul and refit after completing her tour during the Third Hercules War in mid-2522.  Work started at the Lucy’s Hope shipyards (Hawking’s Star / HR 6806 star system) in August of that year, and completed in January 2523.

The Falklands ISLE program was a comprehensive upgrade of the ship’s protection package, weapons suite, point-defense systems.  Aft shielding was amplified, the gravitic curvature of the generator increased by 20%.  This was an important upgrade, since directly aft is the facing most commonly targeted by enemy torpedo, missile, and aerospace strikes.  The point-defense system was also modernized, with the older, slower-firing 35mm systems upgraded with new Hispano-Vickers 25mm systems, mostly in triple mounts, and double mounts port and starboard.

Offensive systems were also upgraded, with the biggest single improvement coming to the deadly BAE “Sabre” class 75 exohertz syglex emitters (x-ray lasers).  Where the Falklands class formerly mounted two of these weapons (one fore and one aft), the Falklands-ISLE now mounts a double-gun turret.  Redesigned gravitic lenses, optimized power couplings, and redesigned mounting braces have allowed two guns to be twin mounted in an expanded turret ring assembly.  Admittedly this was the most difficult part of the upgrade, requiring the complete restructure of at least six decks of both the fo’c’sle and quarterdeck areas of the ship.  Power relays also had to be greatly expanded from the newly-upgraded Johnston-McAuley Aerospace DT-Fusion engines, not only to the new shielding and mass driver arrays, but especially these oversized new syglex emitters.

Lastly, the torpedo array was expanded from three tubes on the port and starboard bow racks, to four on each rack.

In all, this has resulted in seven new crew aboard, an additional 2300 tons in mass, and 5.5% additional power draw on average.  But the Falklands ISLE class can still pull the same acceleration curve, and make the same 10-mag Darkstar Waves in FTL.

Four ships were eventually selected to undergo this refit.  Only the future can tell whether these upgrades will prove the value of the investment, and if these esteemed destroyers will continue their winning record through the 2520s and beyond.

The Kirov class battlecruiser is a something of an odd design, considered by some to be the “least Russian warship in the Russian navy.”  Indeed, her design choices seem to heavily draw from similar designs of other navies, like the Prussian Scharnhorst class or the British Cross class.  Not quite powerful enough to lock horns with a true battleship but easily capable of breaking heavy cruisers in half, a Kirov battlecruiser trades the firepower of a true dreadnought for additional speed.  The general idea is that this speed will extend cruising and maneuver envelopes beyond the capabilities of likely opponents, allowing a Kirov to choose the angle and time of engagement, the range of fire exchange, and the point of disengagement.  In plainer language: “She can outrun anything she can’t outfight, and outfight anything she can’t outrun.”

This design principle is borne out in the weapons systems.  Note she does not have a primary battery and a secondary battery, but two primary batteries.  The 25-teravolt EPCs are admittedly heavier, but not only do they hit harder, but at much longer range than most Russian warships (normally famous for their blistering batteries of short-range, high-yield plasma accelerators).  The Kirov can kill at a distance, something not usually seen in Russian warships.  These are also the forward-weighted mountings (two turrets forward), allowing the approach Kirov to choose the aforementioned range.  Meanwhile, the 12-gigawatt rail guns mount two turrets aft, closer-range weapons clearly meant to defend against smaller, faster cruisers and destroyers looking for a swing around the Kirov’s stern.

In some ways the Kirov is better than its rivals.  While not as fast as the Scharnhorst, the Kirov mounts a far more impression gunnery suite.  That said, it is not as accurate as the Prussian counterpart.  Then again, Russian analysts have seen that dreadnoughts are taken out by massed torpedo attack as often as anything else, and mount a point-defense array of 25mm quad-mounts and 35mm triple mounts that make the Scharnhorst green with envy.  This leads at least one American admiral to comment: “Battlecruiser my ass.  She’s a fast battleship, same as our Colorados.”   He may be correct, except the Kirov also mounts two massive racks of no less than twenty tubes for the P-500 “Plamya” (Plame) torpedo … a weapon for which a Colorado class has no answer.

All that said, the Kirov does have weaknesses.  Like all battlecruisers, she has underpowered guns (compared to a true battleship) and underpowered shielding.  Conversely, although faster than most battleships, she’s slower than any heavy cruiser class in known space.  Accordingly, any Kirov commander has to know that he’s going into battle with a shortcoming that a savvy opponent can exploit.  Also, although impressive in number, the P-500 is painfully slow and highly inaccurate.  Furthermore, the Kirov ship is clearly set up as a “broadside” ship, with all weapons (even the torpedoes) arrayed along the ship’s centerline.  While this allows for great broadside firepower, is also crams the weapons systems and their power, control, ammunition, and crew systems into tightly-compacted compartments within the ship that sometimes lead to cascading systems failures when damaged in combat.  And finally, with a mass of 413,494 tons and crew of almost 1600 officers and men, a Kirov battlecruiser is exorbitantly expensive to build and operate.

In terms of aesthetic, the Kirov’s lines are a combination of sleek yet brutish, streamlined yet bristled, an odd blend of cutting speed somehow combined with hulking intimidation.  In this regard the battlecruisers are something of prestige ships, showing the flag at far-flung colonies and carrying diplomats to high-stakes negotiations.  Clearly the Holy Russian Navy is proud of these vessels, and plans to keep them for decades into the future.

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
17:10 SOL GMT, 12 JUNE 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: BATTLE OF STANTSIYA GORIZONT (Horizon Station, 72 Hercules)

The long-awaited Renkei Alliance invasion of the 72 Hercules trinary star system, spearheaded by the British Royal Navy and supported by the Arab League and Japanese Empire, is finally underway.  This system is home of the “Kransnaya Nadhezda” (Red Hope) colonies, colonial capital of the Holy Russian Empire, last real enemy of the Renkei Alliance in the Third Hercules War.  As such, a successful assault into 72 Hercules and capitulation of Krasnaya Nadhezda is anticipated to at last force the Russians to the negotiation table, put a final end to the so-called “Coalition of Eagles,” and close the Third Hercules War.

So evident is the importance of 72 Hercules, in fact, that the Russians have tried for months to throw every possible obstacle, impediment, and distraction against the mounting of such an invasion.  Division among British allies, spoiling attacks into neighboring star systems, and counter-invasions against the Arab League at the Khaizan’s Haven caliphate, all frantic plays for time while the Russians scrambled to build new defenses or call in reinforcements.

Now the time has come to put said defenses to the test.  The British have finally stabilized their rear at places like 99 Hercules and forced the New Romans out of the war, the Japanese have recovered from defeats at the hands of the Americans, and the Arab League has ejected the Russian beachhead from their Khaizan’s Haven colonies.  All three allied powers are thus poised to invade 72 Hercules, and now that offensive has begun.

The primary terrestrial world of 72 Hercules, Red Hope itself (72 Hercules A/4.1), is protected by a gigantic series of orbital installations.  Given the defensive capabilities of these installations (and the tens of thousands of civilians who live on them), the British Admiralty is hoping for force a decision without a direct assault on Red Hope, sure to be an apocalyptic bloodbath.

Rather, the orders for Task Force Agamemnon (Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish) are to establish a foothold in the outer reaches of 72 Hercules.  The specific target is Gorizont Stantsiya (Horizon Station), a powerful defensive and fleet support base installation in the outer debris disc (i.e., Kuiper Belt) of the largest of the three 72 Hercules stars.  From this base, the British hope to either compel the Russians to come to terms, or stage the next phase of a massive invasion toward the core of this massive triple star system.

Cavendish’s mission is not an easy one.  Gorizont Stantsiya (Horizon Station) is a beast of an installation, with a mass rivaling most battleships, massive quadruple turrets of 15-teravolt EPCs, double turrets of 14-gigawatt rail guns (again the caliber normally found on a battleship), bristling mass driver defenses, and an aerospace strike group rivaling those carried aboard most classes of fleet carrier.  On top of that, it’s protected by the Admiral Lazarev task force, commanded by the veteran Captain Piotr Myshaga (light cruiser Admiral Lazarev, destroyers Syekyra and Rusalka).

Adding still more danger is the battlespace itself, where huge floes of ice, proto-comets, and planetary debris drift in the eternal abyss, detritus left over from the formation of the 72 Hercules star system.  The “Kuiper Belt” of 72 Hercules is thicker than most, probably because the competing gravity of the three 72 Hercules stars preventing the collapse and formation of more outer ice giants or gas giants.  Astrophysics aside, this debris now poses a very real collision hazard for any warships engaged in battle around Horizon Station.  But if the British and their Renkei Alliance partners hope to crack 72 Hercules and finally end this war, they have to start here.

UNITED KINGDOM: Damon
HOLY RUSSIAN EMPIRE: Oriskany
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (561 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
02:15 SOL GMT, 26 MAY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: SECOND BATTLE OF UXBRIDGE (Mu Hercules C-3)

By now even the most vapid colonial socialite among the colonies of the Hercules Rim can tell the war is drawing to a climax.  Ever since the Americans were largely forced out of the Coalition of Eagles by the Treaty of Zubrin, the Russians have stood more or less alone against the Renkei Alliance (Britain, Japan, Arab League).  The Corporate Consortium refuses to engage meaningfully.  The New Roman Alliance, although a powerful (and fabulously wealthy) faction based out of their Catania colonies at Gliese 623, flails in a successive string of naval defeats.

All the while, the British (predominantly influenced by Lord Commodore Sir Edward Cavendish), have been aligning their Renkei allies for a final, war-winning strike on the Russians at 72 Hercules.  To forestall this, the Russians have been creating as many problems along Renkei flanks and rear as possible.  But by the end of May 2522, these “spoiling attacks” have run their course.  A recent major Arab League victory has smashed the Russians out of their foothold at Khaizan’s Haven.  The Russians and Romans were both defeated in a major battle at Avezzano in 99 Hercules, where a New Roman battleship Leo Magnus was beaten to within an inch of her life and driven off the table.

Now, in a final attempt to draw off pressure from 72 Hercules, the New Roman Alliance has mounted a small invasion of the British “Outer Hebrides” colonies at Mu Hercules.  The Roman commander here, Commodore Justinian Pilaex, knows he can’t take the whole system, his mission is take just one planet, perhaps a few moons of one of the system’s outer ice giants, just enough to force the British to turn resources away from the impending invasion of Krasnaya Nadhezda.

However, opposition at Mu Hercules might be more than Pilaex anticipated.  As per the “mutual military assistance”  clauses of the recent Treaty of Zubrin, the Americans have been obligated to keep a task force at both the Outer Hebrides and the Hawking’s Star, defending these colonies of their former enemies.  Now that a Roman task force has entered the outer debris belt of the Outer Hebrides, the Americans stationed there have orders to raise steam and intercept.

The force that will join battle is Task Force Oriskany under Captain Matthew Spencer, finally brought up to full strength now that the flagship, the Valcour class destroyer USS Oriskany, has completed her six-month “FRAM I” refit and upgrade at Port Halsey (Alpha Lyra / Vega).  Together with the destroyers Valley Forge and Hancock (Captains Garrison Heathe and commander Priscilla Wolfe, respectively), the US Marine Corps light assault carrier USS Tarawa, (Captain Raymond Cruz) and the torpedo corvette USS Daggerfish (formerly Wolfe’s command, now under Lt. Commander Lewis Knight), Oriskany leads a light, fast, elite, and high-tech force.  Grossly outmatched by the weight, gunnery, and power of Pilaex’s force, the Americans will have to use speed, upgraded electronics, and a vastly superior aerospace strike group to level the playing field.

Indeed, the sheer firepower of the Roman force is sobering.  Pilaex’s flagship is the Tiberius class heavy cruiser Nicaea, 140,000 tons of high-tech EPCs, syglex emitters, and oversized engines that allow her to move like a ship two-thirds her size.  Escorting her is the light cruiser Leclerc under Captain Raphael deChalemonde, the destroyer Corsica under Captain Daphne St. Croix, the light strike carrier Alejandra, and the torpedo corvette Sica.

The two task forces meet at the planet Ubridge (Paget’s Pride / Mu Hercules C-3), one of the major terrestrial worlds and colonial center for the British here at Mu Hercules (third planet of the third star of this trinary stellar group).  Both sides have help coming in, the Romans have their invasion fleet, built around a Bersaglieri-class planetary assault ship, while the Americans have British forces coming in from the other side of the Mu Hercules system.  Before either force arrives, however, the issue here will most likely be fatefully decided, one way or the other.

ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (429 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
20:20 SOL GMT, 12 MAY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: SECOND BATTLE OF NAKIR’S RIDDLE (14 Hercules 5.22)

The situation in the Third Hercules War continues to build to a climax.  In the latest engagement, naval forces of the Arab League have struck against the foothold recently established by the Holy Russian Empire in the “Khaizan’s Haven” caliphate in the 14 Hercules star system.

As noted in previous entries, the British are looking to end the Third Hercules War with a concerted strike at the regional “capital” of their greatest remaining enemy, the Holy Russian Empire.  The obvious target is the Krasnaya Nadhezda (Red Hope) colony at 72 Hercules, but with expanded holdings and lucrative shipping leases already won in the UN “Redemption” Mandate in the 99 Hercules system, it’s unlike the British will be allowed by the UN to take full possession of 72 Hercules as well.  Even in the 26^th Century, overt imperialism only goes so far.  So the British have been lining up allies for a concerted multi-national strike, most likely to include the Japanese Empire and the Arab League.

The Russians know these plans and have been working hard to upset them, creating distractions along British flanks by striking into neighboring star systems and disruptions among their allies.  One of these initiatives has been an invasion of 14 Hercules system (Khaizan’s Haven caliphate), recently defeating an Arab cruiser task force these and planting a regiment of Russian Naval Infantry on the gas giant moon of Nakir’s Riddle.

The Arab League wants the moon back, and now.  The Emir of Khaizan’s Haven knows full well that the British are about to invade 72 Hercules with the Japanese, and if the Arab League can’t take part in that invasion as well, they’ll be left out of the spoils when 72 Hercules is carved up by the victors.  But the League can’t invade 72 Hercules if the Russians stall have a foothold on their own system, so the Mutamid battlegroup under Captain Rashid al-Maghrebi is given orders to retake the system post-haste.  Failure is not an option.  Eject the Russians, or don’t bother coming back.

However, it was al-Maghrebi’s Mutamid battlegroup that lost the earlier battle that gave Nakir’s Riddle to the Russians in the first place.  That battle took place barely six weeks ago (24 March, 2522), and al-Maghrebi’s warships required extensive repairs in the aftermath.  Even now, after a crash repair program, the ships are barely welded back together.  In fact, the Almanzor-class hybrid cruiser-carrier Mutamid herself still has repair crews on board when she Darkstar waves out of Maalikmina shipyards to attack the Russian foe.

For their part, the Russians are also not in the best shape.  Preparations to meet the expected Anglo-Japanese onslaught have demanded that their heaviest naval units in 14 Hercules be withdrawn to 72 Hercules.  This has included, most importantly, the heavy cruiser Tatiana Mikhailovna, and half the “Night Witches” aerospace attack group aboard the strike carrier Novorossysk.  But the heavily-upgraded light cruiser Admiral Lazarev has arrived as reinforcements, commanded by the redoubtable Captain Pyotr F. Myshaga, along with the American destroyer USS Cowpens, detached from Task Force Liberty.

In summary, this is an all-out, stand-and-die slugfest, with the real prize being operational time.  The Arab League needs this win so they can push forward with participation in the Anglo-Japanese invasion of 72 Hercules, while the Russians need to retain their death-grip on Nakir’s Riddle to ensure that Arab reinforcements will not participate in that increasingly inevitable showdown.

ARAB LEAGUE: @muakhah
RUSSO-AMERICANS: @oriskany
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (244 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
20:20 SOL GMT, 29 APRIL 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: ANGLO-JAPANESE ASSAULT ON CATANIA (99 Hercules Gamma)

The situation in the Third Hercules War is reaching a breaking point.

The Americans, previously humbled and sidelined by the British, have regained their footing and are about to “cash out” of the conflict with new holdings both in 99 Hercules and Gliese 649.  The latter may be particularly bad for the British, as an American shipping stronghold in Gliese 639 would allow them to bypass the 99 Hercules, thus deflating the tariff revenue the British hoped to squeeze from the Americans with their 50-year lease so graciously granted by the British in the Treaty of Zubrin.

The Americans have also thrashed the Japanese at the recent Battle of Bleeding Edge (Gliese 649 Gamma-19), thus weakening Britain’s staunchest and most powerful ally in the Third Hercules War.

Britain’s other ally, the Arab League, has also been bested by the Holy Russian Empire.  The Russians now have an entrenched foothold in the Khaizan Caliphate, and any immediate Arab League naval action will have to be directed toward ejecting this Russian presence before they can help the British against the Russians directly.

Perhaps most ominously, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Krasnaya Nadhezda and New Roman Archbishop of Catania have reaffirmed their new alliance, with Russian warships now staged in the Catania colonies (Gliese 623). Russian destroyers and torpedo corvettes have also been detected in the UN “Redemption” Mandate at 99 Hercules, specifically at the Avezzano Colony (99 Hercules Gamma).  This is obviously a move to threaten British possession of Kayashenko, the 99 Hercules gas giant the British took from the Russians after a protracted campaign earlier in 2521-22.

In short, the Russians continue their efforts to forestall the inevitable British hammerblow on their Krasnaya Nadhezda (Red Hope) colonies at 72 Hercules by creating as many distractions as possible among British allies and problems along British flanks.

Finally, the British have had enough.  Pairing two of their most powerful warships in the Hercules Rim with two of the most powerful Japanese ships currently operational, an aggressive move is made directly for the heart of New Roman holdings in 99 Hercules.  For the British this includes the heavy cruiser HMS Agamemnon and light cruiser Retribution.  For the Japanese it is the heavy cruiser IJN Kama and light cruiser Sendai Byo.  The mission is simple, smash into the heart of the New Roman holdings at 99 Hercules.  Cripple, destroy, or drive off any naval presence there, thus clearing the way for two Fearless class planetary assault ships to drop in elements of 3^rd Marine Commando Brigade and 5^th Para Brigade, outright seizing the colonies and installation on the terrestrial planet of Avezzano (99 Hercules Gamma) and its two moons.

Clearly the British aim is to crush any threat posed by the Coalition of Eagles in 99 Hercules once and for all, while also dealing a heavy blow to the blossoming Russo-Roman alliance and shutting down any additional danger to the rear of a final attack on 72 Hercules.

Unfortunately the New Romans have been building up for a climactic entry to the Third Hercules War for some time.  While the Americans, Russians, Japanese, British, and Arab League battered each other senseless, the Romans were quietly bringing in ships from the Core and other sectors of Known Space, only opening hostilities when they felt they had an overwhelming force.  Most significantly this includes the gigantic 347,000-ton Constantine class battleship NRS Leo Magnus, arriving at Avezzano three weeks ago after a Darkstar voyage of 117 days.  Now screened by aforementioned Russian destroyers and torpedo corvettes (CPK Syekyra, Rusalka, and K-98, all part of Task Force “Admiral Lazarev”), the Roman dreadnaught’s presence unmistakably underscores this renewed Russo-Roman cooperation in the Hercules Rim.

For now, however, this hideously-powerful Russo-Roman force is alerted to the rapid approach of British and Japanese Darkstar waves, and raises steam to meet the threat.  The New Roman battleship and her screen will meet the Anglo-Japanese cruiser force at the second moon of Avezzano, joining what is the largest battle to date in the Third Hercules War.

BRITISH: @damon
JAPANESE: @rasmus
RUSSO-ROMANS: @oriskany
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (595 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
06:05 SOL GMT, 10 APRIL 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: JAPANESE ASSAULT ON “BLEEDING EDGE” (Ragnarssonland – Gliese 649 Sigma-19)

In response to the recent American raid at Katajima, the Imperial Japanese Navy has mounted a major counterstrike at the base from which the Americans launched the Katajima incursion.  These are the corporate “Ragnarssonland” colonies (Gliese 649 star system) formerly held by Imperial Prussia until forfeited at the end of the Second Hercules War in 2513-14.

As is often their habit, the Corporate Consortium has to date played a quiet role in the Third Hercules War.  Although technically part of the Coalition of Eagles, they have not taken significant action against their hostile “Renkei Alliance” Japanese neighbors in Zeta Hercules for some time.  This didn’t stop them from allowing the US Navy’s “Battlegroup Collingsworth” access to their Ragnarssonland holdings for the Katajima raid, of course.  Unfortunately, that raid was an abject failure, and now the Japanese are coming for payback.

But the Japanese aren’t coming for a simple punitive raid.  This is a powerful assault spearheaded by Task Force Naginata under the flag of Commodore Hiromi Ozawa.  With a combat record extending over ten years back to the 19 Draconis War of 2512, and commanding some of the most experienced, prestigious, and decorated crews in the Imperial Japanese Navy, this potent “Tenonoken” (Sword of the Emperor) formation includes the heavy cruiser Naginata (practically a pocket battleship), the bristling light fleet carrier Nagashima (carrying the double-elite “Kotukai Donryu” – Naval Air Group “Storm Dragon”), the prestigious and venerable “legacy ship” light cruiser Takakawa, and the sleek, swift, high-tech destroyer Kikasa.

Even more ominously, behind this task force are three Shimada class light carriers converted to troop ships, their aerospace fighters and bombers replaced with tanks, APCs, and elite Naval Landing Force infantry.  This isn’t a raid, this is an invasion and assault.  Not only are the Japanese looking for punitive retribution for the Katajima raid, but also to win a staging point for a possible joint Anglo-Japanese invasion of 72 Hercules (Krasnaya Nadhezda), Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish’s proposed war-winning assault and invasion of the Holy Russian Empire’s regional capital.

Arrayed against this assault is the bulk of Carrier Task Force Liberty under the flag of Captain Zachary Thomas Irons.  Comprised of the Endeavor class light fleet carrier USS Liberty, the new light cruiser USS Northampton, the destroyer Cowpens and frigate John Young, it is supplemented by warships from Task Force Oriskany, including the veteran destroyer USS Valley Forge and the USMC light strike carrier USS Tarawa.

The two fleets meet at the nineteenth moon of the eighteenth planet of the Gleise 419 system, a sphere of economically-rich silicon about 80% the size of Venus.  Playfully named “Bleeding Edge” by its Cignis Corporation owners, the world is orbited by two mining, shipping, and administrative installations named for the locally-famous “company TGIF” bars on them: The Nimble Toad and Space Chili’s.  Such quirky names belie the gravity of the battle about to be waged over their possession.

Such gravity is not lost upon the two battlefleets, however.  Many of the men and women on these converging warships have known each other for the better part of ten years, having fought against each other as blood-enemies in the 19 Draconis and Andromeda Arc Wars, then fighting as blood-brothers in the Xi Scorpio and Scorpion’s Tail Wars (where many of them became personal lifelong friends).  Yet here they meet again as foes, subject to the cruel ironies of duty, fate, and 26^th Century colonial politics.

Leaving such sentiments for poets and historians, we are left with the business of the day.  Ozawa’s flagship has just dropped out of her Darkstar wave, and the Battle for Bleeding Edge is about to begin.

ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (583 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UN HERCULES SCS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
023:40 SOL GMT, 24 MARCH 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: RUSSIAN ASSAULT ON NAKIR’S RIDDLE (14 Hercules 5.22)

By now the naval intelligence bureaus of the Holy Russian Empire have confirmed and re-confirmed reports of a building British effort against their regional capital at Krasnaya Nadhezda (Red Hope – 72 Hercules).  After their latest victory at Belinda’s Promise (Mu Hercules C6-Beta), the Royal Navy is ready.  However, the Admiralty wants to ensure an allied naval power shares in the glory (read: bloody cost) of assaulting the Russian stronghold.  In a vein less mercenary, the British Foreign Office is also convinced that the United Nations and Jerusalem Council would never let the British Empire alone control such a vast swath of the Hercules Rim in perpetuity.  At least on the surface, the British would have to share the spoils of such a victory lest they be seen as blatant neo-Victorian imperialists.  And if they’ll have to share the spoils, all the more reason to share the cost.

This puts the Admiralty in a tough spot, as now they’ll have to wait until one of their allies in the region, either the Arab League or the Japanese, are similarly poised for a final strike on Krasnaya Nadhezda.  The Japanese are winning, sure enough, having handily driven off a recent American raid at Katajima (Zeta Hercules A3).  But they’re already deep into launching a counter-assault into Ragnarssonland, the Corporate Consortium system from which the Americans launched their Katajima raid.  As for the Arab League . . .

. . . they’ve just been assaulted by the Holy Russian Empire at their Khaizan’s Haven caliphate (14 Hercules).

Indeed, Russian intelligence knows the British are waiting for either the Japanese or Arab League to join with them in a converging assault, and head-on attacks against the Royal Navy have been less than successful as of late.  Therefore, the Russian Navy has resolved to strike British allies.  Since the Americans are tying up the Japanese, the choice is predictably simple: a full-on smash and invasion directly into the Khaizan Caliphate at 14 Hercules.

The strike lands at the frozen outer ice giant of Nakir’s Riddle (named for the legendary Islamic angel who queries souls of the dead to learn their worth).  Specifically, it lands at Nakir’s Riddle 5.22, twenty-second moon on this ice giant.  Large enough to mask the approach of a Russian invasion fleet in its eclipse shadow, and close enough to the planet to threaten caliphate installations and infrastructure if the Russian naval infantry are able to establish a presence here.

The Russian fleet is blunt and deadly in its purpose.  The flagship is the CPK (Holy Russian Ship) Tatiana Mikhailovnya, eldest daughter of the first Romanov czar. The Zhukov-class strike carrier Novorrosysk provides aerospace support (flying the elite all-female “Night Witches” naval strike squadron), the battlegroup screened by three deadly K-56 class torpedo corvettes.

The emir of the Khaizan caliphate has no choice but to send the Mutamid battlegroup to meet the threat, under the flag of Captain Rashid al-Maghrebi.  At under 98,000 tons, his flagship Mutamid is outweighed by Tatiana Mikhailovnya almost two-to one.  But both the Mutamid and the light carrier Abu Bashir can launch almost double the Night Witches’  number in aerospace strike craft, the Russians have no answer to the destroyers Kashan and Jeddah, and the Arab League fleet is much, much more maneuverable than their Russian opposites.

It’s another jaguar vs. grizzly matchup, speed and tactical agility stacked against weight, armor, and sheer firepower.  The question of who will win is perhaps the latest riddle the angel Nakir will ask in this cold, lonely corner of the Hercules Rim.

Holy Russian Empire – @oriskany
Arab League – @muakhah
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (244 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
013:05 SOL GMT, 15 MARCH 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: AMERICAN RAID ON KATAJIMA (Kyokko Bijin – Zeta Hercules A3)

The Americans may have signed a separate peace with the British in the Treaty of Zubrin, but the United States Navy has never completely sheathed the sword in the Hercules Rim.  Open hostilities persist with the Arab League and especially the Japanese Empire, a fact brought to sharp relief when a small American raiding force emerges from an accelerated Darkstar Wave in the inner orbital zones of the Kyokko Bijjin colonies (Zeta Hercules), intent of destroying a small array of orbital refineries and surveillance outposts over the terrestrial world of Katajima (Zerta Hercules A3).

Latest American intelligence had reported the orbital zones of this particular planet to be empty.  Accordingly, Captains Matthew Spencer and Zachary Irons (commander, Task Force Oriskany and Liberty respectively) thought this strike would be an ideal opportunity for some of their junior commanders to accrue some combat command experience.  Accordingly, all the newer, less experienced warships and commanders of these two task forces were sent together to carry out what was supposed to be a routine “smash-and-dash” raid.

Of course, this intelligence turned out to be woefully out of date.  Perhaps warned by the mysterious “Red Kitsune,” the enigmatic Japanese spy (or spy network) that allowed them to anticipate so many battles in the recent Duchess Annabel’s War, the Kyokko Bijin Prefecture command has a small force ready and waiting for the Americans in low orbit over Katajima.

This force turns out to be only two ships, the old Hokkaido class light cruiser IJN Tatakawa and the Kagoshima class aerospace strike carrier Nagashima, both from the elite and decorated Naginata cruiser strike squadron under the flag of Commodore Hiromi Ozawa.  Now elite or not, two ships cannot protect or even watch the orbital approaches of an entire Earth-analog planet, so the Takakawa stays near the refineries while the Nagashima sets high-speed orbital course, her aerospace fighters, bombers, and scouts ranging all across Katajima hoping at least to provide some warning of an American approach.

The Japanese plan works … somewhat.  These are destroyers, frigates, and corvettes of the Oriskany and Liberty task forces, remember, their Darkstar FTL drives extensively upgraded.  As a result, they’re able to set a high-speed, high-accuracy jump directly into the heart of the Kyokko Bijin binary star system, rocketing straight into the low orbital zones of Katajima.  But another way, despite the Japanese being forewarned, the sheer speed of American strike still gives them some degree of tactical surprise nonetheless.

The end result, the American strike meets only the Takakawa, supported only by the handful of Nagashima fighters and bombers that happen to be close enough to reach the Takakawa as the Americans make their final approach.  It’s a small, high-speed skirmish, fought between “second-tier” support elements of some of the most elite and renowned naval formations operating in Known Space today.

[In other words, I am running a small game to “reawaken” the warships and commanders in my Japanese task force, and to give my American “noobs” a little experience and help them catch up to the superstars like USS Oriskany, Liberty, Tarawa, Valley Forge, and Northampton.]

RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (127 points)

FROM: ADVISORY OFFICE, UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
04:10 SOL GMT, 28 FEBRUARY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY

SUBJ: FRANCO-RUSSIAN RAID ON BELINDA’S PROMISE (Outer Hebrides – Mu Hercules C.6Beta)

 Another battle has broken out in the Hercules Rim warzone, the twenty-fifth recorded engagement in the ongoing Third Hercules War.  Eager to follow up on their recent successes against the British at the Indian Boghavati colonies (HD176051 system) and against the Arab League at Krasnaya Nadhezda (“Red Hope”, 72 Hercules system), the Holy Russian Empire launched another strike against Royal Navy holdings in the Outer Hebrides colonies (Mu Hercules). 

In an effort to maximize their chances for success, this Russian force (built around the Admiral Lazarev task force) was reinforced by warships of the Leclerc battlegroup of their new allies, the New Roman Alliance.  Based out of the Catania colonies (Gliese 623 system), the light cruiser Leclerc and her escort, the sleek Milan-II class destroyer Corsica, rendezvoused with the Russian strike force in the interstellar space just outside the helioshock boundary of the Mu Hercules trinary star system.  There they set a short, “stealth-wave” approach trajectory for Belinda’s Promise, second moon of the sixth planet of Mu Hercules-C, smallest red dwarf of the three-star system.

The Outer Hebrides colonies, however, have been a major battleground of the Third Hercules War for some time, however, and by now the British administrators of the system are well-prepared for unwelcome visitors.  Although the Americans of the Liberty battlegroup defended the outer orbital bands of these stars last time the New Romans came calling, this time the British themselves are on hand to meet the threat.  Recently repaired, refitted, and recovered from their sharp defeat at Bhogavati, the Agamemnon Task Force under the flag of Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish has been alerted to the enemy approach by several of the tens of thousands of automated “darkwave” gravimetric detection drones deployed along likely approach routes to vulnerable “blind side” sectors of this three-star system.

The American Liberty Task Force, still under repair from the Battle of Lewis Hill (29 January), is no match for this invading Franco-Russian force.  It’s therefore up to Cavendish and his Agamemnon task force. Intercepting this strike force is no mean feat, given the FTL and sublight speed of the French and Russian ships.  The light cruiser Leclerc is a Foch-Hispaniola class, renowned for their speed, while the destroyer Corsica is even faster.  The larger, heavier, much more powerful Admiral Lazarev has also been upgraded, able to match sustained speed even with the Leclerc. 

Fortunately for the British, however, the HMS Agamemnon is the fastest heavy cruiser in known space, at least in sublight.  Able to keep pace with most destroyers, she raises best steam for Belinda’s Promise and reach high orbit above the day side of the small terrestrial planet just as the Russians and French emerge from behind the planet’s dusk terminator.  With just minutes to spare, the battle is joined.

What is less clear, at least initially, are Franco-Russian intentions.  This is a light, speedy force . . . able to inflict tremendous damage not really packing the “hit-and-stay” firepower of an invasion spearhead.  Furthermore, no planetary assault ships loaded with Russian zero-g naval infantry are detected behind the strike force.  Rather, this seems a simple “run and gun” raid.  Only after the battle will British Naval Intelligence confirm that Russian spies have discovered Lord Commodore Cavendish’s plans for a converging British-Arab strike on Russian colonies in 72 Hercules.  Accordingly, the Russians now seem determined to keep the British off-balance, on the defensive, and unable to coordinate this potential war-ending invasion of their “Krasnaya Nadhezda” colonies.

GREAT BRITAIN: @damon
RUSSIANS / FRENCH: @oriskany

RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (535 points)

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
011:15 SOL GMT, 08 FEBRUARY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

ARAB LEAGUE RAID ON PAMZHDOYE (Krasnaya Nadhezda / 72 Hercules Phi-16)

In the wake of the Americans largely dropping out of their leading role the Coalition of Eagles in the wake of the Treaty of Zubrin, and the New Roman Empire’s recent frustrations in their opening gambits in the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules system), the focus of the Third Hercules War has again shifted to the spinward shoulder Hercules Rim.  Here, Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish has begun drawing plans for a war-ending offensive against the Russians, hoping to shove them out of the war as he did with the Americans (not only with military victories but no small amount of political maneuvering).

His partners in this effort will be the Arab League, spearheaded by the Mutamid high-speed cruiser-carrier battlegroup under Captain Rashid al-Maghrebi.  With the navy of the Holy Russian Empire teetering somewhat after the string of defeats that largely threw them out of the UN “Redemption” Mandate at 99 Hercules, Cavendish hopes to take his Task Force Agamemnon into Krasnaya Nadhezda (“Red Hope” – 72 Hercules), reinforced by a pair of Fearless class planetary assault cruisers loaded with Royal Marines and Para Commandos.  While they come in through the spinward “front” of 72 Hercules, the swift Mutamid battlegroup will sweep around behind and stab the Russians in the back from the coreward side of the Red Hope colonies.  The Mutamid battlegroup seems ideal for this mission, given the enhanced Darkstar FTL systems usually installed on Arab League ships.

Successful completion of this operation will more or less throw the Holy Russian Empire out of the war and the Hercules Rim in general, a goal toward which Cavendish has promised the League primary ownership of the 72 Hercules trinary star system, allowing the British to take former Russian holdings in 99 Hercules (Redemption) and thus dominate the center of the Hercules Rim.

There are just two things wrong with this plan at the moment.  First, the Russian Navy is no longer “teetering,” they were instrumental in a bloody British reversal at Sigma Rajdana in the Bhogavati (HD176051 star system), winning a victory that helped the Republic of India claim victory in their small part of the Third Hercules War.  Second, Task Force Agamemnon itself was badly mauled in this battle, and at least a month of pressure dock and star port repair time before this force can realistically challenge the Holy Russian Empire in 72 Hercules.

So although Captain al-Maghrebi has agreed with this plan and is ready to get underway, the in early February 2522 the British are hardly in a position to undertake their part.  Warily watching the Russians rebuild their strength and prodded by persistent rumors that a Peter the Great class battleship might be on its way from the Kuznetsov Shipyards of Gliese 725, the regional Caliphate soon issues orders to the Mutamid battlegroup.  Hit the Russians . . . now, even if only to rattle their cages and slow their recovery and buildup in 72 Hercules.

With most of the Admiral Lazarev task force still in dock or returning from the far-off Indian Bhogavati colonies, defense of the Krasnaya Nadhezda colonies will have to fall to a scratch force of a Kutusov class light cruiser, a Gagarin class light fleet carrier, and three K-56 class torpedo corvettes.  The Mutamid battlegroup greatly outguns this defense force, but the Russians hold a pretty solid edge in torpedoes and aerospace strike groups.  It’s a lopsided match-up of guns vs. torpedoes, victory will undoubtedly go to the side that can make better use of its advantage.

ARAB LEAGUE: @Muakhah
HOLY RUSSIAN EMPIRE: @Oriskany
RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (236 points)

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
14:40 SOL GMT, 29 JANUARY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

NEW ROMAN RAID ON LEWIS HILL (Outer Hebrides – Mu Hercules 12.1 Delta)

The political upheaval seen across the Hercules Rim in recent months took another turn with yet another engagement.  The setting for the skirmish was an old one, the long-embattled outer orbital zones of the Outer Hebrides colonies (Mu Hercules system) of the United Kingdom.  What was decidedly less familiar were the combatants.  Mounting the “fast strike” into the system was a task force of the newly-belligerent New Roman Alliance, having recently entered the war  from their Catania colonies (Gleise 623 system).  Yet it wasn’t a British force that sortied to fend off the Roman aggressors, but the Liberty task force of the United States Navy.

Former enemies in the Third Hercules War, the United States and Great Britain have more or less buried the hatchet (at least in some Hercules star systems) with the recent Treaty of Zubrin.  Although overwhelmingly favorable to the British, the treaty granted the Americans shipping access through the Hercules Rim and a lease on a small base . . . allowing them to save face while backing out of the war with Great Britain.  Also within that treaty, however, is a “mutual military assistance clause” requiring the two navies to come to each others’ aid if their holdings in the Hercules Rim are attacked.  Clearly this clause also heavily favors the British, given that they administer two compete star systems and multiple colonies in the UN “Redemption” mandate, while the Americans only have the tiny “Lost Dutchman” planetoid awarded them in the Treaty of Zubrin.

In fact, this is the raid that first calls that mutual military assistance clause into effect.  As the New Roman task force, under the flag of Commander Antonio Faccia aboard the Aurelius class heavy cruiser NRS Nicaea, enters the outer orbital zones of the Mu Hercules system, they are met by the US Navy’s Liberty carrier task force under the flag of Captain Zachary Irons.  Sailing beside the American carrier is the new San Antonio class light cruiser USS Northampton, under the command of the newly-promoted captain Jack Morrison (formerly of Task Force Oriskany).  Most the New Roman force is in fact French, made up of the Lerclerc Battle Group under the flag of Captain Raphael deChalemonde, supported by the Cignis Corporation frigate CMS Arauz.

Now the two fleets vector toward each other, the Americans warned of the Roman approach by a timely report of a Griffon-class gunboat.  Dropping out of their short “approach waves” back into sublight speeds, they close to engagement range at the lonely outer rim planetoid of Lewis Hill (Mu Hercules 12.1 Delta).  As bizarre as it seems, the Americans stand ready to defend the territory of their old enemies against a new foe, and the Battle of  Lewis Hill is on.

RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (454 points)

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
02:00 SOL GMT, 02 JANUARY 2522
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

BRITISH RAID ON SIGMA RAJDANA (Bhogavati / HD176051)

The situation is definitely heating up in the ongoing Third Hercules War community campaign. Recent weeks have seen the British Royal Navy continue their wining streak, resurgent in the United Nations “Redemption” Mandate (99 Hercules system).  The Holy Russian Empire reels from successive defeats, the Americans all but tossed out of half of the war by a string bitter reversals.  Now a threatening new faction has joined the fray in the form of the New Roman Alliance (the combined star navies primarily of Italy, France, and Spain). All across the Hercules Rim, a series of “tipping points” inch precariously closer to several factions, and more than one nation stands upon the cusp of victory, or stares into the abyss of defeat.

Flush with recent “Operation Rodney” victories in the 99 Hercules system, Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish receives orders from Hercules SCS Admiralty (Outer Hebrides / Mu Hercules).  With the Americans pacified along the spinward shoulder of the Hercules Rim by the Treaty of Zubrin, the Admiralty has decided to focus attention on their other foe in this region, the Indian Republic.

Based out of the Bhogavati Colonies in the HD176051 system (yellow main sequence / orange dwarf binary), Indian commitment to the Third Hercules War has always been lukewarm at best, with regional governors hoping to provide peripheral support in a presumed American victory and claim a modest share in the spoils, namely a permanent basing and shipping lease in the UN “Redemption” Mandate.  But now with the Americans largely called to heel, at least here in the spinward systems of the Hercules Rim . . .

Task Force Agamemnon is thus issued orders to sortie an immediate strike into the Bhogavati Colonies.  No Royal Marines or Paras are sent along, it is hoped a sharp, punitive strike will convince the Indian Republic bow out of the war to choose its allies more carefully in the future.  Then, with all opponents quelled along the spinward shoulder of the Hercules Rim, the Royal Navy can turn coreward and, together with the Japanese and Arab League, deal with the Russians and Romans once and for all.

The Russians, however, having just lost an ally in the United States (depending on the star system in question, of course), are determined not to lose another.  So when Task Force Agamemnon erupts from its Darkstar wave HD176051 and decelerates toward the small outer terrestrial world of Sigma Rajdana, they find not only a pair of Maharani class heavy cruisers waiting for them, but part of the Admiral Lazarev Battlegroup (Captain Pyotr Fedorovich Myshaga) as well.

UNITED KINGDOM: @Damon
RUSSIA / INDIA: @Oriskany
RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (526 points)

Okay, everyone.  This post should complete the updates on the Third Hercules War Community Campaign up to date.

It covers Darkstar Web Games 45 and 46 (The Lost Dutchman and Kayashenko 12), and brings the timeline up to the end of November, 2521.

The end of the post shows the current state, what factions have dropped out (sort of), and what new faction has joined.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
02:00 SOL GMT, 25 OCTOBER 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

BRITISH ASSAULT ON THE LOST DUTCHMAN (Redemption / 99 Hercules)

With the Japanese having defeated the Indo-American incursion at Shindo 919, the “Khaizhan Caliphate” of the Arab League defeating the Russian counterstrike at Kayashenko 14, and especially the Royal Navy’s solid win at the Battle of Uxbridge in the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules system), Royal Navy high command senses an opportunity to decisively turn the tide of the Third Hercules War once and for all.

Thus is born Operation “Rodney,” named for one of the battleships that helped sink the Bismarck in 1941.  Originally conceived by Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish, the plan met with eager approval at Hercules SCS (strategic command sector) Naval Command at Uxbridge, who immediately assigned the plan tier-one priority in Royal Navy support facilities, supplies, and repair / refit scheduling.  Having ensured the plan’s adoption, Cavendish also made sure his force (Task Force Agamemnon) would get the orders to spearhead the effort.

The orders are to launch consecutive assaults against the Royal Navy’s two primary enemies in this Third Hercules War, the United States and the Holy Russian Empire.  Rather than strike far-flung targets at Port Halsey or Krasnaya Nadhezda, the British will hit much closer to home, at American and Russian holdings in the UN’s “Redemption” Mandate (99 Hercules system).

First, the Americans will be struck at their newly-secured holding, the outer terrestrial planet of The Lost Dutchman (99 Hercules-12.A).  With a mass roughly that of Mars, but an orbit more like Pluto or Eris, the Lost Dutchman was a British possession until early defeats in HR6806 and Mu Hercules forced the British to reinforce these threatened sectors at the expense at less-vital areas like the Lost Dutchman.  In a word, the Americans “stole” it, practically without a fight, after the British suffered yet another defeat in 99 Hercules, trying to shove the Russians out of the moons of the Kayashenko gas giant.

The “Stars and Stripes” flying over a British colony simply won’t do, and on 25 October 2521, Task Force Agamemnon mounts a short, slow, and very precise intrasystem Darkstar jump out of Zubrin (the main British holding in 99 Hercules) to the night side of The Lost Dutchman.  They find themselves confronted by one of the major American flagships in the Hercules Rim, the Gettysburg class heavy cruiser USS Shiloh under the flag of Rear-Admiral Virginia Saunders.  Raising steam for a parabolic orbit around to the day side of The Lost Dutchman, Saunders denies battle just long enough for help to arrive in the form of the bulk of Task Force Oriskany (Captain Matthew Spencer).

The Battle of the Lost Dutchman is on.

UNITED STATES: @Oriskany
UNITED KINGDOM: @Damon
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (520 points)

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
23:40 SOL GMT, 18 NOVEMBER 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

ROYAL NAVY ASSAULT ON KAYASHENKO 12 (Redemption / 99 Hercules)

With the Americans for the most part limping back to Port Halsey, the Russians stand more or less alone in the UN “Redemption” Mandate (99 Hercules).  Accordingly, Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish (commander, Task Force Agamemnon) is determined to maintain the momentum of Operation “Rodney.”  His warships are thus patched together at the nearby Zubrin gas giant in record time (in the same 99 Hercules star system) and within three weeks, he’s sortied against his next target, the Russian Kayashenko gas giant.

If Cavendish can repeat his last win, he’ll have knocked the Royal Navy’s two biggest enemies clean out of the UN Redemption Mandate, marking the first clear territorial win for Great Britain in the Third Hercules War.

Yet however brief his pause has been to repair ships like HMS Agamemnon, Retribution, and Sheffield,  that same time has allowed the Americans to repair some of their smaller ships as well.  While there’s no way they can repair USS Shiloh in time, the USS Oriskany and Valley Forge have been repaired (the Princeton is also unable to make it in time).  The Americans also send in their FTL-enhanced light fleet carrier, the legendary USS Liberty (Captain Zachary Irons).  The Coalition of Eagles can only hope that these slender reinforcements, combined with the Russian Light cruiser CPK Lazarev and destroyer Syekyra might be just enough to stop Cavendish’s follow-through to his “Rodney” offensive.

The two fleets meet at Kayashenko 12, a captured asteroid in a freakishly close, rapidly-decaying orbit around the gigantic bulk of the Kayashenko gas giant.  As fate would have it, this battle is not only the largest yet seen in the Third Hercules War, but even beyond its tremendous battlespace impact, will also prove to have fateful and controversial political impact across over fifty light-years of space, changing the shape of the conflict going forward.

UNITED KINGDOM: @Damon
RUSSIA / UNITED STATES: @Oriskany
ASSAULT VICTORY CONDITIONS (527 points)

So where does this leave the Americans, the British, and the Third Hercules War in general?  Well, it’s complicated.

First up, the US and UK sign the Treaty of Zubrin, with the stipulations below:

• The Americans agree to cease any and all combat operations against the United Kingdom throughout the Hercules Rim.
• The Americans agree to a “mutual assistance” clause if British holdings in Hawking’s Star, Outer Hebrides, or Redemption (99 Hercules) are attacked.
• Yes, this includes if the Holy Russian Empire, Republic of India, or Corporate Consortium attacks these holdings. The Americans will be obligated by treaty to help defend British possessions against their former “allies.”
• The British agree to grant the Americans a 50-year lease on the Lost Dutchman, a British outer ring planet in 99 Hercules. This allows the Americans to save no small degree of face, “winning” the shipping route through the Hercules Rim which was their casus belli in the first place.
• The price of this lease is very high, the “overcharge” is quietly recognized as war reparations for damage done to British facilities in Outer Hebrides and Hawking’s Star.
• The Americans agree to pay tariffs (very, very steep tariffs) for shipping through Lost Dutchman / 99 Hercules.
• At the end of that 50-year lease, the British retain the right to reclaim operation of the Lost Dutchman, complete with improvements / facilities the Americans made in that time.
• American war conditions with the Japanese and Arab League remain in effect, neither Japan or the Arab League were a party to these concessions and they are not happy with the outcome of this “separate peace.”
• Americans are not allowed to cooperate with the Russians, Indians, or Consortium against the British in any way.
• In fact, Americans may well wind up fighting AGAINST the Russians, Indians, or Consortium if they attack a British star system.

In game terms, the Americans are AT PEACE with the British and their “campaign threshold” is reduced from a 10 to a 5.  In a weird way, they are almost neutral, fighting on both sides of this war although only in a limited fashion.  Along the coreward shoulder of the Hercules Rim, they remain at war with the Japanese and Arab League.  Along the spinward shoulder, they will probably wind up fighting on the side of the British if anyone attacks a recognized British possession.

Those five American missing campaign commitment points will be taken up by a new faction joining the Coalition of Eagles (although only at a campaign commitment level of “5”).

This new faction is … from their Catania colonies in the Gliese 623 binary red dwarf star system … the NEW ROMAN ALLIANCE (primarily Italians, Spanish, and French).

This is all pretty confusing, but the chart below has been updated to show the complete updated geopolitical situation along the Hercules Rim going forward into 2522.  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Okay, everyone.  I have a lot of catching up to do here to bring the Third Hercules War Community Campaign up to date.

A lot has happened since the last battle report, and these battle reports frankly take too long to do, so I’ll be quickly buzzing through four missing games / battles here to complete the recent campaign timeline.

I’m only doing this now because, as you’ll see, the combined effects of these battles have triggered some major shifts in the Third Hercules War, shifts which directly impact the national strategic standing of several player factions.  These players need to know exactly what’s happening in the Third Hercules War.

So first I have a battle between the Russians and the Arab League in August, 2521 (Darkstar Web Game 42).  This actually took place BEFORE the most recently posted battle report (Darkstar Web Game 43 – Holy Russian Empire v. Royal Navy at Uxbridge, Outer Hebrides / Mu Hercules system).  Once that is presented, we’ll skip past Uxbridge and move to Game 44, US Navy and India against the Japanese at Shindo 919.

There will be more to come after this.  When I am fully caught up we’ll see where we stand, what factions are still in, what factions are out, what separate peace treaties have been signed, and whether Third Hercules War is in fact continuing.

But for now . . .

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
21:55 SOL GMT, 21 AUGUST 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

RUSSIAN COUNTER-RAID ON KAYASHENKO 14 (99 Hercules)

Yet again, the Americans and Russians seem to be checked against the British in the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules) system.  Despite recent American victories at the McClusky-Ramirez gas giant (Alpha Lyra system) and the HH779 comet in the Outer Hebrides, a bloody British victory against the “Three Princesses” cruiser squadron has frustrated Russian plans to cash in on American momentum in the spinward shoulder of the Hercules Rim.  Not only has this allowed the British to yet again step back from the brink of defeat in the Third Hercules War, but also further strained relations between the American and Russian “allies” of the Coalition of Eagles.

Perhaps to show the Americans something of a cold shoulder, the Russians have resolved to “redress their own problems” rather than “help win the Yankees’ war” against the British in the Outer Hebrides.  Withdrawing from the spinward sector of the Hercules Rim, they instead launch a strike against the Arab League foothold recently gained among the moons of the Russians’ own Kayashenko gas giant.  The largest planet in the “Redemption” UN Mandate  in the 99 Hercules system, Kayashenko has at least 60 charted moons, and an Arab League battlegroup lurking among them simply won’t do.

Indeed, several Russian admirals have already contacted friends, both in Krasnaya Nadhezda (Red Hope, 72 Hercules) and Imperial Naval Command in St. Petersburg, demanding to know why Russian cruisers are hammering themselves to ruin to gain an American victory at the Outer Hebrides when an enemy power in fact after has a foothold in Russian space among the moons of Kayashenko.

As for the Arab League, the al-Mutamid battlegroup has hardly paid for their foothold at Kayashenko 14 to give it up to a Russian cruiser raid.  While their fleet lacks the strength to mount a “stand or die” defense of the frozen little moon, Captain Rashid al-Magrebi’s orders are to damage the incoming Russian force as badly as possible, mounting a counterstrike to ensure their sortie against Kayashenko 14 does not become a permanent reoccupation.

HOLY RUSSIAN EMPIRE: @Oriskany
ARAB LEAGUE: @Muakhah
RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (214 points)

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
16:30 SOL GMT, 05 OCTOBER 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

US / INDIA RAID ON SHINDO 919 (Kyokko Bijin / Zeta Hercules)

Frustration among the American commanders at Port Halsey (Virgo / Alpha Lyra system) is running high.  Aboard her flagship, the Gettysburg class heavy cruiser USS Shiloh, Rear-Admiral Virginia Saunders knows that the Russian defeat at Uxbridge (Mu Hercules system) has allowed the Royal Navy to regain its balance . . . yet again.  “I would say these Brits are cats with nine lives,” she snarks in a rare wardroom press conference.  “Except they used more than nine lives some time ago.”

While resources are gathered for a renewed strike against the re-fortified British, the Americans are determined not to let the Renkei Alliance completely regain their footing (or for morale to drop too low among their own crews).  While a direct strike against Mu Hercules is off the table for at least 45 days, a smaller raid can be launched against their Japanese allies in the Zeta Hercules system.  This is especially true once American admirals and State Department diplomats exert sufficient pressure on their Indian Republic allies to step up their involvement in the war.

First to arrive is the Maharina class heavy cruiser INS Basukhalji.  Once Rear-Admiral Saunders has this ship at her disposal, orders for the Zeta Hercules strike are immediate.  Escorted by the USS Princeton and the Marine Corps strike carrier USS Tarawa, this combined battlegroup will smash into the Japanese Kyokko Bijin (Sunrise Beauty) colony at Zeta Hercules.   If nothing else, renewed Indian participation in this war will demonstrate fortified unity among the faltering Coalition of Eagles, keep the Japanese from reinforcing the British at Outer Hebrides, and warn the Russians to step back in line with the “Stars and Stripes” winning a victory along the coreward sector of the Hercules Rim.

As for the Japanese, Captain Seizo Yamamoto’s Kama task force detects the incoming strike with plenty of time to deploy against it.  The Basukhalji is hardly a petite lady, and the magnitude of the Darkstar wave required for a “fast” 20-light-year jump is hard to miss.  Also note that the trajectory of this jump between Port Halsey and Kyokko Bijin takes the Indo-American force right past the British holdings at Mu Hercules.  A Griffon-class patrol boat is dispatched in a 12^th-magnitutde wave to arrive at Zeta Hercules a full 39 hours ahead of the Indo-American force, providing Yamamoto with still more warning.

Accordingly, the Japanese are able to meet the enemy far out along Kyokko Bijin’s outer debris (Kuiper) belt, the two forces colliding near a desolate proto-comet known only as Shindo 919.

JAPAN: @Rasmus
INDIA / UNITED STATES: @Oriskany
RAID VICTORY CONDITIONS (287 points)

There have been some major updates to the Third Hercules War … in fact some parts of it may be over.  So I have some serious updates to make here.  I’ll be catching up over the next day or so, but for now …

Here are new Indian Republic Navy warships – heavy duty classes they’ve never had before – a battleship and a heavy cruiser.  It’s time for them to step up and really start carrying more of their share in this war, and they’ll need the ships to do it.

The Valcour class destroyers of the United States Navy (covered earlier in this reference) entered service in 2498 and were named for small engagements of the American Revolution.  Although never remarkable, the class was considered by many naval experts as some of most solid and reliable all-around destroyers in Known Space.  The class was also made famous by the exploits of some of its more veteran ships (notably, USS Oriskany), and by the design’s modular construction – making it easy to repair and upgrade – even at modest orbital facilities far from major naval support infrastructure.

In the early 2520s, the US Navy decided to initiate the “FRAM-I” program (Fleet Refit and Modernization, Phase One), starting with the workhorse units of the Valcour class.  Again, the design was well-known for its ease of modular replacement, repair, and upgrade, so these ships seemed a natural choice for a stem-to-stern rebuild.  If FRAM-I worked with these select warships, the Navy could then decide whether to expand the program to the rest of the fleet.

Four Valcour class destroyers were chosen for this experiment.  The first was USS Oriskany, most famous of the class.  Veteran of the 19 Draconis, IK Pegasi, Andromeda Arc, Xi Scorpio, Scorpion’s Tail, and Third Hercules Wars, she stood as arguably one of the most celebrated warships in the 26^th Century Navy.  These upgrades were undertaken from 2521-2522 at Port Halsey in the Vega (Alpha Lyra) system, starting with a complete rebuild of the power plant.  New General Electric “StarCore 5600-A” reactors and Todd Shipbuilding “Quasar Mk 21.1” ion drives produce at least 10% more power than the old Mk 16s at the same weight and crew complement.  While this might not sound like much of an improvement, because most ship’s systems remain the same (maneuvering, SLD, transluminal drive, life support), it almost doubles the amount of power available to tactical systems.

While hardly a “quantum leap,” the Valcour FRAM-I refit shows undeniable expansion of protection, fire control, and weapons.  Electronic countermeasures and gravitic shielding are increased along all aft quarters, providing up to 25% additional protection over engines and reactors at typical engagement ranges.  For point-defense, the old 40mm and 20mm chain mass drivers have been replaced with newer, faster-firing 25mm rotary “Bushmaster” mounts.  These provide a slight increase in mass driver protection, while actually as a significant savings in mass and power draw.

While the main battery of 5-gigawatt rail guns (three double turrets) remain in place, along with the two triple-tube arrays of the Mark 48 gravitic torpedo, all weapons are guided by the new Hughes / General Dynamics SPQ-1010 sensor suite, providing significant improvement in accuracy of fire control and suppression of enemy electronic warfare.

Perhaps the most noticeable external change is the removal of the 6-megakelvin laser emitters foreward and aft.  These have been replaced by new McDonnell-Douglas X-Star 221 gravitic-lensed x-ray emitters.  Burning well in to the 75-exohertz frequency range at over 10 gw of power, they can hit like some cruiser-sized guns under the right conditions.

The Oriskany had something of a difficult refit, as she was the first ship to undergo the process and the ship had already been heavily modified and upgraded by her crew.  When she finally emerged from pressure dock in early 2522, however, she was probably one of the most formidable single destroyers in Known Space.  Quick to follow were her sisterships USS Valcour, Ranger, and Kaskaskia.

Only time will tell whether the FRAM-I experiment is considered a success.  Just undertaking the refit has shown to cost the US Navy almost the equivalent of new Shepard class frigate, and combined with the original expense of the ship, a FRAM-I Valcour represents a cost equal to some light cruisers.  But after twenty years of service, at least the US Navy is getting twenty more years of service out of these celebrated “tin cans.”  If the next twenty years prove as successful as the last, the investment will prove worth every penny.

The Maharani class heavy cruiser continues the Indian Republic Navy’s traditions of advanced design, startling beauty, and a long-ranged, highly-accurate focused beam weapons suite.  Originally slated for construction in 2505, the class had something of a troubled inception, as designs were altered repeatedly to incorporate the new “Bhala Saat” GX-7 x-ray emitters.  These were meant to replace the traditional heavy laser batteries at the core of the original design, which were proving troublesome with the Maharani’s powerplant.  Also, there were doubts about the original laser armament’s ability to cope with larger enemy warships like battleships or other heavy cruisers.   Unfortunately, switching to the new “syglex” (synchronized, gravitic-lensed x-ray) technology mid-design forced significant delays with the commissioning of the first ships of the class, during which time older Magadha and smaller Sharada class cruisers had to carry the Indian Republic Navy.

Once the Maharanis finally started coming on-line, however, they made an immediate impact against Russian, Japanese, Arab League, and Panasian opponents in a series of incidents, skirmishes, and small wars across Known Space.  They are light for heavy cruisers, less than 127,000 tons, but the immense power draws of their beam-based weapons suite mean their acceleration curves and maneuver envelope remain comparable to other classes of heavy cruiser.  The weapons are long ranged and deadly-accurate,  but some analysts feel that the lack of particle weapons, rail guns, or torpedoes make the Maharani class something of a lightweight against cruisers like the Slava, Leopold, Iron Duke, or Gettysburg class.  Critics also point to the mixed batteries of 75-exohertz x-ray emitters and 8-megakelvin lasers, an indecisive design choice and proof that the Indian Navy still can’t fully break with its traditional laser-based weapons arrays.  As one American analyst said: “She’s pretty, precise, and accurate … but wants to fight with scalpels against opponents arms with chainsaws.”

Yet early combat experience shows that what the Maharani class lacks in “chainsaws,” she makes up for with blowtorches.  Those syglex emitters out-punch the heavier rail guns of many rival classes of heavy cruiser, even if they come at the cost of a smaller secondary battery and a complete lack of torpedoes.   Typically, a Maharani commander will try to engage larger targets with the syglex emitters, reserving the secondary lasers for smaller warships or to drill into enemy armor already damaged by the syglex emitters, all while staying at range to avoid close-range threats like rail guns or plasma accelerators.

The Maharani class heavy cruisers are named for queens and princesses of Indian nobility during the colonial Raj, terrestrial republic, and interstellar periods.

Like many battleships, the Kali class is as much a national statement as a naval warship.  Named for some of the greatest Hindu deities, these dreadnaughts are huge, sleek, deadly, and as is typical for ships of the Indian Republic, peculiarly beautiful.  Yet beyond their role as “simple” naval assets, the Kali class battleship also proclaims a simple immutable truth.  India is no longer anyone’s “raj”, no longer a vassal state, no longer a jewel in anyone’s imperial crown.  Her navy stands as an equal not only to any of the new “black water” navies like the Arab League, Imperial Prussia, the Holy Russian Empire, or the New Roman Alliance, but also the traditional maritime powerhouses like the United States, Japan, or the United Kingdom.

Tipping the scales at just under 340,000 tons, the Kali class is actually quite light for a battleship.  This is typical for the Indian Navy, given their exclusive preference for focus-beam weapons suites rather than “crude” weapons like rail guns, plasma accelerators, or particle weapons.  These weapons draw tremendous power, however, leaving the Kali with average sublight maneuverability and transluminal speeds.  Protection is also somewhat standard, with enhanced shielding only directly over the huge  Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders MDT-19 “Taaron-Ka” (Starlight) engines and reactors.  Point-defense systems are also solid, if average for a warships of this size.

Where the Kali excels, however, is in her lethality.  One of the more dangerous battleship designs in Known Space, she pack a horrific, three-tiered array of long-ranged beam weapons.  First, three massive triple turrets of gravitically-lensed coherent x-ray (“syglex” or “xaser”) emitters can strip the armor off an entire enemy battleship or installation at ranges out to 3000 kilometers with single broadside, at closer ranges with one or two hits.  Yet these weapons are actually unwieldy against smaller targets, where the massive secondary battery 12-megakelvin lasers (some of the largest such weapons in Known Space) and the tertiary batteries of 6-megakelvin lasers come in, packing enough firepower to core a light cruiser.  At twelve guns each, these secondary and tertiary batteries alone match the firepower of most heavy cruisers at medium ranges.  As if these sheer firepower were not enough, this whole weapons suite is slaved to the Bharat Electronics “Tryambakam” (Third Eye) targeting acquisition and fire control suite, making these weapons deadly accurate.

Engagements with a Kali class should be undertaken with extreme care.  Most enemy battleships and heavy cruisers would be advised to close as quickly as possible since the Kali will enjoy a range advantage against most comparable weapons batteries.  Once close in, many of the Kali’s superior attributes begin to fade against the class’ shortfalls, namely their somewhat underwhelming defense systems.

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
04:10 SOL GMT, 19 SEPTEMBER 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

**UNITED NATIONS COMMUNIQUE**

With recent defeats at the McClusky-Ramirez gas giant (Alpha Lyra system) and the HH779 comet in the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules), the British Empire has again been brought to the brink of defeat in the Third Hercules War. American planetary assault ships are now lurking in the Oort Cloud and outer debris discs of the Mu Hercules system, ready to land battalions of US Marines on British colonies and run up the stars and stripes, while bristling cruiser squadrons of the Holy Russian Empire are making fast Darkstar approaches from the coreward system of Krasnaya Nadhezda (72 Hercules). This is effectively putting the Outer Hebrides colonies in a pincer, with British resources … and time … rapidly running out.

All is not well in the “winning camp,” however. Relations between the Russian and American “allies” of the so-called Coalition of Eagles have reached an ominous chill. Russian naval units seem to always be present for coalition victories, while the burden of defeats are left for the Americans alone to bear. This has resulted in the Holy Russian Empire stacking up as much political capital at the UN negotiating table as the United States, while the Americans are left paying the vast majority of the cost, in naval assets, money, and of course blood. Making matters worse, the naval battlegroups of their Indian Republic allies haven’t shown up much at all.

This has resulted in something of a breakdown of communication and liaison between the American naval command at Port Halsey (Alpha Lyra system) and the Russian Admiralty at Krasnaya Nadhezda (Red Hope, 72 Hercules). Neither of these “allies” much trusts each other, each convinced that the other is trying to “steal” the victor’s spoils from Britain’s inevitable defeat.

Perhaps it was inevitable, therefore, that one side or the other would launch a quick strike at the British first, without consultation or coordination with their allies, in the hopes of scoring the “knockout blow” against the British and claiming final victory entirely for their own flag.

The Russians win this race, lashing into Mu Hercules with a newly-arrived squadron of heavy cruisers, built around three of the new “Wave Two” Slava (Glory) class heavy cruisers. Nicknamed the “Three Sisters,” these cruisers bear the names of the three daughters of Czar Michael I, founder of the Romanov Dynasty. Supported by a Gagargin-class light fleet carrier, this powerful task force sorties into Mu Hercules with orders to smash whatever remains of the weakened Royal Navy, and claim the system (along with final victory) for the Holy Mother Russia.

The British, however, aren’t as powerless as the Russians estimate. Although outnumbered and outgunned, a crash repair and refit program has brought Task Force Agamemnon (Commodore Edward Cavendish) back on line. Alerted by Peregrine¬-class gunboats, Cavendish vectors to the colonized terrestrial planet Uxbridge (about 80% the mass of Earth) to intercept the Russian invader.

HOLY RUSSIAN EMPIRE: @Oriskany
UNITED KINGDOM: @Damon

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
09:10 SOL GMT, 23 AUGUST 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

**UNITED NATIONS COMMUNIQUE**

The general American offensive continues to unfold across the Hercules Rim, a clear indication of their desire to bring their participation in the Third Hercules War to a decisive and successful conclusion.  Almost simultaneously with the successful raid they and their Russian allies have carried off at the HH779 comet in the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules A/B), other elements of Task Force Oriskany have sortied from Port Halsey and made the incredible 60 light-years to Khaizan’s Haven in just two over weeks.*  Their mission is to hit the Arab League’s surveillance outpost and naval staging platform orbiting Bayankhongor,

*[In game terms, all the ships in Task Force Oriskany have purchased sufficient FTL upgrades until they can generate 12-magnitude Darkstar waves, giving them approximately x1000 c superluminal speeds.]

Bayankhongor is something of an oddity, a terrestrial planet in an irregular orbit, highly eccentric to the solar plane and much further from the 14 Hercules parent star than is found in most standard solar system models.  Some speculate it is actually an escaped moon from one of the systems outer ice giants, others guess Bayankhongor was tossed out of its original orbit by migrating gas giants in the system’s early history.  Bayankhongor is also a Mongol name, a vestige of 14 Hercules’ previous Black Dragon occupants (the League hasn’t yet given the rogue planet a new Arabic name).

The purpose of the American raid may seem unclear until one reviews the over situation in the Third Hercules War.  Obviously the American effort is focused against the British along the spinward shoulder of the Hercules Rim.  But while the Americans have their hands full in places like the Outer Hebrides, the last thing they want are Japanese or Arab League allies showing up to help the British.  So the Bayankhongor Raid is meant to pin down other Renkei Alliance forces on the coreward shoulder of the Hercules Rim, demonstrating that Japanese and League holdings out here remain under threat, and discourage redeployments to help the British at the Outer Hebrides.

As for the League, their mission is much less circumspect.  With these repeated incursions by the Russians and now the Americans, the League remains determined to defend these new holdings at 14 Hercules.  “Stay out of Khaizan’s Haven,” one League commenter was heard to say.  “This is our system, we stole it from the Black Dragons fair and square!”

United States: Oriskany
Arab League: Muakhah
212 points per side
RAID victory rules

FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
22:45 SOL GMT, 19 AUGUST 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)

**UNITED NATIONS COMMUNIQUE**

The current war raging across the Hercules Rim continues to escalate as the United States Navy has embarked on what seems to be a campaign aimed at winning at least their part of this conflict once and for all.  After taking a pause to recover from their losses and setbacks in their failed Hawking’s Star campaign earlier in the spring, then breaking a British raid into the outskirts of the Port Halsey colonies (Vega / Lyra Alpha), they have now embarked on a general offensive on both the coreward and spinward shoulders of the Hercules Rim.

The first of these blows has landed against the British, fairly predictable given the proximity of Port Halsey to two of Britain’s largest colonial systems in this region, Hawking’s Star (HR 6806) and the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules A/B).  Wanting no part of Hawking’s Star after their earlier frustrations, the Americans have instead shifted focus to the Outer Hebrides, joining with allies in the Holy Russian Empire for a strike against the Outer Hebrides colonies in Mu Hercules A/B.  This is a binary star system with a large main sequence star just beginning to enter its red giant phase, and a much smaller red dwarf.  British population and industrial settlements orbit the larger star, toward which the Americans have their approach by masking their task force behind the tail of a comet.

This is Holmsberg-Hebrides 779 (Comet HH779), which is now close enough to Mu Hercules A to begin streaming tails of ionized gas, sublimated frozen nitrogen, and crystallized water ice.  As these materials shed off the comet’s core, outgassing and geysers have also cracked off large slabs of dust-mixed ice and porous rock, calving off the comet like slabs off a melting glacier.

This is the material the Americans and Russians (the so-called “Coalition of Eagles”) have been using to hide their low-speed, high-stealth Darkstar approach into Mu Hercules A, followed by their final sublight approach toward the first Royal Navy installations in the inner orbital zones of the system.  The cover has screened their approach to a surprising degree, but a British Griffin-class gunboat has finally spotted them, and Task Force Agamemnon (Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish) has been sortied to intercept.

The battle promises to be a dramatic one.  Not only is Task Force Agamemnon one of the more powerful and prestigious British formations in the Third Hercules War, but the approaching Americans and Russians represent some of the most battle-hardened ships in Known Space.  These include the light cruiser CPK Admiral Lazarev and destroyer Syekyra, and the American light fleet carrier USS Liberty, carrying squadrons VSF-221 “The Dead Rabbits” and VSA-193 “The Eight Ball Express.”  Rounding out the American force is none other than the Valcour-class destroyer USS Oriskany.  One way or another, the Battle of Comet HH779 promises to be memorable.

United States / Holy Russian Empire: Oriskany
United Kingdom: Damon
497 points per side
RAID victory rules