Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - The Galaxy Awaits ... Choose Your Path!(Aurora)

Brian Swartz · 10-12-2013, 01:43 PM

** OOC Note: I intended to write a dramatic speech/press conference at the end of this, but after several drafts I couldn't get it the way I wanted. I'm not that comfortable with writing specific dialogue/speeches, etc. so I just decided to leave it as a summary and put the rest of that to the reader's imagination.**

OPERATION POST MORTEM: TIMELINE

** July 30, 2058 -- The JSC Hyperion reaches the wreckage and makes a thorough close-range scan. No signs of life or anything out of the ordinary in the sector of space other than the destroyed ship. The decision is made to scan a nearby jump point location for possible point of entry into Epsilon Eridani before returning to Sol.

** August 2 -- Halfway or so to the jump survey location, a massive active gravitational sensor is detected, about 250-300m km away(note: I'm still getting used to accurately measuring distances and am not that good at it yet). The Hyperion immediately changes course to rendezvous with the other ships at the Sol jump point. The other ship moves to intercept, and is much faster, easily closing the gap.

** August 3, 5:34 AM -- Two flights of 10 missiles each are detected in close proximity to the Hyperion. Less than ten seconds later, the ship is destroyed by six to seven impacts. Almost half the crew makes it to lifepods, but these have only a two-week reserve of supplies and nobody can make it that far. On board are 240 crew, Commander Dan Spengler, and official observers Gov. Herman Fox and Gov. Cruz Luscombe.

The Velociraptor and Excelsior are ordered back to Earth immediately. They couldn't reach the lifepods until twice the two-week time expired, and could do nothing about it if they got there with no cryogenic storage, recovery apparatus, etc.

Director Herbert Duling secretly pauses several research projects to get the top scientists to SPACE HQ to assist in a group studying the sensor logs and other aspects of these events

** August 11 -- With the Excelsior approaching Earth, available time for delaying a public statement is up and a press conference called at SPACE HQ. Flanked by Chief of the Navy Ellie Camble, Chief of the Army Sterling Silvers, and several of the top scientists, Herbert Duling explains the fate of the Hyperion, though some details are left out(and the wrecks in Lalande 21185 are still classified discoveries as well).

Duling summarizes the mission, commends the heroism of the men and women of both ships(Intrepid and Hyperion), and then turns his attention to SPACE's response to these events. He stresses the strength humanity has shown in unifying after decades of war and successfully pursuing peace in the last 30+ years, he emphasizes that the attacks in Epsilon Eridani were ted were completely unprovoked and conducted by an enemy that was either unwilling or unable to communicate with our ships. Despite humanity's well-earned distaste for war, war was indeed upon us once again, with our foe an alien race of some kind with technology far beyond our own current capabilities.

** Facing this new threat would require a single-minded focus. A shift in priorities was required. The 2% Initiative and all further interstellar explorations were halted for the time being, with the Ministry of Resource Development confident that enough resources were available in Sol so long as it remained secure to supply humanity's needs for decades to come. It was no longer possible to view long-term economic prosperity as the only goal -- that must take somewhat of a back seat now.

** The top priority to pursue is to know our new enemy: intelligence. Citing the universally recognized need for this, from both BoG(Board of Governors) and the scientific community, Duling announced that SPACE's approach would be to first increase sensor capabilities in Sol.

** Development of a sensor buoy, and if needed a carrier vessel to deploy them at all seven Sol jump points.

** Expansion of deep space tracking stations on Earth and deployment of smaller ones at least on Titan and possibly on other colonies.

** Basic passive sensors will be deployed as soon as possible on all SPACE-operated vessels, military or commercial grade.

** A shift in research focus to improving our relative technology level in sensors and propulsion(espescially reducing thermal emissions to become less visible to the enemy's passive sensors) as a top priority. Economic techs were still important, but less so in comparison now to what the military would need.

** A full weapons review, which was still a couple years away, would be conducted as soon as possible with an eye to defense of Sol first.

CLASSIFIED BRIEFING

Sensor logs indicate that the Intrepid was destroyed in similar fashion to the Hyperion. Only one enemy vessel was detected, but it was capable of a top speed of over 6k km/s, four times that of our fastest ships, and the missiles which destroyed the Hyperion were tracked at speeds of at least 20k km/s, possibly closer to 30k.

It seems likely that they aliens destroyed our ships to keep us from something in that area of Epsilon Eridani, given that both vessels were attacked in the same general area of space. Perhaps a jump point to a more important system, since they don't seem to have moved and earlier investigation of the inner system brought no indications of an alien prescence in the system, though all this is merely educated guestimation. We just plain don't know. What we do know is they appear to be powerful enough that they could wipe us out on a whim if they chose to do so -- at the speed of their vessels, they could have already reached Earth if they'd wanted to and knew where the jump was.

The internal conclusion of SPACE is that most likely our technological primitiveness is actually an advantadge in this case: we are as threatening to them as a man might consider an insect to be. You don't go out of your way to kill an insect where it lives, you just swat it away if it annoys you, then go back to what you were previously doing. Most likely we are essentially beneath their notice, unworthy of significante effort. Furthermore, the wrecks in Lalande 21185 indicate it is very possible that we may have stumbled into the middle of an interstellar war between multiple alien species. In this case they would have bigger problems to deal with, espescially if they were on the losing end of that battle. The assessment at the moment is that there are almost certainly at least two alien species operating in known space because of that, possibly more(if the ship in Epsilon Eridani doesn't belong to either faction involved).

In any case, our best chance at survival is in getting better intelligence and developing the ability to wage war in space, regardless what the enemy decides to do or what their undetermined motivations are. A diplomatic solutions seems highly unlikely given their 'just attack' stance against the Hyperion and presumably the Intrepid as well, but if one is possible it will be best served by not again provoking in Epsilon Eridani an enemy we have no way of hurting at present.

The sensor buoys at the jump points and tracking stations on Earth that will be built are to some extent political measures -- it won't do any good if our naval combat capability isn't up to the task. However it is also true that the Navy needs better intel in order to intelligently design ships which have the best chance of defending humanity against the alien threat.

10-12-2013, 01:43 PM	#167
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	OOC Note: I intended to write a dramatic speech/press conference at the end of this, but after several drafts I couldn't get it the way I wanted. I'm not that comfortable with writing specific dialogue/speeches, etc. so I just decided to leave it as a summary and put the rest of that to the reader's imagination. OPERATION POST MORTEM: TIMELINE ** July 30, 2058 -- The JSC Hyperion reaches the wreckage and makes a thorough close-range scan. No signs of life or anything out of the ordinary in the sector of space other than the destroyed ship. The decision is made to scan a nearby jump point location for possible point of entry into Epsilon Eridani before returning to Sol. August 2 -- Halfway or so to the jump survey location, a massive active gravitational sensor is detected, about 250-300m km away(note: I'm still getting used to accurately measuring distances and am not that good at it yet). The Hyperion immediately changes course to rendezvous with the other ships at the Sol jump point. The other ship moves to intercept, and is much faster, easily closing the gap. August 3, 5:34 AM -- Two flights of 10 missiles each are detected in close proximity to the Hyperion. Less than ten seconds later, the ship is destroyed by six to seven impacts. Almost half the crew makes it to lifepods, but these have only a two-week reserve of supplies and nobody can make it that far. On board are 240 crew, Commander Dan Spengler, and official observers Gov. Herman Fox and Gov. Cruz Luscombe. The Velociraptor and Excelsior are ordered back to Earth immediately. They couldn't reach the lifepods until twice the two-week time expired, and could do nothing about it if they got there with no cryogenic storage, recovery apparatus, etc. Director Herbert Duling secretly pauses several research projects to get the top scientists to SPACE HQ to assist in a group studying the sensor logs and other aspects of these events August 11 -- With the Excelsior approaching Earth, available time for delaying a public statement is up and a press conference called at SPACE HQ. Flanked by Chief of the Navy Ellie Camble, Chief of the Army Sterling Silvers, and several of the top scientists, Herbert Duling explains the fate of the Hyperion, though some details are left out(and the wrecks in Lalande 21185 are still classified discoveries as well). Duling summarizes the mission, commends the heroism of the men and women of both ships(Intrepid and Hyperion), and then turns his attention to SPACE's response to these events. He stresses the strength humanity has shown in unifying after decades of war and successfully pursuing peace in the last 30+ years, he emphasizes that the attacks in Epsilon Eridani were ted were completely unprovoked and conducted by an enemy that was either unwilling or unable to communicate with our ships. Despite humanity's well-earned distaste for war, war was indeed upon us once again, with our foe an alien race of some kind with technology far beyond our own current capabilities. Facing this new threat would require a single-minded focus. A shift in priorities was required. The 2% Initiative and all further interstellar explorations were halted for the time being, with the Ministry of Resource Development confident that enough resources were available in Sol so long as it remained secure to supply humanity's needs for decades to come. It was no longer possible to view long-term economic prosperity as the only goal -- that must take somewhat of a back seat now. The top priority to pursue is to know our new enemy: intelligence. Citing the universally recognized need for this, from both BoG(Board of Governors) and the scientific community, Duling announced that SPACE's approach would be to first increase sensor capabilities in Sol. Development of a sensor buoy, and if needed a carrier vessel to deploy them at all seven Sol jump points. Expansion of deep space tracking stations on Earth and deployment of smaller ones at least on Titan and possibly on other colonies. Basic passive sensors will be deployed as soon as possible on all SPACE-operated vessels, military or commercial grade. A shift in research focus to improving our relative technology level in sensors and propulsion(espescially reducing thermal emissions to become less visible to the enemy's passive sensors) as a top priority. Economic techs were still important, but less so in comparison now to what the military would need. A full weapons review, which was still a couple years away, would be conducted as soon as possible with an eye to defense of Sol first. CLASSIFIED BRIEFING Sensor logs indicate that the Intrepid was destroyed in similar fashion to the Hyperion. Only one enemy vessel was detected, but it was capable of a top speed of over 6k km/s, four times that of our fastest ships, and the missiles which destroyed the Hyperion were tracked at speeds of at least 20k km/s, possibly closer to 30k. It seems likely that they aliens destroyed our ships to keep us from something in that area of Epsilon Eridani, given that both vessels were attacked in the same general area of space. Perhaps a jump point to a more important system, since they don't seem to have moved and earlier investigation of the inner system brought no indications of an alien prescence in the system, though all this is merely educated guestimation. We just plain don't know. What we do know is they appear to be powerful enough that they could wipe us out on a whim if they chose to do so -- at the speed of their vessels, they could have already reached Earth if they'd wanted to and knew where the jump was. The internal conclusion of SPACE is that most likely our technological primitiveness is actually an advantadge in this case: we are as threatening to them as a man might consider an insect to be. You don't go out of your way to kill an insect where it lives, you just swat it away if it annoys you, then go back to what you were previously doing. Most likely we are essentially beneath their notice, unworthy of significante effort. Furthermore, the wrecks in Lalande 21185 indicate it is very possible that we may have stumbled into the middle of an interstellar war between multiple alien species. In this case they would have bigger problems to deal with, espescially if they were on the losing end of that battle. The assessment at the moment is that there are almost certainly at least two alien species operating in known space because of that, possibly more(if the ship in Epsilon Eridani doesn't belong to either faction involved). In any case, our best chance at survival is in getting better intelligence and developing the ability to wage war in space, regardless what the enemy decides to do or what their undetermined motivations are. A diplomatic solutions seems highly unlikely given their 'just attack' stance against the Hyperion and presumably the Intrepid as well, but if one is possible it will be best served by not again provoking in Epsilon Eridani an enemy we have no way of hurting at present. The sensor buoys at the jump points and tracking stations on Earth that will be built are to some extent political measures -- it won't do any good if our naval combat capability isn't up to the task. However it is also true that the Navy needs better intel in order to intelligently design ships which have the best chance of defending humanity against the alien threat.