The Trade Order had thrived for over one thousand years since the end of the Great Wars, the phase lanes filled with goods, worlds prospered, and humanity entered a golden age. War became another thing of the past, seen only through historical holo-dramas, disputes were settled in Trader sanctioned courts and new colonies grew every year as thousands of systems were colonized. The worlds lost in the Great Wars were forgotten to the ever expanding Ghost Nebula. The millennia of prosperity came to a shattering halt with the arrival of the Vasari Exodus Fleet on what would become known as the Xeno Front, or northern front. The outlying worlds of the Trade order fell quickly to the alien advance, civilian casualties were estimated in the hundreds of billions, but there was no way to truly know.
The desperate Trade Order reorganized itself into the Trader Emergency Coalition, humanity's beacon of hope in its darkest hour, and began to fight back. The long forgotten ways of war were rediscovered and the forces of humanity were marshaled to the front to shield humanity from the Vasari spearhead. Shipyards and factories, once making luxury space yachts and air cars were now producing warships and weapons. Orbital farms and habitats were now side by side with planetary shields and defences. The vast commercial fleets were refitted into the valiant defenders of the Trade Order.
For ten bitter years the fleets of the TEC held off the Vasari juggernaut, hope had rekindled among humanity, but their past would soon catch up to them. The long banished Demons, the twisted cousins of humanity, now calling themselves the Advent returned with nightmarish technology and a vast fleet of warships. Their technology was beyond evil, twisted cybernetic integration, countless use neurochemicals, strange collectiveness, and a desire to make humanity suffer for their banishment beyond the Ghost Nebula. The death toll of the war skyrocketed to over one trillion human lives.
Humanity now fought a two front war for its very survival, the Vasari on the northern front, and the Advent the eastern front. For five more years the TEC fought a desperate two front war until the Advent and Vasari war machines began to slow, the war ground to a halt and the TEC built massive starbases to defend their remaining worlds.
Another five years of war ground on, the Advent and Vasari building their own starbases to solidify their new claims, led to an unwinnable war, so diplomacy was finally given a chance. The Vasari, desperate to move on to a new area of space and unwilling to say why, wanted to have time to replenish their resources and move on, the TEC wanted reparations for the unprovoked attack and loss of half a trillion civilian lives. The Advent demanded humanity integrate into their "Unity" or leave in exile as they had a thousand years before, if they wouldn't integrate or leave, then they would face total annihilation.
All sides began to prepare for the final blow, the discovery of a tiny phase route through the massive radiation storm that blocked the ghost nebula was the opening that the TEC needed. Captured astrogation data and Advent records showed that the nebula bordered the Advent core worlds. The nebula was just as impenetrable on the Advent border, but physicists believed it to be possible to use Vassari technology to create an artificial phase lane through the radiation storm.
Two tactical schools of thought in the TEC had split the strategy board, the old school of thought had deemed the nebula as a waste and pushed for an all out offensive on the Advent front to smash them and knock them out of the war. The plan they came up with was Case Armageddon, sending about 80% of the total TEC tonnage, the casualties would be massive, but the action would be decisive. Either the Advent fleet or the TEC fleet would be totally annihilated.
The new tactical school of thought was all for the nebula and their grand strategy called for a smaller fleet, about 40% of the total TEC tonnage, to go through the nebula and crush the Advent Homeworlds. Once the fleet had established a foothold, they would construct Novalith cannons, massive rail cannons with nuclear warheads to sterilize planets and bring the Advent down from the inside.
A compromise was made, an offensive on the Advent front was to use about 25% of the tonnage, the goal was to punch a small hole in the Advent defense and hold out as long as possible, not to smash all the way to their core worlds. At the same time, a fleet of about 45% of the tonnage would be attacking the core worlds through the nebula. To pull off this attack, they would establish a naval yard, colony, and listening outpost on the verge of the nebula where the fleet could rally and retreat to if necessary. To establish such a massive complex would take several years, during that time the Vasari front would be reinforced to make it look like the massive offensive would be against the Vasari.
Establishing this outpost would be a challenge because no one really knew what was on the other side, so a tiny force of four capital ships, the TDN Homeworld, an Akkan class battlecruiser, the TDN Magnum, a Mazra class dreadnought, the TDN Havoc, and the TDN Savage, two Kol class battleships would be sent to establish. Supporting cruisers included twelve Kodiak heavy cruisers, ten Honshiko repair cruisers, ten Percheron light carriers, fifteen Javalis LRM frigates, seven Grada flak frigates and twenty-five Cobalt light frigates. Several Raloz constructor cruisers would help build a Argonev class starbase and a phase node.
The phase node was made from captured Vasari phase technology and would be made in a starbase hull, once constructed, it would allow the rest of the fleet to phase jump directly to the node.
Command of the operation would be given to commodore Hannah Petrikov, a twenty year veteran of the Advent front, she had been in command of the TDN Homeworld for the last eight years, and in command of the task force for the past four years. During her time in the navy, she had earned ninety three major engagement stars, thirty eight capital ship kills, the Terran Cross, and several lesser awards.
The other members of her staff included, Susan Juarez, captain of the Havoc, and a eighteen year veteran of the Advent front. Captain James Dominica, her intelligence officer and captain of the Savage, a twenty five year veteran of the Xeno front. Commander Malcolm Santos of the Magnum, who was the newest member of the command, and captain Paul Santos, Malcolm's older brother and commodore Petrikov's executive officer.
Hannah Petrikov stood in front of the mirror, mentally preparing herself for the final meeting with the Admiralty, after almost thirty years of fighting, the Admiralty was highly factional, and politics within were like pulling teeth. She personally knew she couldn't change any decision made, so she just tried not to care.
Hannah was, like most people from her homeworld, Artis II, descended from a place on Old Earth called the Soviet Union and another place called Ireland. What those places were like she would never know, Old Earth had been destroyed in the Great Wars a thousand years before. however, she had inherited a more Irish complexion, in contrast to her name, fair freckled skin, green eyes, and reddish hair that she wore down to her shoulders. The planet she had been born on was gone too, destroyed in the original Xeno offensive.
The Admiralty was waiting for her in the main conference room of the Argonev class starbase orbiting the fortress world of Galanthus. Galanthus was one of the most populous, industrialized, and defended worlds in what was left of the outer worlds, making it even more important was the fact that it orbited a star that was a major choke point leading to core worlds. From here her modest task force would embark on the most important operation in human history. She saluted to the guards at the door and stepped into the room, everyone in it stopped what they were doing and rose to look at her.
"Commodore." High Admiral Lewis, the Commander of the Eastern front as a whole, greeted her."
"Admiral." She saluted to the Admiralty.
"so glad you could join us, commodore." Rear admiral Baxter sneered. Rear admiral Baxter was an admiral who was known for his aggressive tactics and contempt for those, like Hannah, who put the lives of those under their command ahead of total victory. Baxter had held a scathing hatred for her ever since Operation Divine Providence, where she had saved his command and stopped the biggest Advent advance yet. After the fiasco that had been his attempt at an "aggressive defense", he had been moved to the R&D board and barred from fleet command.
In the lengthy discussion that followed, the final plan was reviewed. First, the outpost would be set up. Then the Phase Gate constructed, finally the fleet would enter the sector beyond the Ghost Nebula, dubbed the Solanus sector, and from there the fall of the unity would begin. So would end the war, Either in the Advent being totally annihilated, or the TEC and humanity with it.
A/N: Welcome to the world of sins of a solar empire, this just might be my favorite RTS ever made, up there with perfect general 2, age of empires, and Star wars empire at war. The one disappointing part was the lack of a story or any sort of conclusion, so here's my version. unlike skyrim, expect more than four updates in a year.
Echo