Prologue
The Ark has been in space for two generations, ever since a gamma-ray burst destroyed the Argon homeworld. When the Argon astronomer's first detected the gamma-ray burst it was determined that they had 150 years before the end, in that time, they built 10 Arks. Our Ark was Ark 4, but everyone just referred to it as the Ark. It was a hollowed out asteroid approximately 30km by 20km by 20km and home to 30 million souls.
They had a fleet of shuttles and three large cargo ships for transporting people and supplies from the surface of the Argon. The Aragonese would be getting their raw materials from asteroids they encountered on their journey. They constructed a fleet of tugs to be used in mining asteroids.
Once underway, the cargo ships were repurposed into asteroid processors.
When they left Argon, each chose a different direction since they did not yet have a viable FTL drive their top speed was limited to 0.5 C. For the first 50 years they all communicated regularly, Two Arks found suitable planets and an another 3 joined them. One Ark found an alien race and the last we heard from them was that they were being boarded.
As a result of this attack, plasma weapons were developed and installed on the Arks. They rebuilt the shuttles into a type of fighter bomber to protect their mining operations. Ark 4 voted on whether to join the other Arks at the habitable planets or keep going; they decided to keep looking for a home of their own.
The Ark is a closed biosphere with farms for food, forested areas, and lakes. It had six habitable levels each approximately 100 square kilometers and each having a population of 5 million people. Two levels were left for forests and the massive fusion reactors the Ark required for its power requirements. This made for a crowded existence but not as crowded as some of the cities on Argon. The space around the populated levels was constantly being converted into open areas for parks/forests and hydroponic gardens. Minerals would come from asteroids and any shortfall in water could also be found in the many asteroids they encountered along the way. Electrolysis would be used to split water into its constituent elements, hydrogen, and oxygen. Power came from fusion reactors that ran on hydrogen and helium 3. They are both available from the solar wind. Helium 3 will also be collected from asteroids and moons that they pasted on their journey. Hydrogen can be collected with a magnetic scoop anywhere in space, with the heaviest concentrations being close to stars.
The original design had the Arks accelerating at 1g to create gravity but this caused a multitude of problems least of which was the power requirements. So, each Ark's created a science department, that was given limitless resources, to work on different areas of physics. One found a way to create gravity plates. While the Arks were still being hollowed out. Another, after we left, developed a way to transmute elements; they shared this via a conference call between all of the Arks. During these calls, our scientists shared where they were on creating a space-time bubble, as we were tasked with developing an FTL drive. Several years later we created our first FTL drive.
(Main conference room on the Ark)
Admiral Jackson, who was both the most senior military officer and also was the expedition leader called the meeting.
"Ok, people let get this meeting underway"
The first order business is to create a defensive fleet of 15 to 20 cruisers both for exploration when we stop in a solar system and defense.
He motioned to the defense secretary, Robert Burns.
"Who moved to the podium and continued"
These ships will be FTL capable and have plasma weapons and shields. The plasma weapons are the same as we installed on the Ark, and are an outgrowth of what the miners use to cut asteroids into manageable pieces. For the shields, a Graphene coating six inches thick will cover the entire ship. Graphene has a property that when exposed to a super-strong magnetic field, it creates a shield, this shield or field emanates out from the Graphene to several meters. When a projectile enters the shield, it will be slowed down causing it to change its kinetic energy into heat destroying itself in the process. And, the magnetic field itself will provide protection against plasma. Also, remember for protection from solar radiation our ships already had hulls that are 15 meters thick. So these two features should give us some measure of protection in most situations.
(Nine months later)
The Ark arrived in a star system with two other nearby stars. Adm. Jackson called the navigation officer, Commander Wells, to bridge.
Commander Wells, I want you to supervise setting up radio telescopes on a suitable moon.
We will be in the system mining asteroids, for about six months you will have four months to do a complete a survey of the surrounding systems. We will then be able to plan our next move.
As you discover habitable planets, we will immediately dispatch a cruiser to investigate. About three weeks later Commander Wells asked to see Adm. Jackson,
"He entered the admiral's. quarters and reported"
Adm. Jackson, "Wells started," approximately 4 1/2 ly from here we found a planet that has both water and an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. T he cruiser Cirrus under the command of Capt. Berkley was sent to investigate.
(The cruiser Cirrus, in the newly discovered system)
The cruiser came out of FTL mode behind a large blue gas giant. The system had eight planets with several planetoids much farther out from the star.
There was a large fleet encircling the third planet from the sun.
"Lieut. Simpson, the communications officer," was recording the electromagnetic radiation coming from the planet and fleet. Just, as they were getting a translation from the computer, a ship appeared off the Cirrus port bow.
Captain Berkeley ordered the crew to general quarters, "shields up and all weapons manned." get the AI working translating any signals from that ship.
"Lieut. Simpson spoke up", Adm. We have a translation, to which the Admiral replied, put it on the speaker.
"Unknown vessel, this is the Battlestar Triton. Please stand down and be prepared to be boarded".
"To which Captain Berkeley responded," Battlestar Triton this is the cruiser Cirrus of the Argon Federation, we will not allow you to board us and are prepared to defend ourselves. We are peaceful travelers and are not looking for any form of conflict. We are transmitting a video feed in the same electromagnetic range you use.
Lieut. Emerson scan all the frequencies and see if you could pick up a video signal from them.
In a few minutes, a man in a blue uniform standing in what appeared to be the bridge of a ship appeared on their view screens.
A surprised look appeared on his face; I am Commander Anders of the "12 colonies of Kobol". We were let to believe Earth did not have any space-capable ships!
To which Capt. Berkley replied we are not from Earth. While we both appear to be humanoid I'm not sure we have identical DNA. Also, Commander Anders, we have scanned your ship, and we have found except for two individuals you all show as human.
"Commander Anders then asked," Capt. Berkley, it is important that we verify this for ourselves can you send us a copy of your DNA. Capt. Berkley replied we will send a small drone with our DNA so you can verify.
Both ships sat in space facing each other for about an hour.
When the viewscreen became active again, Commander Anders reappeared.
It appears that our DNA is close enough for us to consider you to be human, as such you fall under the Articles of Colonization, so I repeat my request by the power invested in me from the Lords of Kobol. You will stand down and be prepared to be boarded.
To which Capt. Berkeley replied, "No we will not stand down, and we will defend ourselves.
"The tactical officer said," They are powering up weapons and launching fighters, some of those fighters have nukes.
"Capt. Berkley was quick to order," con hard left and 30° up, tactical if they fire, return fire, but under no circumstance fire first.
Bow beam, concentrate, on their ship. Dorsal beams get rid of those fighters with nukes.
The Triton fired its forward KEW's and scored two hits on the Cirrus; The Cirrus shook violently,
"Capt. Berkley asked," tactical any damage.
The tactical officer replied, no but if they hit us several more times or happen to get two shots at the same location, I believe they will get through the shields. I am calculating the effects on the hull now. Here are the results; four or five hits in the same location will penetrate our hull. Our plasma beams are cutting into their hulls causing massive explosions. They are launching missiles with nukes, but we can easily outrun them as they are powered with chemical rockets. Tactical advises that we keep moving to avoid being hit in the same location while our plasma beams are taking their ships apart and sweeping space clean of missiles and fighters. As long as we are careful and keep moving, we outclass them, they only hit us cause we were not yet up to speed. With that, the Cirrus entered hyperspace.
(Back at the Ark)
Capt. Berkeley was summoned to the admiral's ready room and ordered to report.
"Capt. Berkeley started," Admiral, we ran into another race of humans they had ships called battle stars and although several of them could do damage to one of our ships on a ship to ship basis we outclass them. Our shields offer a measure of protection from their KEW weapons and nukes, the thick hulls will provide some protection from the blast of their nukes while the magnetic field will block out the radiation. But make no mistake they can wear us down, with a nuke tearing away large areas of grapheme and then the KEW weapons penetrating the hull.
Our plasma weapons were very effective in penetrating their hulls and could cut them up as if they were an asteroid. Our beams easily dealt with their fighters.
"To which Adm. Jackson replied," recommendations
"Capt. Berkeley continued," When attacking their ships, I would recommend concentrating on the same location, to penetrate into the interior of the ships. The two most sensitive areas appear to be just ahead of their engine block and the head which resembles an alligator head. We need a way to replace the Graphene coating when it is penetrated or damaged by their weapons. I recommend it's a skill that our damage control teams quickly develop. Also, to a certain degree, their nukes and missiles are an unknown factor at this time. Our best defense is our speed, and our ability to regenerate our shields.
We need smaller ships dedicated to dealing with their missiles and fighters. When sending a cruiser would not be practical.
My crew's performance was outstanding but, we need an AI targeting system to control the beams to guard against being swarmed with missiles.
Also, we should get tactical to simulate various size nuclear explosions against our hull. Our sensors should tell us the size of their nukes.
"Adm. Jackson stood up," Anything more you would like to add Capt. Berkeley, who replied, as you'll see from the transmissions we recorded, I think they were attacking a planet in that system.
"Adm. Jackson turns to his Chief of Staff," yes I believe Capt. Berkeley is correct there was a battle of some kind going on there.
"Okay, Capt. Berkeley he continued"
I want you to return to the system where the battle was taking place, you will have five cruisers with you. And you will be in overall command.
"The Admiral turned to Capt. Barns," I want you to put a team together to implement Capt. Berkeley recommendations were possible. Send out a copy of this battle to be reviewed by all ship commanders. We can't stress too much the importance of speed and maneuverability when encountering the Kobolians. "Dismissed"
(On the bridge of the Cirrus, in the newly discovered system)
The Cirrus entered the system where the battle took place, the fleet was gone.
"The communication officer spoke up," we are getting a message from the planet.
"Capt. Berkeley replied," put it on the speaker.
Kobolian ship, as we stated before we do not consider ourselves to be part of the 12 colonies of Kobol, we will never accept the Lords of Kobol, as our gods and will continue to resist you.
"Capt. Berkley replied," we are not part of the 12 colonies of Kobol. We were harvesting asteroids in a nearby system and detected your system and the battle. We sent a ship to investigate.
"A man appeared on the view screen."
"Capt. Berkley continued," Like I said we were mining asteroids in a system 4 1/2 ly from here, and one of their ships attacked us when we sent a ship to investigate. Saying we were part of some federation, and we fell under their jurisdiction.
"Capt. Berkley then asked for a face to face meeting," The person on the view screen stated that he would be back in a moment.
The man returned with two other individuals one was in a military uniform and the other in civilian clothes. We have to pick a place where we can ensure both yours and our security.
They set up a meeting on a ship at sea.
Capt. Berkeley selected his tactical officer and the three Ark administrators who Adm. Jackson attached to Capt. Berkeley command for this occasion.
They landed on the flight deck of a large ship. The tactical officer leaned over to Capt. Berkeley and said I'll bet you my next paycheck this is a helicopter carrier. It's nice to see all that time you spent watching their old war movies had some value, replied Capt. Berkeley.
An escort met them and took them to a room one of the escorts referred to as the wardroom. There were about ten people in the room most appeared to be military, but there were a few civilians also. One of the civilians a female stepped forward and said I am Ambassador Anderson won't you please have a seat.
Capt. Berkeley spoke up and said Ambassador would you allow me to tell you our history and we will go from there. We come from a planet called Argon, "The Argon Federation." About two generations ago roughly 160 years our time, a Gamma Ray Burst struck our planet. We had enough lead time to build ten Arks to find a new home. To our best knowledge, several of them did. But, we did not. We have been traveling the stars looking for a home that is how we found you.
Ambassador Anderson replied; tell me Capt. do you believe in coincidences. Before Capt. Berkeley could answer she replied well I don't and you ask me to believe that we've been visited by two alien races in less than several months' time while being alone for thousands of years, if not millions. Also, I would like to point out that this planet is already taken.
Well, ambassador as strange as it may sound, "yes." And we have no designs on your planet.
Tell me how you came to meet the Kobolians. To which the ambassador replied. The Kobolians believe we are their long lost cousins and they were here to bring us back into the fold. At first, a large percentage of the population was quite happy until we realize that what they meant was we would have to accept their religion and being absorbed by their government.
One of their priests entered a cathedral. He demanded that the service end and all the people leave. When he started destroying things the priest conducting the service called the police, and when they tried to escort him out, he called, some of his soldiers. A gunfight broke out and quickly escalated to a gun battle.
Rioting and fighting broke out wherever they had landed, and they quickly retreated into space.
They started dropping nukes on our military installations and landing large numbers of troops. In some areas we contained them, but in others, they look like they were ready to break out, so we nuked them. They said they did not want to render the planet uninhabitable but they could, and we should reconsider our position. With that, they left that was about two weeks ago.
We've only been to our moon and were in the process of getting ready to visit one of the nearby planets.
"One of the individuals with Capt. Berkeley interjected," I guess you could refer to me as the ambassador for the Ark. Perhaps you would be open to a trade agreement.
Everyday items that you can manufacture we have to create by transmutation. The process requires considerable energy, and drugs that were once widely used simply are no longer available to us. We lack the manufacturing space to build the infrastructure to support our society.
In return, we could help you build defenses satellites that would circle your planet. We were not much more advanced than you are now when we first left our home world. Of course, I will have to review all this with my superiors before we could have a final answer.
One other thing, we have access to your communications and are reviewing them. I wanted you to know this up front so that you did not feel that we were spying on you or taking some unfair advantage, the signals are in space for anyone with a receiver to monitor, you may want to re-think that. With that, the meeting broke up, and they returned to the Cirrus.
On the way back to the Cirrus Capt. Berkeley said, well Clyde I like the way you gave yourself a promotion to an ambassador, Berkeley, I am a high councilor, and I do outrank you. Not when we get back to the Cirrus Capt. Berkeley said with a grin.
(Back at the Ark)
Adm. Jackson called for a meeting of the Supreme Council and Capt. Berkeley's and his senior officers. Well, what do we know, let's go around the table and everybody state what they found out in their area of expertise.
The first to stand was Adm. Jackson's intelligence officer, we have been monitoring their communication, and they have this thing they called the Internet, a system much as we had back on Argon, it has their entire history and probably a lot more than they would like us to know. Technologically, they were about where we were when we first started launching Arks. Maybe a little behind but they didn't have a gamma-ray burst staring them in the face, of course, they've got the Kobolians to push them.
Their encounter with the Kobolians will drive their development.
Fortunately for them, they have us, and we could save them some lives. Also, we could get as many aspirins from them as we will ever need, and if I lived to be 100, the engineers would never be able to explain to me, why it takes almost as much energy to create an aspirin tablet as it does a pellet of uranium.
Chancellor Clyde stood; I too have been reviewing what I learned from our meeting and what is on this Internet of theirs. I am all for helping them in any way we can. I think we should redouble our efforts to find a planet nearby to settle on they can be a great resource for us. I know as we all suspect that a fair amount of our population will want to continue the quest. The Ark is big enough that a person could get lost. Hell, about the only activity that you can't do is long-distance sailing, there are even two levels that are forested and void of any people, that's over 800 km². But there is another subset of people that would like to find a planet to settle on.
Adm. Jackson then asked for an update from the radio telescopes.
Commander Wells said we had conducted a survey around the planet Earth out to about 250 ly. And we found some interesting things. About 20 ly from Earth there is a system with two possibly three habitable planets there is also a large object of some kind circling one of the planets. The astronomers believe it to be artificial. I believe as does the rest of my department that this is where the Kobolians are.
On another subject the moon that circles earth always has one side of it facing out to deep space, we should ask them to allow us to install a large radio telescope on it and share the info with them. The people we would leave behind would be able to stay there for a few years, and if they have an FTL capable ship, they would be able to rejoin us.
Adm. Jackson stood up and said with the agreement of the counsel we are going to send ten cruisers to the system we believe to be Kobolian. Also, we will send another delegation back to earth to arrange for us to commence trading with them. And aid them in setting up satellites for their defense. I would also like the council to discuss this and back me up, or voice their concerns, since this may get us into a shooting war, we should also get the AI to list all the possible outcomes, This is a decision I don't feel one person should make.
(Gliese 667)
Capt. Berkeley and his small fleet entered the Gliese 667, as known by Earth. It was a triple star system, and it had two habitable planets and many moons. They exited hyperspace behind a large moon and quickly went to complete radio silence. The Argon's launched a probe. The probe created back on the Ark to appear as an asteroid. Almost immediately the Kobolian language was detected.
The tactical officer reported I have a large build-up of energy several kilometers in front of their station, with that and a flash of light a large square ship appeared and immediately began preceding down to the surface of the planet.
(24 hours later)
Okay, it's time to wake up the Kobolians; we haven't detected any form of subspace communication so let's first relay all the data we collected via subspace link back to the Ark. And since we are going to reveal ourselves anyway if they detect the transmission, we should see some response; this will tell us something about their capabilities. After several hours had passed, there was still no sign of any unusual activity from the Kobolians.
I count 30 battle stars with support ships plus the station. Both squadrons assume attack formation Delta with the outside two ships targeting nuclear-armed fighters and missiles. If you start taking any damage, jump immediately to hyperspace.
With this Capt. Berkeley ordered his fleet to proceed to 10,000 km in front of the station. As soon as they left their sanctuary behind the moon, he began transmitting a message saying we only wish to talk we have no hostile intentions. The view screen was activated, and a colonial officer appeared.
I am Adm. Cain of the colonial earth expedition fleet. You have entered colonial space, please stop and be prepared to be boarded. Lieut. Emerson said under his breath, "God is that the only thing these people now." Admiral, we only wish to talk with you and to repeat we have no hostile intent. When two of the opposing battle stars began powering up weapons, the fleet proceeded to attack formation Delta as previously ordered. All the battle stars began to deploy their Vipers. Adm. Cain repeated if you do not stop I will be forced to fire on you.
To which Capt. Berkeley replied if you power down your weapons I will stop. Capt. I am an admiral in the colonial fleet, and I don't take orders from captains. Stop immediately!
The closest four battle stars to the Argon ships open fire but by this time the Argon ships were at one-quarter C and all their shots went wide. Adm. Cain yelled out those ships are unbelievably fast; plot their speed and lead them accordingly with your next shot, ripple fire our forward missile batteries. All battle stars come to bear on these intruders. The Argon ships went up 30° and turned around to take their pass at the battle stars. A blue bolt of lightning appeared in the front of each ship, and eight hits were recorded on the battle stars once again they did not have enough time to target the Argon ships. The outside Argon cruisers were able to spread out and sustained their beams by reducing the beam's power. This allowed them to sweep thru the unarmored fighters and missiles with ease. The next pass was straight and level, Capt. Berkeley immediately saw this was a mistake and ordered his ships up 90°, but it was too late the remaining battle stars, were able to score six hits on the Argon ships.
The captains of the Winston and the Monrovia reported that they were still operational, but the Winston had minor damage to several decks. The Monrovia reported no damage. The Argon ships were now above the Kobolians. Capt. Berkeley ordered them to make a diving pass on the Kobolians. For the next 30 minutes, the Argon ships kept coming at the Kobolians from different angles while avoiding a frontal attack.
When it became apparent that all of the battle stars were suffering from substantial battle damage Captain Berkeley ordered his fleet to assemble 20,000 km on the port side of the Kobolian ships.
Tactical what is your assessment?
They're all venting atmosphere, and all appear to be disabled, with six of them out of control and floating off in different directions. I do not believe they are a threat to us any longer. But, be aware the space station still has weapons. But at this time they seem to be powered down. Capt. Berkley ordered his fleet to proceed closer to the disabled Kobolians while keeping them between the Argon ships and the space station.
Adm. Cain, this is Capt. Berkeley, will you speak to me now or would you like me to finish off what remains of your pitiful presence in this sector?
Capt. Berkeley this is Adm. Cain, we will stand down since we no longer have the capability to resist you.
Adm. Cain are you the senior officer present, "yes."
The Cirrus XO said Capt. Berkeley, what's with the "pitiful presence," comment; well these people only seem to understand arrogance so I thought I would just throw it back at them.
Adm. Cain you are ordered to remove all of your people from this sector you have 48 hours.
Capt. Berkeley this is Adm. Cain, yes we will comply.
Please take a minute and review