Expanding Horizons

by warhawkc1

A case of "What If... Earth received assistance from a First One?" In this case instead of being about the Vorlons or Shadows, the race is instead the Kirishiacs. Timeline of events are taken from actual historical events and are matched up to AoG's B5 Wars series fluff text and EFNI's master chronology.

7. Second Contact

Chapter 6 Second Contact

As humanity moved through the paces of full scale colonization, they remained blissfully unaware of the greater dangers of the rest of the galaxy. It was just prior to this idyllic time that they met two hostile alien species. The mysterious Koulani and Ch'Lonas both prosecuted a military campaign against Terra's defenders, the HAF Navy. After negotiating a peace treaty with the Koulani, their attacks ceased and a loose trading alliance sprang up between the closest Terran colonies to their space, specifically 61 Cygnus A II. The lack of definitive contact with the Ch'Lonas proved to be troubling for some in the HAF High Command, but the lack of available ships kept the fleet from investigating. Even the original Jump Gate located around Ch'Lon had gone offline. Without the funding for new ships, the HAF Navy languished without a true mission. Those few ships that were crewed counted themselves fortunate that they had not been completely disbanded by a Senate taken in by peace.

While the peaceful period following the end of the wars against both the Koulani and the Ch'Lonas were bad for the HAF Military, the Explorer Division experienced boom times. With their budget increased in size larger than before, the Explorer Division was able to move further away from Terra with their colonization effort. Expanding out further than before the number of Inside-out Worlds increased by four-fold with every star system regardless of star type being colonized by the Explorer Division. Eschewing "conventional" wisdom, the Explorer Division chose these stars more for their position around Terra rather than relying on the abundance of natural resources. Each of these newly colonized systems were to be used to hold the large number of colonists who were moving away from the Sol system and the inhabited planets there.

This outward push of course had to be moderated by selecting systems that did not already possess Jump Gates in them. Considering the jump method used by the Hegemony's ships it came as no surprise that the market for fresh emitters and the production of them became a quick method for a newly colonized world to earn enough money to buy out their contract. The use of the mass reducer/concentrator allowed each of these colonized worlds to create their own materials through the use of gravitics and could supply them with the technology they wanted without the need for additional (and expensive) shipments from outside. The problem some of these worlds developed was that there was a dearth of raw materials in many of these systems to support the kind of economies and therefore the same standard of living as seen on Terra and the Ring Worlds. Since each of these newly colonized worlds was colonized "simply because they could be," the Explorer Division did not take this into account. The situation would turn towards the worse before it got better for some of the later colonization efforts.

The push for better worlds and the lack of additional funds from a recalcitrant Senate caused the Explorer Division to branch out further and push into systems that had a Jump Gate present. These systems it was theorized had already had their biosphere modified for sentient life and would not take as much money to bring to the Terran standard. Even though so many of the Terran citizens had some form of geneering and could survive on worlds less than ideal from the Terran standard; many preferred to have the same kind of lush world that their ancestors enjoyed. It was because of this reason that the world known as Vega was settled by Terran settlers. It retained a Jump Gate in orbit, but the world itself was close enough to the Terran standard that the early settlers had no trouble settling in on the world. As per recent decrees from the Explorer Division and supported by the Senate, the only defensive measures taken was the placement of several defense satellites in orbit of Vega's only habitable world and the placement of a single Oracle, the THS Yangtze, as an in-system defense craft. Luckily for Vega's inhabitants, the Yangtze remained a full strength corvette and not one of the Explorer Division variants. Two of the larger solid planets in the outer system were slowly turned into Inside-out Worlds to give the system a bit more variety and for a wider population base than the sole world.

*-EH-*

Vega system
Terran Hegemony/Centauri space
July 2106

With a burst of light a blue funnel opened from hyperspace and a Talvan class cruiser, the Pride of Refa exited from the Jump Gate into normal space. The ship registered under House Refa, was exploring outside the currently held borders of Centauri space. Radio signals had been discovered in this system and intrigued the captain ordered his ship to the system to investigate. Upon arriving there through the Centauri-owned Jump Gate, he noticed that the system had changed from the last Imperial records. A series of small satellites now orbited the world and there were even a few near the Jump Gate. His orders were clear from his House Leaders; he was to find any new resources to continue the expansion of his House. Failing that, he was to find other alien species that his House could exploit to bring more prominence to his House. Even with the Centauri's defeat of the Orieni, they were slowly contracting their space due to societal concerns. This space had once been the Centauri's and now it appeared that another race had taken up on the world.

House Captain Jens Refa, a third son of the Noble House, knew his orders and was expected to follow them to the letter. However, he coveted glory for himself. He was the third son and at most was expected to take a minor role in his House. Instead he went away to join the House Navy thanks to the stories told about their noble exploits supporting the Emperor during the war with Orieni. These sugar coated tellings instilled in him a sense of camaraderie with the noble fleets and made him want to follow in their intrepid footsteps. His own ship was a remnant of that war and was well maintained by the House's technicians. As he laid eyes on the system, he only saw the glory for his House and moved towards the Tactical station on the bridge to learn more about the system.

His ship had been upgraded slightly since the war had ended, but House Captain Refa was certain that he could handle anything this minor race had to offer. Giving orders for his ship to move closer to the colony, the sensors began to pick up a small ship in the inner system near the colony world. A series of radio signals were sent from the unknown ship, but the language was not in the ship's database. A quick scan showed some impressive ECM fields, but the more powerful sensors on his ship quickly cut through them. Picking up the signatures for Gauss weaponry, the first thought was that the Orieni had cut through Minbari space and moved towards the other side of the Centauri and developed a new colony world. The lack of spacestations or Hunter Killer craft seemed to show that thought as false. Filing away the odd choice of armament, his ship fired off the nose mounted Assault Laser to open up combat with the smaller ship.

Surprised to find that one of the more powerful weaponry in the Centauri armament portfolio was less than effective, the Pride of Refa began to close to where all of the weapons could be brought to bear. Streams of solid projectiles began to strike his larger ship as the smaller ship began to fire their Gauss weaponry. Return fire from his light particle beams were intercepted before they came close enough to strike the smaller ship. Only the larger Assault Lasers on his ship could do any damage to the small ship. As the Pride of Refa closed towards the small ships, the defensive satellites began firing streams of projectiles at his ship again from what he considered to be Gauss weaponry as well. They were larger than anything the small ship possessed, but he was able to move away from the satellites due to their fixed positions.

Bringing the massive plasma cannons to bear on the smaller ship, House Captain Refa was supremely surprised to see the ship fire something at each of the plasma bolts heading towards the small ship. As the streams of what appeared to be particle fire hit each of the bolts, the bolts lost complete cohesion and ceased to be. Surprised at the accuracy of the small shots, he was brought back to attention as the right sponson of his ship was shredded by a hail of accurate Gauss fire. With the plasma cannon there knocked out, the order was given for damage control parties to plug the leaks and for the Assault Lasers to be fired continuously at the smaller ship. Eventually the Gauss fire seemed to taper off, aside from a light salvo from a pair of guns that fired towards the right rear of the small ship. House Captain Refa could only watch as the small ship opened a jump point and escaped before he could order the ship destroyed.

Surprised that the small ship was capable of opening a jump point, House Captain Refa's attention was drawn to the defensive satellites. Ordering them destroyed, he went back to review reports from the damage control parties. The hull had been damaged heavily, but was repairable by onboard supplies. As the last of the defense satellites over the world exploded, the Pride of Refa moved closer to the world of Vega. A series of messages were being sent to his craft using a variety of transmission types; radio, tachyon, and microwave they demanded the same thing: why he chose to attack a peaceful world. Incensed at what he termed to be insubordination by the people on the world below, all messages were ignored and his remaining Assault Lasers were brought to the fore to bombard the surface of the world below.

Targeting the colony's buildings, the main city of New Hope was devastated by the number of particle weapon strikes from orbit. The only silver lining to an otherwise bad day was that the majority of the colony's inhabitants had made their way to the shelters outside the city. The rest of the city was not so fortunate and the particle beams rained down on the side for close to an hour. After the beams had been used on the city, the fields outside the city were next to feel the destruction wrought by the vengeful Centauri warship. Plasma fire as well was added to the carnage and the fields began to burn and pretty soon the fires had spread to the majority of the continent that New Hope resided upon. Nearly pristine forests and the few open areas cleared out for the city went up in smoke as the fires spread and ash hung in the atmosphere of Vega for quite some time.

Satisfied with his handiwork, House Captain Refa took some time to finalize the repairs on his ship. Using this time to do some "constructive" work, the Captain ordered his troops to take the pair of shuttles down to the planet to see if anything was salvageable or if there were survivors who could be captured and taken back to his House's enclave. A pair of the weapon satellites was also taken somewhat intact and could yield more clues about the Orieni-like weaponry used against them.

Towards the third day, the House Refa troops had combed through the ruined township of New Hope and found little in the way of salvageable equipment or survivors. A fortuitous discovery of the tunnels leading away from the city almost led them straight to the colony's survivors, but with so little remaining it was left until further troops could be attained from House Command. This lack of action would save the lives of the colonists who had fled previously. Taking what little they could find, the Jump Gate was opened once more and the Pride of Refa transited into hyperspace for the voyage back home. A quick message was sent to House Command, but the details remained sketchy (intentionally so on the orders of Jens Refa). House Command would find out about the aliens who decided to inhabit one of their old systems. Further plans were drawn up in case other former Centauri worlds were under the control of these aliens. These plans would have far more repercussions than were originally envisioned by their creators.

*-EH-*

Yangtze Captain's log

Following the opening of the Jump Gate into the Vega system, we noticed a large ship that passed through the opening. Without any verifiable identification on the ship, we sent over a hail for identification from them. In return, we received an identification sweep from the enemy ship that cut through our ECM field. Then the mystery ship opened fire with an incredibly powerful particle beam that our newly installed interceptor grid barely managed to deflect away from us. The large ship kept moving towards us and we eventually managed to bring our coilgun armament to bear on it. The light set did some damage, but it seemed to bounce off the hull of the enemy ship. Our larger dorsal and ventral coilgun mounts should be able to damage them, but our minimal ammo load keeps them from being useful for a ranging series of shots. That left us with only the light coilguns for that purpose.

The ship fired a series of light particle shots as well that were easily intercepted and did no damage to us. They closed quickly with us and added in a pair of larger plasma cannons that also were intercepted. Withholding fire from our main coilgun mounts gave us few opportunities to give the enemy back more than what we've received from them. The larger ship was fast enough to keep up with us, but our acceleration and maneuverability was slightly higher than it. Another rapid strike tore through the port housing when a triple strike from the enemy ship made its way through our Interceptors. We did close enough to bring our medium coilguns to bear and a quick Alpha Strike blasted off the starboard sponson of the enemy ship. Unfortunately that strike also depleted the meager ammunition supply for them as well.

With little to no ammo left and the defense satellites all but useless against the enemy ship, I made a tough decision to flee to the closest fleet command base to let them know about the dangers of this new enemy. We were able to power forward using the remaining forward light coilgun on the starboard mounting and the aft starboard mounting to catch the enemy in a bit of an enfilade scheme while we made our way outside the gravity well. Once outside, we initiated a jump into hyperspace and made our way to the Fleet base outside the Ring Worlds. The navigator estimates that with the damage to the forward port hull, the trip will take close to two days. We can quicken our journey if we stop and allow the auto-repair features on our ship to repair the hull, but that will only take off about twelve hours from our journey.

I just hope that Fleet Command is willing to listen to us and release more ships to head out here. The defensive satellites were a poor defense mechanism as they had too little penetrating power, especially with the light coilguns on board. The chronic lack of spare parts and supplies for missiles also meant that the defensive satellites couldn't do their job either.

End of log.

*-EH-*

The implications of there being hostile alien life that was also fairly well off technologically came as a shock to the Terran Hegemony as a whole. Overnight the Senate was hit with a number of complaints as the various constituents of border worlds leaned on their Senators and demanded upgraded protections for their worlds. So many requested this upgrade that it quickly became known in the news media and the resulting scandal rocked the Terran Senate as it was later determined that several of the Social Democrats had received compensation from the manufacturer for the defense satellites that were so poorly used to defend Terran worlds.

As the Hegemony began to recall previous crews back to their positions and to bring ships out of mothballs, word reached the Senate of another two worlds that had been struck by the same attackers. In each case it was worlds that all had Jump Gates nearby that resulted in the attackers coming through the gates. The only good news to be found in the disasters was that the emergency planning had worked on all but one of the colonies. The colony at Orion was caught completely unaware due to maintenance being done on several of the sensor platforms. The enemy was able to attack and destroy all of the defense satellites in orbit and made off with almost half of the colonists as prisoners.

As the previous administration was worked over the coals by the press, the HAF High Command began to route more of the funding that had gone to the Explorer Division and some questionable social programs back into the coffers for the Navy. Restoration work began as soon as ships started to come out of the mothball fleets. A triage setup was created whereby the youngest ships and those with the least degradation were outfitted for combat operations first. Those ships that required the most work were instead taken apart to provide spare parts and functioning weaponry for other ships that were in a better state of repair.

The next hurdle that hit was that too few of the shipyards had the yard space and even the massive Babylon Station in Terran orbit did not have the repair bays to support operations of this level and intensity. Work was delayed as more equipment was fabricated for the automated shipyards and more workers were brought in from civilian companies to bring the automated shipyards back to full strength to handle the large number of ships that needed to be readied for the Navy. The Ring Worlds with their artificial nature were well suited to the demands and their shipyards were among the first to go to full operational status.

All across the Hegemony, worlds scrambled to move towards a war time economy. Even though the newest worlds were only first stage colonies, the people there were Terran citizens and a large number of volunteers began to flood HAF recruiting stations. With plenty of new recruits and more able-bodied volunteers, the training groups began an accelerated course to get their recruits trained with the skills that they needed to effectively crew the HAF ships. The extensive geneering of previous years aided this process greatly. Specialized nanobots were programmed with the course material and each recruit was injected with them. The nanobots traveled to each recruits brains and imprinted the course material directly to their cortex. All it took was the development of muscle memory and the application of the directed knowledge and training course times were slashed in half by the unique process of using nanobots.

*-EH-*

Orion Colony
Terran/Centauri space
August 2106

The Jump Gate flared into life as a series of Centauri ships came through the gate. Formed from a phalanx under the control of House Refa, the fleet was led by House Captain Jens Refa aboard his Pride of Refa and consisted of three more Talvan cruisers and a single Kendari scout ship. The presence of the Kendari was to document the colony world's defenses and that the ship could also carry a flight of light weight Glaive fighters to support the shuttle craft carried by the cruisers. The small bit of salvage taken from the city of New Hope on Vega gave a unique bit of insight into these alien colonists. The crystal media found had been examined and a number of what appeared to be historical broadcasts were found on them. The name of the city was matched to one of these broadcasts and the appearance of large wedge-shaped warships that featured an armament greater than even a Centaurum Battleship caused a great deal of panic to erupt among those watching the broadcast. The large battlestation evoked the larger stations that were in use during the previous war with the Orieni and the revealed flaw of an exhaust port that a small fighter could exploit heartened the Centauri viewing the broadcast.

The biggest revelation was that the historical broadcasts all showed that the figures were very Centauri-like. Not quite Centauri, but they could easily be a sub-species lost in time. The males did not wear their hair the same way and aside from a few in the broadcasts, they tended towards shorter hair (though with large beards). The females all retained their hair as well, but had figures not unlike Centauri women. A number of occupation troops had been pulled together to see if they could acquire captives from one of the colonies that they had been finding lately.

All too many of the colonies had the same pitiful defense satellites that were easily destroyed from a distance, though the colonists could not be found. It was presumed that these Terrans, as the broadcasts had been translated slightly, had an escape plan in place of eminent invasion and so many of them fled once the defense satellites opened fire on the Centauri ships. Taking their pleasure from looting the worlds and finding some rather good wines, but nothing else of interest, the Centauri troops indulged in target practice on the worlds that they had found.

It wasn't until the next jump into the territory near Quadrant 16 did the House Refa Fleet find another colony world. The world had until a few decades ago been a Centauri holding, but the societal shocks following the Orieni War had caused it to be abandoned. Finding the world as so many others now used by the Terrans, the House Refa Fleet was surprised to find that there were no defense satellites in orbit. The only orbital traffic was a pair of small ships that appeared to be freighters that were in orbit over the world. The few ships there in orbit were quickly dispatched by the Glaive fighters carried by the Kendari. A wave of shuttles quickly made their way down to the surface escorted by the fighters. As the Centauri ships overflew fields and small houses, they noticed that there were a number of Terrans out and about instead of being in the emergency shelters.

Touching down quickly, the ad-hoc troops from House Refa took to stunning their victims and loading them up into the shuttles from farmstead to farmstead. Only after a child made their way into town was the alarm raised about the invaders. A pitched battle began to take place between those townspeople who were armed with hunting weaponry against the Centauri troops. Lacking the armor that the Royal units would normally be equipped with, the House Refa troopers had little to no defenses against the light coilguns and particle guns carried by the colonists. Surprised at the defense being mounted against them, a flight of Glaives was called in to provide suppressing fire against the colonists and the rest of the House Refa troops retreated to their shuttles. However, they left behind over twenty of their own as they attempted to escape.

In response to the perceived insult, House Captain Refa ordered his ships to open fire on the colony and to "burn them all." Plasma weaponry along with Assault Lasers were used to destroy much of the colony and resulted in the largest number of casualties to date from the attacks by House Refa. As the attacks streamed down to the colony below, the surviving troops along with the captured civilians were brought onboard the House Refa ships. With a final salvo, the quintet ships turned around and headed to the Jump Gate. A flash of light later an orange and red vortex opened and they were through and on their way back to Centauri space.

*-EH-*

Politics Now! Online News Network August 2106

Following a series of attacks on our coreward border, a mysterious enemy has attacked several of our newest colony worlds. The only commonality with each of these worlds is that they are all newly settled and in each system is a Jump Gate. It is speculated that these worlds were previously owned, but later abandoned by the same power that has attacked our colonies. The recent pillage and capture of several dozen civilians from the Orion colony has the Terran Senate on the defensive. As has been reported previously, the Terran Senate had cut back military spending to focus on exploration and social programs. As the growing losses are mounting among those sent to defend the outer planets, the threat of a complete collapse in the government is eminent.

*-EH-*

News Hour with Jim Mitchells Terran Broadcast Company August 2106

There have been a number of speculations today that we could see a complete shakeup in the Terran Senate in the coming weeks. The Social Democrats have lost a number of seats to recall elections in their districts and the Hawk party seems to be at the forefront of many voters' minds. Those who can recall the situation remember how the Hawk party pushed for increased spending for the military following the conflicts with both the Koulani and the Ch'Lonas not too long ago. Instead, the Terran Senate backed a series of plans where the monies that would have gone to the HAF Navy instead went to the Explorer Division and to a single conglomeration that marketed a series of defense satellites. Instead of putting the larger Orbital Platforms around the colony worlds, like here in the Ring Worlds or the Sol system, the smaller point defense satellites were used instead. The effectiveness of these smaller satellites was questioned often enough and the critics have been borne out in their criticism given the dismal combat record against the invaders.

The loss of colonists on Orion has made the political position even worse in the Terran Senate and it is highly likely that a vote for War is expected from the Senate any day now. The recovery of bodies following the razing of the colony on Orion has hardened the hearts and minds of many on the Senate. Even the discovery of the alien life forms, referred to as the Centauri has done little to assuage the coming conflict. The only sticking point for the Hawk party and others that are supporting war is that the HAF Navy is in poor shape following nearly two decades of neglect.

The recent sighting of the THS Yangtze has fueled speculation further that the enemy can be beaten; if the external appearance of the corvette is anything to go by, the war will be difficult. The Centauri are an unknown race to us, but according to star charts and long range sensor sweeps by ELINT ships of the HAF Navy, a number of possible targets have been found.

We take you now live to the bridge of the THS Alexander, the flagship of Task Force 12. Viewers will notice that the intrepid Commodore Harold Desmond is once again in command of the Task Force. Composed of the first ships that have been refitted the first target for the fleet is the suspected Centauri world at Baruwan slightly deeper into the enemy's home space.

AN: The ships mentioned are all canon designs (aside from the armament of the Terran Navy vessels) and can be found from numerous resources. The Tyche and Epimetheus are both the original jump capable ships produced by the EA in the OTL. In fact the Tyche is the basis for the later Hyperion. The Centauri ships are mostly older vessels found in the Wars of the Centauri Republic supplement for AoG's B5 Wars.

AN2: I do plan on posting up a number of ship designs in their own Technical Readout or Field Manual (a la CBT style) for a later posting with full ship stats like on the EFNI site.