Alcubierre
Chapter 8: The end of the war. The end of peace
October 1st -2124
The war begins anew. The Inner core alliance has drawn on it's reserve forces and rebuilt much of it's war economy. Sol has put out it's fires, though many of it's ships are used to aid the recovery of the human homeworld. As such, only a few Sol ships are located in the staging area of Kepler 138, and most are to enforce their rule over the garden world of Kepler's defeat.
The plan is to bring an enormous fleet to Wolf-0812032 and capture the mass relay. Once done so, Scouting and probing flotillas will map the systems under control of the Keplerians on the other side.
October 3rd
The fleet consisting of the Tau ceti Carrier "Along the watchtower", Epsilon Eridani Carrier "Death", Procyon carriers "Attorney" and "Judge", 14 light carriers, 90 cruisers and 140 frigates, including 30 porcupine class frigates, are formed in the Kepler 138 system and placed under the command of Admiral Mitchell of Tau Ceti.
They set off towards Wolf-0812032, which should take the fleet a total of three days
October 5th
Earth discovers proof of a link between Epsilon Eridani and the ship that brought the Keplerian's to Santiago. Earth prepares to break off the war alliance the moment the alien homeworld is under control.
Sterility plague designed for Keplerian use developed at classified facility on Luna, though Sol gov has nothing to do with it. E./
October 6th
Fleet arrives at the Wolf Relay. No Keplerian ships guarding it. Believing a possible counter-attack, a fast communication drone from the observation station is sent out, but the fleet remains in system until two days later.
October 8th
Fleet enters the Wolf Relay.
Keplerian Homeworld discovered, as well as thirty inactive Porcupine class frigates. This information is kept classified.
No Keplerian defence in system, the fleet surrounds Keplerian homeworld, designated Cygnius, from outside high orbit.
Boarding teams are sent to destroy Porcupine frigates. Vast majority of ships discovered to be littered with corpses or Thralls. Only one living human discovered in a coma in the med-bay of the Frigate "Midnight City."
Azemorthran awakens.
October 9th
No Keplerian ships arrive. Infrastructure in ruins before human fleet even arrived. Orbital bombardment of major population centres to begin at 12:00 hours military time. Attempts are made to demand surrender before that time, though messages sent back are garbled, believed to be Keplerian screams.
11:59
Small region of the planet, sector B7R-213 experiences massive seismic activity. Black monolithic alien structure discovered. Immediately, an unknown weapon fires upon the Carrier "Judge", tearing it in half. All ships coverage in high orbit above the structure and attempt to bombard from orbit. Alien structure continues to fire unknown beam weapon, destroying much of the fleet. 2 hours of continual orbital bombardment do no visible damage.
Fleet retreats to behind Keplerian moon. Ground teams armed with several nuclear warheads are ordered to make landfall and enter the unknown alien structure and detonate at least one nuclear device. The legality of how these nuclear warheads got aboard the Carrier "Death" are looked over for now.
The nuclear devices are detonated, and the structure is damaged. Of the 200 men and women sent on the mission, 126 die.
Upon detonation of nuclear warheads and destruction of much of the structure, area is glassed to a crisp by orbital bombardment as structure was still capable of opening fire.
Last implanted people left in confinement several hundred light years away die after the orbital bombardment of the structure. Unbeknownst to humanity, 97% of Keplerians, all those implanted with at least some Reaper tech, suffer immediate brain death.
October 11th
Surviving fleet sends scouting flotillas to nearby star systems to find out how many colonies the Keplerians had. Keplerian homeworld almost completely devoid of sentient life. Small enclave of living Keplerians discovered in what is believed to be a temple or administrative building. They are captured and will be sentenced for crimes against humanity. Crude Translation software is capable of translating at least some of their language without relying on dangerous implants.
Cancerous births on Earth rise by 80%.
October 12th
Nearby systems show signs of habitation, but most Keplerians are dead. Plans are drawn up for internment camps to be created to hold large alien populations. Element Zero mines seized by fleet.
Reinforcements arrive.
October 13th
Link found between what little remains of the strange alien structure and implants in most of the Keplerian corpses. A full review will be published in a month's time.
First human ship with element zero shielding created at 61 cygni shipyards.
November 2124
The Keplerian report is produced by an EEIS group.
It outlines what they can assume about Keplerian society, their reason for war and just why so many of them are now dead.
The Keplerian report (Excerpt)
For the past 6 months we have been aware we are not the only sapient beings in the galaxy. Further more, other sapient life wants to wipe us out. Despite having technology capable of translating human speech, no attempts were made by the Keplerians to make peaceful first contact or peace. It is now understood that the entire society worshipped a structure they discovered on their home world, currently named
Monolith, from which they were either given or took implants that make those implanted docile and suggestible, easily able to follow the orders of the ruling class (See section 2-1b "Enclave of Kepler). This alien device is not a Keplerian creation, and fielded tech far in advance of both us and the Keplerians themselves (See section 3-6 "Shepard, Report of Operation Oppenheimer). We believe that studying the remains is inadvisable at this time, as even small fragments of the ship are capable of producing a unknown signal which degrades brain chemistry. Indeed, the "implants" may in fact simply be small fragments of the Monolith, rather than specifically designed implants for human or Keplerian implantation.
The destruction of Monolith is believed to be what caused the mass genocide of the Keplerian people. At present times, given information gather by Keplerian subjects as well as autopsy of many of the dead,it is believed that 97% of the Keplerian people were implanted with at least some form of Monolith implant. This is how such a small minority were able to exercise absolute control of the massive population.
The currently surviving population of Keplerians are believed to members of the ruling enclave and their children. This includes organisations such as "The Enlightenend" and "Azemorthran's gaze.". Any surviving Keplerian's as such are complicate in the murder of 5 billion humans in the Keplerian War (See Containment plan K-s9).
Excerpt of the Keplerian War-An overview
Written by Agent Brooker, Agent Zheng and Agent Harper of the EEIS.
December 2124
Official cessation of hostilities between the Keplerian's and humanity. Given the months without those that farm or maintain civilisation, the current Keplerian population is at 67 million aliens. As they are likely to die out without intervention, they are placed in internment camps on their homeworld under the protection of the Inner core alliance.
All Element Zero reserves are captured. Since Keplerian science hasn't evolved since the discovery of Redacted 300 years ago, there are no Keplerian scientists.
Earth breaks off the war alliance, and publicly accuses Hannah Shepard and Epsilon Eridani of war crimes.
January 2125
First children born on Earth with element Zero nodes. Due to mass Element Zero pollution caused by the battle of Earth, many human children are born with cancer, but also these strange modules of Element Zero. It is unknown if they have any long term effects. A scientific study into "September Syndrome" is started.
Virus spreads among interned Keplerian population. 2 million die in captivity.
February 2125
No cure is developed for the Kepler Flu. A further twelve million die. Quarantine procedures keeping Keplerians in solitary confinement seem not to work, it is believed the virus is carried by humans.
Independent War Crime's tribunal throws out Sol's case against Epsilon Eridani due to insufficient evidence. EE and Sol relations never recover.
Captain Arthur Hargreave placed at the medical station "Ma Lan's hope" in Freedom's Reach orbit. He remains in a coma.
Lieutenant Commander Shepard retires from the Corsairs and joins the Navy proper, becoming XO of the Tau Ceti Cruiser "Fortunate Son."
March 2125
Suicide rates amongst Keplerians continues to rise. Desperate measures are taken to prevent Keplerian extinction.
Virus continues to ravage their population. Given it's resistance to treatment and specific symptoms, including sterility, it is believed to be an artificially created bio-weapon. No origin is confirmed, as most governments were working on a version of such a virus. Certain members of the Keplerian species are frozen in order to attempt to preserve their population.
First Human ship with Artificial gravity, the Procyon Corvette "Feet on the ground" is built. It utilises Element Zero on the bottom of the ship to stimulate the 10.34g of Procyon throughout the ship. The ship is orientated Landscape, something not done since the creation of the EM drive in the mid 2040's.
April 2125
Only 12 million still surviving Keplerians exist in captivity.
Former Keplerian colonies are selected for human colonisation. Element Zero mines are now fully manned and operational.
Element zero is being mined at a slow pace, and as such Element zero is planned to be used simply for artificial gravity over shielding or weaponry, seeing as humanity has a hard counter to element zero mass shields in the form of Warp CQC Blinker frigates.
May 2125
Keplerian population stabilises at 11 million. Cure for the disease is found, though no governments or groups admits fault with the creation of the virus.
Mass Relay mapping program begins. Humanity previously had no idea about the existence of Mass relays, as such, no relays were found in the vastness of space. Now that humanity are aware of their existence, there is a sizeable reward for the discovery of new mass relays. However, there is a stipulation that under no circumstances are mass relays to actually be turned on.
ATLAS program begins in the Freedom's Reach Institute of Technology, the idea to create a fully sapient Artificial intelligence which believes it's a human in a simulated environment. Ethical concerns abound, but the research continues anyway.
2126
Inner core alliance breaks apart. Whilst the fact that Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti were complacent in the destruction of the colony of Santiago has been suppressed by all sides, Procyon and Earth are both fully aware of this. Procyon allies with the Sol system to create the Solar Protectorate, whilst Tau and Epsilon reform into the Alliance of Free stars. A few independent colonies join both sides, with the Solar Protectorate offering greater military spending and defence against extra-human and human threats, whilst the AFS sketching up plans for a proper multi system government, using the plans for FTL Communication system cannibalised from the Keplerian FTL beacons.
The number of human colonies reaches 122, including colonies in the new "Keplerian" frontier. Population of major colonies include:
Epsilon Eridani (Large number of Earth refugees): 3.7 billion
Tau Ceti: 4.9 billion
Procyon: 4.8 billion
Sol: 12 billion (nine Billion on Earth)
61 Cygni: 1.1 billion
Many humans still live in artificial environments in Lagrange points or in geosynchronous orbit, or not technically part of any official government. Total human population has fallen from last census from 150 billion to 147 billion.
2127
The Free of Orion project proposed and funded. A massive 4km colony ship with heavy military escort designed to leave the Orion arm of the Galaxy and head closer to the heart of the Galaxy in search of Extra-terrestrial life and a place to escape possible Reaper attack. They are authorised to use and Activate Mass Relays at least 1200 LY from Sol. Funded by a joint AFS, Space X and Hargreave Aerospace venture.
The project will not ever be completed, and the near finished Ship will simply sit in a shipyard 70 LY from Earth, cancelled in 2135.
Sol protectorate and ASF enter diplomatic talks to relieve tensions after a small skirmish in the Colony of Man's Grasp. The Talks are considered a success as both sides step down from military action and full embassies are created on Earth, Virgil (Tau Ceti), Eden (Procyon) and Freedom's Reach (Epsilon Eridani).
A recent survey suggests that the vast majority of Humans don't care about the survival of the Keplerian people.
2128
Commander Hannah Shepard placed in charge of the Tau ceti Frigate "Sympathy for the Devil (II)"
Prototype FTL beacon successfully tested between Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. First real-time FTL conversation in human history. Utilises Keplerian technology in the form of miniature mass relays to create a corridor of FTL space that data can be sent through. Cost of the project is astronomical, but set to cheapen as element Zero mining begins outside of the Keplerian frontier.
ATLAS project cancelled. Scientists cite lack of funding and increasing ethical concerns. The technology will form the basis of the SSAI ( Semi-Sapient Artificial Intelligence) program.
"Biotic" children now toddlers. Evidence of possible Telekinetic powers in those with Element Zero modules of extreme interest to Sol Protectorate. Birth rates of children infected with element zero begins to reduce rapidly so long after the war.
First 30ly/day Negative Mass Warp drive created by Virgin Galactic. Sol Protectorate buys several for the use of fast communication drones, and rapid response frigate flotilla's for distant Satellite colonies.
2129
Keplerian population reaches 12 million. Previous quarantine procedures are lifted, though they remain on dedicated reserves on their homeworld, under the watchful eye of the AFS.
After meeting with the family of the sole survivor of Operation return to sender, Arthur Hargreave is declared KIA and moved to a secure facility on Freedom Reach's surface. There has been no change in his condition.
Interstellar "Extrasolar day" is celebrated across human space, marking the 60th anniversary of the first extra solar human colony.
Five years after the Keplerian war, the Sol Protectorate creates the MAD plan in secret. The creation of twelve Relativistic weapons in secret aimed at Epsilon Eridani, Tau Ceti, and the other four ready to be aimed at any point in space. The weapons are simply incredibly shielded EM drives that will accelerate to a significant percentage (0.7c) of the speed of light. An Impact from a relativistic weapon will cause incredible damage to a planet.
The discovery of such weaponry may cause an inescapable arm's race that may well wipe out every habitable planet in human space. Indeed, since alien life has been confirmed to exist, there is amble evidence that other species may have already sent Relativistic missiles towards earth or other systems to wipe them out before they can launch their own weapons. These weapons are hidden and classified level 9.
2130
Captain Hannah Shepard is given command of the Tau Ceti cruiser class "Paint it black." It is one of the first cruiser class blinker warp CQC ships, though with cruiser heavy weapons and at least some long range weapons. It also has artificial gravity, rather than the previous centrifugal arms and "portrait" orientation
The Golden Hind (III), a ship of the Trailblazer© (Now a subsidy of Hargreave Aerospace), discovers an operational mass relay far to the galactic south (-331, 019. System of Cygni 902). The ship immediately high tails back to human space and reports on the information to the ASF.
The EENS Supercarrier "Gabriel" and 30 of it's escorts (Including the "Paint it black") head towards the relay in an attempt to lock it down.
Ship of unknown design, believed to be a drone, travels through the mass relay. Attempts to apprehend it are prevented, as the ship immediately returns back through the mass relay upon detecting the Supercarrier.
ESCR 2 (Emergency Standby Condition Report) declared in ASF. Sol Protectorate gets wind of this and sends a fleet to the system, spearheaded by the carrier "Jury".
Human population reaches 159 billion. Expected to continue to climb exponentially after the first successful Arcology created in Tokyo.
2131
Decision is made to send the ASF fleet through the mass relay whilst the Sol Protectorate fleet remains on standby.
ASF Fleet enters the Mass relay. On the other side of the relay they discover
An end to the past
1st January 2131
Shepard breathed in and out. At least the ASF were smart enough to only send ships with arti-grav through the relay, rather than risk every lurching forward on board a zero g ship.
She clenched her fist, then relaxed it.
12 hours ago, a drone of unknown make entered the system for 12 minutes. In that time, the Supercarrier "Gabriel" had been almost ready to open fire and launch it's fighters. Luckily, the drone quickly retreated back through the relay before another interstellar war broke out.
It was bad enough that the ASF and Sol Protectorate were in the same system. But at least if the entire fleet that travels through the relay got destroyed, at least they'd have someone ready to blow up the relay after they died.
Still, last time someone travelled through a mass relay and made first contact with an alien life they all died and the aliens attacked Earth.
Shepard briefly thought of the smiling Hargreave and Grahm, but pushed those thoughts aside. They died heroes, destroying a Keplerian dreadnought. Nothing more to think about.
She sat in her chair and stared at the holoscreen displaying the mass relay, as well as a link to a bunch of nearby Ships, including the supercarrier.
It was time.
"Set course for the Relay. Prepare for Relay travel and get weapons heated. Shields at maximum, secondary warp core online. I don't want us crippled if we find something on the other side." Shepard ordered. Her XO, Zachery Hutmier, nodded and repeated those orders to weapon control and engineering.
She leant back, placing on hand under her chin.
The ship speed on, overtaken by some of the lighter frigates. In total 32 ships would travel through the relay. 30 AFS ships and 2 Sol Proecterote vessels, the SNS Cruiser "Grave of the Fireflies" and Procyon Cruiser "Cicero".
They aligned perpendicularly to the relay, then the Supercarrier sent the request for a fleet transfer. Less chance of ships slamming into each other on the other side or being light seconds away from each other on the other side.
Shepard saw the all clear signal and suddenly the 32 ship strong fleet were moving at incredible speeds, zooming pass the mass relay.
She gulped, scratching her left fore arm quickly before the ship returned to realspace.
"Navigation, get the astro-navigation online, let's try and work out where in the galaxy we are. Get LADAR online ASAP. Weapons hot. Both Warp drives ready." Said Shepard, looking at each member of her crew in charge of each role respectively. She wasn't going to get caught off guard ever again.
"Sir, one unknown ship on LADAR. 400M long, 70 wide. No negative mass Perturbations, artificial gravity detected. Most likely a Mass Effect only ship. 50 light seconds out." Said Ensign Collins after a minute.
"Navigation, prepare a jump on my mark." Said Shepard. "Comms, get that information to the fleet."
"Aye sir." Said Lieutenant Dorin.
"Aye sir." Said Ensign Mbasa.
Shepard drummed her fingers on her chair, waiting for the command from on high. She hoped to god it was just a pirate doing something stupid like opening mass relays. She hoped it was a Keplerian ship that got lost trying to find Earth. She hoped it was anything other then a unknown alien craft. She hoped it wasn't
She heard it in her mind. It's screams of pain. It's contempt. It's superiority even in the face of death. It survived the power of breaking matter, how could it not survive a few magnetically accelerated pieces of tungsten.
She focused. It was dead. Destroyed. The Monolith was destroyed. It was never alive, so it could never die. It was glass, like most of the continent it resided on.
Nothing survived of that inanimate object.
"Message from command. We are to warp within 40km of the ship and attempt communication. "The Cicero", "Only Human", "Fortunate Son", "Bad moon rising" and "Grave of the Fireflies" will be joining us."
2 frigates and 3 cruisers plus their own. Could be worse.
"Prepare for warp in 5." Said Shepard.
She counted down, and almost immediately they appeared next to the ship. And It was a ship.
None of the organic like curves of the old Keplerian vessels, nor the long sharp lines of most Military human ships. This was bulbous, yet clearly artificial. If Shepard cou
Shepard sighed.
None of the other ships were making an attempt at communication, so she ran a hand down her face and began to broadcast on as many radio frequencies as she could.
"Unknown vessel, this is the TCNS "Paint it black". We are armed. We request that you send some form of reply and acquiesce to a few of us boarding your vessel. Any attempt to charge weapons, shields or attempt an retreat will be taken as an hostile action. We have a fleet guarding the relay. Please, do not do anything foolish." She said. She pressed an option on her holoscreen. "We are sending over first contact data via data signal. We can confirm there is no malware or anything that could damage your systems. Included is a dictionary of the most Common human language as well as numerical system. This message repeats."
Shepard sighed, and waited. Either the ship would fire at them, run, or try and sort out the information packet they just sent over. Either way, Shepard was ready.
"Ready the Laser Arrays, aim at it's midsection." She ordered. "Do not, under any circumstances, fire without my express orders."
She heard an aye sir, and return to staring at the viewscreen.
Shepard sipped her coffee. Turns out whoever ran this vessel was the studious type. Over...
She checked the time
43 minutes since they sent the data package and not a peek from the other ship. No rapid message on any channel they could trace, no change in the ship's mass to suggest it's readying it's FTL drive, nothing.
She drummed her fingers. Honestly, there was such a thing as building suspense, but if this was an alien invasion movie the ship would've done something by now.
Shepard was almost tempted to bring her gauss weapons offline. They were aimed at the ship, but they'd just come up against the ships shields. Best to save energy and just power the...
Her Holoscreen lit up. Incoming communication.
Oh shit.
"Comms!" She shouted.
"It's coming from the unknown vessel!" Shouted Ensign Mbasa.
"On screen." Said Shepard, straightening her uniform and fixing her best glare at the screen. She steeled herself, ready for whatever thing was on the otherside.
Her screen, previously filled with ship data and camera feeds, now showed only...
An Alien.
It was a strange being. It's face was flat and large, with strange vertical flaps or something coming from what would be it's lips on a human face. It had hairless grey skin, with two beady black eyes set into it's face. Shepard could see it's shoulders almost next to it's head, suggesting almost no neck. She could only really see it from the head down, but if she had to guess it might walk like a gorilla, with two massive forearms.
"Tentative curiosity. This is the Elcor Government Exploration vessel "Wandering Far.". Cautious Pride. I am Captain Jarlyn. Worried appeasement. We have studied your first contact information, and would like to exchange one of our own. Please, allow us to transmit the information." Said Jarlyn, it's voice painfully monotone and synthetic. Perhaps it was a cyborg or something?
Shepard was too gobsmacked at the fact the Alien was actually speaking English, and by it's really strange speaking patterns, to notice the data transfer request. She smacked herself out of it quickly.
"DataSec. Make sure it's virus free before uploading it to our secure, separate server." Ordered Shepard, looking aside from the alien, before returning her gaze to the holoscreen.
"Captain Jarlyn. How are you speaking my language?" asked Shepard.
"Cautious pride. Our science team were able to decipher your language and install it to our translation implants." Said Jarlyn.
"Right." Said Shepard. She elected to ignore the weird method of speaking for now, especially if they were using auto-translation software. Human versions still had problems with their own languages, and god forbid you try and talk to a Keplerian.
"My orders still stand however Captain. My fleet has control of the mass relay and we are ready to fire. Until we can confirm your peaceful intentions, we must ask you to allow us to board your vessel and bring you to human space. Comply with these orders and no harm shall befall any of you and we'll send you back to your government in peace. Resist, and we cannot extend that guarantee a second time." Said Shepard resolutely.
"Fearfully. We understand. Our ship is unarmed, merely a recon vessel scoping out new worlds. We mean no harm to humanity." Said Jarlyn.
"I believe you Captain. But you understand we haven't had the best encounters with alien races." Said Shepard, briefly thinking of her many dead friends.
"Inquisitively. Oh? That does not sound like a good story." Said Jarlyn.
"No. It isn't..."
"Cautiously. I warn you Captain. We Elcor are not the only sapient species we have encountered. We may have others looking for us if we go missing. They may not be so kind."
Shepard clenched her fist.
"Is that a threat?" Asked Shepard coldly.
"Desperate Appeasment. No Captain. Merely a heads up."
Shepard turned aside and looked at Ensign Mbasa.
"Prepare a message for fleet command. We are boarding the alien vessel. Peaceful first contact. Possible multi-species alien civilisation." Shepard ordered.
"Aye sir." Mbasa replied.
Shepard sent the message for the shuttles to disembark. Finally, humanity might have a peaceful first contact with an alien race.
What could go wrong?
Ship naming structure-Circe 2130:
In general, whilst smaller colonial navies simply use poetic or single word names, the four most important systems in human space (Sol, Epsilon Eridani, Procyon and Tau Ceti) have distinct naming themes for their naval vessels
Sol Capital ships:
Incredibly famous Japanese fiction. Named since the first keel for the very first Star Carrier was nicknamed "Godzilla".
Sol Cruisers:
Lesser known Japanese fiction. Shipbuilders in Sol are massive weaboos. (See section on Human culture)
Epsilon Eridani Carriers:
Named after the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Plans for a fifth suggested the naming theme would/will turn into Archangels, as seen with the Supercarrier "Gabriel". The origins of this is unknown, as the intitial EE colonists did not have any greater religious leanings then typical.
Epsilon Eridani Frigates: Number one Songs (Excluding Vietnam war, see Tau Ceti)
Procyon Capital ships: Judge, Jury, Exectioner, Attorney, Arbiter. All named for parts of the criminal justice system. So named after Admiral Patronsky's previous job as a judge in Sol.
Procyon Frigates and Cruisers: Named after famous Lawyers.
Tau Ceti Ships: For reasons known only to the Tau Ceti naval service, every single Tau Ceti ship is named from what are referred to as "Vietnam war songs" from the 1960's, over a hundred years before the first TCNS ship was created.
Arcologies-Circe 2142:
"nations within buildings", these monstrously large, self sustaining skyscrapers are buildings designed to house Humanity's ever excessively growing population. With Hydrofarms, Nuclear fusion reactors and dedicated civil services such as hopsitals, police, government and sanitation, A fair percentage of humans may never leave the Arcology they are born in, working within the same place their whole life. In large cities such as New York, LA, London, Berlin, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong-Kong, New Oregon, Virgil, Freedom's reach, Eden, New Cittagaze or Neo-Tokyo, there are rail transit systems between Arcologies, meaning even those that work outside of their living building may never actually travel outside. These buildings are exceedingly common in the inner system post second contact, though outer colonies rarely have the population that makes arcologies necessary.
Epsilon Eridani- Circe 2153:
The first extrasolar colony ever created, Episilon Eridani- or Freedom's Reach is a human habitual planet in the Epsilon Eridani System some 10.42 ly from the human homeworld of Earth. It boasts a population of 13 billion people, the second highest GDP in human space and the seat of the Alliance of Free stars. The planet has some 23 different countries within it that are part of the EESA (Epsilon Eridani Stellar Alliance) which also includes smaller stellar nations within it's meteorite belt and some of the orbital stations. The system does not have a Mass relay, the closest is either Sol or Kruger, and as such has a small Alien population in comparison to Sol.
The largest nation, Sheng-he, was formed on October 23rd 2069, and is the oldest extrasolar country in human space.
Epsilon Eridani's relationship with the Sol Protectorate has deteriorated in recent years, with the system making overtures for claiming the Kruger Mass relay from them.
Ship classes-Circe 2130:
Corvette class: Sub 140m ships designed for rapid response and transport. Lightly armed typically with just Laser PDC's and two swivel Gauss cannons.
Frigate Class (Standard Pre Keplerian war): Between 140m and 250m in length, designed to move fast, travel light and act as escorts. Pre Keplerian designs typically only have a single warp drive, which limits how often they can utilise FTL. Armed with 50cal point defence guns, 6 swivel gauss guns, 2 missile pods and a single long spinal gauss cannon.
(Blinker Class/Post Keplerian War designs) 140m to 250m. Equipped with two warp drives to allow for rapid use of warp travel in system and during battle to get within "Knifefight" range. Armed with four swivel gauss guns and a large number of Laser Point defence arrays. Shields are remarkably weak designed to only take a few rounds.
Destroyer Class: Rare post Keplerian war design for a light, hyper long range frigate sized vessel. Armed with the expensive Negative mass warp missiles, three spinal mass effect acceleration cannons, Only one Warp drive and a dozen of light swivel gauss cannons. Only 10 exist due to expense of Element Zero, which can be used for Artificial gravity, as well as easy counters to long range space combat.
170M to 280m.
Cruiser class: 250 to 490m in length. Armed with tough titanium armour and heavy shields, they sacrifice the mobility of Frigates for survivability, though Blinker Class cruisers do exist, though are rare. Typically armed with two spinal gauss cannons and 15 gauss cannons, as well as the typical laser point defence array.
Light Carriers: 290m to 450m. Cruiser Class size mixed with Carrier armament. Designed as the rapid response version of carriers, and carry considerable less fighters and drones. They have no long range weapons, only Laser defence arrays.
Carrier:540m to 600m. These are the capital ships of both the ASF and SolP. They sacrifice most long range weaponry for carrying enormous reserves of both drone and fighter craft. They also utilise the prototype "Disruptor" missile, which can pierce shields, though these are inordinately expensive, and slow, so rarely see combat use.
Super carrier: 1.3km-2km (Smallest current: PNS "Rule of Law". Largest: SNS "Reach Beyond Grasp (II).)
Super Carriers are the greatest in force projection in human space. Massive ships designed to drop off entire fleets of drones and fighter pilots, carry entire armies and act as mobile garrisons and stations, these are the pride and joy of every fleet. Due to the enormous expense of building and maintaining a super carrier, no system, not even Sol, has more than one.
The first super carrier was the TCN Stormfront, which was the smallest of her class,built in 2109, and destroyed in 2124. The next was the SNS Reach Beyond Grasp (1), which measured a 1km, the first military vessel to do so built in 2114, destroyed in 2124.
Dreadnought Class: Plans for a dreadnought class Starship based on the Keplerians own were leaked in 2129, but nothing has come of it. The enormous ship, the 1.7km long SNS "Armstrong's step" was designed to be a extreme long range vessel armed with two enormous spinal mass effect acceleration cannons, with extremely high tonnage. However, thanks to the enormous expense of such a ship and until a countermeasure to "Blinking" (The tactic of warping right next to large ships and using the point defence laser array to tear through them) has been developed, such plans have been put on ice.
Authors note:
Despite the large time skips, we will be returning to the pre first contact humanity as needed. There are a few details we will need to cover and a few stories to tell from different perspectives, but for now Humanity has encountered the council.
See you later
September 31st-2174
50 years after the Keplerian war
Hargreave awakens, age 94.
