History Lesson 06.

2030 to 2035.

The Battle for Sol took place in 2030.

It was short and brutal. It was humanity's first real fight for survival.

The attack was made by the Lobstron, who had set up a staging ground in the Oort Cloud , at the edge of the solar system. They sent a barrage of asteroids in towards the Earth. Although it would take many weeks for the asteroids to arrive at the inner system, we still had to take the danger seriously. The UN-EDF devoted a lot of fire power to stopping the rocks, while sending a sizable force out to investigate. The few brief reports from the patrol craft we had out there didn't give us much to go on.

The task force was made up of the big LAVs, ships not built for hyper space, most the size of an old aircraft carrier, packed with drones and small craft. It would take them several days at max speed to reach the target area. So a single starship, the Toadsmacker, made a jump out to take a quick peek. It is sometimes forgotten that a starship is not limited to the one hyper band that gives us a speed of 1LY/day. Military ships all have the ability to jump in a way that gives them effectively light speed movement. This makes a trip across the solar system take a matter of hours not days. It confirmed Lobrtron targets closing on it, before making its escape to a more distant vantage point.

The Lobstron's opening move was a brilliant one. It posed a serious danger to Earth, and all the infrastructure of the inner system, not something we could ignore. More critically it drew the attention of the Arcadia, just as expected. The result was that powerful ship sailing right into a trap. She ripped up their fleet but was shredded by the numerous anti-matter mines they had scattered around.

But this was not the only move the damn shellfish were making. At the same time the Arcadia was fighting in the Oort Cloud, a second enemy fleet jumped in, near Jupiter. It immediately started on an intercept course with our task force. The odds did not look good, so the squadron of starships assembled at Luna, moved to bite them in the ass. We would show them, Humans knew a few things about space tactics.

The third Lobstron fleet jumped in while that fight was going on. Bigger than the second, it appeared near Mars, then broke into several smaller units to begin attacking the red planet, the asteroid stations and Earth itself. Everything was put on the line. The defence systems we had built up over the past 30 years were pushed to their limits.

Command ordered all hyper capable ships fighting in the outer areas to fall back and protect the home world. It was a vicious battle. We committed all the reserves, launched everything we had, jet fighters and air defence stations even got into the action. The Earth was battered that day, but she survived.

The Lobstrons had underestimated our abilities, but not by much.

The loss of life civilian and military was high.

According to the official report the entire battle had taken 27 hours from first shot to last.

The search and rescue efforts would take 7 days. The repair and reconstruction was estimated at 5 years. But command was not about to sit back and quietly pick up the pieces.

Side notes on the Battle

The brief account given above is from the general perspective of the UN-EDF.

But that day they were not the only ones bravely defending the solar system.

Most of the old first world nations had invested in a few armed local area craft and star ships, with the top fleets by size being the USA, China, Russia, the EU, India. With an Honorable mention going to the Anglo Alliance, which included England, Canada, Australia, and a few other English speaking nations.

Although humanity was united more so than ever before, nation states were far from gone.

A pragmatic understanding of history told national leaders that if they wanted to stay relevant in the expanding sphere of human existence, they would need their own space forces. The prevention of piracy was the official justification of the warships build by the nations, because all defence against alien threats were the prerogative of the UN-EDF.

So in 2030 when the Lobstrons attacked Sol, there were several dozen LAV and a few starships in addition to the UN force of Defenders and Percheron. The extra strength was beneficial, no doubt, but it was not well organized or coordinated with UN command.

The US-space force spread itself thin, trying to protect various outposts. A move that was applauded by the people on those stations and by most Americans. No one should be abandoned. The president declared in his address to the fleet. The result was a dozen small fights, mostly against single enemy ships who had been tasked with taking out low priority targets. The most notable battle was a heroic effort to save the Franklin outpost. A squad of LAVs met a pair of Lobstron and inflicted some damage before being destroyed. Then the USS Enterprise (of course they have a starship by that name) jumped in between the outpost and the enemy. She was ripped up, but managed to kill both Shellfish.

The Russian space force took a different approach. They pulled all LAVs back to defend Earth, while at the same time sending all starships off to their colony at Proxima Centauri. Which turned out to be a great move, as a small force of Lobstron did hit that system a few weeks later. Without the Russian fleet the defences would have been inadequate to the task.

The Anglo Alliance and EU forces took a similar stance, drawing most of their LAVs back to defend Earth, while sending their starships to protect a few key outposts. The move was labelled political not tactical by critics, because the few ships would make no difference in a serious fight. On the other hand, and much to the relief of O'Reilie station, the single ship that was sent to protect it did manage to fend off the single Lobstron ship that was sent to attack it.

The Chines force meanwhile took the pragmatic stance of defending the home world at all costs. They acted as a valuable second line to the UN-EDF, although some would call them cowards for the tactical choice, it was sensible and proved necessary. On the other hand, their starship squadron was used in a way better described as suicidal. After loading up with as many mines and missiles as they could carry, they jumped right into the enemy main battle fleet. They dropped their load and made a max G burn away before the spectacular detonation of about 600 MT worth of nukes. The two ships that survived the initial skirmish, then continued to snipe at the Shellfish with rail guns until they were destroyed.

Responding to the Attack.

Hunter Group 1 and 2 were assembled from all available starships. HG 3 was given 3 months to assemble from the salvageable ships, which included Captain Loganic's Resolute. The aim of these squads as the name suggests was to take the fight to the shellfish.

Over the years we had tried to avoid conflict in unclaimed space, backing off if we encountered a Lobstron craft, but keeping careful track of their sightings. Command had a short list of several targets and probable outpost locations. So we would took the fight to them.

For the next 3 years we alternated between hunting and defending.

The Lobstron did not make any more serious attacks on Earth, they did hit several of our colony worlds. The unfortunate truth about defending the colonies is that it was next to impossible.

The Fleet of hyper capable ships could have been divided up to give some coverage to each colony, but the numbers would be so low as to make no effective difference. Instead, the task forces were used to rotate in a cycle of protection. 

 

Victory at Glibbit. 

 

As luck had it, HG 3 had jumped in to protect Gliese 832, just a few days before a Lobtron raiding squad hit it. The colony on Glibbit, was only 4 years old with about 12,000 people, most of them located in its 2 main cities. Generally we need a 3 to 1 advantage for ships of the same size. But these were small raiders so everyone felt confident. The battle went as close to plan as possible, which is about 80%. We got them all and the colony suffered no serious damage.

The war did not have any official end, but the intensity of fighting did decline.

Although the war had prioritized military construction, it had not caused the civilian effort at colonization to stop. In a bold vote at the UN general assembly the motion was passed to double our efforts at expansion. Which in all honesty had been very tentative and experimental thus far. At the same time of course, the military effort was increased. We had lost around half out system defence assets in the Battle for Sol.

The Colonies thus far;

1. Teegarden's Star, 12.5 LY from Earth, Tee-B & Tee-C, established 2025-27

2. Proxima Centauri B 4.2 LY from Earth, PCB, established 2026-29

3. Gliese 832 c, 16 LY from Earth, Glibbit, established 2027-30

4. Tau Ceti, 12 LY from Earth, TC-E & TC-F, established 2028-31

Next would be;

5. Luyten B, 12.2 LY from earth, established 2031-33

6. Gliese 667 triple star system, 24 LY distant, Gliese CC, established 2033-35

7. Wolf 1061, 13.8 LY distant, Redwolf-heavy, established 2033-35

8. Kapteyn's star, 12.8 LY from Earth, terraforming project, started 2036

   
   
    

In addition to these full colonial worlds, 6 major “none habitable” locations were also established. These were all sponsored by wealthy groups who had strong ideologies, who wanted a chance to establish themselves out there in the heavens. 

 

A matter of Diplomacy.

In 2032 the second diplomatic mission was sent to the Castor system 51 LY distant. It being a major base for the Gray Aliens, but not their home world. The first mission sent in 2029 having been a failure.

The Castor system was the place kidnapped Humans were taken to if they were drafted into the Gray Military. The place Mary Rogson and the crew of the Frisbee had escaped from. One of only two systems we knew the Grays were in, the other being a trade station in the Zosma system 58 LY distant.

The mission now had an additional aim beyond establishing basic diplomatic relations. The UN-EDF wanted an alliance against the Lobstron. The Grays listened this time, but refused to make any commitment. They did request the return of any of their people or crafts that we might have in our possession.

Thus the third mission would include a cargo pod full of bits and pieces. But nothing was said about the Frisbee. This time the Grays were ready for a conversation, a carefully staged meeting that was very polite but accomplished very little. Never the less it was hailed as a success, because they agreed to future talks.