HMS Minerva joined the Royal Navy in mid-May 1909. She was the first survey-oriented light cruiser built since HMS Terpsichore in 1895. Her sister ship HMS Eclipse would complete construction within a few weeks. The Eclipse class was an evolution of the Apollo class, with upgraded engines, sensors and weapons. In the past, Royal Navy light cruiser designs had been armed with twin 6” turrets, while heavy cruisers mounted 8” and battleships 10”, plus secondary armaments. With the recent development of the 12” laser, which would be deployed on future battleships, Admiralty shipwrights had decided to standardise all cruisers with 8” fixed mounts, rather than 6” and 8” turrets. This reduced overall mass per weapon, retained the same ten second rate of fire and compensated for the loss of turret rotation with increased ship speeds. In the case of the Eclipse, high speed was not a factor but she still followed the new weapon doctrine. While direct combat would never be a strong point of the design, she would be able to inflict damage in a jump point defence or eliminate enemy scouts and commercial traffic.
On June 4th 1909, a Pathfinder class cutter entered Mahadeva from Thetis, on a mission to explore an outward jump point. Five Vaelor Hegemony ships were waiting on the jump point, all of new classes; three were 14,300-ton Jungle Cats, one a similar-sized Margay and the last a 28,600-ton Snow Leopard. The latter opened fire with twenty-five 8” lasers, with predictable results for the 250-ton cutter. The size of the ships was of particular interest to the Naval Intelligence Department.
Historically, the design philosophy of the Vaelor Hegemony was based on 8” lasers for offence, gauss cannon for point defence and light missiles for a combination of both. The Leopard and Iriomote heavy cruisers mounted the lasers, the Puma class light cruiser had the gauss cannon and the Jaguar heavy cruiser mounted missile launchers. The heavy cruisers were all in the 22,600 to 22,850-ton range, while the Pumas were 11,400 tons. These new ships were larger, with 28,600 tons for the laser-armed Snow Leopard, so it was possible they were a new design based on more advanced technology.
The Vaelor themselves remained mostly a mystery. They were always clad in their grey and blue armour, which covered a body not too dissimilar to humans, except for pale blue skin, white hair and a stockier, shorter physique. Their ships were utilitarian and functional, like their armour. Interrogation had revealed technical data and survey information but little about their culture. Vaelor prisoners remained taciturn and it had proven difficult even for experienced interrogators to establish any form of rapport. Known Hegemony space still comprised the five explored systems beyond Thetis, plus Yggdrasil and Gladsheim on the edge of Rhexar Imperium space. A connection had yet to be established between the two areas.
Given the endless warfare in which the Royal Navy seemed to be engaged, the Rhexar and Vaelor seem to blend together a little in the minds of some Royal Navy officers, but the two races were very different. The arrogant manner, physical power and gruesome appearance of the Rhexar meant that interrogation involved far more restraint and coercion, primarily for the safety of the interrogators. Their ships were streamlined, with a manta ray aesthetic that projected both high technology and lethality, well-armoured and armed with massed railguns. Their resistance to damage was well-documented. The Rhexar seemed to eschew missiles entirely.
Known Imperium space was much more extensive than the Hegemony, with Royal Navy ships exploring many systems around Utgard, Einherjar and Hvergelmir. British colonies existed in at ex-Automata ruin sites in Heimdall and Vanaheim, which appeared to be on the far side of Rhexar territory and a small base had been established in Fölkvangr, adjacent to both Utgard and Hvergelmir. The major and still growing naval base at New Asgard was the foundation of all British Empire activity in the Imperium systems that lay beyond Jörmungandr.
In addition to the survey efforts at all the major points of contacts, the Hydrographic Office was still expanding the boundaries of known space on the more peaceful frontiers. One of these was a chain of four systems extending from the innermost of five jump points in Sirius and comprising Nineveh, Aeneas, Charybdis and Scylla. The latter had recently been surveyed by HMS Aeolus, resulting in the discovery of two outward jump points, leading to Ophion, a red dwarf orbited by a large, moonless gas giant, and Epsilon Eridani, a planetless K2-V star with a strange phenomenon in the outer system, measuring ten million kilometres in diameter
After receiving data from HMS Aeolus, which had moved into Epsilon Eridani to begin a new survey, British scientists designated the strange manifestation as an ‘Aether Rift’. They believed it extended into the deep Aether and beyond and might be some form of ultra-long-range jump point on a much larger scale than normal. How it had formed and how it might be traversed was far beyond their comprehension. For now, all they could do was monitor the rift and watch for any further effect.
On June 13th 1909, HMS Diadem and HMS Amphitrite, stationed near the Angrboda jump point in Einherjar, detected the approach of a previously encountered Rhexar squadron comprising two Boa class troop transports, a Taipan and a Diamondback class heavy cruiser. The latter was known to be armed with twenty railguns, based on a previous engagement with a similar squadron. In that case it had remained in an escort position until it was eliminated. On this occasion, it broke formation when it came under attack and charged the two Diadems at 7000 km/s. They turned away, trying to keep the range open, despite their maximum speed of 4000 km/s. The Diamondback reversed course again, quickly moving outside their weapon range and apparently abandoning the commercial-engined ships it was escorting.
The Diamondback showed no sign of slowing down so HMS Diadem and HMS Amphitrite launched a salvo of eight Theseus II-E missiles, a variant of the Theseus II that traded one of its decoys for extra range. One was shot down and another struck a decoy. The other six detonated on target, resulting in atmosphere streaming from two different locations on the Rhexar hull. The Diamondback slowed to 5250 km/s, but keep moving away. The Royal Navy heavy cruisers destroyed the commercial shipping with energy weapons, then followed the fleeing Rhexar cruiser while their launchers recycled. They launched a second salvo of Theseus II-E missiles thirty-three minutes after the first salvo. All eight hit the target with strength-25 warheads, leaving the Diamondback dead in space. Once again, it was remarkable how much punishment Rhexar ships could absorb.
The two heavy cruisers closed to railgun range and did not come under fire, so a marine transport was summoned from New Asgard. It was two weeks away, so HMS Diadem remained close to the crippled heavy cruiser, while HMS Amphitrite moved back to the Angrboda jump point. Several hours later, HMS Diadem was struck by twenty-seven strength-1 impacts. The Diamondback plainly still had some weapon capability and had repaired whatever had prevented it from firing, probably a damaged fire control system. A brief exchange of fire ensued, before HMS Diadem disabled the Diamondback’s weapons once again.
HMS Clyde entered Einherjar a few days later and set course for the crippled Diamondback. Before she could arrive, another identical Rhexar squadron was detected by a buoy on the Angrboda – Einherjar jump point. HMS Amphitrite was alone on the Einherjar side, as HMS Diadem was still monitoring the Diamondback. The new fleet had been detected previously and was on a course from the centre of Angrboda. HMS Terpsichore and the survey sloops HMS Foxglove and HMS Jonquil were conducting a gravitational survey of Angrboda and had found one outward jump point so far. A Pathfinder had probed it and discovered Thrym, a compact red dwarf binary with three unremarkable planets and no sign of any Imperium presence. The origin of the troop transport squadron was likely to be an as-yet-undiscovered jump point, near the inner system.
The Diamondback in the approaching fleet destroyed the jump point sensor buoy, then the squadron jumped into Einherjar. HMS Amphitrite opened fire immediately, targeting the Diamondback. Her veteran crew allowed the venerable heavy cruiser to respond quickly and precisely. The first volley from eight 8” lasers and eight 5” lasers penetrated the Diamondback’s armour in four places. A second volley from the quick-firing 5” turrets triggered a colossal strength-257 secondary explosion that vapourised the Rhexar heavy cruiser. HMS Amphitrite pursued and eliminated both Boa class troop transports, but only disabled the Taipan.
HMS Clyde arrived two days later. Her Royal Marines captured the Taipan, revealing it to be a small jump tender. It wasn’t a useful ship for the British Empire as almost all commercial vessels were jump-capable, so it would be towed back to Earth for scrapping. HMS Clyde recovered her marines and set course for the crippled Diamondback. The Royal Marines easily penetrated the badly holed armour of the Rhexar heavy cruiser and a brief but bloody battle ensued. Seven marines were killed, along more than five hundred of the surviving Rhexar crew. The Diamondback was a jump-capable cruiser with magneto-plasma engines, but limited by its relatively short-ranged 8” railgun armament.
On July 3rd 1909, a Clouded Leopard class scout of the Vaelor Hegemony entered the Albion system and was destroyed by the jump point defence bases. While noted by Admiralty planners, it was fairly standard behaviour for the Hegemony, sending scouts into hostile systems to check their defences. The Royal Navy did the same, albeit with far less expensive vessels. Three days later, another Clouded Leopard made an appearance and it was anything but standard, causing a furore at the Admiralty.
The Vaelor scout was detected by a sensor buoy as it moved within a few million kilometres of the Lalande – Sol jump point. In terms of its astrography, Lalande was perhaps the most vital system in the Empire; adjacent to Earth and with four outward jump points. The least important led to the Nyxian chain, a group of six uninhabited systems where the only notable event was first contact with the Nyxian Raiders. Next was the Thebes system, the base of an expanding web of eleven uninhabited systems known as the Thebes Cluster. Thebes also had an inward connection to Albion via the Bellerophon system.
The third jump point connected to Tartarus, the base of the Eridani Chain, which included Delta Eridani, with its major naval base and hostile Automata fleet, Thanatos, with its more recent naval base, and Charon, surrounded by the territory of the Fomorian Protectorate. A separate branch from Thanatos led to Pompeii, with a population now over ten million, and through another route to Albion. Lalande’s most important jump point led to Ephesus, beyond which were the largest two Triad worlds, Blenheim and Carthage, and the major research station in Sidon, with a combined population exceeding two hundred and fifty million and containing most of the Empire’s mining output. The area had recently became known as the Foundry Reach. Apart from Sol, Lalande was probably the system that the British Empire could least afford to lose.
All the jump points in Lalande had sensor buoys, so it seemed very unlikely that the scout had entered the system from one of the known jump points. An urgent full resurvey of Lalande was required to find a suspected dormant jump point. HMS Naiad was in Sol orbit, about to begin an overhaul. That was cancelled and she was ordered to Lalande, despite her need for overhaul and shore leave. HMS Eclipse, a recently constructed light cruiser, was about to refuel at New Asgard before a mission in Rhexar space. She was recalled and sent to Lalande too. Finally, HMS Andromache was in Peleus, one jump out beyond Sidon and trying to expand the boundaries of the Foundry Reach. She was ordered back along the chain to join the resurvey.
While orders were being sent out, the Clouded Leopard transited into Sol. Either the Vaelor Hegemony already had survey ships in Lalande, or the scout ship had found the jump point by observing a ship making a transit. Either way, the Royal Navy needed to find and kill the Clouded Leopard before it vanished deep into the Sol system and establish a strong guard force on the Lalande jump point. The battleships HMS Magnificent and HMS Majestic broke orbit to head for the Lalande jump point, one point four billion kilometres from Earth, while HMS Sturgeon, one of four recently launched Swordfish class destroyers, preceded them to try to hunt down the Clouded Leopard.
After a few hours in Sol, the alien scout transited back into Lalande, then set a course for the inner system, where there were no known jump point. Lalande II had a single deep space tracking system, so it was possible that would detect something if there was further Hegemony activity.
At the known point of contact, in Thetis, a Pathfinder II class cutter managed to enter Mahadeva without being destroyed. The previous jump point defence force was absent, hopefully not because it was en route to Lalande and Sol. As it was moving across Mahadeva toward the sole unexplored jump point, the Pathfinder encountered a 14,300-ton Margay on a reciprocal course at 5935 km/s. Given that course, the origin of the Margay was likely to be the unexplored jump point, so it was even more urgent to find out what was on the far side. Fortunately, the new Pathfinder had a speed of 6400 km/s, so it was able to outrun the Vaelor warship, then come about and resume its original course.
Meanwhile, on the Rhexar front in Einherjar, a new Imperium fleet entered the system from Skadi, comprising two Cottonmouth troop transports, two Python escort cruisers, a King Cobra heavy cruiser and a commercial-engined Corn Snake, which was probably a jump tender. HMS Amphitrite was on the Angrboda jump point, with the captured Taipan, while HMS Diadem was still guarding the captured Diamondback and covering RFA Sphinx while she conducted salvage operations. The replenishment ship RFA Selene had just entered the system from Utgard, bringing supplies to repair the Diamondback’s engines. The two Royal Navy heavy cruisers had expended a quarter of their missiles and about thirty percent of their maintenance supplies.
The Rhexar destroyed the sensor buoy on the Skadi jump point and vanished from sensors. In Mahadeva, the Pathfinder transited the unknown jump point and discovered Varuna, a red dwarf system with five planets and forty-five moons. Over several days, the cutter visited all the planets in the system without finding any sign of life.
In Lalande, the listening post on the second planet had been expanded to three tracking stations and a small colony established to support patrol ships. On August 20th 1909, HMS Eclipse discovered a previously dormant jump point, located between the Sol jump point and the inner system, very early in the resurvey. HMS Magnificent moved forward from the Sol – Lalande jump point to the new jump point, leaving behind HMS Majestic in case there were already undetected Vaelor ships in Lalande that could threaten Sol.
Meanwhile, interrogation of Rhexar prisoners revealed full gravitational survey data on Fafnir, a system adjacent to Hvergelmir, where the wrecks of four Imperium ships had been discovered. The locations of two outward jump points were revealed. The survey sloop HMS Aster transited the first on August 21st. She emerged in Aegir, a red dwarf system with five planets and almost fifty moons. Aegir II had a nitrogen - oxygen atmosphere, with 0.08 atm of oxygen, and extensive ice sheets. The remaining system bodies were not worthy of note. A new type of Rhexar vessel was stationed on the jump point. Designated as Copperhead 001, it was 10,430 tons and equipped with military engines. HMS Aster retreated unharmed back into Fafnir and moved to the other unexplored jump point in Fafnir.
In Einherjar, also adjacent to Hvergelmir, HMS Diadem and HMS Amphitrite had been relieved by HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred, after the latter two heavy cruisers had a completed an overhaul at New Asgard. The captured Taipan had already been towed back to New Asgard, while the captured Diamondback had repaired an engine and joined the heavy cruisers on the Angrboda jump point. Salvage operations where temporarily on hold, as RFA Sphinx had returned to New Asgard and RFA Chimera was en route to replace her.
The Rhexar fleet that had entered the system Skadi a few weeks earlier was detected on a course for the Angrboda jump point, so HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred moved out to meet it. Once the Rhexar detected their approach, they attempted to flee. The King Cobra heavy cruiser was the main threat, as the two Pythons were armed only with gauss cannon. The Royal Navy warships opened fire at 195,000 km. As soon as the first hits were registered, the King Cobra and the Pythons broke formation and charged. HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred reversed course to keep the range open as long as possible, at which point the Rhexar heavy cruisers ran for the Hvergelmir jump point at 5500 km/s, abandoning the troop transports.
The King Cobra was unable to get outside of weapons range before it lost an engine. It dropped back and engaged in a brief battle with the Royal Navy heavy cruisers, before it was destroyed. The Pythons continued to run, with one suffering the same fate as the King Cobra and the other moving beyond 8” laser range after taking numerous armour hits. A salvo of eight Theseus II missiles achieved three hits, without slowing the Python. A second salvo thirty minutes later caused a massive secondary explosion that destroyed the ship. With the warships eliminated, the commercial-engined vessels were helpless, with the only concern being the amount of maintenance supplies required to keep the lasers functional while they tore through the thick armour of the Cottonmouth class troop transports. In recent months, the Rhexar Imperium had lost numerous transports, but there was still no indication of where their troops were being deployed.
Back in Lalande, a Pathfinder II cutter transited the unexplored jump point, watched over by HMS Magnificent and the light cruiser HMS Pelorus. She discovered a planetless brown dwarf system with a scattering of comets. Following the theme of Indian mythology for the systems in Vaelor territory, it was named Indra. HMS Eclipse moved into the system, deployed a sensor buoy on the Lalande jump point and began a survey.
On August 27th, HMS Aster transited the second jump point in Fafnir. It led to Saga, a system with an orange K5-V star, eight planets and over seventy moons. A Rhexar battlefleet was waiting on the Saga side of the jump point, comprising six 37,200-ton Anaconda class heavy cruisers, two Cobra class heavy cruisers and three Pythons. It was the first fleet of this type encountered since the battles in Jörmungandr several years earlier and perhaps indicated a route to the Imperium core worlds. Unfortunately, HMS Aster did not survive the encounter.
Ten days later, a squadron of four Rhexar destroyers transited from Fafnir into Hvergelmir, where they were detected by a buoy, and set course for the outermost of the system’s six jump points. The target jump point led to Loki, a system only recently discovered that held a vast amount of real estate, including seven planets, sixty-six moons and over five hundred asteroids. Loki I was a super-terrestrial planet with an atmosphere of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen. The gravitational survey sloop HMS Iris was in the system, but no geological survey had been undertaken. The Hydrographic Office had too many priorities to cover them all. Soon afterwards, three Rhexar ships of light cruiser tonnage emerged from Loki. Two were classed as Pit Viper class and the third as a Fer-de-Lance.
On September 8th, a Clouded Leopard class scout of the Vaelor Hegemony transited from Varuna into Mahadeva, where it was detected by the same Pathfinder cutter that had recently discovered Varuna and conducted a sweep of its planets. Nine Clouded Leopards had been detected since first contact with the Hegemony, so it was a fairly common sight. This particular scout was of much greater interest than normal, because it was the same ship that recently entered Sol from Lalande two months earlier, which strongly suggested the link from Hegemony space to Lalande was somewhere beyond Varuna. There was also an unexplained link from the known Vaelor systems to the edge of Rhexar Imperium territory, around Gladsheim and Yggdrasil.
Three days later, the Vaelor scout was followed by a Snow Leopard class heavy cruiser, along with three smaller Jungle Cats and a Margay. It was the same Vaelor squadron that had been guarding the Mahadeva – Thetis jump point three months earlier. The Pathfinder jumped into Varuna to avoid being attacked and escaped into the outer system.
In Einherjar, the two Pit Vipers and the Fer-de-Lance transited into the system from Hvergelmir and set course for the Skadi jump point. The situation in Imperium space was becoming ever more complex. Skadi, Loki and Fafnir were all candidates for the direction of the Rhexar core worlds. A few hours later, another Rhexar destroyer squadron appeared near the Hvergelmir – Einherjar jump point and eliminated the sensor buoy. HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred were becoming very exposed at the Einherjar – Angrboda jump point, but the interdiction of Rhexar traffic at that location was causing considerable damage and yielding useful salvage, so they would remain for now.
With all the activity from the Vaelor, Rhexar and Fomorians, plus appearance of the mysterious race briefly encountered in Manannan, the alien contact in Halicarnassus in March 1908 had fallen in priority. There was still no sign of any further populations or ships, just a ground forces contact on Halicarnassus-B II. The system itself had been surveyed and two further jump points found, one leading outward to Cassandra, an as-yet-unsurveyed binary with a planetless G0-V primary and an orange K7-V companion with four planets, and the other inward to Psyche, a known system three jumps from both Albion and Lalande. Given the jump point leading into some of busiest parts of the Empire, plus the total lack of further contact, it seemed unlikely this was a major race. As the planet did have surface water and a thin nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere, the Naval Intelligence Department was considering the idea it might be a minor civilization indigenous to Halicarnassus-B II, or some form of remnant ground force from a fallen race.
The analysis assumed a higher priority when the survey sloop HMS Carnation ran into a very similar situation in the Damascus system, three jumps from Sol via Sirius and Phaedra. She detected a tiny thermal signature, a ground forces signature of 10,000 tons and minimal active sensor emissions on Damascus II, a cold terrestrial world with an atmosphere that would be breathable, except for a small amount of carbon dioxide. This was a different alien race than the one in Halicarnassus, but the presence of ground forces accompanied by a strength-5 thermal signature was comparable to Halicarnassus-B II. At least until HMS Carnation was blasted out of the sky by surface-based energy weapons.
The survey sloop would be avenged but given the recent brief incursion into Sol by the Vaelor Hegemony, there was a great reluctance to weaken the home system’s defences. Only four of the fourteen battleships in service were stationed in Earth orbit, with eight more deployed in pairs in Albion, Jörmungandr, Thanatos and Delta Eridani and the last two guarding the Sol – Lalande and Lalande – Indra jump points. The status of the Thanatos deployment would be reviewed given the distance of the danger from the Fomorians, compared to the more immediate Hegemony threat. Only two out of nineteen heavy cruisers were deployed in Sol, with one stationed at Europa and the other undergoing the first refit of a Diadem into the Diadem-M, which replaced engines and fire controls only.
The Home Fleet also included a single light cruiser, HMS Phoebe, the escort cruiser HMS Hermes and four destroyers. The rest of the Royal Navy was deployed at bases around the Empire, or on active operations. New ships were under construction but at least a year away from completion. In the short term, any alien incursion from Damascus would have to be handled by the Sirius squadron, based at Port Sirius and comprising the heavy cruiser HMS Ariadne, the light cruiser HMS Proserpine and two destroyers, all of which were older ships with gas core engines. The Naval Intelligence Department also advised that their theories about Halicarnassus-B II might also apply to Damascus II.
On September 26th 1909, the five-ship Vaelor squadron led by the Snow Leopard transited into Thetis from Mahadeva and destroyed the jump point sensor buoy. The Hegemony was steadily eliminating the buoy network established to monitor the movements of its naval forces. Meanwhile interrogations of Rhexar prisoners from the recent battles in Einherjar revealed disturbing information. Details of a ship design described as the Hanoi class terraformer included the use of magnetic fusion drives, a generation ahead of the Empire’s recently developed magneto-plasma drives. No major Royal Navy warship had even been built yet with the new engines and the Imperium already had fusion drives.
Back in Indra, one jump point out from Lalande, a Pathfinder cutter transited a newly discovered jump point and discovered Kali, a red dwarf system with three planets, including a super-terrestrial world with a dense nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere. HMS Pelorus moved to picket the Indra-Kali jump point, arriving only seven hours before a Clouded Leopard transited into Indra, emerging over a hundred thousand kilometres from the jump point. HMS Pelorus opened fire, but only achieved a few armour hits before Vaelor scout escaped out of range. She launched three salvos of Daedalus missiles without success, with all twelve shot down by point defence, then returned to her picket position. The Clouded Leopard was now loose in the Indra system, although it could only watch as it was unarmed.
In Thetis, the Snow Leopard squadron transited the Takshaka jump point, narrowly missing HMS Apollo which had transited into the opposite direction two days earlier, then another Clouded Leopard transited into Albion. HMS Cornwall was supporting the jump point bases. She had a speed of 5000 km/s and a dozen 8” lasers, giving her a substantial speed and firepower advantage over HMS Pelorus. The Clouded Leopard did not escape. A second scout transited into Thetis twelve hours later, suffered over sixty hits from HMS Cornwall and the defence bases, then promptly surrendered.
In Thanatos, the Royal Sovereign class battleships HMS Repulse and HMS Revenge had been ordered to return home. There were too many threats closer to Earth to justify their continued deployment so far from Sol, despite the threat from the powerful Fomorians and their massed battleships. The Thanatos – Charon jump point was guarded by HMS Saint Helena, a Gibraltar class fortress, supported by HMS Monmouth, sister to HMS Cornwall. The light cruiser HMS Pandora was based at the growing colony in Thanatos, which had become known as Farwatch Station, while her sister ships HMS Psyche and HMS Perseus had ventured out once again and taken up picket stations in Manannan, at the Charon and Fragarach jump points respectively.
A lone Sencha class troop transport transited from Charon into Manannan on October 6th 1909. After being severely damaged by HMS Psyche it surrendered, with only two of twenty-two engines still intact. It was sent back through the jump point into Charon on a course for the Thanatos jump point. A few days later, with the captured Sencha still within six million kilometres of the Charon – Manannan jump point and making only 25 km/s, a new Fomorian squadron appeared, comprising two more Sencha troop transports, a commercial-engined Ogma and an escorting Taliesin, a 26,440-ton heavy cruiser with shields and a speed of almost 6000 km/s. Its armament was unknown.
HMS Psyche had a chance to run, on the basis the Taliesin would not abandon the slower moving transports, but her captain, Commander Morgan Johnston, requested permission to stand and fight. Despite facing a faster, larger and more modern ship, he believed it would likely use a standard transit and be vulnerable to attack. He was given permission to defend the jump point. The Taliesin destroyed the buoy on the Charon side then all four ships transited together, arriving at point-blank range.
HMS Psyche opened fire immediately, her first laser shots impacting on the Taliesin’s shields moments before the impact of four Daedalus missiles. Her second 6” broadside eliminated the remaining shields and struck armour. One shot from the third volley penetrated that armour. After two more attacks from HMS Psyche, the Taliesin broke away from the other ships, atmosphere streaming through its armour. HMS Psyche fired a sixth time and the Taliesin exploded, torn apart by a pair of secondary explosions. With the enemy cruiser eliminated, the commercial-engined ships were easy prey, although maintaining the continuous fire required to wear down the thick armour of the Senchas cost HMS Psyche over sixty percent of her maintenance supplies.
In Thetis, HMS Apollo used an Orpheus sensor drone to check the Thetis – Mahadeva jump point was clear and then transited, counting on the absence of the Snow Leopard squadron to allow her to transit without incident. While it was risky, it was becoming ever more important to understand the internal layout of Hegemony space. HMS Anemone and HMS Bluebell were already in Mahadeva, but progress on their gravitational survey was very slow. HMS Apollo emerged 10,000 km from the jump point and immediately detected a known Margay class light cruiser picketing the far side. Two Margay had been encountered, including one in the Snow Leopard squadron, but their armament was unknown.
HMS Apollo targeted the alien cruiser with her two twin 6” laser turrets and her single missile launcher but could not yet fire due to jump shock. There was little point in trying to run so she moved toward the Margay. The alien warship began to open the range and launched seventeen size-8 missiles. With no functional fire control, HMS Apollo was helpless to prevent all seventeen striking her with strength-6 warheads. The damage was extensive, with her relatively thin armour penetrated in eight places. She lost one of her two turrets, her entire magazine, which fortunately did not cause a secondary explosion, two survey sensors and several secondary systems. Her engine was struck but somehow her damage control teams were able to limit the damage and it remained fully functional.
Jump shock wore off before the Margay could launch again, so HMS Apollo transited into Thetis. After transit, her captain. Commander Ryan Jennings, considered running for the Albion jump point, but at 2500 km/s she would not get far if the Margay entered Thetis and launched more missiles. Instead, he stationed his ship on the Mahadeva jump point and ordered his crew to prioritise repair of the laser turret. HMS Cornwall transited into Thetis from Albion and raced to the rescue.
Forty-eight hours later, HMS Apollo had repaired her internal damage, although seventy percent of her armour had been destroyed and her magazine was empty, and HMS Cornwall had arrived on the Mahadeva jump point. The damaged light cruiser set course for Albion, and eventually Earth, so she could be repaired and overhauled. HMS Cornwall transited into Mahadeva to deal with the Margay, but there was no sign of it.
In Indra, a Pathfinder II cutter managed to acquire the Clouded Leopard that escaped from HMS Pelorus. The cutter had a slight speed advantage, so it shadowed the Vaelor scout until a squadron of six torpedo boats from HMS Hermes, recently arrived at the Lalande jump point, closed to within attack range and launched six Theseus II-E anti-ship missiles. One was hit by point defence, two more were decoyed and three struck the Clouded Leopard, but did not penetrate its armour. A second wave of six was launched from HMS Hermes.
Meanwhile, HMS Scylla had discovered a pair of jump points on the far side of Indra, located just twenty million kilometres apart. She had placed buoys, completed her part of the main survey work and was now heading back to them to conduct a probe. HMS Eclipse moved to join her. The third survey cruiser in the small brown dwarf system, HMS Andromache, had a single survey location left to address, then she would begin a survey of Kali. The Clouded Leopard that was fleeing across Indra from the Kali jump point was on an approximate course for the jump point pair.
In Einherjar, a new Rhexar light cruiser squadron, comprising three Vipers and a Sidewinder, was detected by a sensor buoy transiting into Hvergelmir from the direction of the Skadi jump point. A few hours later, two more squadrons with the same composition transited into Hvergelmir from Loki. Something or someone seemed be generating a lot of Imperium activity. Back in Indra, the second group of six torpedo boats from HMS Hermes closed on the Clouded Leopard and launched a wave of Theseus II-E torpedoes. Four detonated on target, resulting in a secondary explosion and the destruction of the Vaelor scout.
As a result of expending twelve Theseus and twelve Daedalus missiles, and considerable time and effort, to eliminate an unarmed scout, the Admiralty decided that the Royal Navy needed a fast, inexpensive patrol craft, armed with energy weapons, that could be based either on planets, or on the three escort carriers, and was able to operate for extended periods. The result was the Ascot class Gunboat, based on a 1000-ton jump-capable hull and armed with a 4"/40 QF Railgun. The active sensor was a Maxwell MX-42C-N Navigation Sensor, supported by minimal passive capability. The larger hull compared to the torpedo boats allowed for more fuel, supplies and crew accommodations. As a result, the Ascot could operate solo for up to two years, with a combat radius of over four billion kilometres.
On October 23rd 1909, the Pathfinder that had tracked the Clouded Leopard transited into the inner of the paired jump points in Indra. She emerged in Rama, a system with an M4-V red dwarf primary, five planets, twenty moons and a substantial asteroid belt. Rama III, larger than Earth. had a breathable atmosphere, but it had a surface temperature of -114C and was entirely covered in an ice sheets. The planet was close to the perihelion of an eccentric orbit, so the conditions represented the height of summer. Rama II had liquid oceans, but an atmosphere of CO2 and nitrogen. HMS Eclipse entered Rama, placed a buoy at the jump point and launched Orpheus sensor probes at the second and third planets. There was no sign of life.
The Pathfinder moved to the outer jump point in Indra and conducted another probe. She discovered Bhavani, another red dwarf system, with six planets and sixty moons. HMS Scylla moved followed her into the system to begin a survey, launching an Orpheus at Bhavani II, which had extensive ice sheets and a dense nitrogen – oxygen atmosphere, including 0.5 atm of oxygen. Once again, there was no obvious Hegemony presence.
In Rama, an outward jump point was discovered fairly quickly. A Pathfinder investigated and found Dasaratha, a red dwarf system with plenty of real estate – nine planets, forty moons and a scattering of asteroids – but nothing worthy of particular note. The Pathfinder returned to Rama, where HMS Eclipse was conducting a survey. Two weeks later, a 9300-ton Vaelor ship of a new type, designated as Fishing Cat class, transited into Rama from Dasaratha. It immediately moved away toward the Indra jump point at 5000 km/s, without firing on the cutter. While it was possible the Fishing Cat was a survey ship heading home, it seemed more likely that Rama and Dasaratha were the path to the Vaelor Hegemony.
Four days later, the Fishing Cat transited into Indra. HMS Pelorus was waiting in ambush. A volley of point-blank fire from her four twin 6” turrets crippled the Vaelor vessel, so she ceased fire and her captain called for a marine transport from Earth. The Royal Marines quickly secured the ship, which was an unusually fast geosurvey vessel.
In Mahadeva, HMS Cornwall was still at the Thetis jump point, after covering the withdrawal of the damaged light cruiser HMS Apollo. She detected the approach of a six-ship Hegemony squadron that had been seen several times before and was responsible for the destruction of a Pathfinder and the survey sloop HMS Dahlia. The enemy force included a Jaguar heavy cruiser armed with light missiles, an Iriomote heavy cruiser armed with seventeen 8” lasers, three 11,400-ton Caracals and an 11,400-ton Bornean Bay. HMS Cornwall was faster, so she had the opportunity to flee, but her commanding officer, Captain Henry Webster DSC, DSM, decided to stay and fight.
HMS Cornwall had already destroyed six Vaelor ships, with a combined tonnage of over 100,000, and she was designed for jump point defence. Captain Webster decided to withdraw into Thetis and wait for the Hegemony Force to transit, at which point he planned to target the Jaguar first, to remove the enemy missile capability, then the Iriomote. Once the Vaelor ships started to recover from jump shock, he would take his own ship back into Mahadeva. Unfortunately, the Hegemony squadron didn’t transit, so the entry to Mahadeva was closed once again.
By late December, the salvage operations around the Angrboda jump point in Einherjar were complete. HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred were refuelled and resupplied by RFA Coeus, after which they transferred their prisoners to the recently-constructed replenishment ship. With the current responsibilities fulfilled, the two heavy cruisers were directed to move to the Einherjar – Hvergelmir jump point, which had seen a lot of recent activity from light cruiser squadrons travelling between the systems of Skadi, Fafnir and Loki. The first was adjacent to Einherjar and the other two adjacent to Hvergelmir. Captain James Blackburn, commanding officer of King Alfred and senior officer of the two-ship division, was given orders to disrupt that traffic without taking undue risks, but to retreat to New Asgard if substantial Rhexar forces appeared.
Meanwhile in Varuna, adjacent to Mahadeva, the same squadron that refused to transit into Thetis and confront HMS Cornwall was detected by a Pathfinder II cutter in orbit of Varuna III. The cutter had conducted a sweep of the planets in the system without finding any signs of life, then taken up station in orbit of the third planet as it was short on fuel and couldn’t yet return home. The Vaelor squadron approached from the outer system. The cutter ran, as it had a small speed advantage, but was destroyed by a missile.
Investigation of the systems beyond Indra was continuing apace. Based on the movements of Vaelor ships,
the Naval Intelligence Department believed the path toward the Hegemony core worlds was Lalande – Indra – Rama – Dasaratha. Light forces had been pulled from other parts of the Empire to allow a few jump point picket ships, so the Diadem class heavy cruiser HMS Spartiate, redeployed from Delta Eridani, and the light cruiser HMS Proserpine, newly arrived from Port Sirius, were deployed on the Indra – Rama jump point. HMS Pelorus was picketing the nearby Indra – Bhavani jump point, while her sister ship HMS Phoebe was forward deployed to the Rama – Dasaratha jump point. The ex-Nyxian stealth raider HMS Ambuscade was also deployed in Rama, in orbit of the fourth planet.
On New Year’s Day 1910, a Pathfinder class cutter deployed on the Dasaratha - Rama jump point detected the approach of a Jaguar class heavy cruiser and a new ship type, designated as Serval class, that was 43,122 tons. Given the speed of approach was 1855 km/s, the Serval was most likely a commercial design. Nevertheless. The sighting of a Jaguar further reinforced the belief that Dasaratha was the next step, once Rama had been fully surveyed. The Pathfinder, able to hold the range opened, declined to transit back into Rama and instead gave up the jump point, pulling back as the two Vaelor ships approached. The Vaelor declined to transit and pulled back out of sensor range.
In Einherjar, HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred ambushed a Rhexar light cruiser squadron transiting into the system from Hvergelmir. They destroyed all four ships, a Sidewinder and there Vipers, although HMS Drake suffered some armour damage when the three Vipers recovered quickly from jump shock and focused their fire on the Royal Navy heavy cruiser. Despite one penetration to eighty percent depth, Captain Blackburn elected to remain on station.
The Vaelor fleet that had been moving between Varuna and Mahadeva, comprising Jaguar and Iriomote heavy cruisers, plus four light cruisers, transited into Thetis to confront HMS Cornwall. The Jaguar, the Iriomote and two Caracals came through in a squadron jump, with the other two ships arrived on the jump point. That changed the planned strategy of Captain Webster, as the Vaelor ships would recover from jump shock much sooner than anticipated. As his ship pursued the alien fleet away from the jump point, Webster instructed his crew to fire at whichever targets could be acquired quickly.
Ten seconds after launch, HMS Cornwall completely obliterated one of the Caracal light cruisers, with a full broadside of twelve 8” lasers and twenty-four 4” railguns. Unfortunately, the Iriomote reacted just as quickly, striking HMS Cornwall with seventeen 8” lasers at point-bank range. Her shields were flattened and she suffered three deep armour hits, two of which penetrated her entire belt. HMS Cornwall would suffer serious damage from another similar attack, so she reversed course and headed for the Mahadeva jump point. One of the Caracals launched fifteen size-8 missiles, but HMS Cornwall transited before they could reach her.
The heavy cruiser was one of three Monmouth class ships, the most modern design in the Royal Navy. Despite that, she was now in serious trouble, cut off from home and likely to face the Vaelor fleet again before long. The Royal Sovereign class battleships HMS Centurion and HMS Renown, based on at Port Albion Station as a backup to the fortresses on the Thetis jump point, were ordered to move up to that jump point and await further instructions. Two more battleships, HMS Repulse and HMS Revenge, were ordered to depart Earth orbit and move to Port Albion. They were older ships, with gas core engines, but perfectly capable of defending a jump point. The Vaelor fleet did not immediately pursue HMS Cornwall, so she remained in Mahadeva and restored her shields.
Two days later, the Hegemony squadron was detected on approach to the Thetis – Albion jump point. HMS Centurion and HMS Renown were still sixty million kilometres away. Two of the ships, a Caracal and the Bornean Bay, were two and a half million kilometres ahead of the others. On arrival at the jump point, they transited immediately, without waiting for the squadron to reassemble. Four Gibraltar class fortresses were stationed on the Albion side of the jump point. They destroyed both ships before the Vaelor could fire a shot. The remaining three Hegemony ships in Thetis, a Jaguar, an Iriomote and the last Caracal, reversed course and headed back toward the Mahadeva jump point.
Four hours later, the two battleships arrived and transited into Thetis. The Hegemony ships were seventy million kilometres away, near the edge of sensor range. HMS Cornwall remained at the Mahadeva – Thetis jump point, so the battleships were ordered to pursue until they lost contact with the faster enemy ships, then proceed to the Thetis - Mahadeva jump point and endeavour to force the remaining Vaelor ships to transit back in Mahadeva, where HMS Cornwall could attempt a brief ambush before transiting into Thetis.
The Jaguar, Iriomote and Caracal jumped back into Mahadeva on January 23rd, arriving 90,000 km from HMS Cornwall. She reacted quickly, scoring ten strength-6 laser hits on the Caracal class destroyer, although her 4” railguns were out of range. She pursued as the Hegemony ships moved away, cutting the corner on their course to close to 62,000 km and inflicting a further eleven strength-9 hits on the Caracal that disabled its engines.
HMS Cornwall moved within railgun range of the crippled Caracal and destroyed it, but came under fire from the Iriomote, losing two-thirds percent of her shield strength, while the Jaguar launched forty-seven light missiles. It was time to depart. The Royal Navy heavy cruiser set a course for the Thetis jump point.
The Hegemony light missiles arrived at 48,000 km/s. Fourteen were destroyed by HMS Cornwall’s railguns and ten more missed. The other twenty-three dropped her shields to twenty percent. HMS Cornwall returned fire, scoring multiple non-penetrating hits on the Jaguar’s armour. Another light missile salvo arrived, impacting just before she transited. HMS Cornwall emerged in Thetis with her shields at three percent, but no further armour damage. The Vaelor squadron now comprised the Jaguar and Iriomote heavy cruisers. Twelve hours after the battle, HMS Centurion and HMS Renown joined HMS Cornwall on the Thetis – Mahadeva jump point.
In Einherjar, a Rhexar troop transport squadron, including two Python escort cruisers and a King Cobra heavy cruiser, was detected moving toward the Utgard jump point from the direction of Skadi. Utgard had not seen any Imperium traffic for some time and until now had been viewed as a relatively safe system for the transit of commercial-engined ships. After transit, the squadron destroyed the sensor buoy on the Utgard side. Utgard connected directly to Fölkvangr, where a small Royal Navy base had been established, and was two transits from both Jörmungandr and Heimdall, via Ymir and Nilfheim respectively.
The Jaguar and Iriomote transited back into Thetis on January 31st. appearing 132,000 km from the jump point. The three Royal Navy warships headed toward them, each targeting the first ship on which it could achieve a lock. The two battleships were slower, but their crews were more experienced, so they fired within a few seconds of the Vaelor arrival, scoring a dozen hits on each enemy heavy cruiser with 10” and 5” lasers, one of which pierced the already-damaged armour of the Jaguar. Due to the range, the strength of those hits was diminished and that range would increase as the battleship fell behind the faster Hegemony ships.
Rather than risk significant damage to HMS Cornwall as she attempted to catch the alien cruisers with only a 300 km/s speed advantage, the battleships launched twenty-four first generation Theseus missiles at the laser-armed Iriomote. As the missiles closed in, HMS Cornwall came under fire, receiving nine strength-3 hits that dropped her shields by twenty percent. Simultaneously she engaged the Iriomote, achieving a similar number of hits but at strength-4 as her 8” lasers had a shorter wavelength, which somewhat counter-intuitively meant they retained more power at longer ranges compared to the Vaelor equivalent. The battleships scored a few more hits with their 5” secondary armament, but none of the Royal Navy fire inflicted internal damage. The Jaguar launched a wave of light missiles, although their target was not yet known.
The light missiles targeted the inbound Theseus. A dozen decoys were destroyed but all of the missiles survived. Half of them missed their first attack and three were distracted by the target’s own decoys. The remaining nine struck the Iriomote with their strength-25 warheads, rendering it immobile. With a stationary target, the twelve missiles that missed their first attack came about and slammed into the crippled Iriomote, smashing it into drifting wreckage.
The battleships both focused on the Jaguar, as their 10” lasers fired again, but the range had opened to 150,000 km. HMS Cornwall had been targeting the Iriomote and her less experienced crew required a few moments to adjust to the Jaguar. When they did, their first 8” salvo resulted in a large secondary explosion that disabled the heavy cruiser. The battleships began to close, firing their secondary armament, but HMS Cornwall was closer. Her second volley against the Jaguar was from 72,000 km. A dozen strength-8 hits blew it to pieces. The Hegemony squadron that had plagued the Thetis, Mahadeva and Varuna systems for several months was finally no more. HMS Cornwall picked up the Vaelor survivors and headed to Earth for overhaul and repair. The battleships moved back to the Mahadeva jump point, where they would hold station for a few weeks to guard against any further Hegemony incursions and to cover RFA Sphinx while she salvaged the Vaelor wrecks.
In Einherjar, the Rhexar troop transport squadron that had recently entered the Utgard jump point after arriving from the direction of Skadi, now returned and set a course for the Hvergelmir jump point, where HMS Drake and HMS King Alfred were trying to interdict Imperium traffic passing between Einherjar and Hvergelmir. The two heavy cruisers were also covering RFA Sphinx as she salvaged several light cruiser wrecks.
Meanwhile, in a different part of Trans-Jörmungandr space, the light cruiser HMS Spartan transited a newly discovered jump point in Hoenir, three transits from Jörmungandr via Sköll and Tyr. She emerged in Sirius, a long settled system adjacent to Sol. The new connection didn’t shorten the route from Sol to Jörmungandr, but it did create a different route between Earth and New Asgard, should it ever be needed.
