On February 8th 1901, the Vaelor Hegemony sent its first multi-ship force through the Thetis - Albion jump point, comprising two 11,500-ton Puma class ships and two Ocelots. The two heavy cruisers on the jump point, HMS Euryalus and HMS Spartiate, each targeted one of the two Pumas, ignoring the commercial-engined Ocelots. HMS Spartiate fired first, striking the Puma with every shot from her four twin 8"/50 turrets and four twin 5"/50 quick-firing turrets. The Vaelor warship disintegrated in a massive secondary explosion. Moments later, HMS Euryalus destroyed the second Puma. Both Royal Navy warships attempted to disable the Ocelots by using a single 5” turret to engage them. They succeeded in one case and accidentally destroyed the other. A pair of marine transports were dispatched from Earth, both to board the crippled Ocelot and to handle any future, similar situations.
Eight days later, a pair of 22,600-ton Leopard class heavy cruisers transited into Albion. It appeared the Hegemony was suddenly a lot more serious about testing the Royal Navy defences. The Leopards were dangerous opponents, armed with nineteen 8” lasers and a single 10” laser. Both Royal Navy heavy cruisers responded immediately, dividing their energy weapons between the two targets and launching eight 60-ton Theseus anti-ship missiles. The Hegemony ship designated as Leopard 005 was struck by eight 8” lasers, one of which penetrated, and seven 5” lasers, three of which penetrated. Its speed of 4,756 km/s was unaffected. Leopard 006 took two fewer hits, but its speed fell to 2,378 km/s.
Each Leopard was struck by a pair of Theseus missiles with strength-25 warheads, with each decoying a third missile. The fourth missile in each salvo missed and turned to re-engage. The Diadems simultaneously fired their 5” turrets, achieving several strength-4 hits. Both enemy ships dropped to half of their previous speed but were still in the fight and waiting for their jump shock to wear off. The Royal Navy heavy cruisers fired their full energy armament once more, as the 8”/50 laser had a ten second recharge time. Despite the Leopards being hit by almost every shot at point-bank range, and Leopard 005 taking a hit from a Theseus, they survived once again, albeit at the cost of their remaining engines. The Hegemony heavy cruiser design had formidable passive defences.
The last Theseus, which had missed twice, struck Leopard 005 and both ships took a further seven strength-4 hits. Somehow they continued to survive the onslaught of HMS Euryalus and HMS Spartiate. The Naval Intelligence Department would have to seriously upgrade their estimate of Vaelor technology, especially in defence. Finally, when the heavy cruisers fired their third 8” salvo, both Leopards exploded. Even though the jump point defence force had been victorious, it was a sobering experience for the Royal Navy. HMS Repulse, one of two battleships stationed at Port Albion, was ordered to move up and join the two Diadems.
The decision came too late. Thirty minutes after the battle with the two Leopards, the Vaelor Hegemony sent a much larger fleet into Albion, comprising four Leopards, two equally-sized Jaguars and three smaller Pumas. It seemed that all the two Royal Navy heavy cruisers could do was to go down fighting. They would likely not die alone, as the salvage ship RFA Gryphon was close to the jump point and HMS Pelorus, the lead ship of her light cruiser class, was 700,000 km from the jump point, monitoring the disabled Ocelot until the Royal Marines arrived.
The armament of the Jaguars and Pumas was unknown, but the Leopards would be deadly at close range and were faster than the Diadem class. HMS Euryalus and HMS Spartiate each targeted one of the Leopards and pursued the alien fleet as it moved away from the jump point. Their only option was to do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. HMS Pelorus began launching salvos of four Daedalus missiles at one of the Pumas. One full broadside from the Diadems, including missiles, plus a follow-up volley from their secondary armament, left both targeted Leopards dead in space. Captain Dylan Field, commanding officer of HMS Spartiate and senior office in the jump point defence force, ordered his own ship and HMS Euryalus to target the second pair of Leopards and ignore the cripples. They could be finished off later with missiles if the two Royal Navy cruisers survived the battle.
Fortunately, both heavy cruiser crews were well trained and responded instantly to the change in targeting orders. Eighty percent of the first broadside struck the Hegemony cruisers, with three shots penetrating. A second full broadside, plus an intervening 5” volley, caused a secondary explosion that destroyed one of the Leopards and inflicted sufficient damage on the other to cripple it. HMS Spartiate changed targets to one of the Jaguars, while HMS Euryalus fired a 5” volley at the crippled Leopard then targeted the other Jaguar. Forty seconds had passed since the original transit and there was still no counter-fire from the Vaelor warships. Given the length of the jump shock effects, it seemed the Hegemony attack force had used a standard transit. The Thetis side was stabilised, so it was possible they had used that option rather than a jump drive.
The two Jaguars and three Pumas reversed course toward as the jump point as HMS Spartiate and HMS Euryalus fired their main armament once again, each scoring three penetrating hits. Two more volleys were sufficient to disable both enemy ships. Fifty-five seconds after transits, with one enemy ship destroyed and the remaining five heavy cruisers crippled, two of the Leopards finally opened fire. HMS Spartiate took four strength-10 hits from Leopard 010 at point-bank range and seven strength-3 hits from one of the pair of Leopards crippled earlier, which were now 110,000 km away. Her shield strength was reduced to half.
Captain Field ordered both his ships to open the range, moving further away from the jump point while targeting the firing ships. Both alien ships took some 5” hits, without being destroyed, but then a more immediate problem presented itself. The three 11,500-ton Pumas pursued the two Diadem class heavy cruisers as they retreated, with two of them each opening fire with gauss cannon at point-blank range. HMS Spartiate suffered forty-eight strength-1 hits and her shield strength fell to ten percent. While the gauss cannon were short-range weapons, the Pumas were faster than the Royal Navy cruisers and could remain at point-blank. Captain Field was forced to order a new targeting change.
Fortunately, the well-trained crews responded immediately. Full broadsides crippled one of the active Pumas and the other dropped to half speed. Simultaneously, HMS Spartiate received another forty-eight hits, losing her shields and approximately ten percent of her armour. Follow-up 5” volleys inflicted further damage. Both targeted Pumas were left dead in space, while the third ran for the jump point. At the same time, the two active Leopards fired again, scoring two strength-7 and two strength-2 hits on HMS Spartiate. Her armour held, but it was holed in two places. To make the situation worse, the two crippled Jaguars launched a total of seventy-five size-1 missiles between them.
Once again, Captain Field ordered a targeting change. His own ship would engage the closest Jaguar while HMS Euryalus targeted the closest of the active Leopards. HMS Pelorus was still in the area, but well outside energy range and with her missile launchers sixty seconds from another launch. The small missiles launched by the Jaguars unexpectedly headed for HMS Pelorus, which reversed course and prepared her 6” laser turrets for point defence. HMS Spartiate destroyed the targeted Jaguar, while HMS Euryalus inflicted half a dozen internal hits on the Leopard. The Leopard was proving to be a very resilient design.
With all the remaining Hegemony ships crippled, apart from a single intact Puma trying to open the range, Captain Field ordered his ships to begin a gradual turn back toward the jump point, almost a quarter of a million kilometres away. HMS Spartiate targeted the remaining Jaguar while HMS Euryalus fired again on the closest Leopard, finally destroying it. The invading force now comprised two crippled Leopards armed with lasers, a crippled Jaguar armed with light missile launchers, two crippled Puma armed with short-range gauss cannon and a single intact Puma running from the two Diadems, but no longer directly toward the jump point.
The loss of the first Jaguar did not affect the missile salvos targeted on HMS Pelorus. She failed to shoot any down and was hit by sixty strength-1 detonations that flattened her shields and damaged her armour. Moments after the missiles struck, HMS Spartiate destroyed the second Jaguar, even as it launched a final eight missiles that caused additional minor armour damage to HMS Pelorus, then HMS Euryalus eliminated one of the crippled Leopards. The surviving Leopard had not yet fired and the two damaged Pumas were out of range, so the attention of the Royal Navy cruisers turned to the undamaged Puma, which was still attempting to flee. Two full broadsides proved sufficient to deal with it. The marine transports were still five days away, so Captain Field decided to eliminate the three remaining cripples rather than risk them repairing their damage.
Somehow, HMS Spartiate and HMS Euryalus had survived a battle against an invasion force of almost three times their mass. Without the standard transit of the Hegemony ships and the excellent training of the Royal Navy crews it could have gone very differently. The two heavy cruisers rendezvoused with HMS Pelorus on the Thetis jump point while they awaited reinforcements. HMS Spartiate had two holes in her armour, while HMS Pelorus had damage in four places that penetrated two-thirds of the armour belt. Both ships required urgent repair but they would have to remain on station for at least another three days.
The Royal Sovereign class battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Repulse arrived at the Albion – Thetis jump point on February 19th 1901, allowing HMS Spartiate and HMS Pelorus to return to Earth. HMS Euryalus remained on station with the battleships. RFA Gryphon picked up the Vaelor survivors, deposited them at Port Albion and returned to begin salvage operations. On February 24th, HMS Thames moved close to the Ocelot crippled in an earlier battle, so that it could be boarded by two companies of Royal Marines. They suffered a single casualty before securing the ship, a small salvage vessel. The capture revealed the Vaelor Hegemony already had ion drives, which were a very recent technological development for the British Empire and not yet deployed on any Royal Navy ships.
In early March, Interrogation of the prisoners provided full geological data on Thetis, the only known Hegemony system so far. There were a few small mineral deposits, but nothing that would divert attention from existing or planned Empire mining operations. Ten days later, one of the Vaelor officers revealed the design of one of their terraforming ships, which was equipped with magneto-plasma drives - a generation ahead of the latest Empire technology. This discovery meant that the Royal Navy could soon be facing faster, higher-tech Hegemony warships.
On March 14th, the first of a new type of Royal Navy vessel arrived at the Albion – Thetis jump point. The Pathfinder class cutter was a 250-ton scout, equipped with sensors and a jump drive. Since the loss of HMS Thetis, the Admiralty navy had been reluctant to probe the Thetis jump point, as the Royal Navy could ill-afford to lose ships when the Empire’s ability to replace them was severely compromised. The Pathfinder, with a volunteer crew, provided a far cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, the original guard force of two Jaguars, four Leopards and three Pumas, the same composition as the recent invasion force, was still in place. The cutter was instantly obliterated.
By May 1901, the defences of Albion seemed secure. The Thetis jump point was guarded by two Royal Sovereign class battleships and two Diadem class heavy cruisers, with all four Majestic class battleships and two destroyers based at Port Albion. While deploying the battleships at the jump point was a strain on resources, the Admiralty decided it had little other choice in the short term. That defensive posture was severely undermined by the detection of a 12,300-ton alien ship of a previously unknown race, moving toward the Erebus – Victoria jump point at 5,512 km/s.
Erebus was a dead-end, planetless red dwarf system directly adjacent to Victoria and the vital colony of Vulcan’s Forge, which also placed it two transits from Sol and Albion via Victoria’s other jump points. Given its status, there was no Imperial presence in Erebus, except for an Argus sensor buoy on the Victoria jump point. The new alien ship, designated as Mamba 001, was three million kilometres from that jump point. The Naval Intelligence Department designated ships of each alien race according to a common theme. The Nyxian raiders were named after birds of prey, the Automata after predatory fish and the Vaelor Hegemony after large feline species. Ships of the fourth alien race would be named after snakes.
There was nothing standing between Mamba 001 and the extensive commercial traffic in Victoria, moving between Sol and Vulcan’s Forge and between Sol and Port Albion. Vulcan’s Forge itself was guarded by a squadron comprising a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser and three destroyers, supported by an unarmed marine transport and a single Pathfinder cutter. The light cruiser, HMS Prometheus, and the cutter immediately departed for the Erebus jump point, which was three days away. Despite being in an adjacent system, Port Albion was closer to the Victoria – Erebus jump point than Vulcan’s Forge, so a destroyer broke orbit immediately and would be on station within twenty-four hours. Two of the Majestics followed in its wake and would arrive twelve hours later. Less than ten minutes after initial contact, the Mamba transited into Victoria, where it was detected by a second Argus buoy.
Victoria Squadron
Diadem class Heavy Cruiser: Andromeda
Pelorus class Light Cruiser: Prometheus
Havock class Destroyer: Ardent, Boxer, Havock
River class Marine Transport: Trent
1x Pathfinder class Cutter
After pausing for six hours on the Victoria – Erebus jump point, the Mamba moved away in the direction of the inner system, disappearing from the buoy’s short-range sensors. Twenty-two hours later, it was detected by the Pathfinder cutter moving from Vulcan’s Forge toward the Erebus jump point. In the alien’s wake, the destroyer HMS Banshee had already arrived at the jump point, with the battleships HMS Illustrious and HMS Victorious four hours from the same destination.
As the cutter moved in to make contact, the Mamba reversed course and headed back toward the jump point. The cutter was the first Royal Navy design with ion engines and capable of 5000 km/s, but the Mamba still had a 500 km/s speed advantage, so it began to pull away. After three hours It reversed course again. The two ships moved within 15,000 km of each other with no sign of hostile action before the Mamba resumed its course to the jump point. Lessons had been learned though from the encounter with the Vaelor Hegemony. They too seemed friendly at first. For now, the small 250-ton cutter tried to remain in range so that communications could be attempted.
When the Mamba moved within thirty million kilometres of the jump point, no doubt detecting the two Majestic class battleships, it reversed course again, then detected the approaching HMS Prometheus and resumed its original course. The alien vessel seemed to be terrified of the Royal Navy warships, although it was out-massed by more than ten to one, so perhaps its caution was understandable. Eventually, it moved back into Erebus and headed toward the red dwarf star. HMS Banshee, capable of 6000 km/s, followed at a distance of five million kilometres. The battleships transited into Erebus and held station on the Victoria jump point.
Two days later, the Mamba passed close to the Erebus star but kept moving across the far side of the system. Whether it was heading toward a jump point, or simply fleeing from HMS Banshee remained unknown. A Hyperion class replenishment ship was dispatched from Earth to Erebus, so that the short-legged destroyer could continue the pursuit beyond the ‘safe return’ fuel level. Eventually, the Mamba passed beyond the theoretical limit of jump point formation on the far side of Erebus, so HMS Banshee broke off the pursuit, with only nine percent of her fuel remaining.
On June 13th, just after HMS Intrepid entered Erebus to begin a full resurvey, a second alien ship, designated as Asp 001, appeared en route toward the jump point from the same direction in which the Mamba had fled. The Asp was 11,575 tons, with a speed of 4187 km/s. It soon reversed course and vanished. The Erebus aliens seemed to be particularly averse to contact, without being activity hostile. For the next few weeks, the Asp danced in and out of the battleships’ sensor range.
On July 6th the replenishment ship RFA Oceanus detected a second Mamba on the far side of the Erebus star, as she headed toward HMS Banshee, still approximately on the same bearing from the Victoria jump point as previous sightings. Finally, in mid August, HMS Tribune, one of two Apollo class light cruisers conducting the resurvey of Erebus, detected the transit of a new alien ship, designated Mamba 003, allowing her to pinpoint the jump point. Two previously dormant jump points had now been found, both in systems adjacent to Victoria. Leaving HMS Intrepid to continue the survey of Erebus, in case this was not the only dormant jump point, HMS Tribune moved to the new jump point to conduct a probe.
HMS Tribune emerged in a system with an orange star, two terrestrial planets with Venusian atmospheres and a gas giant with twenty-nine moons, three of which had ice sheets on the surface and atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Given the snake theme allocated to the ship classes by the Naval Intelligence Department, the Royal Astronomical Society later recommended Jörmungandr, the world serpent in Norse mythology, as the name for the system. Stationed on the jump point were four ships of two new classes; three Vipers and one Sidewinder, all light cruisers of approximately 12,400 tons. All four ships immediately opened fire with railguns, inflicting more than a hundred hits on HMS Tribune. One of her engines exploded, destroying the ship.
This was the second alien race that had scouted an Imperial system and then became openly hostile as soon as a Royal Navy ship probed their entry jump point. All four alien races encountered so far were hostile, so the Admiralty began to consider a shoot first approach in future. For now, the two Majestic class battleships in Erebus set course for the Jörmungandr jump point, as did HMS Intrepid. Two Diadems were already en route from Earth to relieve the battleships, as the latter had only a six-month deployment time. Two Royal Sovereigns and two Pelorus class light cruisers were also dispatched in their wake.
En route to the Jörmungandr jump point, the Asp re-appeared. Despite its slight speed advantage, the battleships managed to trap it with a pincer movement. A single salvo from the 10”/50 lasers of HMS Illustrious was enough to blow it to pieces. Two days later, one of the Mambas attempted to close in and suffered a similar fate. A second Mamba was detected by the Pathfinder, scouting ahead of the battleships. It ran for the Jörmungandr jump point but HMS Intrepid arrived before it, so it fled on a reciprocal course and encountered the approaching battleships.
HMS Illustrious fired a salvo of four long-range Perseus anti-ship missiles, two of which detonated their strength-16 warheads, with the others shot down by energy-based point defence. The Mamba continued at 5500 km/s. A second salvo of four Perseus achieved better results, with three detonating and leaving the Mamba motionless. A marine transport was dispatched from Port Albion to board the crippled alien vessel. Four days later, the Royal Marines secured the Mamba without loss. The design was a jump-capable scout, equipped with ion engines and armed with two Close-in Weapon Systems for point defence.
By September 1901, the Royal Navy had assembled a force of four battleships, two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers on the Erebus – Jörmungandr jump point, totaling 360,000 tons of warships. When HMS Tribune was destroyed, the defending force of the Erebus aliens was 50,000 tons. A Pathfinder class scout with a volunteer crew was sent through the jump point, confirming the defenders had not changed before it was destroyed. Seconds later, the Royal Navy assault force jumped into Jörmungandr.
Jörmungandr Expeditionary Force
Majestic class Battleship: Illustrious, Victorious
Royal Sovereign class Battleship: Empress of India, Royal Sovereign
Diadem class Heavy Cruiser: Europa, Niobe
Pelorus class Light Cruiser: Pomone, Psyche
Six ships went through in two groups, with the Royal Sovereigns split between the Majestics and the Diadems. The two light cruisers remained in Erebus, partly because they would be very vulnerable to the weight of fire from the alien ships and partly in case the aliens jumped into Erebus. On arrival. HMS Illustrious came under heavy fire, suffering eighty strength-4 hits. She lost her shields and suffered minor armour damage. Immediately after firing, the four alien light cruisers jumped into Erebus.
Captain Jason Fraser, C.O. of HMS Illustrious and acting Commodore of the Expeditionary Force, ordered the other ships in Jörmungandr to pursue them into Erebus as soon as jump shock wore off, while HMS Illustrious moved to the jump point in case they returned to Jörmungandr. In Erebus, the light cruisers HMS Pomone and HMS Psyche opened fire with their 6” lasers and launched a salvo of eight missiles. The alien light cruisers had arrived 100,000 km from the jump point and begun moving away at 5500 km/s, so the laser fire was less effective than expected. Only eight strength-2 hits were scored across two enemy ships.
The heavy cruiser HMS Niobe was the first to recover from jump shock and transit back into Erebus. The alien ships continued moving away, with two of them firing on the replenishment ship RFA Oceanus, the closest target to their position, and inflicting thirty-six strength-1 hits. Oceanus lost two thirds of her fuel bunkers and ten million litres of fuel.
As the four enemy ships continued to move away from the jump point in Erebus, three more Royal Navy ships returned to the system. Captain Fraser ordered his ships to regroup at the Jörmungandr jump point. He was happy to let the aliens keep the range open as the Royal Navy had missiles and the alien vessels did not. A dozen Theseus missiles were launched before the regroup order was received. The previous salvo of Daedalus missiles from the two Pelorus class ships had all been shot down, but the mighty Theseus was a very different proposition, than the lightweight Daedalus, with ten decoys instead of two, ECCM, active terminal guidance, retargeting and a strength-25 warhead. Despite massed defensive fire against multiple attack runs, Viper 001 took four hits and exploded, while the Sidewinder took three hits and was reduced to half speed.
HMS Victorious launched a volley of fifteen Theseus missiles, with six each targeted on the two remaining Vipers and three on the damaged Sidewinder. When the smoke cleared, the Sidewinder was dead in space, one Viper was at half speed and the remaining ship was still at full speed after taking four hits. As the Expeditionary Force approached the crippled Sidewinder, it did not fire, so Captain Fraser ordered the marine transport, still holding near the Mamba twenty million kilometres away, to board it once the battle was over.
The heavy cruiser HMS Europa launched a follow-up salvo of four Theseus missiles at the Viper still maintaining its original speed. It survived three more hits, but dropped to half speed. The Expeditionary Force left the jump point and soon moved into range of the first damaged Viper, which opened fire at 154,000 km, scoring thirteen hits on the partially regenerated shields of HMS Illustrious. The battleship responded with her eight twin 10” laser turrets, blasting the alien light cruiser into scrap metal. When the last Viper was brought within range, it too opened fire, beginning a duel with HMS Victorious. After two salvos from the battleships 10” lasers, it ceased fire, so Captain Fraser ordered it to be boarded.
The Viper was secured by the 7th Royal Marine company, for the loss of four Royal Marines. The 8th company boarded the Sidewinder and captured it after losing two more. The two ships were similar in design, both powered by ion engines and armed with 8”/40 railguns. The difference was the inclusion of a jump drive on the Sidewinder in exchange for a railgun, passive sensors and weaker armour. Overall the technology was slightly ahead of the British Empire, especially as the Royal Navy had yet to start construction on any ion-engined warships.
