Orion Federation

Part Seven

A year after our ceasefire with the gas bags, the crystals finally agree to a peace treaty. Nothing like a day late and a dollar short. Either way, Ambassador Williams is happy to sign the treaty as we are still doing everything we can to prepare for a resumption in combat with the Auarhciniala. He does have one more and very urgent mission to undertake during this ceasefire. Establish the best possible relations with the gas bags to try and avoid a resumption in hostilities.

By 423, only four years after signing the ceasefire, the treaty expires and we are once more at war. During this time however we were not idle. We have fielded 5 new armadas reinforcing our strong points against future attacks.

Immediately, there are once again a couple of dozen engagements with the gas bags. Three of these turn into full blown battles. Tefnut is attacked once more, and we are able to repulse the attack, taking no less yet destroying 31 enemy warships. When they attack Merkent and Cerva though, we lose in both of these frontier systems. Later in the same year we learn that we have lost the colonies of Cerva V and Phlegyes II to enemy bombardment.

In 423 we decide to try a fight against the huge alien fleet stationed at Joseki and attack Joseki II. The battle is very fierce. We end up destroying ten armadas of alien ships destroying 152 ships in all and we only lose 46 of our own. We then bomb the colony of Joseki II. The next year there are again a large number of engagements, but none of them develop into battles. By 425, there are no engagements at all, and this confuses us VERY much. As it turns out, the Auarhciniala have just chose a funny time to accept our offer of a pact of Non-Aggression. Ambassador Williams has worked his magic once again and our people are spared from years of very deadly and devastating fighting.

Politically we have been tossed into a maelstrom. Our people are angry about the last two wars and they want a level of retribution with many believing that since the gas bags asked for the original ceasefire, and then again it was their action that ended the second war that they must be weak. These people believe that we should attack and continue to attack until they no longer represent a threat. Others, Amabaasdor Williams, and Admiral Greer included know the truth. While we enjoyed some successes, and yes we did win EVERY major action, we could not sustain those losses. If the war had continued, then we would have surely lost and our worlds would have been ravaged.

When news arrives in 427 that the last world of the Meklar empire has been destroyed, the news is received with mixed reactions. Some people feel that we abandoned an ally and now that one more nation hostile to the gas bags is gone, the next war will be that much worse. However other see this as a sign of what could have happened to us. Deciding that we need to continue to expand if we are to survive, President Alicine Winters levels a presidential edict declaring all system vacated by the Meklars as open and institutionalizes a policy to begin colonizing those worlds.

The year following president Winters’ proclamation, the gas bags offer us yet another warning, reminding us that another devastating war could be just around the corner. Two years later, preparing for the next possible war, Greer assigns two new armadas to the Joseki system to buttress the frontier. One year later in 431, the Gamro Empire resume their war against us. They are weak having only a few worlds remaining under their control, and as such although we receive the news with sadness, we are unconcerned with this development.

However when the gas bags break our trade agreements we are not unconcerned. Admiral Greer immediately pulls yet another armada from reserve and assignes it to the Waage system. The Gamro attack Shippan, but our armada there easily beats them off destroying all six of their ships in the process.

In 432, concerned that a new war is coming we once again check on our relative fleet strengths. We are horrified to see that they have 3,039 ships in military service while we have only 524. With this news and learning in such a devastating way that they outproduce us so badly, we decide that it may be in our best interest to initiate a war the moment the gas bags start fighting a war against any other rival nation. With military spend still at Holy War, there is little more we can do in order to speed up fleet production.

For now we shall wait nervously until we are able to find an opportune time to initiate hostilities and bring the gas bags down a notch or two. On the good side though, the gas bags with 165 worlds under their control have yet to replace the loss of 5 worlds to us. While we lost worlds in the two wars, we have since expanded enough to replace those losses. Strategically we are winning, but numerically, we will lose if a fight to the finish begins before we are ready.