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【Vision of an Alternate Future】

Arc 1: Ascendance

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【VAF】Chapter║: 9 ─ Strategy

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The constant Assaults on Earth instillations and outposts on the outer colonies clearly indicated that the 5 Earth Governments were being softened for a major campaign, but the emergence of the Crystalorb StarShips had put a spanner in the works. The Hakum were forced to re-evaluate their strategies, they had to develop tactics that would work against a force that included advanced Crystalorb StarShips.

Crystalorb's return had bought the 5 Earth Governments more time to prepare, and had warned the Galactic Alliance about the Hakum regional strategies. Crystalorb had unknowingly saved the region from a massive surprise attack by the Hakum Expeditionary Force, but this also meant the Hakum would use a larger force than before, and the main question became: Would the Galactic Alliance Taskforce be sufficient to hold an assault by a massive Hakum Expeditionary Force?

The one thing that would count in Galactic Alliance's favour was the existence of a force much more powerful than the Hakum. Until this point the Galactic Alliance had only made limited contact with the true superpower of the region, and the Galactic Alliance had very little information about the effectiveness of O'con Federation weaponry. The Galactic Alliance expected O'con Federation military expertise to have been limited by their relative inexperience in warfare.

The Galactic Alliance didn't expect the O'con Federation to have weapons technology that is comparable to the older races, and they believed the O'ltana to be completely unprepared for what was about to happen to the region. Until this point they classified the O'con Federation to be a recent Interstellar Civilisation, and while they recognized the technological capabilities of the O'con Federation they did not see them as a military asset.

The O'con Federation had no interest in Galactic prestige, no interest in Interstellar Trade, and this led to their abilities being consistently understated. The 5 Earth Governments immediately recognized the O'ltana for what they were, but even the Azlecks dismissed this as just the wonder of a relatively young Civilisation. The O'con Federation refused to display the capabilities of their warships, and Crystalorb would never betray the O'ltana by revealing the secrets of the O'con Federation.

The Crystalans would not even share information about the location of O'con, and they consistently stated that "Such information is for the O'con Federation to share". Crystalorb had promised to never reveal the O'con Federation's secrets, and the Crystalan’s sense of honour would not allow them to break their promise. The Crystalorb Leadership had instructed all their unassigned Ships to collect as much minerals as possible from the outskirts of a nearby African Federation Solar system.

The remaining 205 Adult Crystalorb Ships, 76 Juvenile Ships and 102 baby Ships took part in this mining process. The 24 Crystalorb Ships protecting the 8 Colonies were Intrepid Class Ships from Crystalorb Sector Command, and the 20 Crystalorb Ships in O'con Federation Space were from the Crystalorb Expeditionary Division. The Crystalorb Ships were producing millions of tons of refined minerals per day, which Crystal Valley Industries then sold on the open market, and this lowered the price of refined minerals.

This new injection of refined minerals was reviving the Industrial Minerals Coins sector of the African Federation Economy, and that made the African Federation of City States once again the largest source of minerals. The Crystalan Ships didn't complain at being reduced to mining Ships, in fact they preferred this to combat operations, and like other Crystalans they viewed combat as a last resort.

Crystal Valley Industries was now ready to become an Interstellar Trading company, and to support that ambition they were building a massive Interstellar Mining Ship. The CVI intent was to build a fleet of mining ships to complement the Crystalorb Ships. The CVI mining ships were designed to be: 6000 meters in Length, 800 meters in height and 800 meters in width. However the CVI mining ships would not incorporate a minerals refining facility.

Crystal Valley Industries would construct a Moon based minerals refining facility, and that would mean once refined the ship construction facilities of the 5 Earth Governments would get immediate access. This had always been Crystalorb's role in the Economy, and the Crystalorb Leadership knew that their role was not to dominate but increase efficiencies in the structure of Earth's Economies.

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Meanwhile in the African Federation of City States hundreds of thousands of African Federal Security Force personnel were being prosecuted for crimes committed during the Military dictatorship. The African Federal Parliament rejected the Idea of a general amnesty, and they insisted that a message had to be sent to the military: "No crime will go unpunished". The African Federal Parliament was specifically focused on those former Security Force personnel who joined the Security Force before the coup, and their main crime was that of treason, they knew better and should have never followed illegal orders.

They were sentenced to 15 years in prison for their crimes against the people of the African Federation of City States. All those found to be guilty of minor human rights violations were sentenced to 10 years in prison, but those Security Force personnel found guilty of grave human rights violations were sentenced to life in prison. The African Federal Parliament was determined to purge all the evil from African Federation society, and they wanted anyone who even thought of a coup d'état to remember that a time will come when they would have to answer for their crimes.

At first some were apprehensive about prosecuting so many members of the African Federal Security Force, but the African Federal Parliament was embolden by the relative security provided by Crystalorb, and they knew that the African Federal Security Force would not dare to use violence, the Crystalans would never allow a violent Security crackdown.

The African Federal Security Force had no choice but to submit, and this happened as the world prepared for possible major war with the Hakum. The African Federal Parliament wanted a Security Force they could trust; a Security Force they knew would act in the interest of the African Federation of City States.

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The advance force for the Galactic Alliance Taskforce consisted mainly of the Anabi from the Nabi Federated Kingdom. The Anabi and the Azleck would coordinate operations using Arun and Earth as supply centres. The preparation involved setting up a network of wormhole detectors around the selected Staging Area, and the selected Staging Area was the YZ Ceti System, one of the colonies of the United Atlantic Federation 212 light-years from Earth.

The Alliance Taskforce advance group was building Wormhole detectors around the designated base of operations and extending them towards the target zone. While this was going on the intelligence division of the Galactic Alliance conducted Recognisance operations to determine the size and strength of the Hakum forces. These Recognisance operations were critical to the operations of the Galactic Alliance Taskforce.

The Recognisance operations involved getting close enough to Hakum defensive lines to launch Nanoprobes into Hakum patrolled areas. The Nanoprobes are micro devices launched from hyperspace by opening very long tiny wormholes from hyperspace to selected target locations. The Nanoprobes would then send back signals whenever wormholes are opened and this removed the need for the Nanoprobes to produce their own tiny wormholes.

The Nanoprobes technology is very advanced and because of this the Recognisance operations were conducted by the Folong Recognisance StarShips. The Folong Recognisance StarShips used advanced stealth technology similar to that employed by Crystalorb StarShips to musk their signatures, and because of their smaller size the Folong Recognisance StarShips are virtually undetectable to enemy detection systems.

The Folong Recognisance StarShips are designed to move great distances in Hyperspace, and this allows them to jump behind enemy lines and spy on enemy operations. This was technology that went beyond Crystalorb's stealth technology, and would prove instrumental in any Recognisance operations. The network of Nanoprobes would eventually reveal the movements and strength of the enemy.

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Putting in place a large supply network in preparation for a large military operation consumed an enormous amount of resources, and the Civilisations assigned the task of supplying the resources would inevitably gain from such an operation. The gain for the 5 Earth Governments was in rare minerals, and this was the currency the Galactic Alliance used to persuade Developing Interstellar Civilisations to commit their limited resources to the fight against the forces of Evil.

The Galactic Alliance used these rare and valuable minerals as their primary currency, and these sought after minerals was one of the reasons the 5 Earth Governments agreed to become a supply centre for the Galactic Alliance Taskforce. The other reason was prestige, and the 5 Earth Governments needed to show the other Developing Interstellar Civilisations that Human technology was just as good as Galactic Alliance technology.

The operations of the Galactic Alliance Taskforce would be a perfect proving ground for Human Technology, and the 5 Human Governments wanted to show the Developing Interstellar Civilisations that Human Technology was just as effective but at almost half the cost. This would be a major advertising campaign for Earth Technology, and to that End the 5 Earth Governments agreed to provide 100 Galaxy Class Warships to the Galactic Alliance Taskforce.

The Galactic Alliance Taskforce was not convinced about the effectiveness of Human Technology, and in particular the Particle Beam weapon systems that did not rely on heavy rare atomic elements. Most of the Particle Beam weapon systems used by Interstellar Civilisations involved Particle acceleration induced by Ion production from the enriched heavy rare atomic elements; Earth didn't have access to adequate supplies of these heavy rare atomic elements.

To compensate for the tactical disadvantage the humans developed Particle acceleration technology that did not depend on Ion production, but on ionization technology, and even though the weapon systems were generally more energy intensive they worked. Unlike the Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets of the other Interstellar Civilisations the Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets developed on Earth were more cumbersome.

Ordinarily Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets could simply be attached to any position on the StarShip's Hull, but because of Earth's unique Particle Beam technology the StarShips had to be built around the series of Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets. This is the primary reason why the Earth built ships were much larger than that expected of a Civilisation that had only recently become an Interstellar Civilisation.

Most of the Particle Beam weapon systems used by Human Ships were originally developed by Crystal Valley Industries through a process of reverse engineering Crystalorb technology, and over the years variants of these designs became increasingly more powerful. Amongst the Developing Interstellar Civilisations Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets are considered advanced Technology, and the fact that Humans could build such weapon systems made Earth a respectable Civilisation.

Multidirectional Particle Beam Weapon Systems remove the need for high speed manoeuvrability, and therefore negates the requirement for fighters, but Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets are considerably difficult to build. Earth military analysts had seen the effectiveness of Azleck drone fighters against Hakum manned fighters, and concluded that the cost of manned fighters in lives would be too extreme.

To further complicate the matter Humans did not have the technology to develop an unmanned drone fighter program, and even if the technology was available the costs would be prohibitive. In the end the 5 Earth Governments opted for a Gunship program as a weapons multiplier. The primary role of a Fighter in space operations is as a weapons multiplier, and because Earth's Gunship Class Fighter was equipped with Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets the Gunship proved to be very effective against Hakum fighters.

Most Interstellar Civilisations carried Fighters on their Capital Ships as a defence against Hakum fighters, and they preferred to reserve the Particle Beam turrets on their Capital Ships for use against Hakum Capital Ships. The 5 Earth Governments concluded that it would simply be cheaper for them to build more Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets on Earth's Warships, and this made Earth Capital Ships some of the most heavily Armed.

Most Advanced Interstellar Civilisations considered Earth Capital Ships a little too ambitious, and because the Earth Capital Ships required significantly more energy than would otherwise be required this limited their range to within the reach of the associated supply network. Crystalorb Ships had a much longer range because the Intrepid Class Ships and Indigo Class Ships were living organisms, and as such did not require fuel since they produced their own fuel from their onboard Bio-Organic Crystalline minerals processing facilities.

However the Older Interstellar Civilisations also don't use fighters, and their ships have Multidirectional Particle Beam capabilities equivalent to more than a hundred turrets. According to the Azlecks the Migon BattleSphere was said to have over 300 High Energy Multidirectional Particle Beam turrets. The 5 Earth Governments considered this scenario when they developed the Apollo Class Destroyer with its 162 Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons.

Most Advanced Interstellar Civilisations saw merit in having fighter support, and the Ship based fighters were also extremely important in escorting merchant vessels and planetary landing operations.

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The existence of a possible Hakum base in the region unnerved the 5 Earth Governments, and this led to an accelerated warship production. The 5 Earth Governments were not convinced that the projected numbers of the Galactic Alliance Taskforce would be sufficient, and began to plan for a protracted engagement.

The 5 Earth Governments placed greater emphasis in their development of Larger Capital Ships to meet the projected power of the Hakum Sky Spears. The United Atlantic Federation accelerated the construction of their Flagship BattleCruiser the UAS Atlantis B2201, and this resulted in the designation being changed from UAS Atlantis B2201 to UAS Atlantis B2187. Working together with the United Indian Federation and African Federation of City States helped to secure the resources required to accelerate the construction.

The United Indian Federation and African Federation of City States would then benefit from the new technologies being introduced by Crystal Valley Industries. The United Indian Federation and African Federation would then apply the techniques to their own Capital Ship projects. The United Indian Federation's Indus Class BattleCruiser would be similar to the UAS Atlantis B2187, but the African Federation approved the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser; a Crystal Valley Industries design that would be unique in shape.

The Asian Consortium and the Islamic Alliance worked together to develop the Asia Class BattleCruiser; a BattleCruiser that was an expansion of the Apollo Class Destroyer, and the reason was that they did not want to increase the width of the ship too much. The Asia Class BattleCruiser was expected to be completed by December 2187, the design would keep the development costs low and allow the ship to be ready for deployment much quicker than the other BattleCruisers being developed by the other 3 Earth Governments.

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The UAS Atlantis B2187:

1〙 9800 meters in length. 2〙 3500 meters width at the back and 800 meters width at the front. 3〙 3100 meters Height at the back and 700 meters Height at the front. 4〙 35 meter thick Armoured Hull. 5〙 Equipped with 20 Plasma Cannons, 250 Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 30 Missile Tubes/Launchers/RailGuns. 6〙 28 Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 20 Gunships of 180 meter length. 8〙 Jump capabilities of 49 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 9〙 A Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

The Asia Class BattleCruiser:

1〙 11000 meters in length. 2〙 3000 meters width at the back and 600 meters width at the front. 3〙 2400 meters Height at the back and 500 meters Height at the front. 4〙 30 meter thick Armoured Hull. 5〙 Equipped with 25 Plasma Cannons, 200 Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 32 Missile Tubes/Launchers/RailGuns. 6〙 25 Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 22 Gunships of 175 meter length. 8〙 A Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 9〙 Jump capabilities of 58 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

The Vanguard Class BattleCruiser:

1〙 9500 meters in Length. 2〙 3600 meters Maximum Width on the 7000 meter long and 3600 meters wide Cylinder. 3〙 50 meter thick Armoured Hull with a 5m thick Crystalorb Black Crystal external layer, 4〙 A Forward Crystalorb Electrolaser Energy Crystal. 5〙 Equipped with 1 Missile Tube/Launcher, 10 Plasma Cannons, 30 Standard Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 120 Multidirectional Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannons Of the Enhanced Weapons Array. 6〙 20 Advanced CVI Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 2 Gunships of 180 meter length. 8〙 Jump capabilities of 55 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 9〙 A Primary Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Secondary Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

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The African Federation Vanguard Class BattleCruiser marked a significant return to Crystalorb based Crystal Valley Industries Technology for the African Federation. The other 4 Earth Governments saw the merit of Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals that can produce multiple Particle Beams, but the energy requirements of the weapon system led them to reject the CVI design, and the conclusion was that compared to current Multidirectional Particle Beams the Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals weapon system was less efficient.

The African Federal Government dismissed the concerns of the African Federal Security Force and recommended the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser to the African Federal Parliament. The critics of Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals weapon system argued that this Vanguard Class BattleCruiser would mean a complete redesign of an already proven Apollo Class Destroyer, and that the cost would be more than the projected equivalent.

The United Atlantic Federation analysts raised concerns about the energy intensive nature of the Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals, and pointed out that the Crystals could not simply be fitted onto existing Ships, that the Crystals would need ten times the energy reserves available on the Apollo Class Destroyer to function effectively. This meant that the ships would need more energy reserve systems increasing the cost of each BattleCruiser from $200 to $350 Billion in Atlantic Dollars.

The cost of Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals weapon system was essentially prohibitive for a market Economy, and the African Federation could afford the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser because of the way the Economy of the African Federation is Structured. The Economy of the African Federation was a minerals based economy and access to billions of tons of minerals would make it possible to build Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals more economically than any of the other 4 Earth Governments.

The other 4 Earth Governments were convinced they could get comparable weapons effectiveness at half the cost. The increased energy reserve system on the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser meant that the StarShip could only carry 2 Gunships of 180 meter length, and the ship could not be used as a troop carrier. These limitations of the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser convinced the other 4 Human Governments that Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystals weapon system was simply unworkable.

To the African Federation officials the Cone and Cylinder format of the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser would put them on par with the Intrepid Class StarShip, and the African Federation officials were eager to have a StarShip that could operate alongside a Crystalorb StarShip. This was critical to the African Federation's long term strategic goals of integrating advanced Crystalorb Technology into the African Federal Security Force. The Vanguard Class BattleCruiser would lead from the front.

The Enhanced Weapons Array on the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser developed by Crystal Valley Industries is a series of 12 Extendible Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannon platforms arranged in a circle around the Cylinder part at 10 levels every 700 meters. On the Nubia Class Destroyer the platforms are arranged in a circle around the Cylinder part at 5 levels every 650 meters. The first level is near the Cone part and extends 50 meters, and the next level adds 50 meters, the next level adds another 50 meters until the last level.

The Enhanced Weapons Array is part of the Electrolaser Energy Crystal at the tip of the Cone part of the Ship, and the Electrolaser Particle Beams on the platforms could combine with an Electrolaser Particle Beam from the main Electrolaser Energy Crystal to produce a maximum energy Electrolaser Particle Beam that reached 15 Megatons on the Vanguard Class and 10.6 Megatons on the Nubia Class. The Electrolaser Energy Crystals of the Enhanced Weapons Array weapon system have a build up time of 0.36 seconds.

This removed the need for the African Federation to carry Nuclear missiles, but the Vanguard Class BattleCruisers and the Nubia Class Destroyers were equipped with 1 Missile Tube/Launcher/RailGun. The design was developed to avoid increasing the diameter of the Cone and Cylinder format. The Extendible Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannon platforms are each 100m diameter Cylinders with the ability to rotate 360 degrees. The Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannons used Crystalorb's Energy Crystals to generate the Electrolaser Particle Beams.

On the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser the Cone part is 2500 meters long with Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystal, 10 Plasma Cannons, 30 Standard Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and the Cylinder part is 7000 meters long with 120 Multidirectional Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannons of the Enhanced Weapons Array. On the Nubia Class Destroyer the Cone part is 2700 meters long with Crystalorb's Electrolaser Energy Crystal, 10 Plasma Cannons, 35 Standard Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and Cylinder part is 3500 meters long with 60 Multidirectional Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannons Of the Enhanced Weapons Array.

The Vanguard Class BattleCruiser would be at the centre of an 11 Ship BattleGroup formation, and would be supported by 8 Nubia Class Destroyers and 2 Apollo Class Destroyers. The 11 Ship BattleGroup formation was developed by the O'con Federation to optimize their fighting strength. The Nubia Class Destroyer was being developed alongside the Vanguard Class BattleCruiser, and was intended to replace the African Federation Apollo Class Destroyers as the main Warship of the African Federation of City States.

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The Nubia Class Destroyers:

1〙 6200 meters in Length. 2〙 3000 meters Maximum Width on the 3500 meter long and 3000 meters wide Cylinder. 3〙 45 meter thick Armoured Hull with 5m thick Crystalorb Black Crystal external layer, 4〙 A Crystalorb Electrolaser Energy Crystals. 5〙 Equipped with 1 Missile Tube/Launcher, 10 Plasma Cannons, 35 Standard Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 60 Multidirectional Electrolaser Particle Beam Cannons Of the Enhanced Weapons Array. 6〙 16 Advanced CVI Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 2 Gunships of 180 meter length. 8〙 Jump capabilities of 55 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 9〙 A Primary Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Secondary Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

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The AFS Vanguard A2189 and the AFS Nubia A2189 were expected to enter service by June 2189, but this would be too late to take part in the operations of the Galactic Alliance Taskforce which were expected to start on 02-05-2188. Because of Development costs most of the African Federation resources were tied up in the construction of the AFS Vanguard A2189 and the AFS Nubia A2189, and so the African Federation could not build any other ships. This meant that the African Federation's quota of ships for the Galactic Alliance Taskforce would need to be met by Crystalorb.

Each of the 5 Earth Governments needed to supply 20 Galaxy Class StarShips for the Galactic Alliance Taskforce, but because of constraints the African Federation could only provide 10 Galaxy Class StarShips and still maintain its security on its outer Colonies. Crystalorb Offered to add 20 Intrepid Class Ships from the Crystalorb Expeditionary Division to the African Federation contingent, and this would be the first time Crystalorb personnel take orders from an African Federal Security Force Admiral.

Admiral Tharo Netabu was chosen to command the African Federation contingent, and because he grew up in Crystal Valley City he was familiar with Crystalans. Isara Olen Crystalorb's Expeditionary Guardian would be Netabu's second in Command. Crystalorb was to supply 25 Intrepid Class Ships as Escort for the 2 O'con Federation BattleGroups that would form part of the Galactic Alliance Taskforce, and this was because the Crystalorb StarShips had better Armour than even the more Advanced Interstellar Civilisations.

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