A War for the Stars

[Erax]

Admiral Wiers' private log, SGY 2400.0:

I have been on this planet for ten weeks now. All attempts to contact Imperial Fleet have failed. Until now, I had been waiting for the ion storms to cease, for communications to be restored, for the arrival of the task force that should be supporting our operations here. Now I must change my premises. I can no longer make plans for when they arrive, I must plan my actions if they arrive. And, what is more important, if they do not arrive. We are in the Unknown Regions here; there was only one known hyperspace route to this system and it seems to be closed. I do not know what event could have caused this, but it is likely to be the same event that is causing the massive storms.

I was sent to Virgillia V with a simple mission: expand the spaceyard and spaceport facilities here to allow an Imperial task force to operate in the region, conquering any independent races and adding them to the Empire. In time, Virgillia would become the capital of a new Imperial sector.

I am still operating under those orders; local shipbuilding technology is primitive, not much more than non-regenerating atomic engines and crude laser cannons. Using the designs I brought with me, we are upgrading local plants to an acceptable level, but it will be more than a year before we can turn out our first ion drives. The planet has a large, well-trained, contented workforce, but the local shipyard is too small. We need more resouces. We need orbital facilities. We need better tools. And we will have to provide them all ourselves.

And I will be in charge of it all. As pro tem military governor, I am the highest Imperial military and civilian authority in the region. Whatever the results here, I will have to answer for them. Failure will bring contempt, success might bring suspicion. I could easily be accused of overstepping my bounds. Having no one to report to could, in time, make me become a warlord.

And so this log. If I do become a warlord, I will do it with full knowledge of when, why and how it happened.

And I will erase this log the minute that task force appears on our scanners.

[ April 24, 2003, 16:40: Message edited by: Erax ]

[dogscoff]

I like this. Sounds like a bit of an anti-hero to me=-)

[sachmo]

Oooohh! Sound goooooood!

[Erax]

I am being praised by the SEIV writer who defines my standards for excellence. Feels good !

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. Here's the essential game info: I'm using Andres' Sci-Fi Crossover mod, playing as the Star Wars Empire with Imperial tech. Everyone else (the AI) gets standard SEIV tech. Conflict between different tech trees should be interesting (and I hope it helps Andres in some way, at least as a playtest report). Chapter two will be up later today (with more background info on Wiers).

[Raging Deadstar]

Ahhh great a star wars fiction. I only just bought attack of the clones book because i missed out on the film! This sounds like it will get interesting

[Erax]

Admiral Wiers' private log, SGY 2400.1:

I made it our first priority to secure all insystem resources. Our future sector capital was chosen with care; Virgillia V boasts excellent conditions, but there are three partially and one fully colonizable planets as well. I have authorized construction of a series of insystem colony ships using native technology, which we have named the Nova class. Nova I will be ready early next tenth*, but she is already obsolete. By the time she launches we will have begun work on a second colonizer with improved atomic engines.

But there are other challenges. Power generation technology is still far behind Imperial standards. Our first shipboard atomic reactor prototype will be coming Online in five tenths and not a day sooner, unless we can get some additional workshops built at our colonies.

And it's not just the reactors. There are a hundred other things that need to be developed before we can begin to fulfill our orders to explore and expand. It's enough to make me forget how isolated we are out here, with no ships, no HoloNet, no travellers bringing news from home.

I suppose I should be glad.

* - 0.1 year.

[Erax]

Admiral Wiers' private log, SGY 2400.2:

Fate sometimes plays us strange cards. I was never meant to be fully in charge here. To the Imperial Fleet, I was always a necessity, someone whose job needed to be done before they could take off in their shiny ships to do the real work.

They call officers like me planet builders. But they have other names they use when we're not around. Dirtsiders. Rockhuggers. Dock jocks. They might promote me, but they would never let me work unsupervised.

But it happened. Yesterday we launched the Nova I, with 14 million colonists aboard her. They should reach Virgillia I within the tenth. She was the crudest, ugliest ship I ever launched.

When she took off, she was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.

Nova I will do her job. In my heart, I know it.

But will I ?

[Erax]

Admiral Wiers' private log, SGY 2400.3:

The colony on Virgillia I is well established. We will set up several industrial and tech facilities there to speed up our technological upgrade program. The planet has dense vegetable cover and we wil establish some organic farms there eventually, but these are not a priority right now.

Our reactor program has been put on hold. The population here is starting to lose its motivation. They are not restless yet, but my Intel officer tells me it is only a matter of time.

Imperial citizens need the Empire. They are used to seeing fleets, troops, Imperial pronouncements. Without these things they become disoriented. We can only give them the troops.

We will need recruitment stations, training camps, HQs, bases. We will need a year or more to build all this; we must devote every resource to this program, except for what is being spent on colonization. Shipbuilding will continue, but colonizing other planets will be useless if we cannot hold onto them.

[Atrocities]

Oh this is good. I love a good Star Wars story and this one is off to a great start.

[Taz-in-Space]

Star Wars? I thought it was Lost in Space!
Oh Well, it's still a good story!