The Fall of the Commonwealth

Galactic Conditions:
Galaxy: Large
Stars: Loose clusters
Research: Normal
Habitable Planets: Abundant

2225 was a prosperous year for the Earth Commonwealth, it saw the colonisation of our first off world outpost, on a planet later named Osiris, this colony was later joined by Diomedes, Ramses, Erinyes, Beaumonde, Persephone, Demestus, Enyo, Dis, Asmodeus, Sihnon and Triad. This bustling commercial empire stood firm on its own in but one corner of the Galaxy, in 2226 first contact was made with the Altarians, a peaceful race who were already in awe of our might. Then it began to snowball, the Torians were next, followed by the Arceans, the Drath, Iconians, Korx and the Thalan. But all these races, like us, were squeezed into the southern half of the galaxy, our ships could not sustain our crews for long enough to traverse the great Uncharted Territories to find what lay beyond. And so we festered, unmolested by whom or whatever lay in the other portion of the Galaxy, trade routes and alliances were formed, and everyone was happy. Indeed, the 2220’s were the most prosperous decade humanity had ever seen. However, as 2229 came to a close our ever extending borders encompassed a new star system, Ununkalhai, orbiting was a planet so rich in resources it could fuel an empire on its own. And in 2230 a Colony ship was dispatched to the planet now designated Ithaca. A few parsecs from the planet another colony ship came into view, one of a design we had not before encountered. The race identified themselves as the Yor, and sent a chilling ultimatum telling of how they intended to make the galaxy theirs. Their ship then resumed course for Ithaca. However they were much further away then ours and as a result, we got their first. The Yor starship turned around and vanished into the fog that still shrouded half the Galaxy. The first real threat to the sovereignty of the Commonwealth had reared its ugly head. We did not have much time.

Along came the Odyssey:



The Odyssey doesn’t look like much on paper, only dealing out 2gw of damage while its shields could absorb much the same. The advantage of this new kid on the block was mass production, with the Ithacan Starport fully operational we were seeing new Odyssey’s every few weeks. The only real question was, without any real knowledge of the Yor’s capabilities, we didn’t really know how effective our Odysseys would be against their ships.

We needed a plan B:

The Hyperion, sticking with where we were strongest with Shield defences, we borrowed missile technology from the Iconians and used it to create quite a formidable battlecruiser. If the Odyssey is the Irresistible force, this baby is the Immovable object. Slower than the Odyssey, it packs much more of a punch while also absorbing more damage. We were ready for the inevitable Yor onslaught, blockading our planets, squeezing out every last ship to bulk out our fleet. We waited…and we waited. We waited for a whole year. 2231 dawned, and still nothing. It lead the Senate to only one conclusion, the Yor were building up a massive fleet, and we had to attack, or die. We attacked, 34 warships swarmed across the uncharted territories, thanks to recent advancements in life support. We began searching in the area to which the Yor colony ship had fled, nothing. We expanded our search and eventually we did come across an inhabited planet, but not inhabited by Yor, but by a new race, the Drengin. They also sent us an ultimatum, simply telling us not to get in their way. We decided to agree. They did not seem too worried about Galactic Conquest, unlike our real target, the Yor. However, weeks of exhausted searching found no Yor, we had now explored the entire galaxy, with not sign of the Yor. It was with a sinking feeling that we finally realised the truth, the Yor were gone, long since conquered by the Drengin. This time there was not waiting, no time to construct fleets, the Drengin declared war. And within weeks, their ships were bound straight for our pride and joy, Ithaca. With the bulk of our fleet on a Wild Yor Chase our planets were left defended only by a handful of fighters. There was absolutely nothing we could do but watch as Ithaca was laid waste, and fell to the Drengin. But did they consolidate their victory? No. They ploughed on to Beaumonde. Our fleet was diverted and fortunately reached the planet in time to save it. The bulk of the fleet was ordered to stay and fight, while the rest were distributed to the other planets in the Commonwealth. Our ships were well suited to combat Drengin, who used beams, our shields were powerful enough to hold them at bay while the Drengin were defenceless against our Phasors. But the Drengin had a crucial advantage, numbers. Hoarding the resources of half the galaxy had bred a Brobdingnagian battle fleet, which wasted no time in ripping Beaumonde to pieces. With over 10,000 military casualties, 10 million civilians either killed or enslaved, we had not hope of holding the neighbouring systems of Dis, Diomedes and Enyo. They all fell to the Drengin. A new strategy was needed…fast.

This was it:

The Deimos class Battleship, an ugly SOB with an ugly attitude, it was designed for killing, and killing alone. The raw bulk of the ship made it impossible for any Drengin ships to survive a battle with this behemoth. All remaining planets began frantically building these expensive ships. Unfortunately, things went south when the Torians, our greatest economic ally, fell to the Drengin. History for them, was repeating itself. This meant that the numbers were quelled, and the Deimos class lost its edge, effective as it was, more of these beauties may have turned the tide of the war. As it was, these ships were simply overwhelmed. However, Drengin losses were now matching our own, a single Deimos could kill around 10 Drengin frigates before being taken down.
Drengin didn’t care about innovation, they cared about numbers, its was time to play the game by their rules.



The Aurora class battleship

Technologically inferior to the Deimos this monstrosity’s only saving grace was cheap mass production, the ratio of construction was 4 Auroras to every Deimos, making for some formidable fleets, however Deimos’s were being destroyed faster than they could be replaced. The Drengin still had not progressed to a level where they could build ships this size. But we were not going to be complacent, Huge ships were now being researched, however we were not likely to see them for two full years. The Altarians were also getting desperate, they had wiped out their own allies, the Korx and the Iconians, to harvest their resources, the Drath were spent, and they were conquered. The Altarians were fading, defending only three planets. Things were looking grim. Our own planets, Triad, Asmodeus and Dis, fell, the last three planets producing Deimos’s. Our treasury was reaching critical. Ramses, Persephone, Sihnon and Earth, they were all that was left. Eventually we could not produce even the Auroras. Then the Altarians surrendered their resources to us. It wasn’t much, but it helped. Beam weapons were now too expensive to mount on ships and they were abandoned. Humanity switched to missiles.

The Omega class battleship.

The war was lost, and the Omega was never going to win it for us. It was now a delay until the Drengin get bored with us scenario. We hoped that eventually, losses would get unacceptable even for the Drengin. These ships were expensive, but they were also the pinnacle of Commonwealth military design, outshining even the Deimos. Its 25kiloton per salvo missile payload would rip the Drengin to pieces. But at the end of the day, the Omega was pointless. Drengin didn’t know the meaning of unacceptable losses, but for the first time in history every single human unanimously stated the surrender was not an option. Ramses fell, Persephone burned, Sihnon was crushed. The force of an entire galaxy was now brought to bear on Mother Earth, but it seemed finally, the Drengin had reached their limit, the swarm of ships was reduced to a trickle, and Earth held for another year. At one point it was even considered possible to start retaking planets, this fantasy was crushed under the next wave of the Drengin onslaught. Even the mightiest of the mighty Omegas fell. The Drengin bombarded the planet, softening up the defending troops, and then moved in to feed. The Commonwealth, as well as every other race in the galaxy, was vanquished.

Deep in the Drengin council chamber a decision was to be made. What to do with the pathetic creatures they had conquered, kill, or enslave. The majority vote was passed, deciding the future of the galaxy, was enslavement. At that moment there was a brilliant flash, and when the light died down, all the senators were dead, and a single message was scratched into the floor "THE KORATH SHALL RISE".