The Earth Commonwealth occupied the lower portion of the galaxy and the Dread Lords occupied the upper NW corner, surrounded by Drengin worlds, with whom they had become friends. The Drengin had not taken kindly to our previous efforts against Amalda, the Dread Lord home world, and had decided to declare war on us, although as of 2227, no action had been taken against our worlds and so the war exists only on paper. We had become friends with the Arceans, the Drath and the Korx. The Altarians and the Thalan could not care less, while the Iconians were on the fence. It had been informally decided that the Arceans and the Drath, smart as they were, would devise better defences against the Dread Lord doom rays while also developing more powerful missiles, the only weapons the Dread Lords had no defence against. The Korx would provide money to whomever needed it, and the Commonwealth, being the most militarily proficient and industrially productive of the four, would build and command the Starships fitted with this technology. The first of these ships were the medium sized Dread Hunters, designed to be a quick strike cruiser, a lone dread hunter could not hope to match with even the weakest Dread Lord vessel. Equipped with a 6gw shield grid, incapable of holding back the 156gw of raw destruction a battery of Dread Lord Doom Rays could deliver. The only hope for these vessels was numbers, and the element of surprise, if a fleet of five or so of these ships engaged a Dread Lord fighter, the Dread Lords would be dispatched in three barrages, however two Dread Hunters were guaranteed to be lost…at least. However they were the only option, and the first wave of five Dread Hunters was dispatched. However on the way to Amalda, they detected several Drengin transports escorted by Battleships entering our space, the Drengin used Beams and Armour, but most of our ships specialized against the Drengin had been converted to attack the Dread Lords. Instead we sent wave after wave of smaller fighters to die in front of the Drengin Plasma cannons, until, at least, enough cash could be scavenged to persuade the Korx to come to our aid. Unfortunately all the Korx could do was give us a handful of battleships, but it was enough, and the Drengin were repelled. Even though the Dread Hunters had saved the Commonwealth, it was an ominous start to for what many would be a one way voyage.
The virtue of fast engines came in handy over the next few weeks as the Dread Hunters managed to evade the Drengin and make it to Dread Lord territory, and the star system Amaldia.
Amalda was impossibly well defended, Dread Lord frigates and defenders were in orbit of the planet, and small fighters patrolled the far reaches of the system. The fleet was quickly spotted, now there was no turning back, if they retreated, the Dread Lords would outrun, intercept and annihilate them. However if they charged head on, they would get the first shot, and ensure the Dread Lords destruction with the minimal of casualties. More Dread Hunters reached Amalda but unfortunately losses were too great, and Human star ports were overtaxed building Dread Hunters. Then along came the Photon Torpedo, a weapon that would ensure that the Dread Lords would go down in the first shot.
A new battle cruiser was created, the Hyperion, with an unprecedented number of missile launchers capable of delivering a whopping ten kilotons of blast from one full salvo was created. It was outfitted with the latest shield technology, Force Fields, unfortunately 12gw was still nowhere near enough to counter the Doom Ray. The vessel also paid for its armament with speed, it would take skilful tactics to let this bad boy fire first. But a few fleets of these combined with the Dread Hunters would now be able to dent the Dread Lords still impenetrable defences. Unfortunately a full scale invasion of Amalda was still not possible…we needed…something…bigger…much bigger.
OMEGA! The greatest miracle of science ever accomplished happened in 2228, nearly simultaneously, the Humans researched Large Scale Building, as the Arceans came up with Supreme miniaturization, and the Drath with the Ultimate invulnerability field. However, the icing on the cake came from quite an unexpected source, the Iconians got off the fence and joined us, their military was the most powerful in the galaxy and they brought with them…the third generation Quantum Torpedo. Without this stroke of luck we would have bounced off the Dread Lord defences and into the waiting jaws of the Drengin empire. Large scale building had unlocked the Deimos class Battleship, a warship left over from previous wars, mightily powerful, and fully suited to giving the Drengin what for. It also provided the template for the Omega class Destroyer, the Deimos space frame was slightly modified to handle the more cumbersome Quantum Torpedo launchers, as well as Invulnerability generators. In the end the Omega could dish out a 44 kiloton blast while taking 96gw of damage, still not enough to stand up to the Doom Rays, however it lessened the damage enough for the Omega to withstand at least one direct hit from the Dread Lords. Critics say that if it had not been for Space Commands decision to fit the Omega with powerful engines, the extra space could have been used to bolster defences to the necessary level. However, the engines ensured that the Omega could strike first, and two Omegas would destroy any Dread Lord ship encountered in one shot, denying the Dread Lords the chance to return fire.
Three Omegas were constructed, the ECS Omega, Theta and Delta. But events elsewhere in the galaxy were conspiring against them, the Drengin had switched from beams, to missiles, and from Armour, to ECM. Intelligence experts theorise that they stole these technologies from one of the Allied races through espionage. Unfortunately, they had stolen Quantum Torpedoes and Point Defence Combo. As the three Omegas passed through Drengin space, they were set upon and attacked with the very weapons that would save the galaxy from the Dread Lords. While the Omegas were defenceless against missiles, their sturdy hulls allowed them to hold out for long enough for their own Quantum warheads to vaporise the Drengin. Unfortunately not all ships were lucky enough to escape, the ECS Omega, first of her class and pride of the Commonwealth fleet was destroyed, leaving the Theta crippled and the Delta moderately damaged. 450 men and women aboard the Omega vaporised, and there were dozens wounded or dead on the Theta. It was decided to disband the fleet, the Theta would return to the nearest planet for repairs, while the Delta continued to Amaldia. The Iconians, militarily the most powerful race, were finally persuade to engage in pure genocide against the Drengin, and with their backing, The Korx entered the fray. With this lethal combo the Drengin had a decision to make, protect the Dread Lords and die, or protect themselves and let the Dread Lords duke it out with us. Far be it from the Drengin to protect others when their own hide is in danger, they abandoned the Dread Lords and began to shred the Korx while the Iconians held fast. By the time the next wave of Omegas was ready, the Korx were gone, doing the smart thing and handing ships, planets and resources to the Iconians. This meant that there was a solid strip of Iconian space between the Drengin and us, and in a bold move, we handed over all of our ships capable of fighting the Drengin to the Iconians, they needed all the help they could get to continue their mortal struggle with the Drengin.
We had done all we could to ensure the Iconians survival, but now we had a far deadlier adversary to contend with. Six Omegas traversed through war ravaged space, meeting no resistance from the Drengin, which is good, because any delay would have meant disaster, as Amalda drew near, a Dread Lord Troop transport was spotted heading straight for New Iconia, a brief detour ensured its destruction, and the Omegas resumed their single minded path. We bought some troop transports from the Drath and sent them, under escort, in the wake of the Omegas.
By 2229 the Omegas had rendezvoused with the decimated and damaged Dread Hunter and Hyperion fleets, many of their crews had been in this region for over two years, with the constant threat of Dread Lord attack. Only medication kept them sane, but it would soon be over. But one final obstacle lay ahead, the Dread Lords had an orbital fleet manager. More Omegas were required, and another seven weeks followed before they arrived. And the assault began in earnest, and for the first time in the four years since their discovery, the casualties mostly belonged to the Dread Lords, the monkeys in the hollowed out pieces of metal were more formidable than the Dread Lords thought and it was this complacency that ensure the Earth Commonwealth’s victory over the Dread Lords.
What became of the Iconians? Of the Drengin? What were the Altarians and the Thalan doing that prevented them from joining our alliance, well the Dread Lords have been defeated, so that is a story for another time.
This thread isn't just for me, post your own war stories here if you want.
