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The Human - Xirin wars
Timeline of the war so far
This is a timeline of events that have happened so far, and will continually grow as we play games linked into the narrative campaign. Entries that are the result of games we played are marked like this  , and will usually have links to more information, accessible by clicking on the dice.
March 23rd, 2312
The war starts. What everyone had been predicting for months became truth: the Xirin declared war on the United Planets. But, although UP space and ground forces had been preparing for war for some time, the sheer magnitude and swiftness of the Xirin's initial attack overwhelmed all. Within minutes of the declaration of war by the Xirin's ambassador, powerfull Xirin warfleets jumped into more than ten systems across the Rim. It was clear that the Xirin had been preparing this war for a long time. Within hours, despite spirited resistance of Space Fleet and SPAMAF units stationed there, six systems had fallen, their civilian populations taken hostage, the remnants of defending units fleeing back towards the UP Core systems. By the end of the day, UP High Command ordered the remaining systems under attack to be evacuated, effective immediately.
At the start of the second day of the war, the systems Archon, Belerian, Nabed's Hope, Chamra and nine others had fallen to the Xirin. All across UP space, Space Fleet and SPAMAF were issuing orders to their far flung units to rush to the frontline systems as soon as possible. In the Rim, in inhabited systems in the predicted path of the Xirin advance, emergency evacuation plans dating from the first stages of colonisation are dug up and initiated, as local military units prepare to put up a grim defence to delay the Xirin advance and buy time for the civilian populations to evacuate to UP Core space.
March 28th, 2312: the battle of New Vilnius
New Vilnius system.
The Xirin offensive has been steamrolling over all opposition for the last five days. The count in systems lost is now up to thirty three, and in some places, the advanced Xirin fleet units are nearing the more thickly inhabited Outer Area, separating the Rim from UP Core space. UP High Command is desperately rushing in fleet units to set up a defensive zone at the edge of the Outer Area. Meanwhile, the few inhabited systems in the Rim not yet overrun by the Xirin fleets are being evacuated as fast as possible. One of these systems is New Vilnius, colonized only recently and with a small population of 40,000.
As an added embarrasment to UP High Command, the carrier Morgenes (CV-1), now mostly a museum piece but of high symbolic value, which had been showing the flag in outlying systems, got caught by the Xirin advance and only barely managed to get to safety. Severely damaged and with an erratic FTL drive system, the Morgenes managed to limp to the New Vilnius system, where the FTL finally gave up completely, leaving the prestiguous ship stranded. In a desperate ploy to save the ship, Space Fleet has sent out one of the few fleet sections already in a somewhat combat ready state, 408 Fleet Section of 4th Fleet built around the battleship Rovannion, together with a squadron of FTL tugs. To complicate things, the final phases of the evacuation of the New Vilnius system are going on in the middle of all this…
Things went from bad to worse, when Xirin Fleet task force 27.3, the advance element of one of their attack fleets, jumped in system with the Morgenes still disabled and struggling towards it's FTL tugs. In a hard fought battle, the Xirin task force managed to destroy the prestiguous carrier, but were badly mauled themselves by the forward elements of Space Fleet's 408 Fleet section which had jumped in system only minutes before the Xirin task force. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the Battle of New Vilnius must be considered a Xirin victory as the loss of one of the most prestiguous carriers (although far from the militarily most valuable one) strikes a heavy blow to the morale of Space Fleet's units.
With a heavy heart, Space Fleet continues building up forces in the defensive zone at the edge of the Outer Areas, while the Xirin advance rolls on unhindered through the Rim...
Extra information available: scenario & battle report
March 29th, 2312
The news of the destruction of the CV 1 Morgenes came as a shock to the human population. The confidence in human superiority over their former allies crippled. On the outer-rim planets San Lopes, Him and Jock total panic took over the population, making it impossible for the military forces stationed there to set up an efficient evacuation. With Xirin forces just at their doorstep and every attempt to control the situation futile, the military leaves the area, evacuating 60% of the population. Another 10% managed to escape in civilian craft leaving 65.000 people on the three planets at the mercy of the Xirin.
March 31st, 2312
Believing that overkill is better then underkill, SUPCOMSPAC Admiral Aurelius Saltinius Morsotov prepares for an all out war with the Xirin. All military reserves are called under arms, war industry and ship yards are producing at their maximum capacity and other industries are converted into arms factories.
Meanwhile Space Force is gathering its ships to form a massive defensive line. However, with Xirin fleets rushing through UP preliminary defensive positions, this is not an easy thing to do.
April 4th, 2312: Tolstoy's peace
Yamato system.
To turn the tide in this war an attack fleet is being assembled at the Yamato System. This force is to take the war to the enemy and cripple their advance. The ships of 408 fleet section are refitted at the Yamato Industrial and Military Space shipyard so they can successfully blow the Xirin to little bits. Space Lord (a statutory title to keep this particular VIP happy) Sigisbiduwald von Trappstein-Hohenschlieffen, in many ways the sponsor of the soon to be assembled attack fleet has been sent there with the heavy carrier CHV 401 Tolstoy, to check on proceedings, and is determined to stop the Xirin here (as he is the owner of (among many) the Yamato I & M Space shipyard and he's not going to let some alien birdrace destroy it just when it is making huge profits).
Unfortunately for Space Lord Sigisbiduwald von Trappstein -Hohenschlieffen, a Xirin recon pod picked up the increased ship movement in the Yamato system. Judging that it is better to destroy this human attack force before it becomes a 100% operational, the Xirin commander Aye'wonnago'hohm orders a full scale attack on the Yamato System.
The battle ended in yet another defeat for the humans, and although Space Lord Sigisbiduwald von Trappstein-Hohenschlieffen could escape the system, the loss of the heavy carrier CHV 401 Tolstoy meant the effective end of the planned human Attack Fleet.
April 10th, 2312
If they weren't already, things were really starting to look very grim for the Human forces. The military propaganda machine is working full-tilt trying to uphold morale but eventually even they can't better the increasing amount of messages reporting the fall of yet another Human system. If a victory for Human forces is not produced sometime soon, Admiral Morsotov will be obliged to resign his command. Especially the Gorn faction are increasingly displeased. Some Gorn officers are thinking of joining the Xirin forces, after all it is not unlikely that the start of this war was provoked by the UP military for reasons only known to them. But nothing has been proven and they clearly not doing a good job at it anyway.
At this point Intel received a message from an unknown source that a new prototype of Xirin battleship is taken to the frontier by a relatively small escort. They'll pass the Fornerstone system, close to the Yamato system. A message is sent to 408 Fleet Section to get underway to Fornerstone to intercept this ship. 408 Fleet Section's officers and men are called upon yet again to try and stop the Xirin steamroller.
April 12th, 2312: the ambush at Fornerstone
Fornerstone system.
After surprising the inbound Xirin prototype ship with its escort, the humans performed an attack right out the fleet manual, using their extended rage missiles in co-ordination with their fighter groups to saturate the point defences of the Xirin warships. Unfortunately for the humans, the Xirin prototype received little damage (unlike its escort heavy cruiser that got destroyed by one missile attack). Because they had such an advantage over the Xirin at long range, the Human forces slowly engaged the Xirin prototype. Too slowly, it turned out, as the Xirin battleship changed course and headed for a gap in the Gomorra asteroid belt. The Humans saw this danger, increased their speed, but it was too little too late (especially making a 90° turn at high speed turned out to be a bummer). At this point in the battle there appeared an Irini Ahnuld Class CG with a shuttle frantically trying to keep up (it would wish it hadn't later on). Much to Dohn'tho'that's - the Xirin messenger in the shuttle - despair, his escort chose to engage the entire Human Fleet Section singlehand(claw??)edly. Without going into further detail, the very important Xirin war plans he was carrying fell into Human hands. During the battle the Humans hadn't lost a single ship, destroyed 2 Xirin Cruisers and one Xirin frigate but the prototype battleship managed to slip away. Although this was thus yet another tactical failure, the plans might ensure a Human victory in the near future, thus slightly improving the strategic picture of the Human fleets everywhere.
... to be continued ...
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