Let's Play Stellaris: Part 33 - A New Threat Emerges

"It is here we make our stand." - 1st Fleet Admiral Sexta Lamponius

Stardate: 10-01-2356

With the defeat in the Karazit system still fresh in their minds, the Cartel decided it was best to entirely rework their overall approach toward fleet warfare, for months the sensor logs were picked apart by military analysts and shipwrights. Given the Cartel now knew they were likely to be vastly outnumbered in any future engagement it was decided upon that the Cunning class corvette would be removed from frontline fleet operations and instead have it assigned to patrol and anti-piracy roles. It's very design was aggressive and risky meaning that in any engagement any losses were usually among the Cunning class, ship designers and scientists were then tasked with providing alternatives as technology became available to provide a cost-effective solution. 

For several years the Cartel's economy grew and showed no signs of stopping, the diplomatic component of plan 'Olive Branch' was deemed a failure by comparison. Their extensive use of the galactic underworld to help accomplish its goals was not something the galactic community at large was willing to forgive or forget so easily meaning that after all, it was them against the galaxy. With this realisation guiding them it had been decided among the board of directors to expand outward one final time. The systems of Hagawa, Rixim and Bitrius would be claimed for their resources, the Targon system cleared by the first fleet before their fateful engagement would be colonised, the pristine Gaia world had many competing offers for how best to exploit the resources picked up by the initial survey.

The Gaia world discovered in the Targon system becomes a rallying symbol for the Cartel.

The infamous Karazit system would also be claimed and any remotely viable worlds marked for terraforming as the Cartel began utilising it's vast and growing economic might to push further into the galaxy. Branch officers and front companies were also once again re-opened before rival corporate interests could entirely shut them out of the market, illegal research labs were the primary focus of this, as plan 'Olive Branch' was now deemed to be concluded they turned their gaze once more to their neighbours with a more critical eye. It was during this period that tensions began to rise between the Cartel and both the Skanuri Bloc and the Prossnakan Star Hunters, whilst the latter was far from a surprise the Skanuri Bloc after several wars with the Prossnakan were clearly getting a taste for conquest. Whilst it was deemed unlikely they would pose a threat within the next fifty years due to their relative positions within the hyper-lane network meaning they'd have to deal with the Yeon Progenitors before ever being able to reach the Cartel's outer most systems.

During this period Proculus Manilius managed to secure a second term as Oligarch, many among the Cartel attributing this to the vast wealth and economic golden age he had helped usher in that still showed no signs of stopping. The settling of the Gaia world formed the core of his re-election speech as it became a rallying symbol which was further solidified when it was named New Vulpinus. It was a world so pristine and suited for colonisation that the lines of people enlisting for a spot on the colony ship were said to be several kilometres long at their peak.

The station within the Targon system home of New Vulpinus was also decided on becoming the centre of the Cartel's military command structure as well as being the new home base of a planned future third fleet. Border systems were heavily fortified as once again the Skanuri Bloc and Prossnakan Star Hunters declare war on one another however the Skanuri Bloc's signing of a non-aggression pact with the Unified Uriy Suns, the Cartel's longest standing rival was a far greater concern among the upper echelons of the Cartel military causing plans to be drawn up to potentially take out the Uriy Suns before they could form any kind of alliance.

The Janna Fortress, the most heavily defended choke-point in Cartel space.

With the galaxies collective attention focused on old rivalries and their own plans, it took the entire galaxy by surprise when on stardate 13-10-2368 the warring tribes of the Dyss marauders united under a great khan, Gogg. They had up until that point been considered a nuisance, no better than pirates or scavengers and were as likely to war among themselves as to attack any of the other races. Those days were seemingly over, emergency meetings between the Cartel's board of directors and military command lasted for days as a course of action was decided upon in order to safeguard the Cartel.

The first fleet had scarcely left the Cappella system since the 'Pulsar Incident' long-term plans to retrofit and overhaul the fleet were rushed into action ahead of deployment to the Bitrius system. Military analysts deeming it the most likely invasion point from the Dyss Marauders, as vast convoys moved resources into the system as the most rapid fortification of a star-system in the history of the Cartel was begun.

Ship designs which until that point had been no more than blueprints were rushed into production, the Sagittarrii class corvette and the Aurora class cruiser. The Sagittarrii corvette was a radical departure from the Cunning class, focusing primarily on supporting mainline ships with volleys of missile fire, whilst plans were aiming for torpedoes over missiles it was deemed acceptable by the board in the meantime. The Aurora class cruiser was designed around lessons learned in the 'Pulsar Incident' arrays of medium plasma cannons formed its core armament supported by a large railgun and a pair of new ion disruptors its goal was simply to overwhelm its targets with superior firepower.

The shipyards at Cappella were a chaotic hive of activity for weeks as the entire fleet was retrofit and new designs were rushed into manufacture. The Cartel's generous surplus of resources was almost entirely sold off simply to feed the vast amount of refined alloys needed to all but rebuild the entire first fleet and fortify the border systems as rapidly as possible.

New ships and crews were pressed into service at a rate never seen since the Cartel had first mastered faster than light travel as news about the newly united Dyss Marauders began to reach them. Refugees from the Mith-Fell Shipping Alliance limped into Cartel space giving them their first taste of just how vicious the Marauders had become, they had torn apart Mith-Fell space in a matter of months far outstripping even the most worrying projections of the Cartel's brightest minds. No more than a few weeks passed after the first refugees arrived than it was learned that the entire Mith-Fell Shipping Alliance had been utterly destroyed by the Dyss Horde, their people reduced to nought but a few handfuls of frightened settlers who were taken in on New Vulpinus.

The Dyss Horde annihilate the Mith-Fell Shipping Alliance in a matter of months.

As had been a tradition for 170 years, the first fleet made a parade pass over the capital world but this time rather than it being to assert themselves over the other races, now they prepared to defend themselves from the viciously aggressive Dyss Horde. The Bitrius system became the most heavily defended system in Cartel space dwarfing even the vast fortress of Janna, as both the first fleet and Bitrius station were hoped to be the rock against which the wave of the Dyss Horde would break against.

Only time would tell if they would succeed or fail if they failed to hold them the settlers and refugees of New Vulpinus would be the next victims of the great Khan's crusade to carve out an empire of their own.

The newly reconstructed and retrofit first fleet and Bitrius Station prepare to defend against the roving Dyss Horde.

If you missed the last part you can find it here.