"We mistook them for pirates, vagrants, no more than thugs. We underestimated them and we may yet pay the price for our arrogance." - Unknown 1st Fleet Captain.
Stardate: 15-10-2371
As the year 2371 drew toward its end the Cartel had heavily fortified its border systems and was prepared to defend its space with all the military might it could muster. Having wiped out a neighbouring empire in a matter of months leaving the Mith-Fell Shipping Alliance as no more than a handful of refugee's sheltered on New Vulpinus it was thought the Cartel would be their next target.
The rate at which the Dyss Horde was expanding had many among the Cartel's upper echelons concerned that they would soon have seized all the unclaimed space nearby having a few among the board of directors push for a pre-emptive strike. This was quickly dismissed by the Admiralty as being too great a risk without first having assessed the Dyss Hordes military capabilities with the Oligarch concurring that a defensive posture was most prudent. So they waited with nothing else they could risk doing for fear of making themselves more vulnerable.
In the early months of 2373, the first fleet was hastily redeployed to the Hagawa system, two of the great Khan's fleets detected approaching the vulnerable system as the assumption they would take the shortest route to Cartel space was proven to be untrue. Their mistake had been made and exploited as the small outpost was little match for the vast armada that approached. The first fleet was trapped and given the size of the Khan's fleet an interception engagement without starbase and defence platform fire support was deemed suicidal giving the Dyss the initiative.
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| A Dyss Horde armada enters Cartel space headed by a massive flagship. |
Much to Admiral Lamponius' surprise after taking out the outpost in Hagawa the fleet turned around and left along the course they had arrived. Whilst baffling the Cartel chose to use the extra time wisely, reinforcing the systems neighbouring Hagawa before risking reclaiming and fortifying it as another bastion system, the expense deemed more than justified by the board of directors.
Despite the obvious threat posed to the rest of the galaxy by the Dyss Horde the Skanuri Bloc was seemingly determined to wipe out the Prossnakan Star Hunters for good as refugees trickled onto New Vulpinus at an alarming rate. It seemed the Skanuri Bloc did not take the Dyss Horde as a serious threat as the Cartel did.
At the dawn of 2376, the third fleet was founded in order to promote better strategic flexibility and combat the growing threat of the Dyss Horde with its home base being in Targon to guard New Vulpinus. Despite the risks and due to listening posts in Bir Zun not seeing any sign of the Dyss for months since the initial raid into Hagawa the system was reclaimed and construction on another heavily fortified starbase was begun.
It was late into 2377 when after months of bad news such as the utter destruction of the Prossnakan Star Hunters that it seemed the Cartel would have some breathing room. Whilst the great Khan was a much-vaunted strategist a rival clan, the Husko Raiders somehow managed to defeat the Khan in battle, however, the Khan escaped his return was of course fully expected. It did, however, give the Cartel time enough to shore up its defences and perform necessary retrofits to its fleets.
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| Bitrius Starbase commanded almost as much firepower as the 1st and 3rd fleets combined. |
Only days after the first fleet had been retrofit did the new reach the Cartel that the great Khan had assembled a new armada. In an attempt to buy time for construction crews in the Hagawa system the first fleet was deployed to defend them, Bitrius now being deemed able to stand on its own long enough for the fleet to arrive should the need arise. Both the first and third fleets took up defensive positions in Hagawa as they prepared to repel any incursions.
Intelligence reached the Cartel however that the Dyss Horde were engaged on a second front elsewhere with the Golden Alliance federation. Having seemingly used their nomadic nature to their advantage they had slipped through other empires space long ago and were now tearing their way through the Alvothari Hegemony and a rival corporation Fiiral TransStellar. The Dyss Horde seemed more cautious in their advance as the first fleet attempted several times to engage smaller fleets moving along the border unsuccessfully.
Even as the rest of the galaxy seemed more concerned with tearing one another to pieces the Prime Wardens reached out to the Cartel offering a research exchange which was gratefully accepted by the Cartel. The reasoning was fairly simple to understand as the Prime Wardens were understood to be a form of machine intelligence meaning they adopted an outlook of cold logic to every interaction.
With the Cartel poised to repel any incursions from the Dyss, research had continued at a break-neck speed as plans were drawn up for the first Cartel battleships. The Constantine class was the first of them, built around the doctrine of superior firepower, it bristled with plasma cannons, railguns and proton launchers. The second design was the largest carrier class vessel ever conceived by the Cartel's shipwrights, it housed cavernous hangars and multiple wings of strike craft whilst also heavily armed with flak batteries and the Cartel's signature plasma cannons it was aptly named after their homeworld, Vulpinus.
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| A Constantine class battleship and Vulpinus class carrier leave Capella shipyards to join the 1st fleet. |
It was at this point the Cartel decided to weigh its options, would they simply hold their ground? Hoping that their massive defensive installations and fleets could weather the storm or would they challenge the Dyss Hordes unchecked expansion? One thing was certain however the galaxy would never be the same again.
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