Manual:Asylum/Conflict Timeline
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2428) PIRATES I
First pirate raid on Tau1 Gruis II and on the scientific station orbiting gas giant Tau1 Gruis III. Colonial Guard has not yet been stationed out this far as they're busy fighting on the Allied side in the ISW. The Eridanusian Planetary Republic was defeated only 6 months ago and forces are still engaged in heavy action in the Core, leaving many outlying colonies undefended, resulting in a huge surge in space piracy. Pirate raiders kill Tau1 Gruis III personnel and loot and sabotage the science station, then attack Tau1 Gruis II. Local militia put up a good fight, but are quickly suppressed. Pirates loot the colony and make off with their possessions.
2430) PIRATES II
Pirates return to Tau1 Gruis II and again attack the colony, but find Tau1 Gruis II has had a surge in air and ground defenses. Pirates are unable to gain control of airspace, and their ground attack is rebuffed by Colonial Guard troops who have returned from the war, but only barely. Guard troops take heavy losses before the pirates give up and flee. A demand is made by the local Colonial Guard Colonel for heavier equipment and a Marine Expeditionary Unit to be deployed to Tau1 Gruis II.
2431) STARBASE 107
Not a battle, but significant for the area. Starbase 107 is assembled in the Omicron Gruis system (13 light years away) from pre-fabricated segments in 2 months by a Kerella Starbase Fleet for the AWSC. The ability to project power into the area jumps a hundredfold. It is hoped this will dissuade pirate attacks on colonies and outposts in the region, and over time does indeed have the desired effect. A Colonial Marshal is also assigned to the area to help keep the people in line.
2432) PIRATES III
Pirates make their final move on Tau1 Gruis II, this time supported by funds and ships from the Singularity Movement, a philosophical wing of the Tri-Axis that has yet to cease sporadic fighting despite Tri-Axis surrender in 2432. Advance warning is provided thanks to the Colonial Marshal discovering them gathering forces around a nearby brown dwarf and alerting both the colony and Starbase 107. Raiders forces are soundly defeated by combined Guard and Marine units planetside, and as their ships turn to flee, they're caught and wiped out less than one AU from Tau1 Gruis II by the USS Razorback (Coalition battleship) and a pair of Allied destroyers operating from Starbase 107. Once the colony is secured, the MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) is stripped of its Aerospace and Logistics Units and sent back to the Core with the Razorback. The Marine Ground and Command Units remain to augment the Colonial Guard forces. It is the last attack on Tau1 Gruis by pirates.
2436) TRIANNUAL WARGAME
All military forces in the Tau1 Gruis system meet at Tau1 Gruis II for the second triannual wargame to maintain readiness. It's the Colonial Guard's turn to play the bad guys, and the Coalition Marine Corps' turn to play the good guys. The wargame lasts for 12 days as forces fight over a 1000 km square area centered on Atmosphere Processor – Main, ~160 km north of Grus City, the main settlement on the planet. Marine forces whittle the much better equipped Guard troops down, gradually taking out their armor in the opening days at the cost of heavy losses. Once Guard armor and air is neutralized by day 5, the battle swings in the CMC's favor. The wargame ends on day 12 when a Marine scout unit stages a daring raid on the Guard's mobile HQ and captures their commanding officer. The CMC emerges victorious, but only by a hair.
1/2437) PRELUDE TO INVASION
Interstellar comm buoys in the area begin mysteriously malfunctioning or going offline. The Colonial Marshal goes on alert and doubles his patrol runs, expecting pirates may be making a comeback, however unlikely that may be. No pirates are discovered, nor is any sign of malicious action found. Starbase 107 is out of comm buoys after deploying its supply in a string of exploratory missions beyond the Rim. They assure the Tau1 Gruis colonists that more comm buoys are on order and should arrive within four months. Meanwhile they'll have to make do with their quantum entangled comm satellites.
2/2437) ARRIVAL
The SS Hammerhead arrives from Delta Pavonis near the end of the month on a weapons and technology testing contract from the Pavo Tech Union. The Hammerhead is a decommissioned Federation frigate purchased from the scrap yards by a retired veteran CFS ship captain and his crew, and is now serving as a privateer vessel. After stocking up on supplies, the frigate takes up a geostationary orbit over an uninhabited sector of the planet and begins clandestine tests of several new PTU technologies. Only select Colonial Guard officers are aware of this, the real reason the Hammerhead is in the Tau1 Gruis system. During this time, the last interstellar comm buoy within range of the Tau1 Gruis system goes down. Entangled satellites are now the only way to communicate out of the system. The Tau1 Gruis Colonial Administrator relays a formal complaint to the Rear Admiral in charge of Starbase 107 through the satellite entangled with the Entanglement Relay at Gliese 853A. Due to heavy comm traffic, despite the message being instant it takes two days for the message to make it through the queue and be relayed to Starbase 107 by the switchboard operators.
3/2437) INVASION OF TAU1 GRUIS II
1) Standoff
Disturbance on the planet's surface. There is an unexplained chase and shootout resulting in several deaths in Grus City. The perpetrator is one of the weapons testers from the Hammerhead, and at the end of his deadly romp, he makes off with a Colonial Guard officer and disappears. Captain Stark, commanding the SS Hammerhead, is held by the Colonial Administator to be complicit in the killer's escape. The Administrator rightly believes Stark is holding him safely on the Hammerhead, and Stark refuses to give him up, claiming his actions were justified. Hammerhead crew still planetside are arrested, the Colonial Marshal is called in, and Colonials and Hammerhead crew find themselves in a standoff. Neither side has the upper hand; Captain Stark refuses to leave the system without his crew, but hasn't any way to forcefully extract his people. Meanwhile the most firepower the Colonials can bring to a potential fight is the Colonial Marshal's corvette, the Nyx, which is no match for a frigate, but they refuse to let the Hammerhead's crew go until the wanted man and Colonial officer are released to Colonial authorities.
2) First Contact
As the standoff enters its tenth hour, an unknown alien vessel enters the system. Strangely, most of Tau1 Gruis II's satellites, including the entangled comm satellites, short out simultaneously and refuse to accept transmissions, effectively cutting off the last means of FTL communication between the star system and the rest of colonized space. The alien at first appears to be benign, taking up a high orbit around Tau1 Gruis II. It does not respond to communications, but makes no hostile actions, simply hangs in orbit. The standoff between the Hammerhead and the Colonials ends as both craft in orbit take up formation behind the alien to monitor it while communication continues to be attempted. Almost the entire planet stops functioning as everyone is glued to the local news. Although remnants of long dead alien presence have been found, cataloged, and studied on various outlying, this is the first ever actual contact between human and alien. F-23 Stringray trans-atmospheric fighters are launched from Fort Randall, Atmosphere Processor - Main, and and the Grus Interstellar Spaceport to accompany.
