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Space Empires VBalance Mod Game Story - Rise of the Xiati Empire

Rise of the Xiati Empire Main | Previous Chapter 2432.1-2433.0 | Next Chapter 2434.1-2435.0


Turns 2433.1 to 2434.0

Entering Attack State

The year of 2433 turned out to be a good one for the Xiati and Emperor Tax'Renath. With new resource facilities coming online in the Sergetti Branch, enough additional ships had been constructed to support a more aggressive campaign to hit key enemy colonies across a number of shared star systems including Sirius, Spirador, Drax and Reticulum. Colonies in adjacent systems have been churning out supplies for the attacks and a co-ordinated effort to move troops and other units to the systems is ongoing.

Sirius

The Xiati first surveyed the Sirius system 30 years ago but the system fell into control of the Cue Cappa until the capture of Sirius V in 2423.5. Since then, the Xiati have only managed the capture of Sirius II in the last 10 years. Not much has been accomplished in the system since they've only been able to control the Sirius-Andross warp point periodically. However, in the last few years, the Sirius Defense Fleet has held the warp point without fail and heavy EEE and Cue Cappa losses elsewhere have left their empires thin on ships. With the Sirius Attack Fleet freely available and supplemented with Avenger class bombardment ships, the Xiati attacked and captured the EEE colony on Sirius IV with only minor losses in 2433.3. With the capture, only the Cue Cappa colony on Sirius III and EEE colony on its moon, Sirius IIIa remain.

Shortly after the successful invasion of Sirius III, the neighbouring system of Fezzran came under threat from the Ukra-Tal, who emerged from the southern Falcor system, breaking through the Fezzran-Falcor WP satellite group with most of their fleet intact. Within a month they were attacking the Xiati colony on Fezzran III. The formidable defenses of the planet held easily and left the 18 ships (13xDEs,5xCRs) of the Ukra-Tal fleet burning in space. The warp point is currently undefended, so the Sirius Attack Fleet has been re-assigned to defend the warp point until new defenses are in place.

Ukra-Tal attack against Fezzran III in 2433.9:

Ukra-Tal attack against Fezzran III in 2433.9

Spirador

After securing the Arakang System, the gateway to the Sergetti branch, Emperor Tax'renath turned his attention to the two remaining Phong colonies in the Spirador and Equandul systems. The nearest target, Spirador IV, was a large CO2 gas giant with little resources but well developed research infrastructure. In 2433.7, the planet was blockaded by the Arakang Defense Fleet and bombarded for two months until the surface was free of defenses. Finally in late 2433.9, troops were landed and the planet captured in 2434.0. With no immediate threats to the newly captured Spirador IV, the fleet has already been dispatched towards the small ice world of Equandul III. Sorties of Shifter class drones has been attacking the planet over the last few months to reduce the planet's defenses in preparation an invasion in the early 2340s.

Drax System

Plans to invade several of the Drax colonies (held by Jraenar, Norak, Ukra-Tal, Phong and EEE) were put on hold again during the last year when a significant EEE fleet broke into the system forcing the Xiati into a defensive posture. Just as invasion plans were moving forward again, a modest fleet of Norak ships (5xDEs,4xLCs,1xCR,2xBB,2xLF) attempted to breakthrough the recently restored Drax-Praxis WP satellite group (60xMSats). Most of the Norak fleet was destroyed along with the majority of the satellite defenses, but a small group of Norak ships escaped and continued towards the Drax-Eskirk warp point, but were intercepted and destroyed by the Drax Defense Fleet.

Once the Norak ships were dispatched, Emperor Tax'renath changed the next invasion target from Drax I (Jraenar) to Drax III, held by the Norak, to spite the Norak attack. In 2433.3, the planet was attacked and troops landed and captured the following month in 2433.4, after a short ground battle. Transporter class cargo ships immediately dropped defensive platforms on the planet, which allowed the Drax Fleet to quickly move to the planet's small methane ice moon, Drax IIIa, a Ukra-Tal colony. By 2433.9, both Drax III and its satellite were in firm Xiati control. The radioactive rich Drax I (Jraenar) is next up, which would leave only Drax V (EEE) and Drax Va (Phong) between the Xiati taking over the entire system. Emperor Tax'Renath has given to 2435.0 for his generals to complete this task.

Xiati take Drax III from the Norak in 2433.4:

Xiati take Drax III from the Norak in 2433.4

Reticulum System

For over 30 years, the Xiati have held Reticulum IV and controlled the eastern portion of the system while the Ukra-Tal held Reticulum II and maintained controlled of the western half. During this time, the Xiati have never been able to exert any significant control over the system much to the dismay of Emperor Tax'renath. The colony on Reticulum IV has endured almost a dozen direct assaults. Finally in 2433.2, the Xiati attacked Reticulum II and destroyed the planet's weapon platform defenses allowing troops to be landed on the surface. The first ground attack went poorly and the Xiati troops were destroyed. After some subsequent bombing from the orbiting Xiati ships, more troops were landed and the planet was finally captured in 2433.4. With the captured of Reticulum II, forces defending the Obotron-Reticulum can now be moved to the block off the southern Reticulum-Prot warp point, the Reticulum fleet itself will hold the Reticulum-Haphik warp point.

Quadrant Map 2434.0:

Map of Known Space 2434.0

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