Timeline
(Note that Kilrathi uses base 8)
Orbit 151, Sun Year 5105
While establishing footholds in the recently explored Krat'na Sector, the destroyer K'rath'kan detects an intruder. Leader Brath'kar nar Caxki reports that the unidentified ship is attempting to neutralize his shields with wide-band radiation. When the enemy fails to leave the area of trespass after three-eighths of an hour, the destroyer opens its guns to eliminate the threatening vessel.
2629.105
The Terran Confederation expands exploration and colonization efforts and penetrates Vega Sector. On 2629.105 (March 16, 2629 Terran time) the Iason encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Commander Jedora Andropolos transmits an international wide-band, non-verbal greeting designed by the Committee for Interaction with Alien Intelligences. Andropolos keeps Iason's guns off-line for the TCN-recommended 20 minutes and awaits a response from the alien vessel. Finally, without warning, the unidentified ship opens fire with full lasers, utterly destroying Iason and all hands.
Sun Year 5112
Encounters with the unknown race continue as exploration ships cross normal Kilrathi patrol routes. Vessels are noted to have external firing weapons and are attacked on sight to prevent further penetration into Kilrathi territory. Captured debris indicates that the ships originate from the "Terran Confederation."
After drones radio back images of a colonized planet 3 trillion eights starward of Kilrah, the Emperor decrees that Kilrathi forces are to search out and eliminate this strategic colony. The Imperial military draws up plans for a massive attack on the colony and its orbital space station.
When the attack commences, resistance is greater than expected – three carriers and many eights of fighter-craft. It appears that the enemy's technology parallels Kilrah's knowledge of spacecraft and inter-sector jump mechanisms. For four days, the Kilrathi battle the Terran forces into retreat, then return victoriously to Kilrah. Leaders predict that forces will conquer the alien race in seven moons.
2634
On 2634.186, the Terran Confederation officially declares war on the Empire of Kilrah for committing countless acts of piracy and unwarranted assault.
On 2634.228, TCN cryptographer Ches M. Penney partially decodes a stray Kilrathi cipher. The intercepted message implies that a strike will be launched soon against a Confederation colony on McAuliffe, then on its orbiting space station Alexandria. Confederation High command orders a counteroffensive twice the size of the anticipated fleet, hoping to reach McAuliffe first and ambush the attackers.
On 2634.235, the Kilrathi fleet invades McAuliffe's territory. It is quadruple the expected size (the incomplete translation underestimated the size of the offensive fleet). So begins the McAuliffe Ambush engagement.
In several days of bloody combat, a well-armed Kilrathi force all but obliterates the Terran fleet. The still-sizable force of functional Kilrathi spacecraft, momentarily daunted by Terran resistance, turn back to regroup. The first large-scale Terran-Kilrathi engagement ends with the Kilrathi spearhead momentarily broken.
Sun Year 5117
Thrakhath's forces successfully invade and occupy McAuliffe, a colonized Terran world abundant in metal resources and convenient to Kilrah's jump points. Upon claiming the planet, warriors take countless captives to prevent reciprocative attacks by the Confederation. (Leaders have concluded that the race follows a religious belief that values individual lives.)
A concentrated attack force battles the Kilrathi fleet, led by a surprisingly light squadron of heavy-class fighters bearing small, stationary devices. The engagement turns bitter for Kilrathi troops as invading fighters release static explosives, apparently mines of some sort. An undetermined number of Terran ships bolster the enemy fleet, arriving through a jump point corresponding to the middle of the battlefield. After a heated fight, the enemy fleet limps back into Terran territory. Losses for the enemy number several eights.
2639
On 2639.033, Kilrathi occupation forces land on the human-occupied world of McAuliffe. Invading troops hold a quarter of a million humans hostage under orbital guns and await Terran reprisals. This triggers the McAuliffe Ambush engagement, a tactical situation complicated by the presence of hostages.
The Confederation implements Phase One of the ambush, bringing in an attack force against the Kilrathi fleet. The attack force consists principally of Raptor-class heavy fighters reconfigured to carry extra Porcupine Space Mines and practically no missiles. Phase One forces drop their mines in one region of space near McAuliffe and engage the enemy. Kilrathi ships evade the mined region and concentrate on destroying the small fighter entourage. When Kilrathi navigators realize that the mined region corresponds to a principal McAuliffe jump point, it is too late:
Phase Two has begun. A single radio signal detonates all the specially modified Porcupines mines. Moments later, the rest of the Terran fleet arrives through the jump point, making its first strike against the gunships threatening the human colonies. The enemy ships are destroyed with minimal loss of life among the colonists. After a pounding match, the McAuliffe Ambush ends with the Kilrathi in retreat. Casualties are nearly identical between the two fleets, but the Kilrathi have been successfully pushed from this strategic position.
Sun Year 5124
Imperial troops continue to push into Krat'na Sector, ferrying in supplies and troops to launch offensives on occupied worlds. Terran invasion forces launch a strike against Kr'azna colony, but are immediately repelled by nearby Kilrathi fighter support. The intruding ships are pushed back to the Terran boundary line, while Kilrathi forces easily cripple the carrier Tiger's Claw and its complement of fighters.
2644
Terran ground forces launch an attack on a fortified Kilrathi colony, only to be routed by unexpected Kilrathi fighter-craft support. The Terrans quickly reform and turn back, their lightly armed transports chased by heavy Kilrathi warships. The TCS Tiger's Claw is detached from its previous station and assigned to intercept the pursuing ships in a delaying action eventually referred to as Custer's Carnival.
Though swarmed and badly damaged by Kilrathi fighters, the carrier distracts Kilrathi forces long enough to allow the Terran fleet to reach safety. The Claw makes it back into Terran space, even with three-quarters of its engines destroyed and half its pilots listed as casualties.
Orbit 437, Sun Year 5136
The Kilrathi Imperial Command deploys supply and colonization vessels to nearby worlds to enslave the Mopoks to the Kilrathi war effort. A new Imperial starbase is built for use as a central command post for Kilrathi movements in surrounding sectors. The Terrans eventually locate the starbase, for which the base's Security Commander is executed as a traitor. After a prolonged battle with the Terrans, the Emperor orders the command relocated to Kilrah.
2654.287
Terran Intelligence reports that the Kilrathi High command is directing war efforts from Venice System. Reconnaissance patrols identify Kilrathi ships and follow patrols, uncovering the Imperial starbase weeks later. The Kilrathi launch a significant resistance that is eventually overpowered by missiles fired from swarming fighters. Badly beaten, the Kilrathi are forced to retreat their central command to Kilrah.
Orbit 506, Sun Year 5136
Pending a new development in weapon technology, a site is chosen to spot-test the military's new atomic proton-accelerator gun. After magnetically buffering all radio waves to isolate the selected planet, life-removal experiments prove successful. Terran forces arrive too late to stop testing and are lured into an ambush with the captured Confederation ship Gwenhyvar.
Survivors of the enemy fleet, however, search out and incapacitate the dreadnought Sivar and its deadly weapon. For this failure, the Admiral of the ill-fated fleet pays the ultimate repentance and is executed in the presence of his father, the Kilrathi Emperor. With the Admiral's death, Prince Thrakhath becomes heir to the throne of Kilrah.
2654.326
Tiger's Claw receives the message that all radio contact has been lost with Goddard Colony. Intelligence suspects the Kilrathi possess a new super-weapon that they plan to use against the inhabited planet.
Rushing to the rescue, fighter wings from Tiger's Claw forge a path for transports and corvettes, only to discover that a quarter-million human lives have already been sacrificed by the Kilrathi. The Claw pursues the Kilrathi into enemy territory, only to be ambushed by a captured Confederation Exeter-class ship.
After escaping immediate danger, reconnaissance ships locate a dreadnought ship suspected of carrying the prototype super-weapon. The Claw succeeds in eliminating this Sivar dreadnought.
Sun Years 5135 – 5137
Battle fleets and war priestesses plan the annual Sivar-Eshrad ceremony honouring the war-god Sivar, which is to take place in Firekka System. The sacrificial event, however, is disrupted after the captain of the Ras'Nik'hra is captured by the Terrans and tortured to reveal the location of the ceremony. The Kilrathi Imperial Guard pushes the enemy out-system after Prince Thrakhath deems the Firekkans unworthy of destruction.
2653-2655
The Confederation pledges to protect a newly discovered race, the Firekkans, who plan to unite with the Terran alliance. A huge Kilrathi battle fleet moves into the system, led by the fearsome Prince Thrakhath and his Drakhai (Kilrathi Imperial Guard). The fleet's intent is unknown until the Kilrathi defector Ralgha exposes a plan to use Firekka as a location for a strange alien religious ritual in which warriors rededicate themselves to Sivar, the Kilrathi god of war.
Confederate forces decide on a desperate plan to damage enemy morale by disrupting the religious ceremony. Marine troopships jump into the system and land on the planet to stage the assault on the Kilrathi priestesses. When the mission succeeds, the Claw retreats back to Terran-controlled space, closely pursued by Kilrathi ships. As the Claw escapes, the Firekkan natives revolt and force the Kilrathi to withdraw.
Sun Years 5140-5153
Prince Thrakhath orders advances in Enigma Sector in order to gain control of jump-points leading to the Terran worlds. One Kilrathi planet in the Ghorah Khar system, also known as Ghorah Khar, falls under Terran rule. This angers Thrakhath and his leaders, who then order retaliatory strikes against the colonies there to eliminate any surviving cowards.
In the following moons, the Terrans lose many eights of ships in Enigma Sector, failing to dislodge the Imperial presence and the headquarters at K'Tithrak Mang. After an eight of sun years, Thrakhath ceases the attacks on Ghorah Khar and relocates the Imperial headquarters to a hidden location outside Enigma Sector. About the same time, spacecraft research culminates in the production of stealth fighter technology.
2656-2667
Over the next 11 years, Confederation forces attempt to remove the Kilrathi from Enigma Sector. The fight for this area is critical – failure means giving the Kilrathi strategic jump nodes throughout Enigma that lead directly to the human homeworlds.
The first attack on the headquarters at K'Tithrak Mang falls short, but Confederation forces are able to successfully defend Olympus Station (the human starbase established for the rebel Kilrathi world of Ghorah Khar) from Imperial Kilrathi assault. As the extended battle for the Enigma Sector continues, forces make a daring jump behind enemy lines to destroy the Kilrathi sector headquarters of K'Tithrak Mang, the same mission that finally destroys the renowned Tiger's Claw.
Sun Year 5153
Having concentrated efforts elsewhere for several sun years, Kilrathi forces once more strongarm their way into vital jump points that lead to the human homeworlds. This time, the attacks are concentrated on Pembroke Station, the gateway system between Enigma and Vega Sectors. To divert Terran forces, Prince Thrakhath orders a retaliatory attack on the rebel planet of Ghorah Khar.
In the next moon, Sivar tests Thrakhath's skills as a leader by staging an assassination attempt and giving him over to the Terrans. The Prince proves his worth by escaping with the help of spies and reassuming rule over Kilrah. He commands one last attack on the Terran starbase of Olympus and obliterates Ghorah Khar's few remaining colonists.
2667
Confederation forces successfully fend off a Kilrathi attack on Pembroke Station, the gateway system between Enigma and Vega Sectors.
Then, forces attend to a mutiny aboard Rigel Supply Depot, where mutineers split into two factions: Rigel pirates who want to continue their piratical lifestyle, and the crew members that want to return to the Confederation. The pirate ship is eventually gunned down.
The Imperial Kilrathi make an unsuccessful attempt to quell rebelling planets in the Ghorah Khar System. An Imperial leader named Khasra then tries to assassinate Prince Thrakhath.
Thrakhath is captured and brought aboard the Bonnie Heather, but escapes shortly after. Finally, a desperate attack against Olympus Station in Ghorah Khar is thwarted, saving the rebel Kilrathi planet.
Sun Year 5154
The war is going well – in one-and-a-half sun years, Kilrathi forces destroy seven escort carriers, two fleet carriers and twenty-four eights of other capital ships. Even though the number of actual conflicts is dropping to several per moon, the Terrans are resorting to coward's attacks on rear forces – supply vessels and transports.
Thrakhath and Baron Jugara, having foreseen the need for additional ships, reveal the existence of a shipyard that is secretly producing a new class of Hakaga carriers. An intricate plan emerges from a meeting of the Imperial Kilrathi, who offer a false armistice of peace to the foreign minister of the Terran Confederation. The remote shipyard continues producing a carrier fleet to destroy the Terran homeworld. Seven months later, Thrakhath implements the new carrier fleet and launches a climactic attack on the Terrans, who are in the midst of dismantling warships and weapon production facilities. The homeworlds are expected to surrender after witnessing the total destruction of three minor planets. Defense efforts against the Imperial fleet are weak, allowing Kilrathi warheads to punch through to major points of operation on Earth.
2668
For twelve months, Terrans strike the Kilrathi forces hard, eliminating nine carriers under construction. Running low on combat ships, the military changes tactics and concentrates on removing troop and supply vessels. To add to the destruction, they cripple dozens of transports and four shipyards. The Kilrathi are forced to retreat for supplies, thus weakening the front lines.
Just as the pendulum of war swings toward the Terrans, a peace accord is surprisingly offered by Kilrah. All fleets are withdrawn from the middle of an engagement to take Munro, a crucial system possessing a jump line straight to Kilrah.
In the following months, several frontier colonies refuse to abide by the armistice rulings, investing both forces and ships in an attempt to search out suspected active shipyards on the far side of the Kilrathi Empire. Using captured stealth equipment, private forces intercept a HoloVid of the rumored facility, along with a message that Kilrathi forces are embarking on a mission to attack Earth. The armistice is renounced, and a force of still-intact Confederation ships prepare to defend against the attack, bolstered by private ships and carriers. The first enemy hits result in total radiation-warhead destruction of Warsaw, Gilead and Sirius Prime. Front-line Marines land on the Imperial flagship carrier, with a select few suicidally placing and detonating mines. They destroy three of the super-carriers, but the remainder of the fleet reaches striking distance. The Kilrathi successfully launch anti-matter rockets on crucial defence cities – Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Miami, Quebec, Berlin, Paris, Kiev and others – then retreat to Kilrah.
Personal Weapons
While its all very well to have several million credits of Arrow fighter sitting in the hanger, you can’t fit it in your pocket. While fighter jocks would love to have the firepower of a Hellcat in a portable form, they have to make do with the personal weapons below.
Weapons Rng Init.Bonus Damage Wgt Mag Hold-Out Pistol 40 3/-4 2d6+1 1.5 8 Light Pistol 60 3/-5 3d6 2.0 13 Medium Pistol 80 3/-6 3d6+2 2.5 16 Heavy Pistol 100 3/-6 4d6 3.0 7 Sports Revolver 150 2/- 5d6 4.0 6 Light Carbine/SMG 200 2/-4 3d6+2 5.0 20 Heavy Carbine/SMG 300 2/-5 4d6 6.0 30 Light Rifle/LAR 400 2/-6 4d6 7.0 30 Medium Rifle/AR 500 2/-7 5d6 9.0 20 Heavy Rifle 600 2/- 6d6 12.0 10 Laser Pistol 30 3/-4 2d6 2.5 20 Light Laser Carbine 180 3/-5 3d6 7.0 40 Heavy Laser Carbine 260 3/-6 3d6+2 9.0 50 Light Laser Rifle 450 3/-7 4d6 13.0 60 Medium Laser Rifle 600 2/-8 4d6+2 17.0 80 Heavy Laser Rifle 700 2/- 5d6 24.0 100 Body Armor
In the future, men will have as much need for body armor as they always have, if not more. Armor in WC has three values. The first is used against blunt and slashing attacks. such as those from a club or Kilrathi claws. The second is used against thrusting attacks or sharp projectiles like spears, arrows and bullets. The third value is used to resist energy weapons, such as lasers. This is known as the BTE value. Armor works in a simple way: Before damage is applied, the damage is compared to the BTE on the location hit. If it is less than the BTE, then the damage is ignored. If it is more, but less than double, the difference between the two passes through the armor to hit the person underneath, and the armor value for that location is reduced by one. If it is double the BTE, the target takes full damage, and the BTE on that location is reduced by 2.
Armor BTE Wgt Light Cloth 3/0/1 1.5 Medium Cloth 5/1/1 2.5 Heavy Cloth 7/2/2 4.0 Light Ceramic 6/4/2 3.5 Medium Ceramic 8/6/3 5.0 Heavy Ceramic 10/8/4 7.0 Light Ablative** 1/2/6 2.5 Medium Ablative 2/4/12 4.5 Heavy Ablative 3/6/18 6.5 Light Combo 5/5/4 6.0 Medium Combo 7/7/8 10.0 Heavy Combo 9/9/12 17.0 Exo-Armor** 40/35/20 200.0 Notes: * Exo-Armor is an experimental power-armour that increases the wearers strength to a massive 30 points, giving a hand-to-hand damage bonus of +24, and lifting capacities far in excess of a metric tonne. The down-side is that the wearer is also limited to an agility of 5, reducing most related skills to much less formidable levels.
** Ablative armor is set up to “ablate”, that is shed its outer layers, when hit by laserfire. Each time a location is hit, that location looses one point from its energy armour value. When the energy armour value reaches zero, that area of the armour has been destroyed, and all attacks will therefore hit the location.
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