Originally posted by GJD2:
On the other hand, if you think the idea of a dead Earth is an intriguing one and would like to help develop it, then pitch in. Suggest some alternatives, point out other ways of doing things.
GJD2,
I do think it is an intriguing idea. That's why I'm posting in this thread.
As for alternatives, I'd try for a more subtle approach. You needn't make wholesale changes in Kafer behavior or TD's abilities in order to destroy Earth. All you need do is tweak a few things, think butterfly and not sledgehammer.
The ground needs to be prepared a few decades
prior to contact with the Kafers and the War of German Reunification is just the place to begin. There need be no changes whatsoever in the
outcome of that war. However, the
conduct of that war is another thing entirely...
Let's say the French were a bit more mulish, the pro-Unification Germans a bit more desperate, and the anti-Unification Bavarians a bit more pigheaded. The war's course in the French Arm is just that much nastier and, because of that, the Germans and French try to strong-arm the neutral polities in the Arm much more. The war follows its course, France is invaded, barely stops German forces at the Seine, sues for peace, Germany reunifies, and all that jazz.
The result of all this in the French Arm is a higher level of post-war hostility among
all parties. The French and Germans don't trust each other but, because of both side's actions during the war, none of the neutrals trust them either. The governments of the Arm are more polarized and less likely to help or believe each other. The fact that the Germans need to use more 'gunboats' than 'butter' to bring the former Bavarian colonies into the only adds to the tensions.
On Earth, the newly formed French Empire is slightly different too. Remember, it was formed partially in reaction to France's defeat in the War of German Reunification. In this timeline that war was nastier, so the French Empire is more secretive, paranoid, and militant.
Now we jump forward to the Kafer years. Aurora is settled on schedule. Tanstaafl is weaker due to more active French interference and the Ukraine's colony is smaller too. Just as importantly, the observatory off Arcturus isn't just some unarmed science platform. It's an Imperial Navy outpost too.
The Kafer arrive in-system and, before limited contact is established, their ships and French military vessels are already playing 'sensor chicken'. This is the kind of behavior the Kafers can understand! Unlike the curious scientists in the original timeline, the people the Kafers meet off Arcturus in this timeline want to fight! When the station is taken and the French ships destroyed or sent packing, TD has lots of hard evidence that a new threat to the Kafer sphere exists. He's able to recruit more suzerains to his banner as a result.
Meanwhile the French Empire isn't letting anyone know what happened off Arcturus. They begin a naval build-up around Aurora and along the Arm which triggers a similar naval build-up by the Germans and other powers. Human warships are being concentrated in the French Arm but under no unified command and with no common goal.
With his larger initial force, TD invades Aurora and the result is a disaster for humanity. What little French and Ukrainian naval presence there is gets beaten or run off. This time there is no siege, no unified squadron holding the line, no Borodin, none of that. There was no real warning after the capture of Arcturus station, so no one, other than the French, were in any way prepared.
TD hits that ex-Bavarian, now German, orbital colony next and the result is another disastrous defeat for humanity. This time Germany takes the brunt. The two premier naval powers in the French Arm have been defeated and no one still knows exactly what is going on.
TD takes time to consolidate, or what time a Kafer would take, and sends raiding forces deeper into the French Arm. They encounter scattered resistance, strong here, weak there, confused nearly everywhere. France comes clean telling everyone what happened off Arcturus and Aurora but suspicions still linger. Reinforcements are arriving in the Arm but there is still no overall organization. National squadrons are thinking more about defending national colonies and less about defending humanity.
The Kafer invasion of Beta Canum is when humanity begins to understand just what it is facing.
The difference between the two timelines is primarily due to the size and speed of TD’s
initial invasion. Examine the ‘size’ issue first.
In the original timeline, TD captures the Arcturus station and invades Aurora with its own assets alone. It is only after it is defeated that TD can convince a few other suzerains to support it. In the second invasion, those additional forces allow TD to strike much further into the French Arm. In this timeline, the fighting off Arcturus lets TD convince other suzerains to ally with it
before the invasion is launched. Those additional forces are now available to TD at the very beginning, which brings us right to the issue of ‘speed’.
In the original timeline, there is a delay between the capture of the Arcturus station and the invasion of Aurora. The delay allows human reinforcements to arrive and (some) preparations to be made. In this timeline, TD attacks after a shorter delay and human politics means there are fewer reinforcements and preparations. In short, TD attacks
earlier and in
greater force. It is as if the OTL’s Second Invasion happened first. Humanity is also less prepared to work together for this earlier and larger invasion due to the political concerns I mentioned above and, equally important, humanity doesn’t get the breathing space in received in the OTL after the defeat of TD’s first, solo invasion.
The successful Kafer invasion of Beta Canum wakes everyone up but, in this timeline, there are real differences. TD is just as to Earth as it was in the OTL, but it has more Kafer forces (due to less fighting) and there are fewer human forces facing it. Speed and size are working for TD and against humanity.
As before, TD moves onto Beowulf and faces the now-combined human squadrons. However, those squadrons are smaller than in the OTL and have not been working together for anywhere near as long. The Battle of Beowulf is a slaughterhouse for both sides, but this time TD breaks through. Earth is its next stop.
TD and the Kafers don’t have to invade Earth to remove it from the picture. Smash the orbital infrastructure that powers most of the planet and billions there will begin to die of hunger and thirst. Strikes by nukes, bio-weapons, and kinetic impactors will be icing on the cake. An hour long fly-by will turn Earth into an abattoir. Any ‘relief’ efforts will fail due to the sheer magnitude of the problem. The combined warships of humanity drive TD’s Kafers from the system, they may even kill them all, but it doesn’t matter. Twilight is definitely visiting Earth again.
Today, Earth is out of the picture. The Kafers don’t own it and no Kafer war band has set foot on the planet, but humanity isn’t going to be getting anything from Earth for a long time. The peoples and governments still extent there are fixated on survival first, second, and last.
Earth’s interstellar colonies have been thrown into an uproar. For some, their Earth-side mother countries no longer exist and governments-in-exile have appeared. Other colonies and worlds have declared independence flat out. Still others are occupied and controlled by the navies Earth built. All of humanity is in the middle of enormous political upheavals.
No one really knows what to do either. The last sizeable Kafer force was destroyed in the Sol system, but small Kafer forces are known to be still active in the French Arm. Some navies and governments are stridently calling for an offensive down the French Arm to drive out the Kafers and rescue the colony worlds there. Others are vehemently determined to wait and rebuild. Everyone agrees that the links between Sol and the newly termed ‘Dead’ Arm should be heavily patrolled, but few human ships venture past this new Quarantine Line.
There are indications that human colonies still exist in the Dead Arm. The Kafer Armada that killed Earth apparently bypassed many systems on its drive towards Sol. Couriers and refugee ships from those bypassed worlds occasionally arrive at the Quarantine Line, but how long those populations can hold out against the seemingly random Kafer, but continuous, attacks is unknown. Some governments and organizations are cautiously funded expeditions into the French Arm. Reaction to the rumors of these expeditions ranges from approval to abject fear. Will the renewed appearance of armed human vessels in the Dead Arm spark another Kafer attack?
There’s your setting. Call it
2302AD. No wide scale changes to canon, just a shift in emphasis here and a tweak in timing there. Alternate history always works much better with butterflies than it does with sledgehammers.
Have fun,
Bill
