Trident Foundries

**Trident Foundries** is the primary military and industrial concern of the Trident civilisation, a civilisation of humans whose home planet is the arid, ferrous planet Vergesso in the Orion Galaxy.

Trident is a founding member of the Union of Interstellar States alliance.

## Description

Trident Foundries is the military and industrial arm of the civilisation, as well as the leaders and diplomats, keeping the civilisation running smoothly.

Their primary military arm is the Trident Star Navy.

Trident Foundries consists of multiple large companies that specialize in different areas of industry:

* PlazWorks Shipyard and Construction Company specializes in military vessels and weapons of all sizes, and were a major player in the military after the Task Force Arkis was introduced;
* Vergesso Driveyards previously managed most of the military's vessels before the Task Force Arkis introduction;
* Hyperion FleetWorks tends to deal with smaller military and armed civilian vessels, and is a subcontractor for PlazWorks' smaller vessels;
* Infinite FleetWorks manufactures civilian vessels, shuttlecraft, fighter craft and utility vessels, often of a boxy disposition;
* Angel Works handles logistics and mining, in addition to maintaining its own mining fleet of self designed ships;
* City-Gate Project is a manufacturing company primarily dedicated to producing the groundbreaking City-Gate in orbit of Vergesso;
* Lancia Developments is an R+D company that develops new technologies for the Foundries, often in secret;
* Sirius Shipyards is a recently formed corporation that seeks to move shipbuilding outside the Vergesso system.

and several other, smaller companies.

Trident Foundries maintains diplomatic relations with the xenos Aethi Imperium and RedEagle Confederacy, as well as the nomadic Nova Fleet.

## History

### Pre-GY 2400

Trident Foundries is made up of descendants of a splintered Odium colony armada, that was lost in transit to its intended destination, arriving in the Vergesso system eventually to then found a colony on the somewhat habitable world of Vergesso. Originally set up in GY 2218, the colony eventually grew to the point where it supported its own civilisation, culture and technology separate from other humans.

Vergesso is a sparsely populated arid planet with sparse amounts of natural resources. The initial population of the planet were not knowledgeable enough to replicate the technology from their colony ship exactly, and started “again” from a roughly early-21st-century state of technology. They were pushed towards renewable energy sources and efficient extraction techniques due to the poor resources of the planet (at first), this then pushed them down the Science and Engineering routes, eventually leading them to the point of the first space age. During the space age, a company called Trident Foundries was heading most of the space related projects and contracts on Vergesso and had been using every drop of available resources to them on the Jump Drive project. This eventually led to a success towards the point where in-orbit space travel was quite common and led to the discovery of the much superior Aethi race in GY 2324.

With the drive project a huge success, the Trident company had an entire solar system to use as their resource pool and quickly dominated Vergesso’s markets, to the point where they now run the majority of research, industrial and military operations for the planet. They were also considered as the planet’s de-facto leadership due to their great power on the world, and eventually took over the leadership roles officially. Run by the Lancia family and several subdivisions, Trident made great strides in AI research, Engineering construction techniques, and Fusion tech, where their scientific progression as a species had leaned heavily on these aspects, in some cases being more efficient than the Aethi in certain departments.

With assistance from the Aethi Imperium, the Trident Foundries had secured 3 local systems by GY 2360, and colonised them, they are “owned” under the faction and protected by them but have separate governing bodies on them, to Trident leadership on Vergesso. But this led to the Insurrection War during the height of Trident's space age in GY 2370.

The Insurrection War was a long guerilla styled conflict between a band of pro-human extremists, who believed that the Aethi xenos should be destroyed, and the loyalists that supported the alliance. A 4 year conflict that saw the destruction of several Trident shipyards, multiple civilian emergency facilities and storage sites, and over 15% of the Vergesso defence force, and ended at Vergesso's moon Eris in Operation Winter's End.

Operation Winter's End was one of the Vergesso defence forces’ few major battles. A fleet of 30 Trident warships, ranging in various variants of the *Brawler*-class combat frigate, were up against a single Aethi envoy cruiser that had been captured by insurgent forces. Its crew was killed and was under control by the insurgent forces. After the loss of 70% of their fleet they managed to disable the envoy, and they soon launched ground raids and bombing runs on their final base.

In the aftermath, the insurgent base held a secret which was so influential it caused a political riot in the Aethi leadership when they got wind of it. The AI unit P1-az (an experimental Warmind project that was damaged during the raid) was recovered from the ruins in late GY 2377. Studies made on the P1 AI opened new doors to higher level AI technologies and symbiosis theories within the scientific community, later leading to a passing of several key laws on AI treatment and rights after an extended study and conversations with the learning P1-az prototype.

With new AI processing power available to Trident Foundries, new doorways of exploration were now open to them. Project *Solaris* was commissioned four months after the civil war ended, and a 3 year construction project began to make a starship with the most advanced tech Trident can offer, to be the pathfinder for Trident’s second expansion. With new Artificial intelligence available to them, longer jump calculations and faster speeds could be achieved safely, and advancements in advanced Fusion tech allowed for more powerful reactors, engines and defences. The TRV *Solaris* was the first ship to receive the test bed of new systems available to the fleet, in GY 2380, which began to be rolled out fleet-wide six months after the ship’s maiden voyage that validated their capabilities. The Unit P1 was also deemed invaluable to the project and was housed within the *Solaris* to assist with Phase drive calculation and cyber warfare systems, though it would remotely operate a small R&D team back at Vergesso.

Between GY 2385 and GY 2397, Trident's extensive armada of autonomous *Hawker*-class vessels ran out of control thanks to their faulty AI programming, which required a massive cleanup operation. Though evidence in the intelligence divisions showed evidence of AI tampering via outside forces, no further action was taken.

### GY 2400

In mid-GY 2400, Lancia Developments passed along the blueprints of the first plasma beam weapons to PlazWorks (an R&D team owned by the P1-az/Plaz AI), which introduced the weapon on an experimental basis into the Trident fleet. Later in GY 2400, the Nova Fleet arrived in the rough area of Trident's territory, and the two factions quickly entered into mutual trade agreements.

### GY 2412

In GY 2412, the first contact between a Trident vessel and the Odium Empire was established, and it quickly turned into a disaster. The *Solaris*-class vessel TRV *Vergesso*, the ship that Jake Lancia was serving on at the time, was fired upon by the *Intruder*-class vessel *Imperious*, and crippled in one shot. The incident left some survivors, thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant Lancia. This incident also quickly led to a major refit program for *Solaris*-class ships to make them more resilient to damage.

At the end of the year, the Odium Empire declared war on the Trident Foundries, after failed dialogues between the two factions. Trident Foundries refused to bend the knee and return to the fold. The Foundries was blamed for allegedly colonising worlds within Odium territory and border conflicts began. The old *Brawler*-class frigates began to be heavily refit around this time.

### GY 2413-2414

After three months of fighting, Trident was already close to its limit in terms of manpower and material, and so began searching for other factions, civilizations and worlds to help take on the might of the Odium Empire. In a strange turn of events, the Nova Fleet declared war on the Odium Empire on its own, for reasons unknown. Within a month, Trident and Nova Fleet had negotiated an agreement that allowed Nova Fleet vessels free use of Trident's extensive orbital infrastructure. This agreement eventually led to the formation of the Union of Interstellar States a few weeks later. The Aethi civilization quickly joined the Union for protection.

Later in the year, the previously-unknown Formidan Colonial Mandate appeared on the galactic scene and declared war on the Odium Empire, though it did not join the Union, instead choosing to pursue Odium alone.

In GY 2414, multiple large-scale fleet battles between mostly-disorganised Union fleets incorporating Trident ships, and powerful, unified Odium fleets happened, almost entirely ending in defeat for the Union thanks to the Union's lack of joint naval training.

### GY 2415

In January, a huge fleet of Union vessels, including a Trident battlegroup of fast-attack vessels, met an even larger Odium fleet in orbit around the border world Rotterdam. Using multiple technologically-advanced Nova Fleet vessels including their powerful *Hidatsa*-class cruisers, and tactical use of the system-wide nebula, the Union fleet finally forced the numerically superior Odium forces into a stalemate, effectively ending the war.

Trident concentrated on research and development at this time, aiming to replace the losses during the war with better optimised and more powerful vessels such as the *Ronin*-class, focusing on quality rather than quantity for the time being. Additionally, the *Brawler*-class Mk3 refit had just been completed, too late to serve in the war.

### GY 2416

In February, the Odium Empire resumed hostilities with the Union, and immediately seized Rotterdam despite the large Union fleet in its orbit. Commander Jake Lancia’s battlegroup, including the TRV *Independent* herself, were sent to retake Rotterdam. Of the 64 ships sent, only the *Independent* and Lancia's TRV *Avenger* survived. Formidan vessels shadowed the two ships on their way back to the border world Alexandria, but quickly revealed their intentions to join the Union.

Lancia was promoted to Captain and given command of the *Independent*, after the *Indep*'s former captain and first officer were killed in combat.

### GY 2417

-wip-

In November, the *Independent* was ordered to join a Union mixed battlefleet on its way to retake Rotterdam, led by Alek Lancia himself. The battle fleet of 135 ships of mixed ranges, including the Nova Fleet titan NFD *McKinley*, arrived at Rotterdam and secured the outer system belt as a base of operations. After 30 days of on-off fighting on both sides, a DMZ minefield was established by Odium forces around Rotterdam, and a stalemate was reached.

### GY 2418

150 days of patrols and counterstrikes against Odium forces around Rotterdam had little effect in turning the tide in the UIS’ favour, and new tactics and weapons were needed. In April, the *Independent* came out of its refit cycle and rejoined the UIS fleet at Rotterdam.

At around this time, the TRV *Solaris*, now captained by June Rider, discovered a warrior-like alliance of races called the RedEagle Confederacy. They attempted to start first contact, but three iMSAD-class destroyers swarmed the *Solaris* and attempted to destroy it. Captain Rider evacuated the ship and self-destructed it in an asteroid field in an attempt to destroy the three pursuing ships; the vessel failed to detonate, instead producing an EMP pulse that disabled the destroyers. June and her crew made it away in the escape pods and shuttles, but were quickly rounded up and captured.

Meanwhile at Rotterdam, Jake Lancia came up with a daring plan to defeat the Odium forces there by being captured and disabling the minefield behind enemy lines, using P1-az for assistance. Alek Lancia opposed the operation, and refused to carry out the plan despite the pleas from his son and the entire crew of the *Indep*. Jake Lancia and P1-az decided to ignore his father's orders and planned his own volunteer only mission with P1-az to disable the defence grid around Rotterdam. The entire crew of the *Independent* volunteered for the daring mission, where the *Independent* would be captured and imprisoned on the planet. Jake would store a P1-az runtime program secretly in his ocular implants and upload him into the Rotterdam network on the surface where P1 would hopefully disable the minefield and additional ground defences.

The crew of the *Solaris* were captured by RedEagle forces again, and June Rider was brought in front of RedEagle’s leader, Jonty. June was almost executed by Jonty, but managed to wound him with a hidden blade. In a strange display of honour, the RedEagle leader pledged allegiance to Trident. A RedEagle BRiDGE-class vessel later ferried June, her crew and the data core of TRV *Solaris* back to Vergesso, where she delivered the good news regarding the RedEagle “partnership”. The agreement was formalized, and RedEagle joined the Union of Interstellar States shortly afterwards.

The crew of the *Independent* began their daring plan, and a 3 week long conflict of ship to ship combat, boarding firefights, and eventual incarceration set all the gears in motion. Unknown to Odium forces, P1-az uploaded his subordinate programs and directly infiltrated the defence network around Rotterdam and turned their own defences against Odium forces to soften up the fleet in the chaos for Alek Lancia.

Alek Lancia enacted the fleet combat and attacked from 3 major evacuation jump points from Rotterdam, forcing the remaining forces into UIS territory to be rounded up and captured. During the battle, an *Intruder*-class collided with the NFD *McKinley* with Alek in command, killing all onboard, but not before detonating its core and causing a massive explosion that knocked out all ships in the system and cracked Rotterdam’s moon to the core. This final act also disabled virtually all of the Odium ships remaining in-system and several Union vessels close to the epicenter, allowing Union marines on the still-operational vessels to seize multiple examples of current Odium warships and many prisoners. On the ground, Jake Lancia and Plaz managed to break free of confinement and start rounding up and evacuating prisoners of war caught on Odium’s side, and made a last stand at a captured space port as they held off encroaching forces while evacuations were underway.

The remaining Odium forces withdrew from Union frontlines, and the disabled and captured ships were evenly distributed between all factions. Trident Foundries began extended study into the new supply of *Cyclops*-class ships in their possession.

Rotterdam received extensive aid from Aethi and Nova Fleet forces as well as a joint force fleet posting until an official peace agreement was signed to defend the system. Rotterdam officials also gifted several artifacts of interest to the UIS, and held a funeral service for those who lost their lives during the conflicts around the planet.

Unit P1-az then assumed temporary control of Trident Foundries until a diplomatic election could be held for the next leader.

### GY 2419

After months of campaigning, in April 2419, the Liberal candidate Boris Tusk was elected CEO of Trident Foundries. Jake Lancia was made Commander-in-chief of the Trident military in recognition of his achievements; TRV *Independent* was subsequently made the Flagship of the fleet. Trident leadership as a whole adopted a much more peaceful and pacifist stance however, and unsuccessfully attempted to stand down the military, a move which Lancia and P1-az blocked by a very slim margin. During this time, the *Independent* was dispatched to "show the flag" around Trident and UIS territories.

About a month later, the Odium Empire signed a historic peace accord with the UIS, finally ending their bitter conflict.

### GY 2420

The home system saw multiple fragmentations in political leadership and manufacturing power from early 2420, due to abuse from laws and legislations that had been removed by the new leadership to promote new industry development. A major splintering of manufacturing occured during the financial collapse. Multiple new independent shipyard companies were created from the formerly state-owned companies including Vergesso Driveyards, PlazWorks, Angel Works, City-Gate Project, Infinite Fleetworks, Raven Starfighter Co, Starcore Mining and Omega Labs. Political tension from these actions caused major arguments into the stability of the new government.

Further financial stresses from Trident leadership, including fines and embargoes, caused the shipyards to seek new clients outside the UIS for commerce; several ship classes were publicised and mass produced by Vergesso Driveyards and PlazWorks, and the other shipyards had designs planned for future development.

As Trident leadership grew increasingly unstable and paranoid, President Tusk sent Lancia, P1-az and the *Independent* out on increasingly long-distance and pointless "exploration cruises", in reality a smokescreen to have Lancia out of the way as Tusk attempted to solidify his hold on the Trident leadership.

It was during this year that the seeds of rebellion were sown in Jake Lancia and P1-az, as they grew increasingly uneasy in the political climate. Secessionist movements began to pop up on border worlds, while any open rebellion on the core worlds was quickly and violently put down under direct orders from President Tusk.

### GY 2421

Trident Foundries began to collapse in GY 2421, as secessionist movements in Trident began to erode international trust in the faction, Trident leadership and the Aethi continued to argue the case for peace to Nova Fleet, Odium border patrols stepped up on the borders of UIS member factions, and Formidan forces began to gather outside of key Union planets, threatening the fragile galactic peace. Further destabilization between the Trident leadership and the now increasingly-wealthy shipyards continued, while the VDC was ordered to play a more active role in policing Vergesso; this included violently ending seditious behaviour.

In June, the Vergesso Driveyards facilities exploded during a Formidan tour, causing the loss of 3 shipyard facilities and extensive planetary damage and orbital debris; a death toll of 3713 people was confirmed. The incident involved the sabotage of a Vergesso Driveyards drydock facility attached to an office complex, while a Formidan battlegroup was in orbit, and the death of over 3000 civilians aboard the station and hundreds more on the surface; an incident in which Formidan involvement was heavily suspected. President Tusk ordered Lancia to prepare the military for war with the Formidans, but instead Lancia ordered a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Driveyards bombing. Lancia used TRV *Independent* as a base from which he conducted his investigation, allowing only trusted personnel to assist his efforts. Lancia uncovered evidence of a terrorist cell within Trident that was responsible for the bombings, as well as evidence linking the terrorists to someone in the highest echelons of Trident leadership, though it was unknown who exactly. The Formidans were cleared of any wrongdoing as well.

Not long after Lancia had gathered the evidence, President Tusk declared martial law, and recalled all military vessels and personnel to Vergesso to be stood down, so Lancia was unable to act on the evidence. On direct orders from President Tusk, all warships of the VDC and general military were locked down, including the *Independent*, for "security reasons". Lancia grew increasingly uneasy in the political environment, and reached out to P1-az for a secret plan.

### GY 2422

In early GY 2422, PlazWorks aided an Aethi science team in a construction project on Vergesso for a new type of reactor, in exchange for unlimited access to the technology.

Jake Lancia began to slowly lose favour in his position of power as he was opposed to the move to enact martial law.

Vergesso Driveyards and PlazWorks gained much political power in the Trident leadership, due to the new influx of trade into and out of the system.

In mid-2422, a massive explosion occured, in the southern continental region of Vergesso, as the test site for the joint Aethi and PlazWorks reactor overloaded, making an explosion that shattered all windows over every building in the southern hemisphere of Vergesso; luckily no civilian casualties occurred apart from the science teams on site at the time. The discovery of the Zero-Point particle was made.

The rights for the particle pattern were exclusive to PlazWorks as the science team were dead, and PlazWorks were assigned as the successor to the technology. It was immediately classified and worked on in the deep core Aqua Vault construction yards in Vergesso’s southern ocean. Jake Lancia unofficially started to commision P1-az to design and build a new fleet of ships to begin a political coup over the Vergesso government, using this new particle to give them an edge over current designs. Lancia also started to gather and slowly build up a loyalist force to him in secret.

Vergesso Driveyards started to gain major political influence and started to persuade political candidates with bribery and backroom deals with their newfound wealth, to bend laws and legislations to cut costs and improve their business as a whole; a further power rift began to form in the Trident leadership.

PlazWorks quickly completed its first prototype of a destroyer sized vessel equipped with a Zero-Point reactor. The *Monarch*-class remained sealed away in the Aqua Vault construction yards, away from public and government view. Plaz and Jake Lancia both christened the ship in secret and ordered a fleet of ships mixed in different roles to be made with the new technology; a further 21 of the *Monarch*-class were ordered for construction. PlazWorks also reached out to Angel Works for assistance in a design for a support ship to assist the *Monarch*, plans for a *Venice*-class support vessel were made and all information on the design existing were erased.

The hull of the original TRV *Solaris* was eventually also recovered from RedEagle space, and was carefully rebuilt over the rest of the year to maintain its original exterior appearance, while updating the systems to more modern equivalents.

Though the Zero-Point reactor was a success, complications within the creation of the particle were found as a massive forging force was required to create one, which had already drawn a lot of attention. Modifications to the *Monarch*-class and related branches of the new fleet were made to use the less-powerful Zero-Point Catalyst reactors instead, which required far less expense to produce than a pure Zero-Point reactor, though the Zero-Point reactor would remain installed on the original *Monarch*-class.

### GY 2423

From February, the Formidans commited forces to major UIS systems, including Vergesso, on an enforced trade blockade, in an attempt to force the pacifist UIS movement to join them in further escalating the Odium cold war.

President Tusk had had his daughter kidnapped by unbranded forces and was believed captured by the Formidans as leverage for their warmongering. All VDC forces were ordered to stand down and not pursue a rescue attempt as a political solution was discussed.

The shipyard companies began putting pressure on Trident leadership, excluding PlazWorks, as a way to increase profits from war time action.

Jake Lancia and Plaz both used the opportunity to test the *Monarch*-class and used it to rescue the President's daughter. No gunfire was exchanged but the ships presence and smooth talking for Lancia managed to hand over the President’s daughter, but the discovery of the *Monarch*’s existence was questioned by Trident leadership.

The trade blockade was eventually disbanded after UIS intervention.

An official investigation into PlazWorks was commissioned by President Tusk in suspicion of harbouring a private military.

Plaz moved the current fleet of 31 ships mixed sizes to the outer asteroid belt of the Vergesso system, with assistance from Jake’s loyalists providing a distraction. Construction continued at an abandoned mining base in the outer system.

Trident leadership started piling up pressure on PlazWorks with official military searches and resource inspections being the norm for them. The investigation was a failure thus far, not turning up any conclusive evidence.

Rebuilding of the *Solaris* was also completed; June Rider was given command of the vessel again.

The commissioned fleet was finished by PlazWorks, consisting of 57 ships code named Task Force Arkis. The fleet, Jake Lancia’s loyalists, as well as other recruited and trained personnel started to gather in the outer system. Increasing activity was scheduled by Lancia to cover any suspicious activities.

The investigation eventually found evidence at the Aqua Vault construction yards of blueprints and prototype ammunition tests for a new class of ships, as well as construction orders. Trident leadership declared that Jake Lancia begin a search of the Vergesso system for the new ships. Jake Lancia began the search everywhere but the key staging location for the new fleet.

UIS ambassadors relayed the current political status of Trident and the UIS began to take steps into formal action to stabilize Trident.

#### The Revolution Begins

***Main article:** The Trident Revolutionary War*

Jake Lancia's forces started to rebel in mid-GY 2423, as his loyalist forces began to be discovered by the rest of the military who supported the current Trident leadership. A fleet wide skirmish had begun on the VDC as Jake’s loyalists tried to gain control of as many ships as possible. After 2 days of fighting in shipboard fights, a total of 43 ships including the *Independent* were secured. Jake Lancia and his forces were branded as a Terrorist Cell and Trident leadership moved to vote on a new fleet commander.

Jake Lancia fell back to the abandoned mining post, now holding a 100 strong fleet, fully manned, and the station itself reinforced with fortress-level defensive technologies.

Political chaos started in Trident command with a vote of no confidence in the President himself, riots and mass rebellion began across Vergesso and VDC forces worked tirelessly to secure the population. The vote of no confidence was just saved by several votes and Plaz and the other shipyards did their best to delay and scramble the vote for the new fleet commander of Trident forces.

The UIS voted on an official occupation of Vergesso and takeover of Trident leadership to salvage the faction as it was deemed “on a path to self destruction” by the council; the UIS began preparations into organising an occupation force.

Jake Lancia made a speech that was forcibly covered on every electronic device on Vergesso (courtesy of Plaz); Lancia tried to win the population over to his side under the New Trident State, convincing them to let go of the antiquated political system that has failed them and rise up to create a Faction worthy of its name. Vergesso was then kicked into full internal conflict, the population of the planet was split fighting one another and more new revolutionaries began to crop up in the political loyalist fleets, causing orbital battles and skirmishes to rage. No fleet commander had been selected.

The Revolutionary War was officially declared in mid-GY 2423.

UIS forces attempted to enter the Vergesso system and stabilize the region in August, with Nova Fleet leading the charge. The UIS forces were blockaded by Formidan forces seeking to let the war rage on without UIS support. Attempting to avoid further destabilization of the UIS, no hostile intentions were displayed but the primarily Nova Fleet task force held position outside the Vergesso system.

Task Force Arkis was dispatched to rally and take over Vergessian outer mining facilities and planets; Starcore Mining Co, City-Gate Project, and Angel Works were secured and Loyalist forces were pushed back after their already fragmented fleet was faced with the new advanced warships in Task Force Arkis.

The Odium Empire had heard word of the Trident conflict after capturing a refugee ship and interrogating the crew as it entered their space. Odium leadership began to gather a siege fleet of massive proportions to invade Vergesso and cut off the UIS’ most valuable war machine maker.

Jake Lancia, now in control of multiple outposts and trade stations in the outer Vergesso system, prepared to attack and take control of a major fuel refinery post in the system, orbiting the only gas giant in the Vergesso system. Controlling the planet would severely hinder the Loyalists ability to refuel and operate, being limited to the dangerous alternative of Vergesso's star.

P1-az contacted captain June Rider, by now in command of the recovered TRV *Solaris*, in RedEagle space. Plaz updated the crew on the current task and called in a favour from June to gather a RedEagle force that could assist the New Trident State in the now closely looming final battle. June accepted, and began to negotiate with Jonty for a fleet.

### GY 2424

Jake Lancia made his move on the day of the new year with a famed pincer manoeuvre he favours in fleet combat; first he started with outer skirmishes to eliminate all ships around the planet and fuel refinery station; those that could be salvaged were boarded and liberated by the New Trident State. After several hours of sweeping, the Loyalist forces had reinforced and fortified the station. His attack would work but would also incur heavy casualties and he decided to hold. P1-az decided to use a piece of large debris as a boarding craft to get a strike team on the station and attempt to disable whatever they could. Jake agreed and an elite 5 man strike team including P1-az were used to perform the task.

The debris plan worked, as the loyalist fleet completely ignored it, they used the chance to EVA to the station as they passed and began to sabotage the station. Four members of the team continued to follow the hull and placed explosive charges around the shield pylon network ready to disable the stations shielding, making it vulnerable to attacks and simple debris. P1-az worked his way inside the station to overload the reactor.

The team was successful and the stations shielding and reactor were critical. Jake sprung the trap and threw the Loyalist fleet off guard and into a frenzy. What ships remained eventually retreated and the battle was won. The station was saved and repaired for NTS use.

With the recent loss of Vergesso’s only major fuel supply, the loyalists were feeling the pressure. Though having a larger force, they only had the lunar fuel reserve and the extremely dangerous solar orbit to refuel. Boris Tusk started to set up walled cities for captured rebels and their supporters, unwilling to give up his seat of power. Most rioting was put to an end, and thousands lay dead in the wake of the uprising; the rest were left interned in the walled cities, locked down in a manageable area. His Loyalist forces begin to formally fragment, slowly splitting into more tribal sects and often fighting over fuel supplies and ammunition, claiming territories on Vergesso and resources of their own. Boris Tusk’s forces still outnumbered the NTS 5-1 but still lacked any proper leadership.

Jake Lancia blockaded the inner system from all trade and relief efforts for the UIS as to push the final nail in the coffin for Boris Tusk’s leadership. Concerned about the civilian population's safety, several ships were retrofitted into fast blockade runners to run supply flybys over critical starved regions to help reduce casualties of war. The opportunity was also used to smuggle P1-az and assasination teams onto Vergesso to form an organised militia force.

P1-az set up a militia force and began to capture small areas of territory. Assasination attempts were also made on Loyalist military sects that still have not converted over.

Jake Lancia kept the attack raging on, small skirmishes and attacks slowly pushed in to the inner system as the Loyalist forces slowly started to lose control due to lack of resources. The fighting slowed and more forces began to join the now strengthening NTS force.

With the fuel crisis becoming critical, Boris Tusk started ordering ships to make fuel runs around the Vergessian star in a desperate attempt to replenish his dwindling reserve. In mid-2424, 20 ships were sent to gather as much fuel as they could; the ships were carefully selected to root out potential non-Loyalist forces due to the high risk rate of the mission. Seven ships returned and had enough fuel to last several weeks for the fleet. This continued on using whatever ships the Loyalists could spare, until the end of the war.

Plaz and his militia managed to recapture the Aqua Vault construction yards, and in doing so could build and reactivate prototype wargear and weapons for the cause, some of which were the B12 mech suits which are fast and agile battle suits that can wield anti tank weapons on a light frame. Other things like tanks and juggernaut armor were now available to the militia, as well as a stable base of operations.

By this time, the Loyalist forces had basically broken down due to lack of resources available to them at the time, the 500 ship fleet had now splintered into 15 tribal factions and 4 of the sects had decided to raid what reserves they could and flee Trident territories entirely. The fleet size had been mauled down by fighting, poor maintenance, and lack of resources to 350 - 400 functional ships. The NTS force led by Jake Lancia now balanced out at 200 ships strong, and 50 or so in advanced design from PlazWorks' original rebellion construction order.

The UIS called a formal summit with all faction leaders to attend regarding the current state of the Trident empire. Jake Lancia was formally requested instead of Boris Tusk by choice of the council, as to hear the perspective of the “liberators of Trident and the plan afterwards”

Plaz’s militia had caused major havoc on Vergesso's surface and had a grand plan to sabotage the lunar fuel reserve and end the war, planning and preparation continued.

Formidan forces withdrew from key UIS systems and attended the summit. Jake Lancia pitched his plan in a speech, to raise the Trident faction from the politicial shitstorm it had decended into and rebuild the faction into a beacon of industrial superiority and exploratory vision. A rebuilt empire that would push the boundaries of what humanity and the UIS stands for. The UIS summit was won over by Jake Lancia, despite opposition from Formidan politicians trying to sow the seeds of doubt in the council, and Nova Fleet being hesitant to let the same mistake happen again. Jake Lancia returned to the Vergesso system with guaranteed assurance that the UIS would leave Trident to finish the fight without disturbance.

Plaz’s militia managed to destroy the lunar fuel reserve which was the final nail in the coffin for the Loyalist fleets, with only a week or so of fuel supplies left inside the ships in orbit, all out war ensued between the Loyalist tribes and unfiltered battle covered the orbit around Vergesso.

The sabotage of the fuel depot caused Vergesso’s moon to destabilize the inner mantle, causing it to rip apart a large section of the moon. Massive planetary damage from the tidal shifts, which revealed the Aqua Vault shipyards from the ocean, occurred and Vergesso had a new lunar belt around it.

Jake Lancia lined up his final assault; the plan was to inspire a final run of defeats in the orbiting fleet and end the conflict with as little fighting as possible. A RedEagle fleet of 215 ships strong lead by the TRV *Solaris* entered the system, and joined the fleet lineup. The RedEagle forces were pumped with the promise of bloody conflict and glorious battle. The fleet entered Vergesso's orbit with the remaining ships standing down as they passed. Mass landing of joint forces on the planet's surface as well as relief efforts from blockade runners commenced. The ground forces patrolled the streets as worn out and tired Loyalist forces stood down without a fight.

Plaz and Jake Lancia linked up with an elite commando team from the *Independent* and stormed the Capitol building, met with little resistance and only droid guards defending the President. The President was located and refused to be arrested, the refusal caused him to be decapitated by Plaz with a nanoblade, after he tried to kill Jake Lancia. From the Capitol building, Lancia and Plaz opened a Trident-wide communication declaring Boris Tusk dead and the Revolutionary War to be over.

Mass efforts from the major companies and remaining military bodies were underway to provide much needed relief efforts for supplies and security across the system. The remaining colonies outside Vergesso had lost contact during the conflict. The *Solaris* was dispatched with a scouting fleet to investigate and re-establish contact with them.

At this point, Jake Lancia officially assumed emergency powers and began the slow work to piece back together Vergesso. Relief efforts were made and mass construction projects were commissioned by the shipyard companies to restore most of the infrastructure on Vergesso as well as a major new recruitment drive for both the civil and military sides of the faction. Trident military doctrine was also standardised.

Planetary outposts and refuelling posts/reserves began to be established in late October, as well as emergency supply vaults in case of further invasion. Many of these projects were projected to take several years to complete. Plans for a network of planetary defence systems and bunker networks on Vergesso's surface were established and sent to the City-Gate Project and Vergesso Driveyards.

The Odium Empire launched its attack in December but was intercepted by Formidan forces who destroyed a large portion of the fleet. The subsequent remaining Odium forces decided to retreat. The Formidan forces pulled away from Trident's core systems just prior to the new year.

### GY 2425

Shortly after the conclusion of the revolution, in January, a different Odium force running under the banner of the Vaygr Empire assaulted the remaining orbital defences within the system. With the VDC and former rebel fleets still recovering from the conflict and starved of resources, the remaining fleets as well as the RedEagle force in orbit attempted to fend off the assaulting fleet. Jake Lancia attempted to organise a full response from his forces but the invading force was already entrenched within the orbit of Vergesso. What looked like a losing battle would turn to an instant stop after the TRV *Monarch* was critically damaged and lost control of its Zero-Point reactor, and instantly detonated with similar force to the NFD titan during the Rotterdam conflict. The resulting EMP knocked out all forces within low orbit, and over the next 3 days the fleets crashed over one of Vergesso’s major population centres, crushing the city in massive kinetic bombardment from ships crashing with no control, and burying a large portion of surface based drive yards, including the uncovered Aqua works, in debris.

The resulting environmental effects made Vergesso’s climate spiral out of control, as a mild forced winter was predicted to occur for the next decade due to the amount of material kicked up in the atmosphere. The region was named the Boneyards and no survivors were found. The *Independent* would find its resting place there, after being confirmed crashed on locating the surprisingly intact 2 segments of the ship within the Boneyards.

The Boneyards were memorialised and left unsalvaged as a graveyard, total casualties were never confirmed but it is believed that the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands.

Jake Lancia called for official UIS support in organising a system-wide defence while Trident got back on its feet.

Plaz deleted any remaining files detailing Zero-Point reactor technology as it was deemed too dangerous to harness. The remaining ships of Task Force Arkis were stored deep within the Boneyards’ crevice hanger complex to be left buried. Very few models survived the battle and ones still in service were extremely rare.

The *Solaris* made contact with Sirius and the Omega colonies in March, though Sirius had fallen to a united gang of pirate forces that occupied the planet's only major port city. The Omega colonies had broken off from Trident and moved to a neutral standing within the UIS and Trident, borders were respected for the time being.

Repairs and upgrades to Vergesso infrastructure began in this year.

RedEagle forces within the Vergesso system remained for several months to help police the system alongside UIS support.

E