The Entomolian Invasion

The Entomolian War

The Known Galaxy At The Time Of The Entomolian Invasion 2339 AD

Rear Admiral Alice Lorenz sat in her command center aboard the flagship Harrisburg, a super galactic dreadnought. Only two others occupied the compartment, both her aides. Only two, because any more created more clutter than she could deal with. Although Admiral Lorenz was in command of the entire 23rd squadron at El Dorado, more than 20 ships in all, she learned long ago to delegate all but the most critical tasks to her commodores. One of which just reported in.

"Admiral, I have Commodore Lewis on tight-beam transmission."  She just nodded as the lieutenant patched the call directly to her screen.

"Admiral Lorenz, I have confirmed contact with hostile invaders, the Bugs ma'am. The Entomolians have at least six capital ships, a dozen or so cruisers and batttlecruisers, and more than 20 various light escorts. I have ordered all three of my destroyer leaders to engage and harass the enemy, but at best we can only slow them down a couple of hours, max."

"Very well, but don't let your task force get overwhelmed. Send orders to all of your Swiftsure destroyers to break past the enemy for the jump point back into Beta Sector. I am sending you all the necessary data for Fleet Admiral Corrida right now. We MUST get at least one ship back to Earth directly. Ignore ALL orders to the contrary.  This is critical. I want you to deliver it to him yourself, if you survive. "

"But Admiral, I cannot leave my task force behind to die without me. I'm sure the rest of my ships will be adequate.."

"You must obey my order, John. It's your own fault for refusing the cruiser commission when I offered it to you. Now you have no choice. You must escape to Earth. I am ordering the rest of the fleet to engage the enemy as soon as possible. We will attack the enemy soon, and I don't expect any of us to live through. You must survive this disaster and get High Command to counter-attack."

The commodore swallowed hard. He survived three other wars, rising the hard way from an enlisted to a full captain in his forty year career, a nearly impossible feat in the Federation Navy. He knew all too well that the admiral was not exaggerating. No ships left in this star system would survive, and the few spacers to live would all be POWs to a race of hideous monsters. "Ma'am, I just want you to know, it's been an honor serving you. I have sent orders. All my task force is scattering as ordered. All are pursued, but the Bugs don't have anything in the area fast enough to intercept us. We will get free. I will avenge you, Admiral."

''Thank you John," she said quietly. "Admiral Lorenz out." Then she turned to her aides, both shocked to hear the Admiral say that they would soon die. "All right you two, now we make the maggots pay for this!"

The Terran Federation was caught completely off guard by the Entomolian invasion. The entire Terran Navy was poised to recapture Delta Sector and subdue the Avarians outside Gamma Sector. Few forces were left to guard against a determined attack. The Entomolians conquered five heavily populated star systems in little more than a year. The T.T.F Navy fought valiantly against overwhelming numbers, but to no avail. Hundreds of Terran ships were destroyed just holding back the hordes of insectoid aliens from taking all of Beta Sector. 

Within a year of the original invasion all but a few near-renegade admirals pulled their squadrons out of Delta Sector to reinforce Beta Sector. All the pacifist members of parliament revoked their peace-making platforms to fight the alien menace. Production levels have quadrupled those at the height of the A varian War, yet the T.T.F. Navy has barely managed to keep up with losses. Unofficially, the war with the Avarians is over. Few incursions by the bird-like race occur anymore. Avarian forces now fight for their own survival against the Entomolians.

Occupied Systems

The few humans to have escaped the Entomolian blockades in the captured systems give the Terran Trans-Solar Federation virtually the only reliable information on the status of the captured Terran star systems. Reports vary widely, depending on the star system the refugees came from. In El Dorado, the first system captured, the Entomolians nuked nearly all of the major cities. Millions died of the initial blasts, and another million from the fallout. Experts estimate little more than a third of the original population survived. Another of complete occupation and enslavement of captured humans.

New Victoria seems to have been spared the worst of atrocities, although those that escaped from the major space stations witnessed Entomolian foot soldiers eating the dead, bug and human alike. Zulu and New America both suffered very bloody occupations. Their populations have been decimated by both slaughter and enslavement, though some escaped to rugged countryside and maintain rebel forces on the inhabited planets of both systems. Calais has become the biggest thorn in the side of the Entomolian Empire. Its partisans forced the Entomolians from all but a few cities on the planet, and even sabotaged one of the Entomolian starbases under construction. The aliens have firebombed their cities, killing millions in the punitive strikes, but it has only hardened the resolve of its people.

The Kemet

The Kemet are the only human friends of the Entomolian race. Only rumors tell of what arrangements they have, but eye witnesses have seen Entomolians on Kemet ships and starbases. It is unknown if these are splinter groups of the Entomolian Empire, but it is clear that the Kemet are not threatened by the bug race. Some suspect that their religion worships the aliens as a godlike race. 

Others believe the Kemet use the Entomolians to fulfill prophecy. The Kemet do not share much about their arrangement, but they have become the most reliable source of information humanity has on the insectoid aliens.

The Avarians

Humans allied with various Avarian clans have learned that the Avarians have suffered even worse than the Terran Federation against the Entomolians. Eight major colonies have been conquered, three utterly destroyed. Avarians have tried to ally with the Federation, but the distrust runs too deep. The Avarians are in dire straits. Rumors spread by the Avarian clans near Delta Sector say there is at least one Avarian clan of Entomolian collaborationists, using the race wars to further their own clan's power. 

Most, however, have sworn oaths to drive the Entomolians out of the captured systems. Some clan fighting continues, but the Avarian United Worlds Navy has grown ten-fold from the new clan support.

Source: Entomolian Fleet Book