[GZG] PAU Timeline

     Hi everybody,

     I've been working on this timeline of the Pan-African Union for
some time and I wanted to know what people thought of it. Any comments
or corrections would be greatly appreciated!

     Thanks,

     James!

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	A Brief History of the Development of the Universal Navy

	"From our ancestral roots on the plains of Mother Africa, we
have endured all manner of pain and hardship, all manner of conflict and
strife and through it all we have persevered and conquered. We have been
belittled by foreigners and powers beyond our shores. We have seen our
homes and loved ones devastated by plague, by hunger and by war. And
even so, we have prospered and we have found our destiny out among the
stars. What greater testament can there be to our people than
that?"--Admiral Chizoba Yambi

	2106: The PAU develops and coordinates a Pan-African Space Force
largely tasked with search & rescue and other safety and patrol duties.
This action was taken largely to curb the growth of independent pirates
who had begun to attack merchant shipping traveling to and from
particularly mineral-rich areas of Pan-African space.

	2107-2122: Resources devoted to the PASF remain slight
throughout this period although the fledgling force maintains an
excellent level of professionalism and expertise. Despite this,
commercial losses due to pirate attacks continue to slowly escalate
throughout PAU space.

	2123-2126: The Pirate War. The Universal Navy is formed out of
the old PASF when scores of independent Islamic privateers merge their
operations to sack several key Union convoys. The newly constituted
Universal Navy under Admiral Chizoba Yambi retaliates against the pirate
clans, hunting down their camps and bases and destroying them one by
one. Admiral Yambi lays down the core precedents of the Universal Navy,
dividing his squadrons into Light, Medium and Heavy Wings. From out of
these Wings, he comprises heavier task forces. Yambi's Battle Wings
handle general patrol, escort, siege and defense duties. Whereas he
comprises specialized Strike Wings to handle search-and-destroy,
reconnaissance-in-force missions and special operations. Yambi
devastates the pirate operations using surprise attacks by his elite
Strike Wings combined with hammer-and-anvil attacks where a Battle Wing
engages the pirates directly to be later supported by a Strike Wing
hitting
 the enemy from the flank or rear.

	2127: Universal Navy and Islamic Federation vessels encounter
each other for the first time as the Universal Navy's anti-piracy
initiative crosses into territory claimed by the Federation. The
Pan-African forces are still engaged in tracking down and destroying the
last of the pirates operating out of remote and hidden bases but the
border between the Union and the Islamic Federation has never been
clearly defined and the Federation claims that the Universal Navy's
attacks on stations and planetary bases in its territory are
unacceptable. The PAU responds that if the Federation would police its
own people, there would be no need for the Universal Navy's initiative
at all.

	2128: Push comes to shove in the border skirmishes between the
PAU and the Islamic Federation with both sides actively engaging and
attacking each other's remote supply bases and support vessels. This
false war becomes a threat to shipping in the region as surprise attacks
on merchant vessels passing through the area begin to cause losses to
other nations' freighters. The FSE in particular loses several vessels
and sends a task force to the region to bring the two sides to the
bargaining table. Late in 2128, a border treaty is negotiated between
the PAU and the Islamic Federation. The Federation clamps down on
privateering operations inside its own space while the Universal Navy
returns to its own territory. An FSE carrier battle group remains on the
scene for another six months to insure the peace. Tensions decline and
peace is restored. Resentment between the PAU and the Islamic Federation
towards each other is largely turned into resentment against
 the FSE for forcing a solution upon the two powers as both peoples have
historic animosities against being treated as colonial powers by
European nations.

	2129: Resentment over the FSE's forcing a solution on both the
Pan-African Union and the Islamic Federation to protect the FSE's own
commercial shipping through the area leads to the first diplomatic
contacts arising between the PAU and the NAC. Impressed in particular by
the power of a single FSE carrier battle group, the PAU seeks to acquire
technology and expertise from the NAC regarding its own carrier
operations and an aging Admiral Yambi organizes the first Universal Navy
Carrier Wings.

	2135: A treaty of trade and technological co-operation is signed
between the PAU and the NAC. The PAU agrees to restrict trade of its
rich supplies of certain key strategic minerals solely to its own member
worlds and corporations operating out of the NAC. In exchange, vital
ship-building technologies are transferred to the PAU.

	2137-2142: The first Solar War. Universal Navy observers are
allowed aboard NAC vessels. The Universal Navy learns valuable lessons
in space warfare from these observations of ESU and NAC vessels in
battle. 

	2139-2142: Graft and corruption spread like wildfire through the
government of the PAU as NAC corporations increasingly bribe PAU
officials to grant them more and more rights and privileges. When NAC
corporations gain exclusion from major safety protocols, a number of PAU
citizens die in bloody mining accidents working for NAC companies
reporting all-time profit highs. Investigations are held leading to
trials and once fringe parties are swept into power on a platform of
reform.

	2143: Shortly after the Solar War, seeing a rare opportunity to
disrupt the friendship between the NAC and PAU, the ESU begins making
dramatic diplomatic overtures to the new PAU government and offers a
higher price for PAU minerals than the NAC is currently paying as well
as to donate a portion of their profits to key PAU miner's unions and
safety councils. The ESU also offers the PAU military assistance in the
form of new military technologies and direct transfer of ships.
Relations between the PAU and the FSE improve as the ESU works to bring
the two back into cordial relations.

	2144: Just prior to the Second Solar War, the PAU ends its
treaty of co-operation with the NAC and begins one with the ESU.
Production in the mineral-rich outer colonies of the Union increase
considerably almost overnight under the new government's reforms. Safety
is insured by government oversight and the miners are better paid,
healthy and happy.

	2145-2157: Transfers of ESU and FSE vessels to the Universal
Navy, combined with a surge in the PAU's own shipbuilding, has lead to
the largest increase in the Universal Navy's power since its inception.
Bolstered by a much larger military and the promise of alliances with
the ESU and FSE, a coalition of militant parties sweeps into power in
the PAU and the PAU formally joins with the ESU and FSE as a
co-belligerent in the Second Solar War.

	2151: Admiral Chizoba Yambi, hero of the Pirate War, dies. His
state funeral is attended by representatives of all the major powers and
a new Universal Naval Academy is named in his honor.

	2160: In the aftermath of the Second Solar War, militant
elements within the PAU lose ground politically as the war was extremely
expensive for the PAU with little or nothing to show for it. A cooling
off begins between the PAU and her former allies. The PAU continues to
purchase vessels from both the ESU and FSE but declines to renew its
joint fleet operations with these powers. Rebuilding the fleet after the
war remains a high priority due to the proximity of the Islamic
Federation and New Israel. While the PAU is on relatively good terms
with its neighbors, the constant saber rattling between the Islamics and
New Israel keeps the entire region alert and ready for trouble. Despite
a newfound distaste for foreign entanglements, the "enemy of my enemy is
my friend" thinking prevails and mutual defense initiatives are brokered
between New Israel and the PAU.

	2161: Indictments, accusations, counter-accusations and general
resentment over the war cause a split in the PAU and civil war breaks
out. Separatists form the Commonwealth of African Stars and immediately
petition the NAC for economic and military assistance.

	2163: Despite rumors of secret NAC technical and military
assistance, the war goes badly for the CAS. Among the last warships to
be commissioned by the Commonwealth are the Nairobi class battleships,
built to function as independent commerce raiders. One of these is the
battleship Kinshasa. Late in the year, the Pan-African Civil War ends
and Kinshasa and the rest of the Commonwealth fleet become part of the
Universal Navy. A Commonwealth medium wing consisting of a light cruiser
and her destroyer escorts slip away from separatist space in the
fighting to join the Rim Pirates. Aboard the light cruiser is the
infamous separatist General Bapoto Zimbaka, who is wanted for numerous
atrocities and war crimes. It is unknown to history whether the General
joins the pirates, simply sells his ships to them or is killed by the
pirates while bargaining with them.

	2164: The short-lived brushfire war known as the Three Tribes
War occurs in the Sareni cluster between the PAU, the Scandanavian
Federation and the Oceanic Union when a dispute over a once-neutral
colony seized by the Commonwealth of African Stars is ceded to the PAU
as per the conditions of the treaty ending the Pan-African Civil War.
The war quickly develops into a land grab by all three powers which ends
in a new treaty. Nearly half the systems of the cluster have been
occupied by one or another of the warring powers but the neutrality of
the remaining systems is affirmed.

	2165: The Third Solar War begins and saner heads prevail in PAU
politics and decide simply not to get involved. The end of the
Pan-African Civil War leaves the PAU in no condition to even consider
foreign adventurism. Reconstruction and political solidarity are the
order of the day.

	2165-2179: Transfers of warships continue from both the ESU and
the FSE but are more and more threatened by cancellation as the ESU and
FSE need vessels to continue the war. Contracts with foreign powers to
build Universal Navy escorts, destroyers and cruisers decline and local
shipbuilding increases to take up the slack.

	2166-2177: Expansion of the Universal Navy is met by expansion
of the Islamic Federation's forces and saber-rattling and border
skirmishes begin to again rear their ugly head. This eleven year period
sees a nearly constant low-intensity false war between the two powers.
Commercial expansion and colonial settlement increase dramatically in
the space between the two powers as both sides seek to gain new colonies
that might be used as forward bases in the event of a full-scale war. A
greater conflict seems inevitable, right up to the point where both
sides suddenly return to the bargaining table and negotiate a new border
treaty. Tensions and skirmish incidents decline immediately but the
naval arms race continues. Ironically, later historians will attribute
the survival of both powers against the Kra'vak to this very build up of
regional naval power.

	2178-2179: The last transfers of foreign capital ships to the
Universal Navy are made as the PAU purchases five Rostov class
Battledreadnoughts and one Konstantin class Attack Carrier from the ESU
as well as ten Novgorod class Frigates. While the purchase of these
vessels is a symbol of the power of the Union to defend itself and
maintain order and unity in Union space, it can only be seen as a
provocation to the Islamic Federation who immediately lay down a new
series of capital ships beginning with a new class of battlecruiser.

	2180-2182: The first incidents of contact occur between the
Kra'vak and the PAU. These "ghost ship" sightings are largely ignored at
first and then taken as resurgent pirate activity or renegade Islamic
attacks. The Universal Navy goes on alert during the last few months of
2182 as it becomes obvious that some hostile power is beginning to raid
the edges of PAU space.

	2183: The Third Solar War had degenerated largely into a series
of border wars by this time. Union representatives appeared before the
United Nations to request their assistance in investigating attacks on
PAU space. This was largely a political move intended to incline foreign
powers to look favorably upon the Union when it retaliated against the
Islamic Federation, which the Union considered to be the source of the
attacks. The United Nations Space Command sends not one but two survey
vessels into the outer rim of PAU space to investigate with their
powerful long-range scanners. Contact with both ships was lost when they
were off Lagos IV in an largely unsurveyed region of PAU-controlled
space. When contact with the two ships was lost, the Universal Navy
dispatched a Heavy Wing to investigate, led by the aging and now
re-classed battlecruiser UNS Kinshasa. Kinshasa's last transmissions of
an alien enemy finally confirmed the existence of the force
 raiding PAU space. A single Universal Navy destroyer was the only
member of the wing to return, with news of the loss of both UN survey
ships as well as the Kinshasa and the rest of the wing.

	2184: As the PAU develops more and more intelligence regarding
the nature of the Kra'vak threat, the Universal Navy begins a refitting
of its vessels on the Kra'vak front. Shield generators are removed (most
to be replaced by salvo missile racks and/or submunitions packs) and
many naval vessels have their point defense systems replaced by class-1
dual-purpose batteries and new vessels are no longer constructed with
armor plating. PAU shipyards are pressed to the limit refitting the
fleet wholesale and the decision is made to purchase an additional six
Novgorods from the ESU to assist in general search and exploration
missions to locate Kra'vak systems and patrol Union space.

	2185: The UN declares a state of war between Humanity and the
Kra’vak and the PAU pursues aggressive shipbuilding of new vessels of
an innovative design. The PAU signs an agreement with the UNSC, giving
the UNSC a hundred year lease on refueling and resupply bases in its
territory in exchange for technical data. As part of the agreement, an
officer exchange program between the Universal Navy and the UNSC is
signed, allowing UNSC observers aboard Universal Navy craft on the
Kra'vak frontier and vice versa. 

	The PAU begins a major diplomatic effort towards ending the
fighting of the Third Solar War and starts this initiative by sharing a
portion of its intelligence on the Kra'vak with the NAC, NSL, ESU and
FSE in the hopes that humanity can come together against the alien
menace.

	2186: The Universal Navy lays down the first Yambi class
Superdreadnought. The Kra'vak begin to strike at key richly laden
Pan-African mining colonies on the rim in a bold gambit to rob the Union
of the resources which fuel its industrial might while coveting those
same resources for Kra'vak military expansion.

	2188: Contact is made with the Sa’Vasku. The Yambi class
Superdreadnought Shaka is laid down.

	2189: Kra'vak forces drive towards the Core Worlds leading to
the Battle of Centaurus. The Universal Navy cooperates with the UNSC and
the navies of all the other major powers to repulse the Kra'vak
offensive. On the positive side, all human nations now fully realize the
Kra'vak threat and pledge themselves to cooperate against it.

	2190: The Kra'vak offensive into human space falters after the
Battle of Centaurus. There is a brief pause during which the Kra'vak opt
to change their tactics and they begin to consolidate their hold on the
captured human territories they have taken so far. The pattern of
Kra'vak attacks changes in nature as well from raids and deep, slashing
attacks to a concerted, organized march into human space. Instead of
striking all over human space, the Kra'vak begin an organized offensive
that advances slowly into human territory systematically taking world
after world and fortifying their holdings as they advance. The third and
final Yambi class Superdreadnought Nthanda is laid down.

	2191: Contact is made with the Phalons.

	2192: First Battle of Mars. The Kra'vak manage to slip a veteran
task force through Sol's battered outer ring of defenses and launch a
strike against the orbital stations and colonies of Mars, focusing on
the shipyards there. At stake are the under construction ships of the
UNSC's new heavy graser armed battleline. Ships and crews from all human
nations, including the PAU, make the ultimate sacrifice to defend the
shipyards and their contents and the Kra'vak force is annihilated down
to the last man. Despite the victorious nature of the battle, civilian
morale takes a heavy blow as people begin to give way to their fears of
alien domination.

	2193: The Siege of Sol begins. While the PAU is prepared to
commit the bulk of its forces to the defense of Earth and the Core
Worlds, behind the scenes, Universal Navy officials argue vehemently
with their UNSC counterparts over the PAU's proposed Operation Damocles,
the launch of an expeditionary fleet to take the battle to the Kra'vak.
The UNSC insists now is the time to insure the defense of the homeworlds
and that a counteroffensive can only take place after that. The PAU
believes that the only way to lift the siege is to threaten the
Kra'vak's own home colonies. The UNSC rightly points out the risk in
this plan in that no one yet knows where the Kra'vak home systems even
are. Tensions are increased when the PAU takes its plan to the other
major powers directly and informs the UNSC that, if necessary, the
Universal Navy will launch a counteroffensive alone. Opinion is widely
divided over what is the correct course of action but in the end, the
ESU,
 FSE, NSL, IJSF and NAC all decide to support the notion of an
expeditionary fleet and contribute forces. Comprised of vessels from all
major powers, the main military might of the expeditionary force
consists of ships from the PAU, IJSF, FSE and NAC, with the UNSC's major
contribution being the elite of its survey command, under Commodore
Kaitlin Chavez, which will be tasked with the difficult mission of
searching for the Kra'vak's homeworlds while under fire. Despite the
Universal Navy's contributing the largest naval contingent of the
expeditionary force, UNSC Fleet Admiral Alonso Landry is chosen to lead
the combined fleet which slips out of Sol system late in the year,
jumping out to the rim and further still into the outer dark towards
Kra'vak space.

	2194--A Time For Heroes

	Operation Damocles:

	The combined expeditionary fleet is under the command of UNSC
Fleet Admiral Alonso Landry aboard the Sol class Superdreadnought
Hyperion. His second-in-command is PAU Admiral Gunju Yakuba aboard the
Yambi class Superdreadnought Nthanda. The fleet's survey ships,
including the Visionary class Explorer Pioneer, are led by UNSC
Commodore Kaitlin Chavez. The Japanese have assigned the Scanner Pickets
Fubuki and Yukikaze to back up the stretched thin UNSC survey ships
assigned to the mission. Carrier operations are coordinated by the
IJSF's Commodore Yosima Fujima, flying his flag from the Akagi class
Supercarrier Hosho, which has a full contingent of multi-mode fighters.
Fujima's second in command is the NAC's Captain Andreas Bennett of the
Inflexible class carrier RNS Invincible. Invincible's torpedo bomber
squadrons are renowned as the NAC's best. The fleet's ground forces are
organized around its two largest contingents: NSL Panzer Grenadiers led
by
 Brigadier Rudolf Drescher and ESU Naval Infantry led by Colonel Zhanna
Tereshkova.
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