The Wall

The Wall was a space defense system protecting Fortress Republic.

History[edit]

The Fortress Republic protocol was activated by Exarch Jonah Levin in 1 October 3135, and in a short time later gave light of a new technology dubbed "The Wall". The Wall only worked around a determined ring of worlds slightly larger than the Republic's Prefecture X. Any JumpShip attempting to cross it would misjump or bounce back in a mangled state, with the crew crippled or combined with the ship, like Coordinator's Theodore Kurita's WarShip Pride of Kurita.[1]

In April 3136, the Lyran trader Indian Streamer attempted to cross the Wall, but it bounced and returned in two parts: one was found at the Zosma system, and the second half was found six years later at the asteroid belt of the Holt system, both without survivors.[2]

The same year, on 18 August, a group of Lyran loyalists from Yorii sent the Jumpship Orphan's Hope to the Republic to call for help, but it returned, mangled, with the crew killed or crippled.[3]

On 3146, the Majestic Bounty, a merchant JumpShip commandeered by Maskirovka agents attempted to follow Julian Davion's crossing of the Wall from Nanking, but they hit the Wall and bounced. The Bounty was never seen again. The same year, Daoshen Liao attempted to infiltrate two full regiments of troops into the Fortress, through the Chong Che, infiltrating using the path of Julian Davion, but they hit the fortress and bounced, losing both regiments.[4]

In 3149, Devlin Stone would turn off the Wall, allowing the Republic troops to leave the Fortress space, and the outsider states to invade the Fortress... but when the Capellan Confederation and Clan Wolf JumpShips attempted to attain Terra, both bounced. This proved that the Wall was still active, only now around the Terran system.[5]

On 1 January 3151, a Clan Wolf flotilla infiltrated successfully on Terra.[6] During the Battle of Terra (3151), the Wolves took the Wall's control facility on Antarctica the 3 March. Stone ordered a counterattack, which failed, fearing than Alaric shut down the Wall, allowing more Clans to come, but instead, the Khan ordered the Wall to be keep active, though it cannot operate for more than a year and half withour sacrifying more JumpShips and, by then, Clans Wolf, Jade Falcon and Clan Ghost Bear knew how to circumvent the wall.[7][8]

Technology[edit]

Any JumpShip that has appeared to complete the transit have not been seen since. It is unknown if they were captured by Republic forces, misjumped or have been totally destroyed.[9] The Wall is a proof about how little is known about hyperspace and Kearny-Fuchida experts are unable to explain how it is possible.[10] The exact working of the Wall remains unknown, but it has a great cost: to operate, it needs the use of several K-F drives, which are burned after some time. The greater the protected area, and the more time it is operational, more drives are burned.[11]

However, it must be noted that the Wall was not a rigid defense; "windows" can be opened, allowing a JumpShip to cross safely, like Julian Davion's JumpShip in 3146.[12][13] At the end it was revealed that the Wall wasn't really a wall, but a means to targeting and disrupting emergence waves from ships which jump into its space, but it cannot respond fast enough to ships jumping from a distance of half a light year or less.[14] The only known control facility for the Wall was a secret installation in Antarctica, which can allow to turn it off.[15]

References[edit]

  1. Dragon Rising p. 271
  2. Era Report: 3145 p. 16
  3. A Bonfire of Worlds prologue
  4. Shattered Fortress, p. 7-16
  5. Shattered Fortress, p. 92
  6. Shattered Fortress, p. 97
  7. IlClan (sourcebook) p.63
  8. Hour of the Wolf p.353
  9. Shattered Fortress, p. 106
  10. Shattered Fortress, p. 107
  11. Hour of the Wolf p.17
  12. Shattered Fortress, p. 7
  13. "Bring the Dawn"
  14. Children of Kerensky p.145
  15. IlClan (sourcebook) p.63

Bibliography[edit]