Linelayer Wars

Introduction

The term 'linelayer war' or 'network war' refers to any one of the numerous, sporadic armed conflicts which erupted throughout the Terran Sphere. Multiple Terran nation states vied for whole star systems and sought to destroy one another's infrastructure.

Terran construction ships, or linelayers, are responsible for blazing trails, constructing jump gates, and moving on to repeat the process in nearby systems. The advent of new technologies and refinement of existing processes led to a mass production of these craft (at tremendous cost to the involved parties) and a territorial grab. Many systems ended up claimed by multiple factions, all of whom argued their gates were finished first and so they alone possessed sovereign rights to the entire system.

Linelayers, specifically, became prime targets: their expensive, technical nature made losing even one an economic tragedy.

Because jump gates require tremendous resources to manufacture and operate, groups of freighters were not uncommon in these far flung systems. As a result, Q-ships on all sides saw heavy action against enemy commerce raiders, generally acquitting themselves well, even when death was a certainty. The very remoteness of these actions dictated their nature: few took prisoners and relief was too far away. The battles of these wars were known for their brutality.

Despite this, long-term diplomatic relations between involved parties does not appear to have deteriorated significantly.