OOC: Who here thinks that "4554.15M/post" is WAY too much income from just mining a single system? UE Admiral, I would prefer if you didn't get THAT much. It's just silly.
I might also note that, in general, the Jadzians and Cydonians have been constructing ludicrous amounts of ships per post. The Jadzians, in one post, built something like 120 Destroyers. That's insane and has no possible excuse, especially for such a small nation.
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New Antigua
Life was good for the mercenaries. Their colony had been greatly expanded both militarily and industrially. Many colonists had arrived and trade with nearby independent worlds was expanding each day. Money once used for the research of the ESG was then diverted to the construction of three new Dragons, for the 1st Fleet, and another Kestrel, for the defense fleet, which even furthur boosted the strength of the mercenaries.
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NGC-6548
Three Kestrel escort frigates glided silently through the system, the sun gleaming off their black holes. A pair of Pirate corvettes eyed them from behind an asteroid, when suddenly a wave of Lightnings pounced on the unsuspecting Corvettes, disabling them quickly as boarding crews were shuttled over.
Checking for any other enemy vessels in the system, the captain of the lead Kestrel opened a comm channel with the New Antigua colony. "All Pirates in system have been subdued. Proceeding towards station."
The Kestrels then continued on towards their destination; Listening Post 95. The lead Kestrel moved ahead and docked with the station, the airlock opening loudly after not having been used for months.
The station was in perfect condition, seemingly untouched by time. The computer was still functioning, constantly sending reports back to Confederate space. This was deactivated, and soon engineering crews began analyzing the situation of the station. Though used as a mere listening post, it was still fully equipped to support civillians, and thus the engineers set to work making only a few small preparations for the arrival of colonists, shipyard workers, and other personel. These would all be part of a large-scale mining operation in that sector. Large amounts of funds were being put into it (including a sizable amount of cash plundered from none other than Lars Magna), but the rewards were incredible, and already credits began pouring in, which helped pay for several new Tigersharks and Shrikes.
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Mercenary Research & Development
The current lack of any real capable fighter in the Mercenaries armada was soon being realized by the commanders at New Antigua and Den'Zar himself. The Rapier was underpowered, the Lightning underarmoured, and the Hawk undergunned. A new design was then proposed; the Devil Ray Fighter-Bomber. It would not be as nimble as the Defender, of course, but it could deliver a sizable payload and would serve as an excellent addition to the fleet. Research was expected to be completed shortly.
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(Message to Jadzians)
(We are on our way to you now.)
(End Message)
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The mercenary fleet entered the Jadzia system, silently moving towards the planet. Soon, they moved into a low orbit, still having not said anything.
The Jadzians then hailed the mercenaries, but got a very different response from what they had expected.
Suddenly, the patrolling Jadzian vessels were torn apart by a hail of torpedoes and nuclear warheads. As other vessels in the system turned to see what was happening, they too were torn apart. The Kestrel Cs began chasing down and destroying fleeing Jadzian vessels, preventing them from warning others.
Immediately the Jadzian military went into a state of panic and desperately called for reinforcements; however, the Mercenaries were jamming their transmissions. The Shrikes, which had not taken part in the annihilation of the patrolling vessels, began firing off huge fusillades of missiles into the planet.
The fusillades were not, however, targetted at civillians. They were instead targetted against military and industrial installations, as well as any shipyards on the surface. The defense fleet, which began to rise through the atmosphere to combat the mercenaries, found itself shredded by endless barrages of torpedoes from the tigersharks and missiles from the Shrikes. One group was annihilated by a nuclear warhead from the Firebird.
Soon, almost nothing remained of the Jadzian military in the system, and the Mercenaries quickly headed off towards the Rebel colony of Spica, and during their trip through Jadzian space they tore apart a few other vessels as well.
When they reached Zebetrious, the Mercenaries attacked the almost completely defenseless heavy frieghters and the under-defended station. Severe damage was done to the station, and over a third of the bulk frieghters were destroyed, and the rest disabled or heavily damaged.
Capella also found itself in the path of the seemingly unstoppable Mercenaries. They had been warned and put up a stronger defense, but it was not organized quick enough or very well in the first place, and a barrage of nuclear weapons turned most of the Confederate fleet to molten slag.
Soon, the Mercenaries arrived at Spica, where they rearmed and awaited an expected counter-attack.
But their point had been made; the mercenaries were now loyal to the Rebellion. They had also caused an immense amount of damage, which the Jadzians would find hard to recover from.
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New Cydonia
All was normal at the largest spaceport on the planet, now bustling with traders and military craft. No one noticed two bulk frieghters, positioned at different areas of the spaceport, had been abandoned and had not moved or been boarded for some time. Another thing that was odd was that they had been placed in an area which was used only for military use. This had gone unnoticed because both had Cydonian military symbols painted on them, though these had been secretly added.
Inside them, several hundred tons of liquid deuterium sloshed around, and within that, lay a few dozen pounds of explosives, attached to an electronic detonator.
Suddenly, on the precise moment, both frieghters exploded. The enormous fireball enveloped dozens of Cydonian military craft, and shot molten debris at super-sonic speeds into the surrounding areas. When the smoke cleared enough to see, all that was left of the two military areas was thousands of tons of blackened and twisted debris, and two very large craters.
Similar explosions took place on several other Cydonian bases, including two on Scorpio, all of which presumably orchestrated by the same group. The damage to the Cydonain military was bad, but not as devastating as the sneak attack on Jadzia.
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Fleet Stats
New Antigua Defense Fleet
1 Modified Kestrel (flagship)
7 Kestrels
2 Argosy's
8 Corvettes
10 Rapiers
1st Fleet - Yemuro
1 Modified Dragon (flagship, the Nemesis II)
6 Dragons
2 Kestrel Cs
1 Firebird
12 Tigersharks
14 Shrikes
Mining Fleet
5 Bulk Frieghters
Trade with Independent Worlds: +10M
Payment for Kestrel Cs: -16M
New Vessels: -10M
Payment for Bulk Frieghters: -10M
Credits Collected from Lars Magna: +15M
Upgrades to Mining Outpost: -5M
Mining Operation: +5M
Devil Ray Research: -1M
Current Credits: 2M
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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
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Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
