(Posted on 12-05-2000)
Admiral Ramsey Kafoury walked down the central corridor of the brand new UE Cruiser under his command, the UES Red Death. It had been completed at the Tokyo shipyards only a month before, and its engines still squeaked like they did during the maiden flight from Tokyo to the orbital base. Every new facet of the ship he sawand there were plenty of thoseKafoury was amazed at Anna Balashovas genius.
This, thought Kafoury as he inspected the ships brilliant wall and matching crew, is the most powerful ship in the universe.
Kafourys battle group, easily the largest in the UE fleet, consisted of the UES Red Death, the flagship of the fleet, three UE Carriers, eight UE Destroyers, a full squadron of UE Fighters, not counting the ones in the ships holds, and a small group of warships and fighters on loan from the Emalgha. In addition, he had found a few small-time traders to accompany him at the UE frontier outposts. These included a few scoutships and an Arada, practically useless against the Voinians thick armor. The United Earth Fifth Defense Fleet was assigned to patrol duty on the Voinian frontier to watch for Voinian incursions towards UE space. Its job so far had been very boring; after the invasion of Krotun, an important source of shipbuilding metals had been lost to the Voinians. They did not have the materiel to create many more new warships to challenge the UE dominance over the eastern sector of what had been Voinian space, according to UE spy reports. But today they would prove to be wrong.
Admiral Kafoury was a stickler for order. Every thirty minutes, he patched a call through to the whole fleet checking whether everyone was there. Although it seemed to be a needless precaution to many of his men, he knew it was necessary. The scoutship pilots had a habit of jumping out of system to alleviate their boredom and to show off their fuel capacity and fuel scoops. Often, they simply left for good. One scoutship had been AWOL for three days already, and Kafoury had no idea where it was. His underlingsalmost all fresh officers newly brought in from the UE naval academy to combat the lack of officers after the disastrous victory at Avannthought that their fleet could handle anything. Kafoury knew, though, that every single ship was important, if only to carry back information about the fleets destructionalthough he hoped it would never come to that.
As suddenly as it had left, the missing scoutship, the Journeyman, piloted by some mercenary named Dash Riprock jumped back in-system.
As soon as he was able, Dash started to blabber incoherently: Voinian attack dreadnought kill offensive barely survived.
It took Admiral Kafoury a few seconds to reason it out, and even then he wasnt sure if Riprock could be trusted. Nevertheless, the admiral immediately declared Red Alert on all ships. Suddenly, a large fleet came in from the galactic west. Riprocks scoutship, which had just jumped in from that direction, was immediately ripped to shreds by neutron turrets from the flagship of the Voinian fleet a shiny new dreadnought.
The Voinian battle groupwhich broadcast itself as the Central Voinian Defense Fleetwas enormous. At the head were two dreadnoughts, the flagship and another one behind it. Several cruisers and many more frigates backed up the lead ships, and almost immediately dozens of heavy fighters and interceptors poured out of bays and hyperspace. First Officer Logray didnt have to voice his opinion. He did, anyway, with a long string of profanity. The admiral simply nodded.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 12-05-2000).)
Next installment should be appearing in a few months...
