Fleet stats:
2 battlecruisers
20 Cruisers
32 Fighters
Shade had been becoming tired of waiting in orbit of the newly captured planet.
When the message from Emperor Macavenger arrived,he ran it eagerly through to decryption processors.
The message read:
Take our remaining marines and conquer NGC-8714.
Then return to Kaujathin with all haste to aquire more troops and return to the Apollo system.
Shade found that the fleet was ready to move out,and ordered the ships to move to the NGC-8714 jump point.
=Interlude(I like these interludes)=
Major Tony Waergh was spinning idly in his command chair aboard the light freighter S.S. Nebula Blues when the klaxxons sounded.
Finally,some answers.
He had command of the most boring ship in the fleet,acting as base for a wing of Mantas stationed to sit on their rears all day,as far as he could judge.
The supply courier,supposed to arrive last friday,had never turned up,and the wing had not had enough fuel to jump for several weeks now.
Tony was looking forward to finding out why the courier was late.
It was supposed to have his brandy shipment aboard.
A glance at the viewscreen revealed everything,however.
An Alien warfleet had just jumped into the system.
There was the reason the supply ship had never arrived.
Although the Rebels had won(Tony still refused to call them the "Human Confederacy"),he remained loyal to the Confederation he had served for twenty years.
His grandfather had flown a Manta against the Aliens,just as he was about to.
The pilots,Tony included,climbed into their Mantas with worried looks.
It would take a miracle to survive.
The dozen Mantas launched as,far away,the Aliens launched their fighters.
The opposing sides sped towards each other,with seeker drones launching from the Alien fighters,missiles from the Mantas.
Within minutes the aliens were upon them.
Tony's last words were "Long live the Confederaton!"
As he had never been patriotic to the new government,his wingmates might have wondered,but they had no time to speculate before they,too,were destroyed.
=Interlude Ends=
Shade quickly eliminated the unarmed freighter,and his fleet moved on towards the far jump point.
The NGC-8714 system is now territory of the Alien Empire.
In two hours the fleet had reached the jump point into space unexplored by Humanity.
The fleet passed through the Unexplored AAAN system.
Note:the following systems contain nothing of interest,so I won't detail them.
They extend downwards in a NSE direction(between East and Southeast on a compass)
I'll be naming them as I pass through them.
Firstly:
Unexplored AAAN is renamed SGS-4561
The fleet then moves through:
SGS-4562
SGS-4563
SGS-4564
And enters the Kaujathin("The Door Opens") system.
Ahead loomed the massive bulk of the Alien Jumpgate.
A huge ring of mottled red,the gate glowed red in it's center,occluding the stars behind it.
Near the Gate orbited the Kaujathin'Kerath ("Guardian of the Open Door") station.
Shade ordered the fleet to dock with an empty docking spar,and went to contact the Marine Commander.
As my fleet can only move 6 jumps a post,I will return with more troops next post,probably tomorrow.
BTW:
Don't yo just love those red smileys?
They look like Alien coloured. :mad:
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Long live the Alien Emperor,may he rule for a million years! -Third Star Fleet Commander Shade,following the Battle of NGC-0538