1st September 2050
The Fast Colony Fleet enters Sol through the Corinth jump point, moving within a few thousand kilometers of the Islamic destroyer. This is a worrying situation as the fleet of nineteen ships does not have a weapon between them. Fortunately, the destroyer is content to watch and takes no hostile action but it is time we developed an escort ship that can maintain at least the same 3600 km/s speed as the freighters. Commonwealth ship designers recommend the Hermes class destroyer. Although it has weaknesses in the relatively light shields, the armament of only three 15cm lasers and the higher chance of secondary explosions in the IB-5 engines, it has our best fire control systems for both attack and defence and its speed is high enough to match our fastest survey ships, allowing it to easily escort freighters or protect long range survey missions. The Hermes is not intended for full scale battles but would allow some protection against unexpected attack. One argument against building the new class is that in the fourteen months required to build the first Hermes class ships, our scientists will have completed their work on the next generation of engine technology. However, even when the new engine technology has been developed and new engines have been designed, it will still take months or years for them widely used. Therefore, two Hermes class destroyers are laid down.
Hermes class Destroyer 3150 tons 327 Crew 694 BP Signature 63-252
4000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 12-300 Sensors 6/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Supply 400
Ion Engine IB-5 (4) Armour 0 Exp 8%
15cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser (3) Power 6-3 Range Modifier 4 Rate of Fire 10 6 6 6 6 4 4 3 3 2 2
Mk 1 Laser Fire Control (1) Range: 240k km TS: 3200 km/s 98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Mk 2 Laser Fire Control (1) Range: 60k km TS: 12800 km/s 92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1) Total Power Output 9 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Passive Sensor S2-6 (1) Strength 6 Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km Detect Signature 100: 6m km
5th September 2050
A noted Commonwealth astronomer has raised the question of why we have not checked comets for trans-newtonian elements. In the past, our survey efforts have been concentrated on planets, moons and asteroids; comets had not been considered. While many of them are little more than balls of ice, a limited number are large enough and solid enough to contain significant quantities of minerals. Furthermore, as comets regularly shed their outer layers as they pass close to the sun, their minerals should be readily accessible. The latest telescopes are easily capable of tracking comets with mineral potential and six are quickly identified within the Sol system.
The closest is currently outside the orbit of Mars and heading outward to aphelion, its furthest point from the sun, which lies beyond the orbit of Saturn. Even so, its 13 year, highly eccentric orbit makes it an ideal candidate for exploitation as it always remains within a reasonable distance. The second closest comet is at two billion kilometers, midway between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, and heading sunwards from an aphelion of almost three billion kilometers. This will also be a comet that can be fully exploited, if minerals are found, as it remains closer than the Corinth jump point during its entire thirty year cycle. Comet three has a 110 year orbit that takes it into the Kuiper belt beyond Pluto. It is currently at four billion kilometers and heading for the inner system, although it will be twenty-five years before it passes close to the sun.
The remaining three comets are all located outside the Kuiper Belt at distances of sixteen, twenty-three and fifty-one billion kilometers respectively. The closest is moving sunward but will take two hundred years to arrive. Even that is a small amount of time compared to the 3683 years required for its complete orbit out to aphelion at seventy-two billion kilometers. With Nemesis due in forty years, it is unlikely this comet or those further away will provide a likely source of minerals. For comparison purposes, a trip to the closest of the three outer comets would require almost twice the time needed for a journey from Earth to Thebes. In order to investigate the three closest comets, the gravitational survey ship Endeavour begins reactivation.
6th September 2050
Dracon and Akagi enter Sol. Rear Admiral Takahashi reports that he has fought a brief battle and forced a settlement on the Pieksamaki Republic. He requests a colony ship to setup a small trading post and freighters to pick up minerals from the planet. Prince Arthur sends a personal message to Takahashi, commending the rear admiral for his initiative. Once the Fast Colony Fleet has returned to Earth, a decision will be made on how to handle the Pieksamaki situation. Dracon and Akagi now head for the Gitanyow homeworld to drop off their Gitanyow passengers.
12th September 2050
The Fast Colony Fleet returns to Earth and the freighters that recently delivered automated mines to Plataea are only three days away. Kresta has recently completed her trip to Toronto and she too is available. This places seven colony ships and fifteen freighters in orbit of, or close to, Earth. Although two of the colony ships need overhauls, all Earth
