This report covers action across a number of systems. To assist visualization of what’s going on, I will be putting a warp line ‘map’ into the write-up periodically. Hopefully that will help. These reports will cover the advance into the Dregluk Imperium. Reports covering events in the rest of the Republic will be posted separately.
Note: I will be posting a pic of the star map at some point in the near future.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland
January 28, 2142, Portland system
The fleet scout Kit Carson was just 34 mkm’s from the jump point back to the Miami system when its extremely large thermal sensors detected sixteen Dregluk ships of an unknown class. The Dregluk ships have a thermal signature slightly higher than that of a standard Dregluk DD, are moving at 1,600 km/s almost directly away from the human ships. Rear Admiral Chan, aboard the HuK Assistance, orders the scout to trail the Dregluk ships, likely civilian ships, but to get no closer than 350 mkm’s from the Dregluk group.
February 12, 2142, 2053 hours, Portland system
The scout observes as the sixteen Dregluk ships, tentatively ID’d as non-warships of some sort, jump out of the system. Word is sent back to the warships on the jump point to Miami. The scout then reduces speed to just faster than the Dregluk ships, so as to avoid overtaking them, and the warships begin moving up towards the new jump point.
February 15, 2142, Portland system
The scout arrives at the jump point that the Dregluk ships disappeared through three days earlier. The warships are still over two and a half days behind. The commander of the scout ship, Lt. Commander Faulkner, decides to take a risk and orders his ship to jump to the far side. The scout materializes in a binary system with a G6-V primary and a G8-V secondary star. The jump point is deep within the primary star’s planetary system, and the Dregluk ships are approximately 317 mkm’s out-system of the scout’s location, and moving away. Lt. Commander Faulkner orders his ship to return to the Portland system to update the warships, then returns to begin following the Dregluk ships. The new system is designated the Salt Lake system.
The system’s secondary star is close enough to be reachable with a few days travel. Between the two stars the system contains several type T planets that would be good targets for colonization, including one orbiting the secondary star with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a colony cost of .63. There doesn’t appear to be populations on any of the planets or other orbital bodies.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake
February 28, 2142, 1032 hours, Portland System
The warships that had been following the fleet scout, which had been in turn following the Dregluk ships deeper into the Dregluk Imperium, had been sitting in the Portland system, at the jump point to the Salt Lake system, waiting for the scout to report that the Dregluk ships had jumped out. Their waiting was interrupted when ten additional ships of the same class that the scout was following appeared one the fleet’s sensors. The ten Dregluk ships were approaching the jump point at 1,800 km/s. The task force’s active sensors revealed that the Dregluk ships were 31,250 tons, and were almost certainly non-warships given their low speed and the fact that none had ever been observed attacking human forces. Not knowing if the Dregluk ships had spotted his force, and not wanting them to get between his force and the scout, Rear Admiral Chan ordered his task group, the 1st Attack Group, to intercept the Dregluk ships.
1157 hours, Portland system
The three HuK’s were approaching combat range. The Dregluk ships showed no sign that they knew that the Republican forces were anywhere near them, and continued to sail blithely towards the jump point. Admiral Chan held his fire until all of his lasers were capable of hitting the Dregluk ships and then opened fire at 238,000 kilometers. Accuracy was poor at that range, but even so they began scoring hits. The range closed rapidly, and as it did their accuracy went up. Soon, both of the Dregluk ships targeted by the HuK’s were streaming atmosphere.
Thirty seconds after opening fire, one of the targeted Dregluk ships comes apart in a ball of flame, and the HuK’s shift their fire to the next ship in their targeting que. After that the Dregluk ships fell one after another, carved into chunks by the HuK’s lasers. The tentative identification of the ships as civilian cargo haulers seemed confirmed, as none of them fired a weapon during the engagement. None got close to the jump point.
Rear Admiral Chan sends a message back to Admiral Wallace on Bastion, informing her of this development. The Dregluk freighters they just destroyed appeared in the Portland system through a previously undetected jump point, as they did not enter the system through the only other known jump point, to Miami, as that was secured by a picket ship. He had assumed that they were following the group of Dregluk freighters deeper into the Dregluk Imperium, but it was possible that they were following the freighters on their outward-bound path, away from the heart of the Dregluk Imperium, which would put the Dregluk navy behind them, instead of in front of them.
February 30, 2142, 0316 hours, Salt Lake system
The scout following the Dregluk ships lost contact with the Dregluk squadron and immediately detected a surge indicating the use of a jump gate. Word was sent back to the warships at the jump point back to the Republic and the scout set out for the new jump point.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
March 1, 2142, newly discovered system (El Paso)
The scout follows the Dregluk ships into the new system. It discovers that the new system is a quaternary system with a K4-V primary orbited by a K7-V, L3-VII, and T6-VII. The last two stars are very distant from the primary and effectively out of reach. Both the A and B components have numerous planets. The scout’s entry point is located almost directly between the A and B components, approximately 4.3 billion kilometers out. The Dregluk ships are headed inwards, towards the primary. The system is given the designation: El Paso.
The scout is now five jumps beyond Washington. Picket ships have been stationed at the Washington-Denver jump point, the Denver-Miami jump point, and the Miami-Portland jump point to maintain communications with the fleet, but until more picket ships come up from Earth that was the end of the picket ship line. Therefore, Admiral Chan had stationed a LR Missile Boat at the Portland-Salt Lake jump point, and would do so at the Salt Lake-El Paso jump point as well when they moved forward. That was a risk, as the missile boats had only limited sensors, but maintaining communications with Bastion in the Washington system was critical.
March 5, 2142, Portland System
The missile boat assigned to picket the jump point from the Portland system to the Salt Lake system picked up the incoming Dregluk ships just a million kilometers out as they approached the jump point to jump to the Salt Lake system. Fortunately, the contacts were all identified as the same class of Dregluk civilian ships they had encountered previously. It immediately jumped through to Salt Lake and sent a contact report off to the rest of the task force at the jump point to the El Paso system. Then it moved off of the jump point so as to remain out of sight of the Dregluk ships. The Dregluk ships jumped into Salt Lake on schedule and continued on towards the jump point to El Paso without deviation.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
March 11, 2142, Portland System
Five additional Dregluk civilian ships are detected approaching the jump point to the Salt Lake system. The missile boat jumped through and warned the task force at the far jump point, as it had before. The first group of civilian ships had not yet reached the jump point to El Paso.
March 16, 2142 Portland System
A single Dregluk civilian ship is detected approaching the jump point to Salt Lake system. Warning is sent to the task force.
March 19, 2142, Salt Lake system
Eleven Dregluk civilian ships are picked up by the lead LR Missile Boat’s sensors approaching the jump point to El Paso. Three HuK’s are sent out to destroy the ships before they can reach the jump point. When they caught the Dregluk civilian ships the HuK’s ripped through them just as they had before, leaving a trail of hull plating and life pods in their wake.
March 24, 2142, El Paso System
Additional Picket Ships have made their way forward and Admiral Chan has been able to recall the missile boats he detached for picket duties. The fleet scout is now approximately 3 billion kilometers from the jump point, still headed in-system and following the Dregluk civilian ships.
March 25, 2142, Salt Lake System
The second group of Dregluk civilian ships detected by the picket ship at the jump point to Portland come within range of the sensors at the jump point to El Paso. The HuK’s, which have been waiting at the wrecks of the first group, set out to intercept the five new ships.
The HuK’s hold their fire until almost point-blank range and then their lasers demolish the civilian ships quickly.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
March 29, 2142, El Paso System, 1349 hours
Lieutenant Meisner, Officer of the Watch aboard the fleet scout Kit Carson, had been dozing at his console for the last hour. For twenty-eight days the scout had been following the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Dregluk ships as they plodded through the El Paso system, and Lt. Meisner and his fellow officers had had little to do but periodically check that the scout was maintaining position on the group of Dregluk ships. Aside from that very little had happened, aside from dispatching the occasional status report to the ships at the jump point, or receiving updates from those same ships. It was boring, boring, boring. He sighed. They had all been so happy when they first spotted the Dregluk ships almost exactly two months ago. The Dregluk ships were going somewhere, and they seemed oblivious to their presence. The chance to gain more intelligence on the Dregluk Imperium seemed too good to pass up. That was two months ago, though. Aside from moments of excitement every time they jumped into a new system, it had been two long and unremitting months of boredom since them. Usually, Meisner used a lot of his watch time to set up his next move for the Galactic Conquest game he and some of the other officers had going, but they had decided to take a break recently and so recently he mostly tried to spend his time staying awake. Usually the CO would take the day watch, but lately, with morale dipping, Lt. Commander Faulkner had decided to start rotating his watch, spending time with each set of watch crews to ensure they knew he cared, and also to ensure that he knew what was going on. In theory Meisner understood and agreed with what his CO was doing, the problem was that the boredom was getting to everyone.
Lt. Meisner’s musing about the rampant boredom vanished as the ship’s AI chimed to signal a status change. Meisner’s eyes swiveled to the plot to see a pulsing red icon in El Paso A’s inner system, over El Paso-A II. Meisner’s complexion whitened as he leaned closer and realized that the icon indicated a population on the planet! Just as that realization hit, his console beeped for attention. He looked and saw that it was Lieutenant Josephs, who had duty in the sensor shack today.
The scout’s quaint sounding “sensor shack”, was in fact an ultra-modern, high-tech information/command center where the information gleaned from the ship’s massive thermal sensors was turned into useful information. The fifteen-person crew usually on duty in the shack were some of the best sensor experts in the fleet, and given the fact that the scout’s thermal sensor was larger than a missile boat all by itself, they had a lot of information to work with. Meisner keyed the comm request, and Lt. Joseph’s excited face appeared in a comm window on his console. “What have you got for me?”
Lt. Josephs smiled. “Definite Dregluk population. Thermal signature of 1275, approximately 1.2% that of Earth. Approximately a third that of the mining complex on Venus. We are estimating this to be an outpost of some sort, possibly on the order of one of our outer asteroid or comet mining posts.”
Lt. Meisner frowned. “Capabilities?”
Josephs shook her head. “Unknown. Not enough data. This could be a mining outpost, naval base, or sensor listening post. There is just no way to know given the information we have.”
Lt. Meisner’s frown deepened. A thermal signature of 1275 wasn’t all that strong for a population, but it could still represent a significant military presence. A standard Republican listening post containing twenty DSTS’s only had a signature of one hundred, after all, and Bastion, which had a major naval maintenance post as well as a listening post and a lot of fortresses, had a signature only 50% larger than whatever that was in front of them. “Very well. Continue monitoring. I’m going to wake up the Captain.”
Josephs grinned. “Good luck!” The Captain was notoriously…difficult, about being woken without sufficient justification.
Meisner smiled back. “I don’t think I’ll need it for this. A Dregluk base, or population?” Josephs nodded and broke the connection. Meisner punched in the code for the CO.
Lt. Meisner was right. Lt. Commander Faulkner was just as excited over their discovery as everyone else on the crew was. Finally, they were getting somewhere! Faulkner ordered Lt. Meisner to send a contact report back to the jump point and to come to a halt while the sensor shack evaluated the situation. El Paso-A II was a dwarf planet with around 16% the gravity of Earth and no atmosphere to speak of. That argued that the Dregluk installation was more likely either a military outpost or a mining outpost, but without direct observation there was no way to determine that. The sensor shack hadn’t detected any signs of active sensors being used, but the scout wasn’t really well set up to detect active sensors, a flaw that was being remedied in the next round of refits.
Out of an abundance of caution, Lt. Commander Faulkner ordered the Carson to change course for a waypoint just inside of the primary star’s asteroid belt, offset away from their current location. The waypoint was set to allow them to continue to observe the Dregluk ships without getting too close to the Dregluk outpost. The Carson was a wonder of modern stealth engineering, with low-profile engines that emitted just 25% of the thermal energy that a standard engine would have, and, in addition, had cloaking systems to mask its profile against active sensors. Even with all of that, Lt. Meisner fully approved of Lt. Commander Faulkner’s caution. The Carson had a single CIWS emplacement, and little else in the way of defenses. Caution was the name of their game.
The possibility that the Dregluk ships were freighters delivering a cargo was very disturbing. The entire mission was predicated on the assumption that they would be following the Dregluk ships further INTO the Dregluk Imperium, not to the outskirts of the Imperium. If true, that suggested that the route the Dregluk warships were following to get to the Washington system was somewhere behind them, and that their origin was not in front of them. Lt. Commander Faulkner dispatched that cheery thought off immediately, as soon as his tactical people came up with it.
March 30, 2142, Salt Lake System
The last Dregluk civilian ship detected entering the Salt Lake system appears on the sensors of the warships at the jump point. The three HuK’s, loitering over the corpses of their last kills, set out to intercept the incoming Dregluk ship. Once again, the HuK’s hold their fire until they are at point-blank range and when they do commence firing it takes only seconds to reduce the Dregluk ship to scrap.
April 3, 2142, El Paso system
The Dregluk civilian ships continue past the Dregluk outpost, forcing the Carson to leave its waypoint to keep them within range of its sensors.
Washington System, Bastion Fortress Complex
Admiral Wallace has been fretting about the risk to her forward elements. The near certainty that a third jump point exists in the Portland system, and that that jump point leads into the Dregluk Imperium, has been a constant nagging worry since Admiral Chan sent his message concerning that possibility. Unused to inactivity, Admiral Wallace finally decides to deal with the situation as her instincts have been demanding. She orders her flagship and her assault ships forward, supported by a force of frigates. They will move forward to the Miami system, where they will be positioned to support Admiral Chan’s force, or to intercept a Dregluk force headed towards the Washington system.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Unknown(Theorized)
April 6, 2142, Portland System
The picket ship stationed at the Portland-Salt Lake jump point detects three Dregluk civilian ships approaching the jump point. The picket ship jumps through to the Salt Lake system and withdraws from the jump point to allow the Dregluk ships to transit unmolested. A message warning the warships at the jump point to the El Paso system is sent once the ship is in the Salt Lake system.
April 7, 2142, El Paso system
The scout’s crew detects a second Dregluk installation in the El Paso system, this time on the second moon of the fourth planet. The planet is a gas giant, while the moon in question is smaller than Luna, but with a higher gravity, indicating it is unusually dense. The Dregluk ships go into orbit over the moon while the scout watches from a distance.
April 9, 2142, Portland system
Late in the day the picket ship in the Portland system, at the Portland-Salt Lake jump point, detected five Dregluk cruisers and four destroyers headed towards its position, approximately 19.4 mkm’s out and closing. The picket ship sent a warning message to the picket ship at the other jump point in the Portland system, and then jumped through to the Salt Lake system. Once in the Salt Lake System, the picket ship sent a warning message to the warships at the jump point to the El Paso system, and then set a course at maximum speed to join the warships.
The picket had managed to open the range to 25 mkm’s when the Dregluk force jumped into the Salt Lake system behind them.
April 13, 2142, Salt Lake system
The picket ship arrives at the jump point to El Paso, and moves into position next to the warships waiting there. The Dregluk ships were left far behind, and should arrive in approximately 2 days.
April 14, 2142, Miami system
Admiral Wallace and the 1st Fleet arrive at the jump point to Miami in the Denver system, and jump through to rendezvous with the support ships left behind by Admiral Chan. After refueling, the 1st Fleet and the support ships set out for the jump point to the Portland system.
April 15, 2142, 1351 hours, Salt Lake system
The Dregluk force appears on the active sensors of Admiral Chan’s force at the jump point to the El Paso system. It is 425 mkm’s out and headed in at 4,607. The force is composed of five cruisers and four destroyers. Only one of the destroyers is a known class, this is the first time the rest of the ships have been seen. The one known destroyer is a Crow class, equipped with twelve size three missile launchers.
Seven hours later the twenty-two missile boats assigned to Admiral Chan’s force fire their Bludgeon III missiles, all targeted on the five Dregluk cruisers. Three hours later the five cruisers were wiped from space. The remaining Bludgeon III missiles acquired new targets with their internal sensors and three destroyers were destroyed as well. The last surviving Dregluk destroyer turns back and begins racing away. Space is now clear, although Admiral Chan’s force has expended its missiles.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Unknown(Theorized)
April 16, 2142, Miami system
The 1st Fleet under Admiral Wallace has arrived at the jump point to the Portland system. The Portland system is obviously the site of an undiscovered jump point that leads to somewhere important in the Dregluk Imperium as the Dregluk naval force appeared here, as did the Dregluk civilian ships. Unfortunately, the jump points in the Portland system are widely separated, and it is possible that if Admiral Wallace advances with her entire fleet that they could be cut off. In addition, if they move forward, they will be leaving the route towards Washington unguarded. After some consideration, Admiral Wallace decides to detach a force of eight frigates to move forward, led by the battlecruiser Mars. The rest of her force will remain at its current position, to block anything coming out of the Dregluk Imperium.
In the El Paso system, Admiral Chan dispatches the picket boat that had been stationed at the Portland-Salt Lake jump point back to its station to re-establish communications with Admiral Wallace. To avoid running into the last Dregluk DD, the picket ship is given a course that arcs out away from the system’s star and then back in to the jump point.
April 20, 2142, Salt Lake system
Three Dregluk freighters are detected heading towards the jump point to El Paso.
Late in the day the picket ship arrives at the jump point to the Portland system, re-establishing contact with the 1st Fleet and Admiral Wallace. The frigate group detached by Admiral Wallace is just 240 mkm’s from the jump point and within active sensor range when the picket ship appears. Upon hearing that a Dregluk DD may be headed back to the jump point, Captain Webster, CO of the Mars, positions his group away from the jump point to observe the Dregluk ship if it hasn’t already passed through.
Admiral Wallace orders Admiral Chan and his force to return to the Portland system and join the main force of the 1st Fleet. In addition, she orders the Kit Carson to abandon its observations of the Dregluk outpost and the freighters and to return to Portland as well. She wants to focus her forces on the Portland system and locate the jump point theorized to exist in the system and suspected to be the entry point for both the Dregluk warships and civilian ships.
Several hours later a single Crow class DD is detected headed towards the main 1st Fleet force in the Portland system stationed at the jump point to Miami. This destroyer appeared out-system of the force at the jump point, and directly opposite of where it would have appeared had it come from the Salt Lake system. In any case, the single Crow class DD with the Dregluk force in Slat Lake had been destroyed, meaning that it was a new contact, possibly in route to raid either Washington or the Solar System. It quickly becomes clear that the DD isn’t headed for the jump point to Miami, but rather past it on its way…somewhere.
The lone destroyer definitely isn’t headed towards the only other known jump point in the system, the one to Salt Lake, either. Intrigued, instead of merely destroying it Admiral Wallace detaches the assault ship Prince of Wales and the AMM Frigate Tokyo to shadow the Dregluk ship. Perhaps it was returning to base, and would reveal the undiscovered jump point leading back to the Dregluk Imperium. Of course, there was the little matter of just where it had been coming from, as well.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Unknown(Theorized)
April 21, 2142, 0242 hours, Portland system
Right on schedule, the last DD from the Dregluk force destroyed in the Salt Lake system reappears on the jump point to Salt Lake in the Portland system. Task Group 1.3, led by the BC Mars, is positioned 220 mkm’s in-system of the jump point and picks up the transit and the DD on its active sensors.
Eighteen minutes later, Task Group 1.4, consisting of the Prince of Wales and Tokyo, detected two more Dregluk ships 105 mkm’s beyond the lone Crow class DD. The two new ships were a Fiend class CA and a Raven class DD. The Fiend and the Raven are AMM ships, while the Crow mounts ASM launchers.
By this time Task Group 1.3, standing off of the jump point to Salt Lake, has identified the course of Dregluk DD that recently entered the system from Salt Lake. This DD is also headed across the system, but not towards anything known. Worse, its course does not intersect with that of the other two groups of Dregluk ships in the system. Captain Webster aboard the Mars orders his group to shift position slightly away from the Dregluk DD’s course to allow it to pass by. Once it has past the task group, Webster’s ships will fall in behind it and follow it to its destination. It is Admiral Wallace’s hope that one of the Dregluk ships will lead her forces to the theorized jump point suspected to exist in the system.
Twenty minutes later, both groups of Dregluk ships off of the jump point to Miami turn towards the jump point and the Republican forces there. Captain Webster orders the Prince of Wales to engage the leading Crow class DD with her Bludgeon ASM’s, in the hopes that with their ASM ship out of play, the two AMM ships will disengage. The Prince of Wales is a relatively new ship, just out of the yards six months ago, and it takes her crew twenty seconds to launch ten Bludgeon III missiles at the Dregluk DD. Two hours and twenty-seven minutes later the Bludgeons slammed into the Dregluk DD. The big Dregluk destroyer managed to shoot one of them down with its CIWS, but the other nine hit the destroyer, staggering her. Once the Dregluk DD cleared the fireballs it was clear that it had been heavily damaged as it was streaming atmosphere and hull plating, and its speed had been reduced to 1675 km/s. Captain Webster gave the order and a second salvo of five Bludgeon ASM’s roared away from the Prince of Wales.
Two and a half hours later the Bludgeon missiles wiped the Dregluk DD from the universe. Its task completed, Task Group 1.4 waited to see what the second group of Dregluk ships would do now that the Crow class DD was gone.
One hour later it was clear that the Dregluk had had enough. The cruiser and destroyer had turned away from the jump point and were moving away. Admiral Wallace ordered the ASM frigate Huron to join the Prince of Wales and the Tokyo, and soon the three ships set out to shadow the Dregluk ships as they retreated.
At 1025 hours, in the Salt Lake system, the three HuK’s of Task Group 1.1 had closed to point blank range of the three Dregluk freighters detected closing on the jump point. One by one the three ships picked a target and opened fire. As always, the crack crew aboard the Assistance was the first to get their weapons into action, their lasers stabbing deeply into the thin-skinned Dregluk ships. In forty-five seconds the three Dregluk freighters were reduced to scrap and the HuK’s moved on, following the rest of the force to the jump point to the Portland system.
April 24, 2142, Miami system
Admiral Wallace sends a request back to the Admiralty in the Solar System. She asks for a forward base to be set up in the Miami system to support her operations in the Portland system and beyond. She would prefer to have a base in the Portland system, but the system has no planets or other bodies to establish a base on, so Miami will be the next best option. The Admiralty has been expecting this request and promptly grants permission. Admiral Wallace then orders the UNREP ship assigned to her fleet to divert to Miami-A II, a terrestrial type planet in the best position to support her forces. Once there the tanker will off-load the bulk of its fuel and then return to the Solar System to refuel. In the Solar System, industry begins producing DSTS’s destined to become the new listening post in the Miami system.
April 25, 2142, Portland System
Task Group 1.4, composed of the assault ship Prince of Wales, the ASM frigate Huron, and the AM frigate Tokyo, detects a new Crow class Destroyer ahead of the Dregluk cruiser and destroy pair they have been shadowing. The newly detected destroyer is advancing towards Task Group 1.4, either to close on the human group or to rendezvous with the other Dregluk ships. Several hours later the new destroyer joins the other two ships and they turn and head inwards towards the human squadron. Captain Harper, CO of Task Group 1.4, decides to allow them to close to within Thunderbolt ASM range.
Two hours later the Huron launches all twenty-five of its Thunderbolt IV ASM’s, all targeted on the Crow class DD. The Dregluk, for the first time ever, intercept human missiles short of their targets with AMM’s, shocking the human crews. The interceptions start approximately 1 mkm from the Dregluk group, and the Dregluk AMM ships managed to intercept fifteen of the twenty-five missiles before they hit the Crow class DD. The targeted Dregluk DD managed to destroy one of the incoming missiles with its CIWs, but after the first incoming missile hit the Dregluk ship the Dregluk destroyer disappeared, consumed from within by a massive internal explosion. The disturbing news that the Dregluk are actually utilizing their anti-missile missiles in defensive operations is immediately sent back to Admiral Wallace in the Miami system.
Deprived of their offensive missile ship, the Dregluk squadron turns and runs for the outer system, shadowed by Task Group 1.4. Captain Harper detaches the Huron for rearming, and requests a replacement. Admiral Wallace dispatches the frigate Eire to join the task group.
Twenty-two hours later, at 0654 hours on the 27th, Task Group 1.4 detects a previously unknown jump gate in the Portland system. Interestingly, the Dregluk force that Task Group 1.4 is shadowing is not headed directly towards the jump gate, but rather on its current course it will pass approximately 85 mkm’s to one side of the jump gate.
Admiral Wallace decides to wait and see what the Dregluk will do, rather than dispatching her fleet to the newly detected jump point. After all, it is possible, even likely, that there are more jump points in the system.
Sure enough, eight hours later the Dregluk ships sail right by the jump point and continue on.
April 30, 2142, Miami system
The 1st and 2nd LR Missile Groups rendezvous with the two Dock Ships waiting for them at the jump point to the Portland system. Immediately after arriving, the two missile groups begin rotating their missile boats through the dock ships for rearming.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Unknown(confirmed)
May 2, 2142, Miami system
The 1st LR Missile Group has completed rearming from the Dock Ships and jumps back to the Portland System. The 2nd is forced to return to Bastion as the support ships are out of Bludgeon III missiles after resupplying the 1st.
May 3, 2142, Portland System
The frigates of Task Group 1.3, built around the BC Mars, are running low on fuel. Captain Webster, after receiving approval from Admiral Wallace, orders his group to close on the Dregluk force they are shadowing. Before the group can close enough to launch missiles at the Dregluk ships, which are moving away from the task group, the Dregluk ships jump out of the Portland system through the new jump point discovered by Task Group 1.4. Captain Webster reports this development to Admiral Wallace, and is ordered to move to the jump point and secure it. Admiral Wallace is dispatching the HuK’s of Task Group 1.1 to probe the jump point, now that they have returned from refueling at the new base in the Miami system.
May 5, 2142, Sol
The newly organized 1st and 2nd Marine Raider Brigades board a brand-new fast troop transport and set out for Bastion, where they will support 1st Fleet operations.
In the Portland system, fuel is becoming an issue for ongoing operations. Worse, Admiral Wallace has been pushing her fleet hard, and deferred maintenance is going to become an issue at some point. Admiral Wallace is reluctant to order ships out of the system to refuel at this point, though, with Dregluk ships still operational in the system.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Baton Rouge
May 8, 2142, Baton Rouge system
Task Group 1.1 jumped out of the Portland system, through the unexplored jump point, and found itself 481 mkm’s from a dim T1-VII brown dwarf star. The brown dwarf primary had no planets or other system bodies, and the Dregluk ships that had entered the system days ago were not within range of the HuK’s sensors. The Task Group CO reported back, and Admiral Wallace ordered them to remain on the jump point for now. The new system is designated Baton Rouge.
Admiral Wallace recalled Task Group 1.3, which had been guarding the Portland side of the new jump point, and sent them back to the new forward base in Miami to refuel.
May 8, 2142, Portland
The Kit Carson returns to the Portland system. Admiral Wallace orders the scout to return to the jump point to Miami and refuel from the main fleet units there, before continuing on to the newly discovered Baton Rouge system, where it will establish a picket position and watch for Dregluk incursions.
May 10, 2142, Portland
The two remaining Dregluk ships, a cruiser and a destroyer, are now 5.7 billion kilometers from the newly discovered jump point that the other Dregluk DD used to leave the system, and are continuing to head out of the system. Task Group 1.4 has been shadowing them, but fuel has become critical. Admiral Wallace decides to recall Task Group 1.4. The Dregluk ships don’t seem to be headed anywhere, just away from their pursuers. If they return, they will be destroyed.
Task Group 1.4 turns and heads back into the system. Contact with the two Dregluk ships is soon lost.
May 14, 2142, Portland
After refueling from the Yamato’s cavernous tanks, the Kit Carson sets out for the jump point to Baton Rouge.
May 20, 2142, Baton Rouge
The scout Kit Carson enters the Baton Rouge system and sets out towards a point not far from the system primary.
May 24, 2142, 1732 hours, Portland and Baton Rouge systems
Task Group 1.1, composed of the three HuK’s assigned to 1st Fleet, detects the two Dregluk ships that had been headed out-system, now headed directly towards the jump point they are sitting on. Admiral Wallace had recalled all other ships for refueling at the jump point to Miami, so the three HuK’s were alone on the jump point. After some consideration, Admiral Chan sends a message to Admiral Wallace, located 2.7 billion kilometers, or two and a half hours away at light speed, at the jump point to Miami. After the message is away, he orders his task group to jump through to the Baton Rouge system. Once there they immediately begin moving away from the jump point on a random vector.
Two hundred and sixteen minutes later the HuK’s are 106 mkm’s from the jump point, and Admiral Chan orders them to come to a halt and reduce engine power to station-keeping. In addition, he orders the task group to lower their shields and deactivate their sensors. From this point on they will be entirely dependent on the Kit Carson, in the inner system, to keep tabs on the Dregluk ships.
The Kit Carson, which is itself doing its best to imitate a hole in space, watches as the Dregluk ships jump into the system. Soon, the crew of the KC is able to determine that the Dregluk ships are on a course across the system. This course will take them in between the two groups of human ships, but not particularly close to either. The CO of the Carson sends a message to the HuK’s, which cannot see the Dregluk ships at all, to remain silent until the Dregluk ships clear the area.
Four hours after entering the system the Dregluk ships jumped out through a jump point located 94.6 mkm’s from their entry point. Admiral Chan orders his group to move the jump point immediately, along with the scout. He dispatches one of his HuK’s back to the Portland system to report to Admiral Wallace.
Sol---Washington---Denver---Miami---Portland---Salt Lake---El Paso
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Baton Rouge---Houston
May 25, 2142, 0711 hours, Baton Rouge system
The HuK Intrepid reaches the jump point to Portland and plunges through. Once on the far side the HuK’s CO sends a message to Admiral Wallace and then immediately jumps back through to Baton Rouge and sets out for the new jump point. The scout Kit Carson is still seventeen hours away, so the Intrepid has plenty of time to rejoin her group at the new jump point.
Back in the Portland system, Admiral Wallace dispatches a group of five frigates, designated Task Group 1.3, to the jump point to Baton Rouge, to maintain contact with Admiral Chan. These frigates are refueled by the assault ship Ark Royal before setting out.
May 26, 2142, 041 hours, Baton Rouge system
The scout Kit Carson has joined the HuK’s of Task group 1.1 on the jump point. Shortly after the scout arrived, the HuK’s jump through the unexplored jump point. They materialize in a system with a G0-V star orbited by five planets, four of which are terrestrial and one gas giant. The new system is designated the Houston system. One of the terrestrial planet’s orbits at 146 mkm’s from the primary and is at approximately the same distance from the task group as it emerges. That planet also houses a Dregluk population or base of significant size, somewhat smaller than the Ganymede colony, which currently houses 72 million people, but still respectable in size. All of that would be deciphered later, from the sensor logs of the three HuK’s. Of considerably more importance, at least to the crew of the Intrepid, was the weapon impacts on their shields immediately after entering the system. The Intrepid was shaken by nineteen low power hits on her shields, reducing them by 16%. Her CO, Commander Gemma Tyler, desperately tried to regain her wits as her ship shook around her. Five seconds later another salvo of Dregluk energy weapons slashed in and shook her ship again, taking her shields down to 76%, as Commander Tyler began backing out commands to her crew to begin regaining control over their ship. On board the other two ships of the group the commanders knew something was wrong, but they were just as blind as the Intrepid. A few seconds later, though, the Dregluk DD that they had been pursuing appeared, moving away from the jump point. There was no sign of the Dregluk cruiser, though.
Admiral Chan ordered his group to independently begin pursing the destroyer as soon as they could bring their engines on line. After another five seconds the Dregluk firing stopped, possibly because the destroyer was now 47,000 kilometers away, or perhaps the Dregluk were recharging. Either way, the break was welcome as the Intrepid’s crew struggled to get their engines, sensors, and weapons online.
Forty seconds after entering the system the Assistance gets underway. By that time the Dregluk DD is 162 mkm’s out and running at 4,607 km/s, but the Assistance is overtaking at 3,574 km/s. The Dregluk ship’s lead won’t last long. Ten seconds after that, the other two HuK’s raced away from the jump point in pursuit of the Dregluk DD. None of them had their active sensors up yet, but their crews were working on it.
Thirty seconds later, or one minute and twenty seconds after entering the system, as the Assistance closed on the Dregluk ship, it began taking fire from the fleeing destroyer. Once again, the hits to her shields were low power, but the human ships were still tracking the Dregluk ship with their thermal sensors, which meant that they couldn’t fire. Twenty-five seconds later, with their active sensors still down and the Intrepid’s shields reduced to 25%, Admiral Chan was forced to order the Intrepid to drop out of the pursuit.
For five more seconds the Dregluk DD pounded the Intrepid, but then, as the HuK fell behind, it shifted fire to the Endeavor. Five seconds after that, finally, the human ships restored their active sensors and they were able to target the Dregluk ship. Even as the human crews struggled to bring their weapons online the Dregluk ship turned back and began pounding the Intrepid again. Ten seconds later, even as the Dregluk ship shifted its targeting back to the Endeavor, the Assistance speared the Dregluk ship with her lasers, causing multiple spurts of atmosphere as the destroyer’s armor was penetrated. In apparent desperation, the Dregluk shifted fire back to the Intrepid, knocking her shields down to minimal strength with their fast-firing particle beams.
The Intrepid was spared by the next Dregluk salvo, which targeted the Endeavor. Both the Endeavor and the Assistance fired next, causing more streams of atmosphere to follow the Dregluk ship, and slowing the destroyer. The hapless Intrepid was the target next, and this time her shields were down. She suffered minor armor damage from the Dregluk particle beams.
The Dregluk beams fell silent after that as her active sensors were out, and now the Intrepid’s lasers were firing as well, causing more hull breaches. Five seconds after that laser barrages from the Assistance and the Intrepid gutted the alien ship, leaving it drifting in a cloud of wreckage and life pods.
With the area around the jump point now clear, the Intrepid jumped back to the Baton Rouge system to bring the scout forward. The Kit Carson, once in the system, locates the cruiser and its destroyer companion, both at the Dregluk population on the third planet. The scout detects an additional, smaller, population on the largest moon of the outermost gas giant (planet #5). Admiral Chan sends one of his ships back to Baton Rouge to send a message to the ships picketed at the jump point back to Portland, reporting his finds. Approximately six hours later Admiral Chan receives a reply. Admiral Wallace orders the fleet to return to Bastion for refueling and overhauls. The scout will remain in the Portland system, to warn pickets stationed at the jump points back to the Washington system of the approach of Dregluk ships.
Admiral Wallace, in Portland at the jump point to the Miami system, declares the operation to be a success and sends a message back through the picket communications network to the Admiralty informing them of the newly discovered Dregluk population, and her intent to conquer and invest it as the next step towards destroying the Dregluk Imperium.
May 30, 2142, Portland System
The 1st Fleet is reassembled and Admiral Wallace orders it to set out for Bastion, leaving behind the scout Kit Carson and a picket ship to watch the system.
June 12, 2142, Washington system
The 1st Fleet arrives over Bastion and sets to refueling and rearming. Half of the fleet’s frigates go into overhaul status immediately, while Admiral Wallace begins planning Operation Forward Redoubt. In addition, Admiral Wallace begins to rebalance the forces deployed for the defense of the Washington system, in light of the deep penetration into the Dregluk Imperium and the advanced warning that this will entail. The pod groups deployed to the Denver and the Los Angeles jump points will be withdrawn to Bastion and overhauled, in preparation for Operation Forward Redoubt. The numbers of monitors deployed to the jump points will be rebalanced as well.
