August 10, 2360
The first of the missile destroyers released by Sergeant Abriabriashav arrives at the jump point out the system. As per Sergeant Abriabriashav’s orders, the arriving ships will be lumped into two different groups. Those that can match the jump cruiser’s maximum speed will gather together and depart as a group for home. The slower, more damaged units will rendezvous with a single jump cruiser left behind to escort them home.
August 15, 2360
The final ship from the first, faster group arrives at the warp point. The assembled force, composed of two bombardment cruisers, two jump cruisers, two area defense cruisers, and nine missile destroyers jumps out, escorting the troop ships.
Two heavily damaged ships, a strike cruiser and an area defense cruiser, are still limping towards the warp point, where a lone jump cruiser awaits them.
August 21, 2360
The jump cruiser left on the warp point in the alien system detects a single 6,200 ton alien ship on a course towards the warp point. The Zog cruiser has a full stock of missiles, both offensive and defensive, and there is only a single enemy ship on the screens, so the commander decides to wait and see what happens. The nearest of the limping ships is still 1.3 billion kilometers away.
Five hours later the alien ship was thirty million kilometers from the jump cruiser, well within range of the cruiser’s offensive missiles. The ship’s commander ordered an offensive strike, the first missile strike by a Zog ship against this particular alien race.
The jump cruiser’s offensive armament was limited, only three launchers, but the alien ship was small and the Zogs were terribly eager to see the enemy suffer under a missile assault. Every ten seconds another three-missile salvo went out. The cruiser launched a total of five salvoes, or half of its stock of offensive missiles, then fell silent, waiting to see the results. The Zog offensive missiles raced away at 40,000 kps, or a full 12,000 kps faster than the known speed of the enemy’s AMM’s.
Ten minutes later the missiles arrived. Two missiles from the first salvo hit the enemy ship, while the third was stopped by point defense fire. The attack went downhill after that. All of the subsequent salvoes were wiped out short of the alien ship.
After that the jump cruiser emptied its magazines. Just one missile out of the fifteen hit the alien ship, which gave no sign of being damaged. His offensive missiles gone, the cruiser’s commander ordered his ship through the warp point and then set a course at full speed for home. Before departing he ordered the two remaining damaged Zog ships to make for a rendezvous point far to one side of the warp point, and once there to power down and await relief. The jump cruiser jumped out shortly thereafter.
One hour and fifty two minutes later the pursuing alien ship appeared on the warp point behind the fleeing jump cruiser, just 20 mkm’s behind the cruiser. The alien ship had a speed superiority of 745 kps, which meant that it would overtake the Zog ship in about seven and a half hours.
Seven hours and thirteen minutes later the alien ship had closed to 2 mkm’s, and the jump cruiser began launching AMM’s at the approaching ship. Every five seconds later six AMM’s raced away from the Zog ship. Forty five seconds later the first salvo attacked the approaching enemy ship. Three of the AMM’s were destroyed short of the alien ship, but the other three hit. After that the approaching alien ship was hit by a steady stream of anti-missile missiles. It took twelve salvoes before the alien ship began streaming atmosphere. Shortly after that the alien ship began slowing down, indicating engine damage.
By the time the Zog ship ran out of AMM’s the alien ship had slowed to the point where it could not catch the fleeing Zog ship. When the second to last salvo hit, the Zog ship detected a secondary power system explosion. By the time the last salvo was finished, the alien ship was down to 967 kps, far slower than the fleeing Zog ship, which was a good thing, considering the fact that the Zog ship now had no armaments left at all.
Eleven and a half hours later the alien ship disappeared from the Zog ship’s scanners as it fell too far behind and dropped out of range.
September 15, 2360
The battered survivors of the Assault Fleet return to the home system. The Home Fleet is recalled and preparations to return to Gliese 667 begin. After planning begins, though, cooler heads prevail. The Home Fleet is weaker than the Assault Fleet was originally, thus it would be folly to send it out against the aliens without reinforcement.
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September 2360
With the arrival of this terrible news, the Zog government falls. An interregnum results, with no less than fourteen governments claiming power over the next several months. Heedless of the fleeting nature of these governments, the bureaucracy rolls on.
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September 16, 2360
The Assault Fleet moves into orbit over Zog Prime. The two surviving area defense cruisers and three of the missile destroyers are singled out for immediate repair, as soon as yard space becomes available. The remaining ships, two bombardment cruisers, two jump cruisers, and six missile destroyers, immediately begin refueling and reloading their magazines. As soon as the ships make orbit the High Command dispatches Guard troops to take control of the ships. The crews are off-loaded and shipped to the surface. Once on the ground they are lined up under heavy guard. Two out of ten of the crew members, and three out of every ten officers, are selected, marched forward, and summarily shot for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The rest are put on probation and warned against future disloyalty.
Sergeant Abriabriashav is jumped several ranks and awarded the state’s highest medal. Several days later the civil government designates Colonel Abriabriashav as a hero of the Zog race, posthumously.
The chastened crews are returned to their ships. There aren’t enough missiles in the planetary stocks to replenish all of the ships, a further delay to the plans for retribution.
General Vriaprinzhlas, CO of the Zog Fleet Forces, has a difficult decision to make. He has received no meaningful input from any of the transitory governments that have made claims to power, leaving the decision on him. As things stand, when the undamaged ships from the defeated force were combined with the forces he has available in the home system, the resulting battle group was significantly more powerful than the fleet sent out to conquer the aliens the first time, except in one category. There were only six area defense cruisers available in the home system at the current time, and that was exactly the same number that went into the alien system the first time, a number which had proved woefully inadequate to deal with the alien missiles. Two additional ADC’s could be found if he pulled in the territorial guard units, but that raised other problems.
The territorial guard units were stationed over the two conquests the fleet had made so far, and while the guard units weren’t large enough to deal with a full scale attack by the enemy fleet, they should certainly be large enough to deal with probes, or small attack forces. If he withdrew them, or weakened them significantly, the fleet’s conquests would be vulnerable. Losing control of them would be unthinkable, a serious blow to the military’s prestige.
After some thought, and consultation with his aides and advisors, General Vriaprinzhlas decided to wait. Three cruisers of various types (not ADC’s) would be launched next month, which would free up yard space for repair work on the damaged units. The combination of the newly launched ships, the repaired units, and some strategic withdrawals from the territorial guard units, along with fresh missile production, would mean that in two months or so he could put together a truly overwhelming force.
September 21, 2360
The Zog geo-survey ship arrives in the home system with news from the expedition to the ruins in Gliese 563.2. The news that the ruins in that system are of an old Imperial Terran installation are disturbing, and exciting. The old Empire was known to be much more advanced than the current Zog state, and certainly advanced technology had been obtained from the Terran colony on New Birmingham. The problem was that Gliese 563.2 lay beyond Gliese 667, so any ships heading out along that branch of warp lines ran the risk of interception.
In the end the Supreme Council decided to dispatch a group of engineers in transports escorted by several missile destroyers. The find in Gliese 563.2 was too important to relinquish.
September 22, 2360
The jump cruiser chased out of the alien system arrives in the home system. The High Council counts this ship’s engagement as a win, as the ship survived and the alien ship was damaged.
September 24, 2360
Even as debate on Zog Prime rages about the course of action to take in regards to the ruins on Gliese-563.2, the xenology teams finally complete their survey. There are 114 abandoned installations of various types left more or less intact on the planet. In addition, the teams have uncovered indisputable evidence that the Terran installations on this inhospitable planet were intend to support operations elsewhere, something they had suspected from the first given the planet’s extreme environment. The surprise, though, was where those operations were located. Originally, the team assumed that this was a forward base for some military action the warlike Terrans were planning on their frontier, however, records deciphered during the survey process show that the installation supported operations in the planetary system of this binary system’s secondary star. The discovery is problematic and exciting at the same time.
The Gliese 563.2 system’s secondary star orbits approximately 91 billion kilometers from the primary. It would take a standard survey ship five hundred and sixty two days to make the round trip to the secondary star to discover what was there. When the new-tech survey ships were launched, which were equipped with anti-matter drives based on technology taken from the conquered human colony world, they would be able to make the round trip in two hundred and forty days, which was well within their capabilities, but it was certainly problematic.
Normally, the Zog government had ignored such distant companions, as there were so many other systems closer. This was a special situation, though. The xenology teams had uncovered evidence that the Terran installation in the “B” component was considered by them to be very important. So important that they built up a significant presence on a world that was as completely inhospitable to them as it was to Zogs. So important that every mention of the purpose of the installations was encrypted in such a way that the xenology teams estimated that it would take the Zog scientific establishment approximately a thousand years to decrypt the data.
There being no ships in the system, the xenology teams are forced to wait for the survey ship to return with the engineering units.
September 25, 2360
Two troop transports, loaded with three engineering regiments and an infantry brigade, depart from Zog Prime bound for Gliese 563.2. They are escorted by a jump cruiser and three missile destroyers.
December 8, 2360
The Zog Home Fleet, consisting of eight bombardment cruisers, three jump cruisers, eight area defense cruisers, seven strike cruisers, four missile destroyers (box launchers), and nine missile destroyers, departs the home system en route to the Gliese 667 system. The fleet will meet up with reinforcements before proceeding to the enemy’s system.
January 12, 2361
The Zog Home Fleet, bolstered by reinforcements from scattered guard forces, is now assembled in the Delta Pavonis system and ready to set out for the Gliese 667 system. The fleet is now composed of eight bombardment cruisers, three jump cruisers, ten area defense cruisers, nine strike cruisers, and nineteen missile destroyers, four of which are equipped with box launchers. The bombardment cruisers, the missile destroyers equipped with box launchers, and some of the area defense cruisers are loaded with the Zog Federation’s latest missiles, both offensive and defensive.
January 15, 2361
The Zog Home Fleet, commanded by Major Dlevravrevliashav, is in the Luyten 205-128 system, approaching the warp point to the enemy home system (Gliese 667). Major Dlevravrevliashav has ordered the Fleet to activate their sensors and charge their shields prior to performing a combat jump into the system. Seconds later, before the fleet arrives at the warp point, a 6,200 ton enemy ship materializes on the warp point. This class of ship has been designated as the Delta class Destroyer by Zog Fleet Intelligence based on sensor records of the last battleship.
The enemy ship immediately leaves the warp point and races towards the fleet, which has come to a halt in confusion. One by one the Zog strike cruisers launch torpedoes at the incoming alien ship, heavily damaging the Planter ship approximately 100,000 kilometers from the fleet. The second salvo from two strike cruisers wiped the alien ship out.
After waiting a few seconds Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet forward. The fleet assembled on the warp point and charged its shields without incident. Once everything was in readiness, Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered one of the jump cruisers, accompanied by two strike cruisers, to jump through to the enemy home system to scout the far side of the warp point.
One minute later the probe force returned to report the absence of enemy forces on the warp point. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet to jump into the home system. Major Dlevravrevliashav detaches the three jump cruisers to watch the warp point and orders the fleet forward to the system’s “C” component, which is where the last battle took place. That is also the location where the enemy fleet was last seen performing an in-system jump through a La Grange jump point that connects to the “B” component.
January 22, 2361, 1342 hours
Twelve enemy ships appear on the Home Fleet’s sensors. There are three 18,600 ton ships, one 12,400 ton ship, and seven 6,200 ton ships. Zog Fleet Intelligence has designated these as Alpha class battleships, Bravo class cruisers, and Delta class destroyers. The alien ships are headed directly towards the fleet at 3,870 kps, substantially slower than the Home Fleet’s speed of 5,000 kps. Major Dlevravrevliashav orders the fleet to close on the alien ships, which are 90 mkm’s away, in between the fleet and the “C” component of the system.
Over time, as the two sides approached each other, the alien force split into three, with one ship retreating before the oncoming Zog fleet, while the group of approaching ships split into two. Eventually, the second group of three enemy ships turned back, leaving delta class ships and one Bravo class ship heading towards the Zog fleet. Eventually the lead group broke up yet again, with three of the Delta class destroyers turning away from the oncoming Zog force. Eventually the lead group split again and yet again, until finally all of the enemy ships were headed away from the oncoming Zog force. Eighteen minutes after the last alien ship turned away the first enemy missiles appeared on Zog screens.
The first incoming missile salvo was composed of thirty one missiles approaching at 14,405 kps. Zog interceptors roared away from the area defense cruisers of the fleet, and took out the incoming missiles with a 100% success rate. After the second salvo achieved a similar success rate Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered his ships with the latest generation of interceptor missile to hold their fire and conserve their AMM’s for any later salvoes of faster enemy missiles that might appear. Even with nearly a quarter of its AMM tubes silenced the fleet still had more than enough interceptor capacity to deal with the incoming missile waves.
The missile attack petered out fourteen minutes later. Not one missile got closer than 1 mkm of the fleet. Two minutes after the last missile of the first attack died the second attack began. The first wave of this attack was composed of forty four missiles traveling at 19,190 kps. The second attack lasted for seven minutes and twenty seconds, was composed of seventeen salvoes, and taxed the Zog anti-missile system more than the first attack. The second attack’s missiles were faster, and so the Zog AMM’s only achieved an 80% hit ratio. Almost every salvo had at least a few leakers that made it to the inner defense zone, but no missiles survived the inner zone’s torpedo fire to enter the point blank zone.
Four hours and thirty minutes later the trailing enemy group fell within 38 mkm’s of the Zog fleet, theoretically within range of the Zog fleet’s missiles. In reality, the Zog missiles would have a maximum range of 34.6 mkm’s against a fleeing enemy. The chase went on.
One hour and twenty minutes later the Zog ships were finally in range. Four Delta’s and one Bravo were 32 to 34 mkm’s away. Major Dlevravrevliashav decided to test the new box launcher systems, and so assigned three missile destroyers to engage the enemy ships. Thirty seconds later one hundred and twenty offensive missiles roared away from the Zog fleet at 40,000 kps. Forty were targeted on the larger enemy ship, while twenty each were targeted on the smaller ships.
Fourteen minutes and fifty five seconds later the salvoes reached the three Delta class ships. None of the alien ships engaged the missiles before they hit, and three ships absorbed seventeen to twenty missiles each before they were destroyed. Ten seconds later the larger ship was overtaken and it suffered the same fate as its smaller consorts after absorbing only twenty hits.
During the time that it took for the first missile salvo to reach its target, three more Delta’s and another Bravo had fallen within range of the Zog fleet’s missiles. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered another strike to be launched against these ships, consisting of twenty missiles each, to be launched primarily from the Dulalas class missile destroyers equipped with standard launchers.
Once again a Zog missile strike raced away, this time composed of eighty four missiles, twenty for each Delta class ship, and twenty four for the larger Bravo class ship. Even as the missiles raced towards the alien ships the three smaller ships turned back towards the Zog fleet, either in a vain attempt to close or to pick up the life pods left drifting in space after the destruction of their fellow warships.
Thirteen minutes and fifteen seconds later the missiles reached the smaller alien ships, which had paused to pick up life pods from their stricken ships, Once again the smallest alien ships proved to have no active defenses and failed to withstand the twenty-missile salvoes. One was completely destroyed in a blinding flash of light, while the other two were heavily damaged. Eighty seconds later the missile wave reached alien cruiser, which was destroyed as well.
Just over two hours later the most heavily damaged alien destroyer fell within range of the fleet’s torpedoes. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the strike cruiser’s to launch against the enemy ship. The heavily damaged alien ship was hit by a single torpedo and blew up. At the same time Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered a missile destroyer to launch four missiles against the other damaged alien ship, which had managed to repair its engines and restored its speed to 3870 kps. While it wasn’t pulling away, Major Dlevravrevliashav had no wish to discover if it had repaired its close range weapons, if it had any.
Four minutes and fifty seconds later the four missiles hit the alien ship, causing it to stream atmosphere but having no other observable effect. Major Dlevravrevliashav decided not to order a second strike when the alien ship turn and began racing towards the oncoming Zog fleet. Whatever their intention, the Zog torpedoes would sort them out.
Nineteen minutes later the alien ship flared and died under Zog torpedo fire.
Fifty two minutes later three of the four large Alpha class battleships had fallen within range of Zog missiles. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered another missile strike against the large ships. Seconds later one hundred and six missiles raced away from the fleet. Fifteen minutes twenty seconds later the missiles slammed into the enemy ships. Thirty two were destroyed by point blank anti-missile fire; almost every remaining missile hit their targets. All three ships were streaming atmosphere, and two had lost engines. None appeared heavily damaged.
Major Dlevravrevliashav was loath to expend more missiles against targets that were slower than his own ships. After some thought he decided to dispatch his strike cruisers to run the alien ships down.
Forty minutes later the last undamaged battleship fell within range. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered his missile destroyers to launch a salvo against the alien ship. Unfortunately, the Zog missiliers miscalculated and the salvo ran out of fuel short of the alien ship. After disciplining the missile crews Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered a second salvo to be launched. Four of the sixty missiles were shot out of space short of the target, leaving fifty six to hit the alien ship, leaving it limping towards the La Grange point.
Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered his plotting computer to project relative speeds and ranges on the main plot. After pondering the situation for a short time he realized he had no choice but to continue the missile engagement. The alien ships would reach the La Grange point before the strike cruisers could reach them. He couldn’t allow that.
Seconds later sixty missiles left the Zog ships, aimed at the closest enemy ships. Ten seconds later twenty four missiles were launched at the most distant ship. The results of the strike were inconclusive. One of the four ships was slowed somewhat, but other than that there was no other obvious effect.
Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered another strike. Once again the results were inconclusive, with two of the three ships slowed slightly. Yet another strike went out. This strike reduced the speed of one of the three ships to 321 kps, but the other two continued to forge ahead. The fourth strike went out, aimed at the three alien ships still moving away at speeds in excess of 2,000 kps. This strike was decisive. Two of the large enemy ships were destroyed outright, and the last was slowed to 1129 kps. That left two enemy ships limping towards the La Grange point.
Major Dlevravrevliashav was convinced that the enemy had run out of offensive missiles during the first battle, and that the ships he faced this time were equipped with what few missiles the Planters had built since then. If that was true, then the enemy’ remaining ships were likely only equipped with AMM’s.
Eleven minutes later the strike cruisers took out the trailing enemy ship, fourteen minutes later, as the strike cruiser group was closing in on the last remaining enemy ship, twelve enemy ships appeared on the warp point. There were five Bravo class cruisers and seven Delta class destroyers.
Major Dlevravrevliashav was now in a difficult position. His nine strike cruisers were 5.8 mkm’s from the La Grange point, and his main fleet was 15 mkm’s behind the lead ships. He could order his strike cruisers to chase down the enemy ships, as they were nearly twice as fast as the enemy ships. That would put them running directly into the enemy’s fire, though, and even if they didn’t have offensive missiles then the strike cruisers would ultimately face AMM’s as they tried to close. On the other hand, if he ordered them to retreat then they would still face offensive missile fire from the aliens, if they had missiles, and would have no chance to fire back. Equally, he could not order his missile ships to engage the enemy, as they were sitting on the La Grange point, and while they were well within range, they could duck back through at any time, causing the Zog missiles to lose lock.
A minute passed while Major Dlevravrevliashav pondered the situation. During that time the enemy force moved away from the La Grange point. Finally, he made up his mind. Orders were sent to the other fleet ships, and fifteen seconds later three hundred and forty missiles raced away from the Zog fleet in one large mass. At the same time, Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the strike cruisers to come about and run, in the hopes that if the enemy had launched missiles, the strike cruisers could draw out their overtake time long enough to allow the Zog missiles to arrive.
The minutes passed slowly as the two fleets closed on each other, and the Zog missile group raced towards the enemy ships. Finally the enemy’s purpose became clear. The enemy fleet reached the last remaining ship from the first group, which was limping towards the La Grange point at 1289 kps, merged with it, and began escorting it back towards the warp point.
Major Dlevravrevliashav began clacking his battle claw, marking the time as the offensive missiles approached the enemy fleet. Explosions blossomed six hundred and forty thousand kilometers short of the enemy fleet as Zog missiles began exploding, presumably due to enemy AMM fire. Sixty one Zog missiles were lost on approach, and more were lost to point blank defenses, but the majority broke through everything the enemy could throw against them. The carnage was incredible. Zog sensors recorded two hundred and seventy nine separate explosions, including several massive internal detonations on board the enemy ships. Four Delta class destroyers and four Bravo class cruisers were destroyed outright. The five remaining ships, an Alpha class battleship, a Bravo class cruiser, and three Delta class destroyers, were left limping towards the La Grange point at 1290 kps. The enemy’s weakness for their wounded had cost them dearly. Major Dlevravrevliashav clacked his claws in derision, and the rest of the bridge crew followed suit.
Major Dlevravrevliashav considered the plot for a short period of time. He had enough time to launch one more missile strike against the enemy ships before they transited out, but he had already used two thirds of his offensive missile strength. After considering carefully he ordered the strike cruisers to reverse course again and pursue the enemy ships through the La Grange point.
Twelve minutes later the enemy ships passed the La Grange point and continued across the system. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the strike cruisers to run them down, while his main fleet headed for the La Grange point.
When the strike cruisers reached 1.3 mkm’s range from the fleeing ships, five missiles appeared on their scanners, inbound and only seconds from impact. Torpedo fire took out all five. Every ten seconds five more missiles would race in, only to be met with overwhelming torpedo fire. The tiny missiles were still coming when the strike group commander ordered his ships to switch from defensive fire to offensive configuration. The enemy ships had finally fallen within range and five missiles with small warheads appearing every ten seconds wasn’t a big enough threat to worry about, not when there were targets in range.
The strike cruisers divided their fire among the smallest ships in the enemy fleet, the Delta class destroyers. The first salvo ripped the enemy ships apart, and the strike cruisers then shifted their fire to the Alpha class battleship and the Bravo class cruiser. A single salvo sufficed to wipe them out as well.
Three minutes later the strike cruisers were on the La Grange point and jumped through to the system’s “B” component. Once through they found themselves, as expected, at the La Grange point associated with the “B” component’s outer gas giant. They immediately detected an EM signature associated with a population on Gliese 667 B-III, on the far side of the star from their location. The EM signature was about one sixth that of Zog Prime and far higher than either of the human colony worlds they had conquered so far. Of course, the Planters were nothing like humans or Zogs. No ships were within detection range, so the group commander sent a single ship back to report to the main fleet, then settled down to wait.
Gliese 667 B-III was an extremely Zog Prime-like world, whose gravity and temperature fell well within Zog tolerances. The atmosphere was off, though, with way too much oxygen for Zog tastes. Still, though, in interstellar terms it was prime real estate, if the Zog were interested in colonization.
Major Dlevravrevliashav decided at that point to bring his troops forward. The message was sent back to the warp point, where the troop transports were waiting, guarded by the jump cruisers. Meanwhile, his fleet forged ahead, towards the La Grange point. The enemy life-pods were left to float in space, as punishment for opposing the True Race.
Thirty four minutes later the main fleet transited into the “B” component’s system to join with the strike cruisers. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the combined force forward towards the enemy population. Just over four hours later six Delta class destroyers appeared on the Zog scanners, in bound at the standard speed for Planter ships, 3870 kps. Major Dlevravrevliashav immediately ordered the fleet into a pursuit course.
One hundred and fifty minutes later the enemy ships were within range. Because they were on an approach course, the Zog missiles could be launched immediately. On Major Dlevravrevliashav’s orders ninety Mark II offensive missiles raced away from two Bombardment Cruisers.
The missile strike ran all the way to the enemy ships without opposition, and only seven missiles missed their targets. None of the enemy ships were destroyed, but several were slowed to 967 kps. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered a second strike, this one composed of five missiles for each target. Once again the missiles raced in unopposed, and only three enemy ships were left after the second strike. The leading ship appeared to be the only one with any functioning point defenses, and thus had come through both strikes the best. Of the two other ships, one was dead in space while the other was slowed to 486 kps. Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered a third strike of twenty missiles to finish off the alien ships. While the missiles raced towards the enemy ships they had come to a halt to pick up the life-pods dropped by the other ships. This was to be the last salvo. All three remaining ships exploded under the onslaught, and once again the path towards the enemy planet was clear.
Four hours and thirty eight minutes later the Zog fleet came to a halt 100 mkm’s from the alien planet. While this was far beyond the range of their own missiles, Major Dlevravrevliashav suspected that they might well be within range of the enemy’s planet based missiles, if they had any. After the fleet came to a halt Major Dlevravrevliashav broadcast a demand for surrender to the alien planet. There was no reply.
Three hours after halting Major Dlevravrevliashav gave the order to close on the alien planet. Two and a half hours later the fleet came to a halt 50 mkm’s from the planet. Once again a demand for surrender was broadcast, and once again the fleet waited for three hours without receiving a reply. The fleet set out towards the enemy planet again, this time coming to a halt 25 mkm’s from the planet. Another demand for surrender was broadcast, followed by three hours of waiting in vain for a response.
There was no response and no sign of resistance, so Major Dlevravrevliashav ordered the fleet forward, this time all the way to the planet. The fleet moved into orbit unopposed, and once in orbit their scanners detected a moderate number of enemy ground forces securing their cities. The fleet would now have to wait for the troop transports, which were still almost twelve days out.
