WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN!!
Tales of the Union.
The Legend of Survey 7 (9)
24th March 86. 94 Aquarii. STG (Survey Task Group) 7 was surveying 94 Aquarii in search of the Lleida Hierarchy. Venture C-003 was performing a gravitational survey with four of its sisters; Lieutenant Annapurna Bhattathiri was in command. Venture C-004 (Captain Apsaras Karia, senior officer of the squadron) was 1287.3 million klicks at another survey location. All was going well when from the sensor station came the ominous report “Ship detected at 230 million klicks, bearing 32
o, declination 0
o 15’ ” followed almost immediately by the mechanical voiced alert from the combat comp “Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 008. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 009.” Lieutenant Bhattathiri first orders were “Squadron alert if you please Comms, crew to defence stations, Weapons, shields up!” Then in aside to the bridge crew “looks like the Hierarchy didn’t come this way. They would never have survived in their slow boats. Pilot lay in an intercept course for the Destroyer attack craft.” He could hardly do any less after Lieutenant Abigail Gregory’s successful attack on a pair of identical craft.
Approximately one hour twenty minutes later Captain Karia received the light speed squadron alert and sit rep. He decided to move into a supporting position and sent off his reply.
14:32. Range was 28.5 million klicks, no missiles yet incoming but the crew had spent the time securing items which might turn into impromptu projectiles should the ship suffer a hull breach. Lieutenant Annapurna Bhattathiri issued the order ”crew to action stations!”
14:52. 3.3 million klicks and still no missiles! Then five minutes later they were at point blank range and Bhattathiri opened fire. At almost the same instant proximity alert klaxons burst into life, “Missiles incoming” was the almost incoherent yell from the weapons console .The CIWS rattled into life, shredding three of the Destroyer Otlichny missiles, the Destroyer craft were so close the gauss turrets didn’t get a chance to fire, but the 20cm advanced laser reached out and the invisible beam carved Dragonera 009 in two, the power section of which then erupted with secondary explosions. Weapons switched target to Dragonera 008 and waited for the laser to recharge. But the two craft passed out of range causing Bhattathiri to sharply order “Pilot, closing course now please!” Fifteen second later Venture C-004 was on the tail of Dragonera 008 which twisted and turned trying to evade the deadly beam, but to no avail. Once more the beam reached out and transfixed the small craft, exiting the other side! The alien vessel crumpled and pieces detached themselves from the failing hull. All that remained now was for the squadron to escape 94 Aquarii without loss. The Union’s experience had been if there are fast attack craft then there would be heavier vessels to back them up. At 18:.12 Venture C-004 was not disappointed three Las Palmas class ships appeared at the edge of her sensor envelope. But with luck they would out run them.
The closest approach was 146.4 million klicks, well out of Range of the Destroyer Hellcat missiles carried by these ships. It now looked like a clear run to the jump point.
25th March 86. 94 Aquarii. At 11:27 Venture C-004’s pursuers slipped off her sensors as she headed for the jump point
29th March 86. 94 Aquarii. The universe didn’t seem to like Lieutenant Annapurna Bhattathiri today, he had destroyed two Destroyer craft and outrun three more, but now there were more Destroyer ships on an intercept course to Venture C-004, six more Dragonera attack craft were 213 million klicks distant, 129
o, declination 0
o 2’, fine off the starboard bow. Lieutenant Bhattathiri would now have to attempt to avoid them as it was entirely likely that six of these craft could destroy the Venture C-004. He knew if he could work round them he could escape. After some calculation he decided to try and bull through, but he had to rely on his ECM system. It was unknown whether the Dragonera class had ECCM, but it looked unlikely, so he had to be further than 15.2 million klicks from the Destroyer vessels. If he miscalculated and finished under this distance it was entirely probable Venture C-004 would be destroyed. Venture C-004 passed just 16.2 million klicks from the enemy, far enough away they could not lock on. However there was another wrinkle. The Squadron had been exchanging data as they approached the jump point and Venture C-001 and C-005 were 1923 and 1888 million klicks respectively from the jump point while Venture C-004 was only 1433 million klicks from the jump point. Lieutenant Bhattathiri had to try and decoy the FAC chasing him and hope they did not just try and secure the jump point instead.
1st April 14 86. 94 Aquarii. 13:15. Lieutenant Bhattathiri decided to try and lead his pursuers in system, but the Dragoneras were more manoeuvrable and turned inside of his trajectory, closing to 8.7 million klicks. The thermal sensor picked up six salvos of seven missiles approaching at 53,000 k/s. Unfortunately the pilot had miscalculated the course and the Dragoneras’ had achieved their lock-on, Venture C-004 was now facing forty-two incoming Destroyer Otlichny missiles with twelve-kiloton warheads. All Lieutenant Annapurna Bhattathiri could do now was order “crew to action stations, prepare for impact!”
At 14:15:45 the automated defences of Venture C-004 roared into life, First the large 20cm laser fired with a loud crack as the capacitor discharged destroying a single missile, as the range rapidly decreased the gauss turrets fired, the ship shuddered as they sent their hyper velocity projectiles against the missiles, one turret also only killed one additional missile but the other turret stopped a further six. Finally the CIWS spat out a stream of depleted uranium slugs and stopped a further six missiles in their tracks. Fourteen missiles down, twenty-eight to go. Now it was the Venture C-004’s turn to try and evade the incoming agents of death. The ship Jinked in all three dimensions and it appeared to be working, one entire salvo lost terminal guidance, in all nineteen lost their target lock, but then the first warhead detonated against the shields, nine missiles retained lock-on and exploded, the first eight took down the strength 96 shields, the final warhead directed its tritium fuelled plasma lance against the naked armoured hull of the ship. It easily burnt through the three armoured layers, creating a large crater, but the warhead ran out of energy, and only managed to open two compartments to vacuum, failing to penetrate within the hull. The crew would now need to start anti-radiation treatment, but that was a highly reliable treatment and no one died of radiation poisoning since before the formation of the Space Corps. The ship had survived partly through good judgement, partly through good luck and partly through strong construction.
All Lieutenant Bhattathiri had to do now was escape 94 Aqualii before the Dragoneras’ could rearm and return to finish the job. So rather than kill the Dragoneras’ which were at his mercy he drove on for the jump point, very much aware there were still the three Las Palmas class ships pursuing Venture C-004.
7th April 86. 94 Aquarii. At 13:30 Venture C-004 safely transited out of 94 Aquarii and into Ceti 13, the last of STG 7 to do so. Lieutenant Bhattathiri was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross while his senior officer, Captain Karia, was mentioned in dispatches.
12th April 86. Phi-2 Ceti. The 342th Engineer Brigade disturbed an underground vault on Beaumaris - Phi-2 Ceti-A II that contained hostile ‘droid soldiers. This was the first one discovered on Beaumaris - Phi-2 Ceti-A II. However the 12th Leviathan Division’s ready brigade responded promptly and defeated the attempted breakout into the wider colony, although some infrastructure was destroyed no lives were lost (principally because the colonists have yet to arrive). There were two battalions’ of the mechanical monsters and were among the most sophisticated yet seen, but this did not help them and both units had 40% of their automatons reduced to so much scrap.
18th April 86. Phi-2 Ceti. The cybernetic soldiers tenaciously held out just beyond the vault from which they issued forth. They took significant casualties but had occupied strong points which were proving difficult to neutralise without destroying a significant portion of the excavations. However their resistance finally gave way and the surviving mechanical monsters retreated to their bunker which was unceremoniously collapsed about them.
Gram – Avalon-A II. Lieutenant Bhattathiri, captain of Venture C-004, was promoted to the rank of Captain.
22nd April 86. LHS 1908. STG 3 completed the gravitational survey in the LHS 1908 system. The system had a total of four jump points.
11th May 86. Gliese 25. Exploration of a jump point in the Gliese 36 system by STG 7 revealed the new system of Gliese 25. This was a trinary system, a G7-V, G8-V and K1-V all in relatively close proximity. The only system of note was that around the outlying K1-V which possessed seven planets, a few moons and two asteroid belts. There was nothing else about the system to catch the attention.
28th April 86. Beta Pictoris. Exploration of a jump point in the LHS 1908 system by STG 3 revealed the new system of Beta Pictoris. The system was made up of an A4-V star with seven planets, dozens of moons, an asteroid belt and a handful of comets. Three of the super Jovian gas giant’s moons (Beta Pictoris-A IV) had HI’s of 1.90, 1.90 and 2.37 respectively.
22nd June 86. S.W. Burnham 127. Exploration of a jump point in the S.W. Burnham 157 system by STG 2 revealed the new system of S.W. Burnham 271. The system was a binary system, a lone G5-V orbited by a K4-V with a small uninteresting solar system.
8th July 86. Gliese 25. STG 7, fresh from their overhaul, was several weeks into their gravitational survey of the Gliese 25 system. Captain Apsaras Karia was still the senior officer of the squadron and still resident aboard Venture C-003. At 14:35 alarm klaxons on Venture C-005 activated. The subofficer at the senor console reported “Hostile contact, range 224 million klicks, bearing 274
o, declination minus 0
o, 7’.” This was followed by the mechanically voiced alert ““Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 016. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 017.” Lieutenant Yu, captain of Venture C-005, knew he could outfight this pair of miscreants, given their support would be some way off. He had the recent example of Lieutenant Annapurna Bhattathiri of his squadron to emulate. Voice calm he issued his first instructions “Weapon’s, raise shields, Comm’s please issue squadron alert, Pilot, plot an intercept course and execute when laid in, crew to defence stations,” the last going out over the intraship comms system. There was no point in going to action stations until action was imminent and that was a couple of hours off yet.
16:55. As the range to the two fast attack craft passed 30 million klicks Lieutenant Yu piped “all hands to action stations.” 17:15. The range passed 17 million klicks and still no incoming. 17:32, the two attack craft were just 10,000 klicks from Venture C-005 and Lieutenant Yu could hold his nerve no longer. “Weapons, open fire, Pilot reverse course to Gliese 36 jump point” was the almost strangled order from Yu. The crack of the laser capacitor discharging was followed by the roar of the two twin gauss turrets as all weapons targeted Dragonera 016. The X-ray beam hit Drogonera 016 squarely; pieces could be seen spalling off, then the small vessel disintegrated as hyper-velocity slugs tore it apart. Venture C-005 pulled away from its would-be assailants, “still no incoming!” thought Yu. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the ships proximity alarm wailed in to life. Two salvos of seven missiles were incoming. The CIWS took out three missiles and seven lost target lock but the remaining four hit, to impact on Venture C-005’s shields, denting them as they diverted the thermonuclear fire around the vessel instead of through it. The weapons officer targeted Dragonera 017 and hit the key to fire at the new target. The laser missed, but the gauss cannon scored some hits, molten fragments could be seen fly off the enemy hull as the hull material was ejected from the impact crater. Yu voiced his only thought now “Pilot, close the enemy!” Venture C-005 once more reversed course to keep the enemy within range of its potent laser. Then seconds later the fleeing craft appeared to split into two unequal parts as the X-ray beam carved its way through the hull, Dragonera 017 exploded into a million fragments as the gauss cannon slugs tore through its flimsy structure. Satisfied Lieutenant Yu turned Venture C-005 towards the jump point and a rendezvous with the rest of the Squadron.
14th July 86 07:33:11,Beta Pictoris. STG 3 completed the gravitational survey of the Beta Pictoris system. The system had a total of six jump points
22nd July 86. Gliese 100. Exploration of a jump point in the Gliese 36 system by STG 7 revealed the new system of Gliese 100. The binary system consisted of a K4-V with six planets thirty-one moons and a few comets, Gliese 100-A IV had an HI of 1.45. The B component, an M1-V star, was all alone.
6th August 86. Delta Velorum. Exploration of a jump point in the Beta Pictoris system by STG 3 has revealed the new system of Delta Velorum. This was a trinary system, a central A1-V star orbited by an A5-V and a G2-V. The latter two had a handful of planets each. The B component was notable because it had two planets, Delta Velorum-A V and VI with HI’s of 1.43 and 2.20 respectively and easily terraformed.
29th August 86. Gliese 791. Exploration of a jump point in the S.W. Burnham 157 system by STG 2 revealed the new system of Gliese 791. This system was a single M3-V star with a well-developed planetary system. It would have to wait on a geological survey to see how useful it would be.
20th September 86. Lambda-2 FornacisExploration of a jump point in the Gliese 100 system by STG 7 revealed the new system of Lambda-2 Fornacis. This was a single G1-V star with five planets and five comets orbiting it. Lambda-2 Fornacis-IV had an HI of 1.90.
20th September 86. Lambda-2 Fornacis. It was looking like the Lleida Hierarchy hadn’t come by this route, but the task Group senior officer, Captain Karia, wanted to make sure for certain, one exit from Gliese 36 may blocked by Destroyers but there were two possible routes out of Gliese 100 he was going down them just in case even after the squadron’s close shave in Gliese 25. After all the Union had no knowledge of how many Lleida Hierarchy ships set out or may have been lost enroute. Even Lleida Hierarchy wrecks would be informative.
Captain Satyavati Brar sat in his command couch quite satisfied with his lot; he had command of one of the latest survey vessels in the Union. Venture C—001 had just made the jump through a previously unexplored jump point out of Gliese 100 which connected to Phi-2 Ceti via Gliese 36. Another jump safely over, time to resume ships routine Captain Brar issued his instructions. “Secure from jump, crew to cruising stations, Pilot, lay in a course for the first survey location.” The crew quietly went about their business.
23rd September 86. Lambda-2 Fornacis. At 15:18 Venture C-001 ship’s routine was shattered. The alarm linked to the sensor console activated as the subofficer at the sensor console reported in a sing-song voice “hostile contacts, range 229 million klicks, bearing 64
o, declination 3
o 42’.” This was followed by the mechanically voiced alert. “Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 018. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 019.” But the voice didn’t stop there and droned on. “Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 020. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 021.” Captain Brar was quick to respond “Crew to defence stations, Weapons, raise shields, Comms issue squadron alert,” as was customary on such occasions, no point in being caught out because the enemy had slipped in a long range weapon you didn’t expect. Captain Brar now had a dilemma, he knew that he could take two Dragonera attack craft easily, but four? He also knew that Lieutenant Bhattathiri – now Captain Bhattathiri, had survived an encounter with four, but he had not intended to close and had let them go, but was there any alternative? “Pilot lay in an intercept course maximum burn.” Brar had decided he could only die trying. He had to try and close until the very last minute and try and take out at least one attack ship before they could fire. 17:18 Brar ordered “Crew to action stations,” the Venture C-001 was now closed up and ready to fight, but they would not reach the enemy for another hour.
Exactly an hour later Venture C-001 was but 10,000 klicks from its assailants’ still on the same bearing, time to hand out some damage ”Weapons, Fire!” The ship echoed to the crack of the laser capacitor discharging and the roar of the twin gauss turrets as all weapons opened up. Brar was gratified to see Dragonera 018 disintegrate into a million shards, first the laser crippled it then the gauss cannon shredded the remains. But that still left three remaining. They had suddenly changed course to a bearing of 314
o now heading away from Venture C-001, something bad was on its way! Nevertheless Captain Brar snapped ”Pilot, intercept course max burn.” The Venture C-001 bucked and shuddered as the ship changed its heading and the weapons fired again, this time Dragonera 019 was the target and it could withstand the onslaught no better than Dragonera 018 and it flew apart in small fragments. “No missiles are they out of ammo?” the thought passed through Brar’s mind. But the Dragoneras’ had one last trick to play, Venture C-001 Sped past her opponents as they flipped end-over end and decelerated sharply, “That won’t save you “ thought Brar as once more as the ship echoed to the noise of the guns firing. Then a second after the Venture’s weapons went quite there was the rattle of the CIWS as it coughed into life. The weapons officer cried out “BRACE FOR...” and got no further as the ship was hit by the hammer blows of twelve-kiloton warheads bursting against the ship’s shields, circuit breakers popped and were immediately reset only to pop again. But the shields held, the plasma lances ricocheted off the Venture’s shields. All Brar could do was shout at the weapons officer ”now get him!” As the remaining Dragonera charged off again on a bearing of 64
o, away from Venture C-001. Five seconds later Dragonera 021 was transfixed by the Venture’s laser and large pieces detached themselves from the hull under the hammer of the gauss cannon until the hull was rent by a large internal explosion. Relief flooded through Brar, he had done it! One to four odds, no one would be able to turn away from such odds again! “Crew to defence stations, Pilot lay in a course for the jump point, transit on arrival, execute!”
It was only in the post battle analysis that it was found how fortunate the Venture C-001 had been, the CIWS had taken out five of the Destroyer Otlichny missiles and at least six must have lost target lock so that only three actually hit the Venture. If the other two craft had been able to fire Captain Brar may not have been so happy with fourteen additional missiles to deal with. Instead he was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, inducted into the Order of Merit, mentioned in despatches and very, very quietly given a reprimand for hazarding his ship. Other awards were handed out to the crew, this made Survey Task Group 7 the most decorated squadron in the Union.
2nd October 86. Gliese 791. STG 2 completed the gravitational survey of the Gliese 791 system. The system had a total of four jump points.
12th October 86.Delta Velorum. 22:21. STG 3 was just completing a gravitational survey of Delta Velorum, five jumps out of Phi-2 Ceti. The system was relatively well endowed; two planets in the B component had HI’s of 1.43 and 2.20 respectively. There were just three locations left to survey and Venture B-007 was hurrying across the system to link up with Survey Task Group senior officer, Captain Abigail Gregory of Phi-2 Ceti fame in Venture B-009. Venture B-007 was at cruising stations and a relaxed atmosphere permeated the vessel. Lieutenant Ben Cameron was captain of this happy ship. This atmosphere was suddenly replaced by one of apprehension when the subofficer at the sensor console sang out “hostile contacts 227 million klicks, bearing 201
o, declination 0
o 1’, fine off the starboard forward quarter.” This was followed as always by the battle comp joining in “Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 023. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 024. Hostile Ship Contact! Class ID: Dragonera, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 20, Contact ID: Dragonera 025.” “Great” thought Cameron, “three of the beggars” He barked his first orders “Weapons, shields up! Pilot lay in an intercept course, maximum thrust, Comms issue squadron alert!” Then over the intraship “Crew to defence stations.”
13th October 86. Delta Velorum. 00:21. The crew had secured any loose items and had a hot meal, possibly their last, now it was time for the next stage, combat in an hour or less was guaranteed. “Crew to action stations” was the only command Cameron needed to voice.
01:21. Lieutenant Cameron kept his nerve until the three attack craft were 9000 klicks away. “Weapons, open fire!” The crack of the capacitor and roar of the quad gauss turret reverberated around the vessel. At the last minute the Dragoneras’ appeared to evade by altering course to 314
o, but that did not save Dragonera 023 which was gutted by the 20cm laser then torn apart by the quad gauss cannon. “Pilot plot a pursuit course, execute!” was the hurried order from Cameron.
The pilot plotted so accurate a course as to arrive at point blank range as the Venture B-007’s weapons cycled and fired again, there was no escape for Dragonera 024, a cloud of debris almost hid the craft as the gauss cannon chewed into it. The cloud lit up, excited photons were emitted from particles intercepted by the X-ray beam just before it bored its way through the hull and into the delicate interior. Dragonera 024 seemed to explode in all directions. Dragonera 025 strained to escape the attention of Venture B-007 to no avail; it got just 9000 klicks distant before the seeking beam cut the unfortunate craft in two. The gauss cannon broke those parts into ever smaller fragments. Cameron was in the middle of saying “well done crew...” when the hull rang under the force of two twelve-kiloton explosions as two of the Otlichny missiles found their target without warning, launched seconds before Dragonera 025 found its fate. Fortunately for Venture B-007 the CIWS took care of four missiles and one lost target lock and the two that did hit did not seriously threaten the integrity of the shields. Cameron found himself operating under what seemed like remote control “Damage control parties check hull integrity, crew to defence stations, Pilot lay in a course for Venture B-009 (Captain Gregory’s vessel). Now the question was could the squadron extricate itself from Beta Velorum before reinforcements arrived.
02:37. Lieutenant Cameron did not have too long to wait to find out, the squadron may extricate itself, but Venture B-007 wouldn’t be joining the squadron just yet. It started with the sensor subofficer ”hostile contacts 227 million klicks, bearing 187
o declination 0
o 41.5’, dead ahead!” The battle comp not to be out done chimed in “Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Neptuno 004, Class ID: Neptuno, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 268, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Reina Sofia 004, Class ID: Reina Sofia, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 268, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Reina Sofia 005, Class ID: Reina Sofia, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 268, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Reina Sofia 006, Class ID: Reina Sofia, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 268, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Hernan Cortez 002, Class ID: Hernan Cortez, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Santa Maria 002, Class ID: Santa Maria, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Santa Maria 003, Class ID: Santa Maria, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134, Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Santa Maria 004, Class ID: Santa Maria, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134.” The iteration seemed to go on for ever.
Cameron knew of the Neptuno and Reina Sofia classes, they were big and tough and 13,400 tons, but the other two classes were new to the Union, the only consolation was they only massed 6,700 tons. Cameron had the luck to come across probably the largest and most powerful Destroyer squadron yet encountered.
Cameron found the decision he had to make very easy. “Pilot, reverse course steer 0
o for 59 hours at a velocity of 6716 k/s for sixty hours.” Then over the intraship comm he announced “crew to defence stations,” the crew having only recently resumed cruising stations. At least that way a third of the crew would get some rest as the watches changed. For the benefit of the bridge crew he explained that it would be up to them to give the rest squadron time to get out while keeping the Destroyers at arm’s length but not out running them.
Twenty-four hours passed and the Destroyer squadron was in full flight behind Venture B-007, but had not gained an inch. The tricky bit would be the change of course to the jump point, when the enemy ship would close the distance even if Venture went to maximum thrust. The question was by how much would the range decrease?
Then sixteen hours later the plan began to falter. The Destroyer squadron appeared to get tired of following but not catching Venture B-007 and fell off the ships sensors. Cameron immediately reacted “Pilot, change heading to 294
o, reduce velocity to 6500 k/s.” His hope was they Destroyers would close on his vessel and still ignore the rest of the squadron which were all deep in Delta Velorum. But to hedge his bets he altered course to take the ship towards the jump point in case the Destroyers were trying to out flank him. If it did all go wrong he still had a clear run to another jump point, abet an unexplored one.
17th October 86. Delta Velorum.Venture B-007 hit its way mark still without sight of the enemy. Cameron was gratified to hear that the rest of the squadron were coalescing before making a run for the jump point and they had actually managed to complete the gravitational survey of the system. Delta Velorum had a total of three jump points but it was eminently clear that the Lleida Hierarchy had not come this way. As things stood now Venture B-007 would be the first of Survey 3 to leave the system.
27th October 86. Delta Velorum. Venture B-007 made it safely out of Delta Velorum, even though for most of the journey the vessel was trailing its coat-tails by only going at 6700 k/s. The crew were able to secure from defence stations once they were safely in Beta Pictoris and assume cruising stations. All that remained now was for the rest of the squadron to escape.
9th November 86. Beta Pictoris. Survey Task Group 3 met Venture B-007 in Beta Pictoris. The squadron’s escapade would enter the history of Survey Command and find Cameron awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross among other awards.
25th February 87. Iota Piscium. Task Force 5 had finished emplacing first generation buoys at the jump points in and around Phi-2 Ceti and completed their scheduled maintenance overhaul at Asran – Iota Piscium-A VII. They were now tasked with removing the infestation from Gliese 25.
27th March 87. Gliese 36. Task Force 5 moved to the Gliese 25 jump point. Commodore Elsa Danneberg brought her command to the Gliese 25 jump point. She took the time to brief her task Group commanders in person. She outlined her plan, essentially unchanged from NN 4378, but with an extra task group. Commodore Danneberg was a woman of medium height and lithe build. Like all spacers her hair was cut short, and unlike most after thirty-nine years’ service was still black as night. She had so far managed to impress her subordinates with her ability.
At 02:33 the Task Force split into its task groups activated shields and made a combat jump into Gliese 25:
Task Group 5.1 (Group Commander Lu Zhen Cui) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Vanguard, the Missile Cruisers Raider, Reliant, Relentless, Fleet Scout Farsight and the Escort Neon.
Task Group 5.2 (Commodore Elsa Dannenberg, Flag) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Swiftsure, Missile Cruisers Renown, Resolution, Revenge, Fleet Scout Scanner and the Escort Nitrogen.
Task Group 5.3 (Captain Matthew Potter) consisted of the Jump Cruiser Resurgence, Missile Cruisers Rocket, Ranger, Rapid, Redoubtable and the Escort Indium.
Task Group 5.4 (Captain Ratna Srivastava) consisted of the Jump Destroyer Valheru, Missile Boats Bayard, Bicorne, Bunyip, Camoleopard and the Escort Yttrium.
28th March 87. Gliese 25. The task groups of Task Force 5 secured from jump and moved in system while waiting for sensors to recover from jump blindness. When sensors were back on line there were only the forlorn wrecks of the Destroyer attack craft to be seen. Commodore Danneberg ordered the fleet to move towards the C component of the trinary system which had a respectable solar system. With crews at defence stations the task groups moved off together.
30th March 87. Gliese 25. In the early hours of the 30th alerts on the Fleet Scout Scanner tripped. The ship’s captain, Lieutenant Ewan Patel was first roused from a light sleep by his sensor operator “Hostile ships bearing 254
o, declination 1
o 0.25’, 5258 million klicks” and then as he rushed on to the bridge he was treated to the combat comp enumerating the threat in an almost gleeful mechanical baritone (he really must get one of the electrical rates to adjust that thing). This time the threat was nothing the Task Force couldn’t handle, three Cazadorna class and three Alcanada class, the latter had not been seen since the very first battles in HIP 108380 decades ago. Neither class would prove much more than target practise. “Comms, intership to the Commodore, make sighting report” was all Lieutenant Patel required to do; the rest was up to Dannenberg. The first officer ordered the crew to defence stations.
3rd April 87. Gliese 25. Early afternoon on the 3rd action stations was sounded throughout Task Force 5 as the Destroyer squadron entered sensor range of the missile cruisers and they began to develop their firing solutions. Commodore Danneberg ordered the use of the now second line Hellcat IIIB missile, as yet still untried in combat. In just over two hours the enemy vessels would enter the engagement envelope of the Hellcat IIIB missiles. It was time to see how effective these missiles were.
At 15:52 Raider, Relentless, Rocket, Ranger, Rapid and Redoubtable each launched two salvos of six missiles at the approaching Destroyer warships. The Hellcat IIIBs reached the enemy fleet at 16:35 The firmament lit up with the new heavy sixteen-kiloton cobalt clad thermonuclear warheads as they burnt out any unshielded sensors, ripped down shields as if they were made of paper then cratered the hull and in places the shaped plasma lances reached into the ships internal spaces. All the missiles struck their targets, however only one vessel was destroyed; analysis indicated that both the Alcanada and Cazadora classes possessed at least grade four armour protection.
By 17:15 follow-up salvos of six missiles each reached the faltering Destroyer vessels. They stood no chance against this new onslaught. Once more the cobalt enhanced warheads burst and burnt their way through the thick armour, several Destroyer ships suffered internal explosions as magazines detonated. Those that did not succumb to secondary explosions received enough damage to cause structural failure. For the first time the Destroyers had never reached their own engagement range, while still a nuisance they were no longer a threat to the Union unless there really was a great Destroyer war fleet building in some undiscovered system.
The Task Force recombined and moved on to investigate closer the C component of the system from which the Destroyer squadron had come. There were two potential targets Gliese 25-C V which had too light a gravity for the Union to utilise for a colony and Gliese 25-A VI which had an HI of 5.01 however both proved to be uninhabited with no obvious threat. Task Force 5 thus set course for Lambda-2 Fornacis to eradicate the menace that lurked in that system.
There was one sequelae to this operation. The Logistics and Procurement Division of Star Corps HQ was not happy at the expenditure of the expensive Hellcat IIIB missiles while there were still adequate stocks of basic Hellcats available. It directed in future basic Hellcats should be used as these missiles cost the Union nothing to produce.
17th April 87. Xi PegasiChanges to the atmosphere of Burrow - Xi Pegasi-A III have been completed and it is now breathable without artificial aids. The arid planet has been opened for colonisation. It will specialise in light industry and entertainment.
10th May 87. Gliese 25. The survey vessel Malachite discovered a Destroyer outpost on Gliese 25-C asteroid #164 with a thermal strength of 10.
18th May 87. Gliese 25. The survey vessel Garnet discovered a Destroyer outpost on Gliese 25-C asteroid #184 with a thermal signature of 10.
20th May 87. Gliese 25. The survey vessel Sunstone discovered a Destroyer outpost on Gliese 25-C asteroid #120 with a thermal signature of 10.
5th June 87. Gliese 100. Task Force 5 arrived at the jump point into Lambda-2 Fornacis. Commodore Elsa Danneberg took the time once more to brief her task group commanders. She noted the directive from Logistics and Procurement to her task group commanders and said she would consider it. The task force dissolved into its respective task groups, activated shields and made a combat jump into Lambda-2 Fornacis.
Initially only the wrecks of the four Dragonera attack craft were visible, then as the sensors recovered from jump lag, three Destroyer vessels of a new class appeared on the screen. The sensor operator on Farsight sang out “Hostile ships bearing 170
o, declination 2
o 35’, 948 million klicks.” Not to be out done the combat comp joined in “Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Galerna 002, Class ID: Galerna, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134. Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Galerna 003, Class ID: Galerna, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134. Hostile Ship Contact! Contact ID: Galerna 004, Class ID: Galerna, Race ID: Destroyer, TCS 134.” Once the mechanical voice had finished its iteration a quiet fell over the bridge. Lieutenant Patel broke the silence ”Comms, transmit the sighting report to the flagship.” Then in an aside to the bridge staff, “Survey 7 were lucky to get out, the Destroyers were closer than they thought.” (A reference to the action Captain Brar fought on 23rd September 86 in Lambda-2 Fornacis). Once more the first officer could be heard ordering the crew to defence stations over the intraship comms.
Commodore Danneberg signalled general chase to the task groups, Task Group 5.3 easily outran the others, being nearly 5000 k/s faster. Commodore Danneberg authorised the use of Hellcat IIIB missiles. Once in range the four missile cruisers picked their targets. Galerna 002 and 003 would receive eighteen missiles each while Galerna 004 only received twelve. Thirty-three minutes later the missile storm burst over the unsuspecting Destroyer warships. Galerna 002 and 003 shields failed as though they had never been, hull plates evaporated under the torrent of applied energy. Intricate mechanisms slumped into misshapen lumps; secondary explosions wracked the vessels as they blew apart. Galerna 004 was a little more fortunate. It survived the twelve missiles aimed against it, shedding shields and armour like confetti. The internal damage was considerable, but it was still there – that was until six missiles targeted at Galerna 002 which were denied the opportunity to immolate themselves against that vessel when it exploded prematurely started to look for a new target. It took only five seconds for the missiles small electronic brains to select Galerna 004 as the only possible destination and the salvo descended on the unfortunate craft like a thunderbolt, but considerably more powerful. As the missiles detonated around it a large internal explosion rent the hull as a magazine cooked off and sealed its fate.
6th June 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis. Task Force 5 was on its way to check out likely planets in the system. Lambda-2 Fornacis had two possible targets, Lambda-2 Fornacis-A IV with an HI of 1.9 and Lambda-2 Fornacis-V with an HI of 4.01. Lieutenant Ingo Lieder lounged in his command couch, Farsight was the duty scout, but the enemy was vanquished and it was a simple cruise to the inner system. He was shaken out of his reverie when the sensor officer announced “Hostile ship contacts, bearing 83
o, declination 2
o 23’, range 2335 million klicks, off the starboard bow. Resigned, Lieder ordered “Comms issue task force alert, Weapons, shields up, crew to defence stations.” The mechanical voice of the combat comp then cut in to formally identify the two destroyer warships as nothing more than two Dragonera attack craft. Lieder wished he could stand the crew down to cruising stations again as these vessels would be destroyed long before they could pose a threat, but protocol was protocol and while Danneberg was not a disciplinarian she did examine the combat logs of all the ships under her command and woe betide those that transgressed with anything to do with ships safety in combat.
7th June 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis. Commodore Danneberg decided to keep her course and allow the attack craft to close the task force. She authorised the use of four Hellcat IIIB missiles to dispatch the enemy vessels. At 17:05 the Ranger loosed two missiles at each of the Destroyer warcraft. Forty minutes later four brief pinpoints of actinic light signalled their passing.
15th June 87. Phi-2 Ceti. A research lab was recovered on Phi-2 Ceti and the technical details of advanced gravitational sensors were recovered from it.
17th June 87. Gliese 18. Survey 7 discovered Woolley 9833 out of Gliese 18. This was a K1-V star with nine planet, many moons an asteroid belt and a few comets Woolley 9833-A III had an HI 0 and three moons of Woolley-A IV, a gas giant, had HI’s of 1.90, 2.84 and 2.94.
20th June 87. Gliese 25. 75th Leviathan Brigade occupied asteroid #120 without any opposition being encountered. The abandoned base had two automated DSTS and 14 Octilchny missiles.
21st June 87. Woolley 9833. Venture C-005 (Lieutenant Yu) came within 1740 million klicks of Woolley 9833-A III, the thermal sensor started beeping insistently, when the sensor subofficer looked at the readings he immediately routed them to lieutenant Yu, it was reading a strength 37,274 source located on the third planet from the sun, the one with an HI of 0! Captain Karia SO of the squadron was immediately informed. For comparison Gram had a thermal signature of 38,679.
26th June 87. Gliese 25. The 165th Assault Brigade landed on Asteroid #164 and occupied the Destroyer Surveillance Base, 180 Hellcat missiles were recovered along with two DSTS.
6th July 87. Woolley 9833. An alien vessel designated the Benevente class of 2,400 tons, was detected in Woolley 9833. It appeared to be carrying out a gravitational survey.
13th July 87. Gliese 25. The 183rd Leviathan Brigade landed on Asteroid #189 and occupied the Destroyer Surveillance Base, 180 Hellcat missiles were recovered as well as two DSTS.
18th July 87. Woolley 9833. The contact team were struggling to make a breakthrough in their attempt to communicate with the Woolley 9833 aliens. Some of the team were beginning to hold the opinion that it may prove impossible to communicate with the cephalopod-like aliens due to their extensive employment of photophores in their language.
26th July 87. Woolley 9833.The high tech status of the Woolley 9833 aliens was established unequivocally when Venture C-004 (Captain Karia, Squadron SO) was approached by a fleet of thirteen vessels. The alien fleet consisted of two vessels designated Zaragora class, two vessels designated Teniente Olivier class, one designated Valdiva, three designated Rancagua class, one designated Quintana class, two designated Defensora class, one designated Elicura class all of 7,550 tons and one designated Aldarma class of 15,100 tons.
2nd August 87. Woolley 9833. Lieutenant Yu in Venture C-005 met the same alien fleet that Captain Karia had met while he was surveying Woolley-A VI. They did not act in a hostile manner although their search sensors were active. The young lieutenant did observe that the fleet composition was very similar to that fielded by the Imperial Devarians during their war with the Union, although it did appear to lack jump ships. It is very possible that the appearance of the survey squadron may have only just enlightened them to the presence of jump points; hence the vessels encountered performing a gravitational survey.
8th August 87. Woolley 9833. Lieutenant Dong in Venture C-002 passed close to Woolley-A III and detected a 120k ton orbital ‘yard and several other vessels designated Greenhalgh, Blanco and Erebus classes, massing 33,550, 14,850 and 14,700 tons respectively. The 33,500 ton vessels were likely non-combatants.
15th August 87. Woolley 9833.02:13:38. Venture C-002 (Lieutenant Dong) had moved on to survey asteroid #29 when the sensor station alerted him to the fact that the alien fleet had split into two divisions and was fast approaching at their maximum velocity of 4768 k/s. Having seen this before Lieutenant Dong took not much notice, ordering the subofficer to keep the vessels under observation, it was only when the first division had closed to point blank range that the second division made up of Zaragosa 002 and 003, Teniente Olivieri 002 and 003, trailing the leading group by 30k opened fire with rail guns. Fortunately C-002 had her shields up and managed to shrug off this first fusillade, but with her shields degraded by 75%.
A shocked Lieutenant Dong shouted “crew to action stations, Pilot, open range in the direction of the Gliese 18 jump point, Comms, squadron emergency channel - aliens attacking, Weapons return fire.” Like a well-oiled machine the crew rushed to obey with a minimum of delay. The problem was the jump point was 3550 million klicks away on a bearing of 41
o. The proximity alarm squawked into life, there were thirty-one size 1 independencia anti-missile missiles and forty-one size 3 Commando AS missiles incoming.
02:13:43. Lieutenant Dong had the presence of mind to order a change of target “Weapons, target the missile ships, perhaps we can touch off a magazine, gauss cannon to self-defence, crew brace for impact!” The crack of the laser capacitor discharging echoed through Venture C-002. The new target, Rancagua 002, started to leak atmosphere, but analysis of the strike revealed that vessel had armour of at least strength four. The gauss cannon fired at the approaching missiles, tearing ten out of the firmament.
02:13:53. The gauss cannon roared into life again followed by the cough of the CIWS as a hail of missiles sought out C-002. Seventeen missiles were destroyed but six Commando AS and nine independencia AAMs brought down the C-002 shields to a mere 20 points. All that could save the Venture now was to open the range as quickly as possible. The laser fired again; again it scored the armour of Rancagua 002 and penetrated the hull. There were no new missile salvos yet, but based on observed tech it was likely the aliens quickest missile launcher had a cycle time of at least ten seconds, that was the longest respite that could be expected.
02:13:58. True to the prediction a further 31 AAMs were detected approaching at 30,600 k/s. Despite all the efforts of the gauss cannon and CIWS thirteen AAMs all but knocked down the regenerating shields and shook the ship. The entire crew were counting down the seconds until the larger but slower anti-ship missiles reached the C-002. Five seconds later at 97,000 klicks another 41 Commando and 31 independencia missiles were detected approaching and the shield strength was just 11. Dong made his decision, “all weapons target missiles.” The Faster AAMs reached Venture C-002 first and twelve made it through all the ship could do, the onslaught obliterated the remaining shields and scored the armour. “Laser to self-defence” ordered Dong, it was his last forlorn throw of the dice. The Forty-one four-kiloton missiles fast approaching had been reduced to thirty-four. But that was still more than the C-002’s defences could handle. Between evasive manoeuvring and anti-missile fire only three missiles hit, cratering the hull. Unfortunately two hit in the same place opened compartments to vacuum, but this time there was no internal damage, but it was now only a matter of time.
02:14:03. Sure enough thirty-one size 1 missiles were incoming, only luck could save the C-002 now and luck had almost run out. The CIWS coughed once more downing six, the gauss turrets switched to final defence mode shattered a further eight, four, four-kiloton explosions reduced the shields to zero, four more cratered the hull further while the remainder lost target lock, but there were now another 41 size 3 missiles approaching and C-002 had lost what shields she could muster. The outlook was bleak. Luck had indeed run out but not yet terminally, but it was looking bad enough. Eight four-kiloton detonations wracked the vessels hull, flattening the paltry shields and penetrating the hull, the sensor bay received a direct burn through, worse was the loss of a gauss turret.
02:14:33. 160 million klicks away Venture C-004 and Captain Karia took what revenge he could, when the alarm came through that C-002 was under attack, C-004 was under 50,000 klicks from Chaco 002, a small 2,150 ton survey craft, Karia turned his laser on it and half-a-dozen shots later it was so much scrap. Karia recovered survivors for interrogation then resumed course for the jump point.
Meanwhile the torment of C-002 was still in progress, thirty-one AAMs reached the vessel, fifteen were stopped by point defence fire, six lost terminal guidance and eleven ploughed into the almost unprotected hull, removing the pitiful shields and putting more pockmarks into the hull. More compartments opened to space. Twenty-six four-kiloton missiles were still incoming, how lucky could Venture C-002 get? The answer was very, twenty-one were avoided or shot to fragments by point defence, five slammed into the small vessel shaking it like a small quadruped carnivore shakes its prey. Short-lived magnetic fields shaped plasma lances that burnt into the hull, the thermal sensor was reduced to so much slag, the remaining gauss turrets received a direct hit, but fortunately continued to function. In seven places the hull was now open to vacuum and still more missiles were on their way. The seconds ticked down, and a further wave of missiles was detected even before these had hit. There was the briefest gleam of hope in that there were only six salvos instead of the normal seven, but that would be enough to seal the fate of Venture C-002.
02:14:48. The laser had been sniping at the approaching wave of missiles with limited effectiveness. The gauss cannons woke with a roar followed by the CIWS-500, they performed well enough but it was not sufficient, the first three missiles to hit flattened the shields such as they were while the final four burnt deep into the ship finally sealing its fate, the CIWS-500 was destroyed as was one engine. The 37 missiles in the next wave would surely finish her.
02:14:58. The alien missile salvos were becoming ragged, but that hardly mattered it would be a miracle if the C-002 survived the next five minutes. Five seconds to impact, the remaining gauss cannon turret joined the laser in paring back the on rushing missile storm, destroying seven of them, but that still left twenty-one. Only four missiles hit, but they destroyed another engine and there were ten AAMs seconds away from the C-002 and beyond them another 24 Commando AS missiles. Only three AAMs hit but they took out yet another engine, it was turning into the death of a thousand cuts. The surviving gauss turret worked on tearing apart one complete salvo, but alone it could only hold back the tide for a short time. The ragged salvos were miraculously dealt with for only one four-kiloton warhead brought down the shields that had been painfully rebuilt, but there were another 31 AAMs and another 41 AS missiles behind the last wave and whatever had caused the raggedness of the last salvo was corrected and it was a tight wave timed to hit the C-002 simultaneously. The last minute seemed to last a life-time to the crew that survived but the end was fast approaching.
02:16:58. Twenty-seven AAMs burst around the C-002, the vessel was smothered in bright thermonuclear bursts of light and energy as the one-kiloton warheads did their deadly work, plasma lanced into the ships internals, the last of her weapons were turned to so much slag with no chance of repair. Dong ordered those crew which could be spared from essential duties to the escape pods.
02:17:03. Ten of the pursuing forty-one AS missiles detonated virtually in contact with Venture C-002’s hull. Thermonuclear fire reached deep into her internals burning through her keel member, breaking her back, engines exploded with a pent up fury, tearing the hull apart. 139 of the 700 man crew managed to reach the escape pods, somehow Dong found himself amongst them, their fate uncertain and their future potentially brief and unpleasant. Some minutes later 160 million klicks away tears rolled down the cheeks of Captain Karia as he watched the end of the Venture C-002 on the scan repeater at his console and he swore revenge against the cephalopod-like aliens. The aliens rescued from the destroyed survey ship would have a brutal interrogation. It had taken fourteen alien ships three minutes twenty-five seconds to reduce Venture C-002 to so much debris. When you consider that it took five vessels a minute to destroy all opposition at Asran – Iota Piscium-A VII the aliens could have made a better choice of enemies.
Making his escape Captain Brar in Venturer C-001 got a reading on the ground forces present on the enemy home world, they had a combat strength of C132.
Phi-2 Ceti. 02:14. There was good news unknown to the Survey 7, Task Force 5 had returned to Phi-2 Ceti and had immediately been re-directed to Woolley 9833 in an attempt to rescue the survey vessels.
18th August 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis-A IV – moon 1.In the meantime STG 6(G) found another Destroyer population in Lambda-2 Fornacis-A I moon 1 with a Thermal Signature of 15.
19th August 87. Gliese 18.The rest of Survey Task Group 7 reached the relative safety of Gliese 18 and proceeded to picket the jump point into Woolley 9833.
20th August 87 11:02:03,HD 22283Exploration of a jump point in the LHS 1247 system by STG 8 revealed the new system of HD 222834. This was a G5-V star with 5 planets a few dozen moons, fifteen comets and an asteroid belt. HD222834-A III – moon 5 had an HI of 2.10.
22nd August 87. Gliese 18.Task Force 5 arrived at the Woolley 9833 jump point in Gliese 18 raised shields, split into its respective task groups and made a combat jump into Woolley 9833. Commodore Danneberg detailed fast Task Group 5.3 to rescue the survivors of Venture C-002, which were still in their escape pods. The rest of the Task Force would follow and meet TG 5.3 at that point. If the aliens interfered then no mercy was to be shown.
23rd August 87. Woolley 9833.11:02. An alien squadron consisting of the Defensora 002 and 003, Rancague 003 and 004, Valdiva 002, Teniente Olivieri 002 and 003, Zaradoza 002 and 003, and the Quintana 002 attempted to interfere with the rescue and closed to point blank range during the recovery by the jump cruiser Resurgence. But these Union vessels weren’t survey vessels! Five seconds later the two Defensora class vessels and Rancague 004 exploded, Thirty seconds later Rancague 002 and Valdiva 002 exploded, another thirty seconds after that Teniente Olivieri 002 and 003 along with Zaradoza 002 and 003 dissolved in to a collection of random fragments as the cobalt clad warheads of the Hellcat IIIB missiles tore them apart, leaving just one vessel more or less intact to fight the Union task group. Five second later that vessel, Quntana 002 was acquired by missiles originally aimed at now destroyed targets and it disintegrated in a thermonuclear furnace as the Hellcat IIIB missiles sixteen-kiloton warhead vaporised the hull and most of the internal machinery. The alien vessels had launched both the Commando AS and Independencia AMMs, but none got through the screen provided by the Resurgence. Their own point defence had not fared so well, only managing to kill one missile at most from any Union salvo.
12:04. A second group of three alien warships were moving towards the jump point and the rest of the task force, but they were still in range of the Hellcat IIIB missiles of TG 5.3 and the task group launched against them.
12:44. The three alien warships, Rancague 002, Aldarma 002 and Elicura 002, disappeared in a storm of thermonuclear fireballs that briefly lit up the dark between the planets and only pieces emerged when the conflagration cleared.
23rd August 87 15:44:58,Lambda-2 Fornacis.Survey Task Group 6(G) continued their survey of Lambda-2 Fornacis and it was not long before the sensor station on Garnet was announcing ”Population Detected! Thermal Signature 5 Race ID: Destroyer.” on Comet #1
24th August 87. Woolley 9833.Task Group 5.3 moved towards Woolley 9833-A III, at 100 million klicks it stopped and targeted what were almost certainly orbital bases, two of the Blanco class and three of the Erebus class, 14,850 and 14,700 tons respectively. The missile cruisers switched to the basic Hellcat missiles and launched two salvos at the orbital forts. The forts point defence were ineffective and they did not appear to possess any shields. The eight-kiloton tritium fuelled warheads boiled off armour and shattered the bases sending large chunks down to the planet below in a rain of flaming meteors. TG 5.3 moved to take possession of the orbital space above Woolley 9833-A III. The planet was at their mercy.
26th August 87 02:17:23,Lambda-2 Fornacis.STG 6(G) completed their survey of the system by discovering a further Destroyer base, this one on Comet #4 with a thermal signature of 10.
30th August 87. Woolley 9388.The 14th Marine Division planted their boots on Woolley 9833, setting up a landing area for the rest of the battle group and preparing for the assault to come.
1st September 87. Woolley 9833.The attack opened with a nuclear bombardment by Relentless, Raider and Reliant followed by an assault by the14th Marine Division. They were soon reinforced by the 9th Marine Division and the 10th Sky & Light Division. Later that day the 4th Sky and Light joined the fray.
5th September 87. Woolley 9833.Organised resistance on Woolley 9833 collapsed as the Union juggernaut rolled over the aliens. There was barely a struggle as the government was replaced by a Union representative backed by the force of four Union divisions. 148,012 shillings in reparations were paid over. Three freighters and two survey craft surrendered. None of the vessels were worth inducting into the Union Navy and would be disposed of. Technical details of enhanced radiation warheads were recovered from an alien research establishment. The real surprise was the population, it was 3583 million! This made Woolley 983-A III the most populous planet in the Union by far. Devaria – Delta Aquilae-A IV had 2483 million and then the next largest was Excalibur – Avalon-A IV at 2127 million.
Commodore Dannenberg received a note from Logistics and Procurement, just short of a reprimand noting the use of Hellcat IIIB missiles. Commodore Danneberg protested at this usurpation of her command decisions and was backed by Marshal Preston. Marshal Preston noted that Logistics was trying to second guess the Unions premier combat commander, Task Force 5 having seen more action than any other Union fleet. Danneberg was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for her successful execution of the short war.
19th September 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis.The Destroyer base on Lambda-2 Fornacis-A I moon 1 was occupied by the 38th Assault Brigade. 28 Otlichny missiles and three DSTS captured.
23rd September 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis.The 183rd Leviathan Brigade occupied the Destroyer surveillance base on Comet #4 and recovered 2 DSTS.
30th September 87. Lambda-2 Fornacis.The 165th Assault Brigade captured the Destroyer base on Comet #1. 14 Otlichny missiles and one DSTS were recovered in the operation.
9th October 87 Woolley 9833.Venture C-001 was carrying out a geological survey of Wooley 9833-A IV – Moon 4 when the surprising discovery of a ruined alien colony was made.
Communication was established with the Aladson Empire as they termed their former polity. They would now become part of the Union, like it or not.
24th October 87. Gliese 16.Captain Myskia Kollrston had studied the first appearance of the Lleida Hierarchy survey craft in Union space and always thought that something had been missed. It always seemed strange to him that while the first Hierarchy craft was detected in Phi-2 Ceti and it was assumed that they had first entered Union space via Phi-2 Ceti. However, even more survey craft were detected in Gliese 16. He found it hard to believe that they could have surveyed Phi-2 Ceti without detection and then moved into Gliese 16. Now he was senior officer of Survey Task Group 3 he had a chance to act on his suspicions. On the way back to Iota Piscium for an overhaul he decided to have an exercise in Gliese 16. The squadron had been in Gliese 16 for twenty-six days now and the re-survey was nearly finished, Kollrson was beginning to think he had been wrong after all. Then he received a laser comm from Lieutenant Bhat in Venture B-006 asking would he please double check his survey results, he was observing an unrecorded jump point where there shouldn’t be one and he thought he may need his gravitational sensor recalibrated. After all it had been these very same vessels that had established the position of the jump points in Gliese 16 in the first place. Kollrson was ecstatic; he would throw a scare into the Company of Astrogators and Star Corps high command at one and the same time. There was a new jump point in Gliese 16 that hadn’t been there the first time the system had been surveyed!
End of Part Nine.
