The rest of the Athena story – not the end to all roboblobs, but to this one:
Athena Aeterna
2098/99, the Home Fleet had grown to c. 510kt + 2 CV-AUX (turned out to be useless for the bombers, will probably be refitted for beam FACs). It's basically technologically still the same. An unexplained galaxy-wide increase in stellar activity has slowed research and survey speed further, next generation engines will probably be only ready in 2100. The 'Campeche', as the above-mentioned NPR call themselves, turned out to be cautious, but willing to talk. We have established mutual trade access by now. After a change of government and with no threats to the Union, exploration, development and beam weapon research are in focus again.
(And so far, I have met neither of the two true challenges yet: the distant game-start NPR, nor my little player-controlled cyborg experiment that is actually attacking the Campeche from the back through a link discovered by them, and has discovered a third future attack path that leads to systems beyond 61 Cygni. Aurora 1.9's map generator has been very helpful to make this galaxy interesting at all stages so far. If my experiment turns out well, I may even find the courage for a little dedicated AAR...)
As the fleet essentially only sits around in spaceport, it was risked in Operation Athena Aeterna to wipe the remaining blob once and for all.
The operation cost about a third of the fleet, including two of three light carriers, and three (no, only two, Savannah could still limp home, it didn't even need a tug like several other half-wrecked ships) of four rebuilt cruisers. But overall, we managed the AMM hail better than expected – this only proves that the Federalist government's preference for point defence and defence-focused beam weapons has been right all along. (The final extent of losses may have been slightly augmented by the ghost ship shooting bug. The government's refusal to authorize the use of missiles against a nasty force of STOs also added to the losses.)
Fierce ground combat on Athena IV/Eternity is still raging, but can have only one outcome since we sent almost our entire non-garrison army, while Pallas/Athena I will have its first defence research lab in a few days, corundium mining has also begun to address Earth's most pressing resource problem. Our front porch will soon be open for private commerce and new discoveries. (Athena IV has some alien ruins as I know even without surveying from the colony summary. I don't know yet if it features another anomaly.)
Next blob (?) challenge after fleet repairs and some replacements: Two recently discovered robopest-infested systems in the Italian Arm beyond 61 Cygni.
Edit: typo, trouble counting to three
Later: added two ship summary screens (forgot to take shots during the operation)
