That was a nailbiter of a battle! Good job preserving most of the fleet.

Yes it was!  It was probably the closest I've come to actually losing my primary fleet in all of my campaigns.  That would probably have been survivable, since the Swarm doesn't seem to rapidly follow up, but it took a long time to build the fleet and I was really sweating it for a while.  When I realized I had made a major mistake by not engaging them on the LaGrange point, I also realized that the LaGrange point was my only hope. 

Quote from: Steve Walmsley on October 20, 2024, 01:26:17 PM

<snip>

It's the first time I have done comms this way. Usually I assume I can transit using the stable jump network, but not outside it. This approach does make life easier for large campaigns.

I used to build carriers with two reloads too, but I realised the battle was often won or loss bt the time I needed the second reload, so I decided for this campaign to go with a single reload, and use colliers if necessary.

This does raise an interesting facet of campaign play style.  The NPR's and Spoilers are assumed to have instant FTL like you are using now, I assume.  A player race could use one of several methods to communicate between systems.  No inter-system comms at all, like my current campaign.  Light speed comms between system, like Starfire, with buoys at the jump points assumed to be using small jump-capable torpedoes.  And instant comms, like you are using.  In a multi-player race, with different player races using different comms methods, it might introduce interesting situations, although the instant FTL comms using race would have a significant strategic advantage. 

For the carriers, I find two reloads to be useful in engaging the swarm, as they tend to use large numbers of small ships and this gives my carriers the ability to deal with them effectively with multiple strikes.  The recent engagements have strongly motivated me to up my support ship game.  My flagship, the Andromeda, an 80,000 ton dreadnought, survived a close encounter with the swarm, but was almost gutted by acid damage after the battle.  The ship's crew managed to repair a lot of systems, but ran out of maintenance supplies.  And my carriers ran out of missiles before they ran out of targets.  I failed to effectively coordinate my attack with the support units, and my UNREP ships were slow and ungainly, meaning it took time to catch up with the fleet and were hideously vulnerable to attack by the enemy.

I really need to catch up with your campaign and others. I've been too busy playing and developing

I'm currently working on adding the ability to drop a large, very high tech and fully developed NPR with many systems into the middle of an existing campaign, without any immediate connection between the NPR systems and the existing systems.

<snip>

It's the first time I have done comms this way. Usually I assume I can transit using the stable jump network, but not outside it. This approach does make life easier for large campaigns.

I used to build carriers with two reloads too, but I realised the battle was often won or loss bt the time I needed the second reload, so I decided for this campaign to go with a single reload, and use colliers if necessary.

This does raise an interesting facet of campaign play style.  The NPR's and Spoilers are assumed to have instant FTL like you are using now, I assume.  A player race could use one of several methods to communicate between systems.  No inter-system comms at all, like my current campaign.  Light speed comms between system, like Starfire, with buoys at the jump points assumed to be using small jump-capable torpedoes.  And instant comms, like you are using.  In a multi-player race, with different player races using different comms methods, it might introduce interesting situations, although the instant FTL comms using race would have a significant strategic advantage. 

For the carriers, I find two reloads to be useful in engaging the swarm, as they tend to use large numbers of small ships and this gives my carriers the ability to deal with them effectively with multiple strikes.  The recent engagements have strongly motivated me to up my support ship game.  My flagship, the Andromeda, an 80,000 ton dreadnought, survived a close encounter with the swarm, but was almost gutted by acid damage after the battle.  The ship's crew managed to repair a lot of systems, but ran out of maintenance supplies.  And my carriers ran out of missiles before they ran out of targets.  I failed to effectively coordinate my attack with the support units, and my UNREP ships were slow and ungainly, meaning it took time to catch up with the fleet and were hideously vulnerable to attack by the enemy. 

I just noticed that on one of the pictures in the post above it had ship class names for the alien ships that were different than the class names used in the write-up.  At some point in the write-up I decided I didn't like the auto-assign class names and changed them, but it must have been after taking the screen shot. 

Indomita = Osiris in the writeup
Delfin = Anubis in the writeup
Mocovi = Mors

The Omega Ceti Campaign
December 9, 2147: The courier from Terra Nova arrives in the solar system, causing an uproar in Fleet Command, and subsequently in the Senate.  The Navy almost immediately proposed sending a major fleet to probe the Omega Ceti system, along with survey support, as the aliens were obviously not from that system.  Although some in the senate are concerned about either a major show of force, or sending a large fleet so far away from the center of the empire, in the end, with the emperor’s support, the Navy gets approval to send the fleet to the Omega Ceti system. 

The Imperial 1st Fleet will consist of 1xDN, 2xBB, 2xCV, 1xCVS, 4xBC, 1xCJ, 9xDD, 2xFSC, 11xDDE, 52xStrike Fighters, 20xAttack Fighters, 6xSensor Fighters, and is commanded by Rear Admiral Tyrell McCullick.  Their ETA to the 111 Virginis system, adjacent to the Omega Ceti system, is twenty-six days.  At the same time, groups of slower support ships set out from both Terra and later from Shield Base in the Monoceri system to rendezvous in the Lalande system. 

January 16, 2148: The Retribution Fleet is assembled in the 111 Virginis system, at the jump point to the Omega Ceti system, the system where the new aliens were discovered.  Admiral McCullick, ever cautious, ordered The Mars II’s battle group, reinforced by a jump cruiser, and the battleship group to jump to the far side of the jump point and determine the situation on the far side.  The two battleships, battlecruiser, jump cruiser, two destroyers and two destroyer escorts of the probe force jumped through at 2137 hours. 

They emerged on the far side of the jump point to find thirty small ships in close proximity to the jump point.  The Mars II and her escorts were closest to the jump point, having appeared just 22,000 kilometers from the ships on the jump point, while the battleship group appeared 227,000 kilometers away.  Captain Boddy of the Mars II immediately ordered his group to move away to join the battleships.  His cruisers had their shields up, but under their current rules of engagement they could not fire unless fired upon.  Commodore Sessions, the CO of the battleship group, was very unhappy with the situation.  The ships assembled on the jump point were all small, under 760 tons, and strongly reminded him of the swarm fleet encountered in Chi Draconis. 

The situation deteriorated immediately.  Five seconds after entering the system, the aliens opened fire on the human ships.  Both groups of ships were attacked, with a destroyer in the battleship group receiving fourteen minor hits on its armor, and a destroyer attached to the Mars Battle Group getting hit by six strange weapons that directly attacked its electronics, bypassing its armor.  That destroyer lost its fire controls, some of its EW systems, and its sensors. 

The alien group was composed of three different classes of ships.  Twenty were 750 tons and designated as the Eshu class, six were also 750 tons, designated as the Hecate class, and four were 550 tons and designated as the Aqen class.  Admiral McCullick, after confirming that the six 750 tons ships were the origin of the six electronics destroying weapons hits on the Mars group, ordered the fleet to concentrate their fire on those six ships first. 

The aliens continued bombarding the two destroyers, but the DD in the battleship group continued to shrug off the low power hits to its armor, while the DD in the Mars group had little electronics left to damage.  Only the BB Antares got off shots with their lasers, as the other ships were still recovering from transit effects and the shock of the immediate attack.  The Antares hit one of the small ships mounting what were now confirmed to be high powered microwave weapons, doing some damage to its armor. 

Commodore Sessions ordered his battleship group to begin moving away, to try to keep some distance between them and the aliens.  He knew it was futile, as the aliens were more than twice as fast as his ships, but if they could delay them closing to point blank range even for a bit it would help.  He hadn’t forgotten the boarding tactics the swarm in Chi Draconis had used, and even though his ships carried marine boarders to counter that tactic, he had no desire to test their defenses.  All of the alien ships focused their fire on the Antares, but her shields were strong and even after a full salvo they were at 86% of full strength.  In return the Antares got ten hits with its lasers on one of the small microwave armed ships, getting four penetrations and leaving it drifting. 

The Antares was once again the focus of all of the alien’s fire, but fortunately the alien’s microwave weapons couldn’t penetrate shields and as a result the formidable BB remained unscathed.  Finally, though, more of the Terran ship’s weapons were online and all but the two cruisers were able to fire on the aliens.  As a result, one of the small microwave-equipped ships was completely destroyed and the other four took armor damage. 

The aliens continued focusing their fire on the Antares, whose shields were now down to 69%.  By now, all of the Terran ships were in action, and the results were devastating to the microwave armed Hecates.  After the next Terran laser and plasma barrage, only one Hecate class unit remained.  The fleet now shifted fire to the other alien ships and began dismantling the alien fleet. 

At this point the aliens, perhaps recognizing that they had lost the advantage, turned away and began running.  They continued their attack on the Antares, but the big BB’s shields held firm.  The Terrans, in exchange, pummeled the retreating ships with laser fire as long as they could, destroying one of the fleeing ships. 

The aliens opened the range to 187,000 kilometers, and then hovered there and continued to attack the Antares.  The pursuit continued, with the aliens pummeling the Antares’ shields, and the Terrans taking the small alien ships apart one by one. 

After twenty seconds of running, the remaining twenty alien ships came to a halt, perhaps to cluster around a damaged ship.  Commodore Sessions gave the order for the fleet to close to 50,00 kilometers.  At this point the Antares shields were at 56%.  The carnage was incredible as the Terran lasers speared ship after ship out of space. 

Finally, four minutes after entering the system, the battle was over and the jump point was clear.  The only damage to the Terran squadron was to the DD hit early in the battle by the microwave weapons, and a second DD that had suffered minor armor damage.  By the end of the battle the Antares shields were down to 38%, but they had held.  Battle analysis by the intel section showed that the most numerous class of enemy ship, designated the Eshu class, were armed with lasers. 

In the battle’s aftermath, Commodore Sessions ordered his jump cruiser to return to the fleet and inform them that the jump point was clear.  The DD that had suffered the armor damage, the Joseph Campbell, continued to suffer damage as the alien weapons continued to eat at her armor sheath.

Disturbingly, the destroyed alien ships rapidly melted away, leaving no wreckage and little for the intel teams to examine.  Several bodies were discovered floating near the locations of the destroyed ships, and their discovery caused consternation throughout the fleet.  They were clearly a version of the familiar swarm warriors, although different enough that they clearly weren’t the same species, but closely related.   

Once the fleet was assembled on the jump point, it set out for the inner system.  The Joseph Campell continued to suffer damage, however, the acid stopped before the DD’s armor was compromised.  Two hours after entering the system, Admiral McCullick ordered his strike carrier to launch a sensor fighter to probe the inner system ahead of the fleet. 

January 17, 2148: The sensor fighter reaches the innermost planet and finds nothing.  The fighter waits for the fleet to arrive and lands on its carrier to replenish its fuel and allow its pilot to rest, before being launched again to probe the system’s fourth planet. 

January 18, 2148: The Retribution Fleet, orbiting the innermost planet of the Omega Ceti system, detects five small alien ships, all from the same classes as those encountered at the jump point.  The ships are 26 mkm’s from the fleet’s location, and are moving at 15,814 km/s, more than twice the fleet’s top speed.  Admiral McCullick orders the America to launch her strike group and eliminate the alien ships.  The alien ships turn and run, but the fighters are faster.  One hundred and four minutes later, five fighters from the America’s strike group launched their missiles, each targeting a different alien ship.  They were unable to target one of the alien ships, which had been designated by the intel section as the Aqen class, as it was smaller than the other ships and the fighters would have to be closer.   

The missile strike killed four of the five alien ships, leaving only the Aqen class ship left, but upon the demise of its squadron mates it accelerated to 20,587 km/s, which was over 1,000 km/s faster than the pursuing fighters.  The last alien ship outpaced the fighters and soon drew away, out of range of their weapons.  The fighters continued to follow in the hopes that it would lead them to another group of ships.  For twenty-five minutes the small alien ship ran, but then it turned back towards the fighters, closing to the point that the strike group was able to launch missiles at it.  The missile strike destroyed the small ship, at which time the fighters returned to their carriers. 

January 21, 2148: The Retribution Fleet’s sensors pick up a large group of alien ships close to where the first group appeared.  This group is composed of seventy ships, forty-two of which are known classes, and twenty-eight of which are a new class.  All of them are moving at 15,814 km/s.  Admiral McCullick, who is beginning to suspect that there is a jump point at the location that the alien ships are appearing at, orders his carriers to launch their strike fighters.  The America and the China launch their fifty-two strike fighters at the alien group, which is moving away from the inner system.  The pursuit moved out of the inner system and it soon became clear that the alien ships were heading in the general direction of the jump point that the fleet had used to enter the system.  Admiral McCullick had left three destroyers, two destroyer escorts, and a fleet scout to secure the jump point, including the destroyer that had been damaged in the fight to enter the system.  That destroyer’s crew had used the time productively, and had repaired all of the damage inflicted by the enemy’s microwave weapons. 

When the enemy reached 100 mkm’s from the jump point, the enemy group turned back towards the pursuing fighters, which had closed to 7.3 mkm’s.  Three minutes later the aliens had closed to within three million kilometers, theoretically within range of the fighter’s missiles, however, the fighter’s fire controls couldn’t lock on to the enemy small craft so they continued to close.  Thirty-five seconds later the fighters were close enough, and the strike group launched 416 Sparrow III ASM’s at the alien small craft. 

Thirty seconds later the missile wave crashed over the alien ships.  The missiles that missed reacquired their targets and tried to hit them again, and again.  When the explosions cleared, there were thirty-six alien ships left, now traveling at 18,000 km/s.  Most of the alien ships remaining were of the new class, designated as the Myrkul class, weighing in at 650 tons. 

The fighters turned back towards their carriers, and the alien ships turned towards their original target, the jump point.  Admiral McCullick ordered the jump point force to retreat away from the oncoming aliens and go into low emissions mode, in the hopes that they wouldn’t be seen.  In the meantime, he ordered the fleet to advance on the suspected jump point location and take up a standoff position two million kilometers from the jump point.   

One hour and forty minutes later the alien force stops at the jump point, assuming a protective ring around the point.  Nearly simultaneously, a group of four alien ships appear on the fleet’s sensors, six hundred and seventy-four thousand kilometers away.  The four ships are of a new type, and are moving at 14,663 km/s. 

At 0213 hours on the 22nd, the strike group lands on its carriers and begins to rearm.  Ninety minutes later the carriers launch their fighters, again targeted on the group occupying the jump point.  In the meantime, the four new contacts, which are cruising across the outer system, aimed at nothing the Terran sensors could detect, will have to wait, as the attack fighters remaining with the fleet are too slow to catch them. 

0515 hours: The fighter strike group, which had been moving to create an offset from a direct course to the jump point, to prevent the possibility of the aliens fleeing directly into the hiding jump point watch force, detect the alien ships leaving the jump point and heading back in-system.  The fighter groups immediately turn to close with the alien ships.  The aliens apparently detect the fighters at 0603 hours and turn back towards the jump point.  Over the next several minutes the aliens will make several course changes, alternating between their original course back into the inner system and back towards their original location at the jump point. 

The twenty-six strike fighters of the China space group launch first, targeting twenty-six of the small alien ships.  The missiles are devastating.  Ten alien ships are destroyed by the initial strike, eleven more when the remaining missiles retarget, and five by the last few missiles that remained after the last two attacks.  There were now ten alien ships left. 

Ten fighters of America’s space group then launched, targeting the remaining ten alien ships.  This proved to be enough to wipe out the last ten alien ships.  Their mission accomplished, the fighters turned back to their carriers. 

As the fighters are returning, the four alien ships in the outer system perform an in-system jump using a la grange point associated with the fifth planet in the outer system, jumping in behind the fleet into the inner system.  This is problematic, as one of the fleet scouts had been left in orbit over the innermost planet when the fleet departed to picket the suspected jump point.  Leaving the carriers behind to recover their fighters, the Retribution fleet goes into the pursuit of the four ships and Admiral McCullick orders the scout to run from the aliens.  The four alien ships have been designated as the Anubis class, and are 20,583 tons and are currently moving at 14,633 km/s, almost twice as fast as the scout. 

Unfortunately, with the fleet still 40 mkm’s away from the main fleet, the aliens overrun the scout and wipe it out in a barrage of laser fire.  The alien ships then head away from the fleet, towards the outer system.  Knowing that they can’t catch the fleeing ships, Admiral McCullick orders the fleet to rescue the survivors of the scout and then to picket the inner LaGrange point.  Contact with the alien ships is lost at 1121 hours.  Admiral McCullick orders the scout with the jump point watch force to join the main fleet in the inner system.   

At 1136 hours the four alien ships are reacquired moving back towards the inner system.  At 1200 hours, when the carriers have rejoined the fleet, Admiral McCullick orders a strike launched against the four alien ships, which are now 172 mkm’s away and moving inwards towards the fleet.  In short order the strike fighters are away and racing towards the alien ships. 

The alien ships apparently detect the oncoming fighters at around 47 mkm’s, because they turn and begin running.  The strike fighters continue their pursuit. 

1335 hours: The four alien ships suddenly come to a halt, allowing the fighters to rapidly close.  At 1350 they suddenly accelerate towards the oncoming fighters.  The fighters launch an alpha strike, four hundred and sixteen ASM’s, targeted on the four alien ships at 1357 hours.  It took the ASM’s forty-five seconds to cross the distance between the fighters and the alien ships, and then the alpha strike washed across the alien formation.  Eighty-seven missiles hit their targets, more or less evenly distributed across the four ships, causing only armor damage.  The surviving missiles came around again, and this time the aliens used their lasers to defend themselves, shooting down twenty-eight missiles, leaving seventy to hit the four ships.  This time there were penetrating hits on three of the four ships.  Sixty-nine missiles hit on the third pass, causing penetrating hits to all four ships, leaving one drifting.  The fourth pass got forty hits, again causing penetrating hits to all four ships.  One of the alien ships was drifting, and two were reduced to half speed.  Forty-five missiles hit on the fifth pass, killing one of the alien ships and leaving the other three at reduced speed.  The sixth attack left two alien ships to be the focus of the remaining twenty ASM’s.  The last two ships absorbed all twenty ASM’s and kept running, however they were reduced to 3,665 km/s and 5,498 km/s respectively.   

In the aftermath of the strike, Admiral McCullick ordered his flagship and the strike carrier to launch their laser armed attack fighters, to run down the remaining alien ships.  The strike fighters would continue shadowing the alien ships to maintain contact until the attack fighters arrived. 

The two alien ships split up, with the faster ship pursuing the Terran strike fighters, and the slower ship running for the outer system. 

1556 hours: The twenty attack fighters of the strike group opened fire with their 15 cm lasers at 50,000 kilometers, scouring three hits, all of which penetrated.  The next salvo took place at point blank range, and obliterated the alien ship.  The strike group continued on towards the other alien ship while the strike fighters turned back towards their carriers. 

1737 hours: The attack fighters open fire on the last alien ship at 150,000 kilometers, scouring five hits, one of which penetrates.  It takes two more salvoes from their rapid firing 15 cm lasers to destroy the alien ship, which did not fire back.  The attack fighters turn back towards the fleet. 

Omega Ceti Aliens (OC Aliens until proper name determined)
Five known ship classes
Aqen: Spd 20,587, Tonnage 550, Weaponry Unknown
Hecate: Spd 15,814, Tonnage 750, Weaponry 1xHigh Power Microwave
Anubis: Spd 20,583, Tonnage 20,583, Weaponry 1xLaser (72 damage), 14xLaser (32 damage)
Eshu: Spd 15,814, Tonnage 750, Weaponry 1xLaser (3 damage)
Myrkul: Spd 18,030, Tonnage 650, Weaponry unknown

Of particular concern are the high-powered microwave weaponry of the Hecate class, which effectively disabled an Imperial destroyer in one salvo.  The microwave weaponry proved less effective against a shielded ship, fortunately.  In addition, the laser weaponry used by the Anubis class ships is extremely powerful, with their primary weapon capable of causing 50% more damage than an Imperial 45cm far ultraviolet spinal laser mount. 

The continuing analysis of the debris left behind in the jump point battle has revealed evidence that the Omega Ceti aliens bear a significant resemblance to the Swarm first encountered in the Chi Draconis system.  While they use different weaponry and ship classes, the physical resemblance is uncanny, and their behavior is similar. 

The possibility that this is another swarm race disturbs Admiral McCullick greatly.  His carriers have reloaded his primary striking force, the strike fighters, but they have no additional missiles, meaning the next strike will be the last until reloads arrive.  The support fleet, at least the portion that is jump capable, should still be assembling in the Lalande system, and won’t be in the Omega Ceti system for some time, perhaps a month. 

Admiral McCullick prepares a report for Fleet Command.  McCullick takes full responsibility for the loss of the fleet scout, and recommends the development and deployment of a ship capable of deploying the newly developed sensor buoys in support of active fleet operations. 

January 30, 2148 
The Retribution Fleet in the Omega Ceti system detects a new class of alien ship 831 mkm’s out, beyond the location where they first detected the four large ships several days ago.  The new ship is moving at 14,663 km/s.  One day later the contact has grown to four ships, the original ship and three additional Anubis class ships.  The group is on course for the outer LaGrange point used by the earlier group to jump into the inner system. 

Admiral McCullick orders the fleet to take up a position three million kilometers from the LaGrange Point, with the carriers positioned one million kilometers behind the fleet.  Once in position, at Admiral McCullick’s orders the carriers to launch their fighters, with the strike fighters remaining with the carrier group, and the laser-equipped attack fighters moving in close to the LaGrange point.  He does not want his capital ships too close to the LaGrange point as the aliens would be able to engage them before they could fire back. 

At 0900 hours on the 31st, the alien group had closed to 370 mkm’s as it closed on the LaGrange Point, and the ship count had grown to eight, with four additional ships of a new class appearing.  With the ship count increasing, Admiral McCullick ordered the strike fighters to move forward to the Fleet’s location.  If the alien squadron proved to have a large number of as-yet unobserved small craft with it, Admiral McCullick wanted the missile armed fighters with his fleet to thin their ranks before the aliens closed on the fleet.  In addition, he ordered the attack fighters to withdraw to the fleet’s location, so that they would present the aliens with a united front when they jumped in, and could attack simultaneously.  With the updated sensor readings, Admiral McCullick has realized that they may be in over their heads.  The contact first detected, designated as the Osiris class, has a thermal sensor reading 80% greater than that of the monstrous flagship of the original swarm that massed 130,000 tons.  It is too late to run, though.  Already, the alien fleet is close enough that it will catch the Terrans if they run for the jump point, so Admiral McCullick decides to remain in position. 

Admiral McCullick ordered the strike fighters to launch their missiles when the alien ships jumped in.  If the alien fleet numbers remained consistent, then the fighters were to target the Anubis class ships as their primary target, as their powerful lasers were a threat to the larger ships of his fleet.  If the larger alien ships were accompanied by smaller ships that weren’t showing up on their sensors because of the range, then the fighters were to attack the alien small craft, to prevent them from swarming the fleet. 

1112 hours: The alien fleet appeared on the LaGrange point, three million kilometers from the fleet.  The fleet numbers remained stable.  There was one Osiris class, massing 61,591 tons, three Anubis class, massing 20,583 tons each, and four Mors class, massing 10,153 tons each.  Or, in Imperial terms, One heavy battleship, three battlecruisers, and four destroyers.  Immediately after they appeared they accelerated towards the Imperial fleet.

As planned, the strike fighters accompanying the Retribution Fleet launched their missiles soon after the aliens appeared, with thirteen fighters targeting each of the Anubis class ships, and thirteen targeting the Osiris.  As soon as they launched, they turned and set out for their carriers, which were hovering one million kilometers behind the battleline.  The carriers themselves turned and began running for the jump point, putting space between themselves and the aliens.  The missiles reached the alien fleet forty-five seconds after launch.  The alien fleet put up a spirited defense, with numerous energy weapons being discharged at the incoming missile wave.  In twenty seconds, the attack was over, with the aliens succeeding in shooting down most of the missiles.  The missile attack scored no penetrating hits, but did armor damage on all four targeted ships. 

Alpha Strike Results (All hits strength 6)
Osiris: 30 hits on armor
Anubis 05: 14 hits on armor
Anubis 06: 25 hits on armor
Anubis 07: 31 hits on armor

The results were disappointing.  Based on the prior engagement against the four Anubis class ships, Admiral McCullick had anticipated his missile strike to knock out the three Anubis class ships with this fleet, however, that did not happen and indeed, the Terran missiles got no penetrations. 

By the time the last missile was shot down, the alien fleet was just 1.4 mkm’s from the Terran fleet.  Admiral McCullick ordered his fleet to begin retrograding from the alien fleet once they entered long range.  The fleet wouldn’t be able to maintain the range against the faster alien fleet, but he could delay the aliens from getting into optimal range for their weapons.  In addition, he orders his fleet to target a single Anubis class unit, hoping that he can destroy them before they can get into firing range.  With their weakened armor, the Terran fleet should have a good change of wounding or destroying them at long range. 

1115 hours: The alien fleet opens fire at 410,000 kilometer’s range, which is almost 100,000 kilometers beyond the fleet’s own range.  The Osiris and two and of the Anubis fire lasers at the battleship Pride of Sol, getting multiple hits and reducing her shields to 91%.  Disturbingly, the alien lasers are doing significant damage, even at extreme damage.  Admiral McCullick immediately realizes that he has made a critical mistake.  By positioning his force away from the LaGrange point, he has given the alien fleet a crucial advantage.  The alien fleet outranges and can out run the Terran fleet.  Admiral McCullick immediately orders the fleet to pursue and close on the alien fleet, including the fleet’s 20 Forward II attack fighters. 

The two fleets streak towards each other with a combined closing speed of over 22,000 km/s.  There is a brief lull as the aliens recharge their lasers and the humans try to close to weapons range.  Ten seconds after the aliens hit the Pride of Sol, the attack fighters hit one of the Anubis with their 10 cm lasers, causing armor damage.  At that point the aliens turned and began running ahead of the human fleet. 

As the alien fleet began pulling away from the humans, the human fleet opened fire, but only scored four hits on one of the Anubis.   In return, the aliens hit the Pride of Sol with three strength six shots from 270,000 kilometers. 

The Terran Fleet quickly fell out of range of its weapons. The fighters, which were closer, could still fire on the retreating alien fleet, but they were finding it difficult to hit the alien ships.  The DDE’s were launching AMM’s at the Anubis as well, but between their defensive fire, their speed, and their EW systems, the alien fleet was difficult to hit.  For their next salvo, the aliens switched targets to the largest human warship, the DN Andromeda.  The Andromeda’s shields shrugged off the laser fire, but Admiral McCullick knew they wouldn’t last forever, and the aliens were now beyond his fleet’s range. 

It didn’t take McCullick long to come to the conclusion that the aliens were going to pick his fleet apart from beyond their own weapons range if they didn’t do something.  And there was little he could do, given the fact that the aliens were twice as fast as his fleet.  In fact, there was really only one option.  He keyed the all-ships channel.

“McCullick to fleet.  The fleet will change course on the flagship’s mark.  The fleet’s fighters will continue the pursuit.   The new course will be to the LaGrange point at maximum speed!”  He closed a channel and keyed in a message to his flag captain to make the course change immediately. 

That done, he turned to the plot in the center of his flag bridge.  The inner LaGrange point was 2.6 million kilometers away.  At their current speed it would take his fleet 5.7 minutes to reach the point and jump through.  They were going to take a lot of damage in that time, but it was their only hope of forcing the aliens into their own range.  After jumping across the system, the aliens would be forced to turn back and jump themselves, and that would leave them at point blank range of the fleet’s weapons. 

The pursuit continued.  The alien fleet was in between the Retribution fleet and the LaGrange point, and the fleet’s fighters were in between the two fleet’s and were trying to close on the aliens.  If the alien ships wanted to remain in weapons range of the human fleet, they would have to allow the human fighters to close.  In the meantime, the fleet’s anti-missile escorts continued pelting the alien fleet with missile fire, which was largely ineffective but did serve to at least inflict some damage. 

The human fighters soon pushed the alien fleet out of range of the main fleet.  The aliens remained just out of range of the fighter’s lasers, but also seemed to be just out of their own range as well.  That illusion as dispelled when the Anubis class ships opened fire and shot six fighters out of space, smashing them with their devastating lasers.  The pursuit continued.  Every twenty seconds the aliens smashed another six fighters, while periodically being attacked by human AMM’s, most of which didn’t get through their defenses. 

The next time the alien lasers recharged they only hit three human fighters, destroying all three.  The fighter force was reduced to five attack fighters and two sensor fighters.  The next attack took out the two sensor platforms, leaving four fighters to pursue the alien fleet.  At this point, for some reason, the aliens stopped firing on the human fighters.  Until a minute later, when one of the four remaining fighters was swatted from space, leaving three. 

At 1119 hours the alien force running ahead of the Terran fleet passed the LaGrange point with the fighters in hot pursuit.  Fifteen seconds later the fighters passed the LaGrange point.  Ten seconds later the aliens swatted another fighter from space, leaving two to pursue the alien fleet.  Forty-five seconds later another fighter exploded, and the fighter force was down to one.  Forty-five seconds later the last fighter exploded.  At this point the Retribution Fleet was 650,000 kilometers from the LaGrange point, and at its current speed it would reach the point in 87 seconds. 

With the fighters gone, the alien fleet turned around and began racing back towards the Terran Fleet.  McCullick’s fleet is now 1.6 mkm’s from the LaGrange point, and will require 109 seconds to reach the point.  It’s now a race.  The DDE’s kept spitting out missiles as they approached the LaGrange point until Admiral McCullick called a halt as they were on final approach.  At this point the DDE’s were down to under 50% on their missiles. 

At 1122 hours the fleet slipped through the LaGrange point just as the alien fleet reached its weapons range.  Once on the far side the fleet stopped on the LaGrange point and waited.  Admiral McCullick distributed a firing plan that targeted the fleet’s weapons on the Anubis class ships.  The fleet’s sensors could still see the alien fleet, but unexpectedly, it had changed course to pursue the fleeing carriers, now seven million kilometers distant.  Admiral McCullick’s frustration soared.  He had hoped that the aliens would pursue him through the LaGrange point, so he could force a closer range engagement, or that they would approach and picket the far side of the LaGrange point, allowing him to launch an attack by jumping into the inner system.  By pursuing the carriers they were going to force him to try to distract them.  Seeing no other choice, he ordered the fleet back through the LaGrange point. 

The Terran fleet appeared just over 200,000 kilometers from the alien fleet, and both sides started firing immediately.  The aliens concentrated their fire on the Andromeda, reducing her shields to 70% in one shot with their heavy lasers.  The humans, who had been planning on attacking at point blank range when the aliens came through the jump point, spread their fire ineffectively amongst the alien Anubis class ships, getting a number of armor hits.  Admiral McCullick ordered the carrier group to turn directly away from the alien force and run at top speed. 

The human fleet immediately set out in pursuit of the alien fleet, which turned away to maintain the range.  Admiral McCullick ordered all ships to target a single Anubis, in the hopes of knocking out at least one while within range of the fleet’s weapons.  The range was opening up, though, and the human ships were finding it hard to hit the elusive alien targets.  The aliens got one hit on the Andromeda’s shields, reducing them to 67%, and in return the humans got five low power hits on the Anubis’s armor.  The next round of fire, at 278,000 mkm’s, got four hits on the Anubis’s armor, but the aliens had succeeded in slipping out of range.