“Yes, Admiral,” replied Captain Fulmar. “I’ll make the necessary arrangements. I would suggest we use the Novak Two system as a training area. It has a large number of asteroids and has been mined out. No Humans currently live in the system, and it will be a good location for some live-fire exercises.”
“See to it,” ordered Dylan. “The sooner these crews are ready for combat, the better I’ll feel.”
Returning his attention to the main viewscreen, he watched as two small construction vessels worked on the ODP. One of them had a weapons turret grasped in the vessel’s remote-controlled arms, which it slowly put in place. The small construction vessels were also equipped with fusion welders and cutters.
“It’s going pretty quickly,” commented Captain Fulmar.
“Yet again I’ll feel much better when we have all the major planets in this cluster protected by ODPs and PDCs,” replied Dylan, leaning back in his command chair. “It’s only a matter of time before the Confederation renews their attacks.”
Fulmar nodded. “There have only been a few in the last couple weeks. I wonder what they’re waiting on?”
“It may have something to do with their attack on Earth.” At that moment the alarm on the sensor console went off, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Zynth battlecruiser just dropped from hyperspace,” reported Lieutenant Casella. “It’s in the far reaches of the system and appears to be taking scans.”
Dylan let out a deep sigh. It seemed that every few days a Confederation warship appeared and scanned the system. “Send out two battlecruisers to chase it away.”
The orders were quickly sent, and two Imperial battlecruisers made the hyperspace jump to accost the Zynth battlecruiser, which jumped out at the appearance of the Imperial ships.
“Same as the last four times,” said Captain Fulmar. “They jump in, take a few scans, and then jump back out.”
Dylan nodded. “Have the two battlecruisers stay there for an hour and then have them return.” He doubted if the Zynth ship would return that soon, but he wanted to be ready just in case.
Dylan wondered where these ships were coming from. All seven of the major worlds in the Hagen Star Cluster had reported seeing them. Dylan had at least a full squadron of warships in each system, as well as ships monitoring the inhabited moons. If it came to a battle, he planned on being prepared.
-
Zynth Admiral Donlur gazed at the latest tactical information from the Hagen Star Cluster. It grew more evident with every passing day that the Humans were heavily fortifying it. Already the primary system of Tantula Five was a veritable fortress. The Humans were also building a massive base on the inhabited moon of Gideon in the system.
“We must slow this defensive buildup, until our fleets are ready to attack,” spoke First Officer Zakor. “Every day this cluster becomes a bigger danger to the Confederation.”
Admiral Donlur nodded; his yellow reptilian gaze moved across his Command Center. “We shall attack the system of Clovian Three. It has major mining operations. I plan on attacking all the Human mining operations throughout the cluster. It will greatly reduce their resources and will slow their defensive buildup.”
“How many ships will we use in this attack?”
“Our fleet is scattered, observing hundreds of Human worlds and installations. We will take the ships we have here with the flagship to make our attack.”
First Officer Zakor nodded. “That will give us 130 battlecruisers and 20 battleships. That should easily allow us to overwhelm the mining colonies at Clovian Three.”
“We’ll launch our attack tomorrow. We must soften up this star cluster, so our fleets can retake it for the Confederation.”
-
Captain Manson was on board the dreadnought Taggert, which was patrolling the inhabited moons and mining colonies of the Hagen Star Cluster. He had ten dreadnoughts and forty battlecruisers with him.
“Still receiving reports of Zynth warships scanning many of our systems,” reported First Officer Tricia Jansen. “Nearly every star system, including Tantula Five, has reported Zynth ships in the last two days. They jump in, take a series of scans, and then jump back out.”
“I don’t like this,” said Manson, crossing his arms over his chest. “It sounds too much like they’re up to something.”
“Should we warn the mining colonies?”
Manson nodded. “I think it would be wise. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them, and we can’t be everywhere at once.”
On the main viewscreen, several Imperial battlecruisers were visible. The one-thousand-meter-long vessels were covered in weapons and ready for combat. Manson’s task group crews were all well trained. If it came to a battle, they were ready.
-
Mayor Adrian Styles sat in her crowded office on the largest moon of Clovian Three. Clovian Three was a G-type star but had no planets in the liquid water zone. It had several large asteroid fields, as well as numerous small moons around its four gas giants, all rich in minerals.
On the moon of Clovian, the two large domed cities were where most of the miners and their families lived. Thanks to the Human Empire, both cities sat in a ring of protective energy beam turrets and heavy missile launchers. Both domes were protected by energy shields, and small spaceports were outside each one. Each city had a population of around fifty thousand.
Adrian was currently being briefed on several recent mineral discoveries that might be worth setting up more mining operations.
“We have two deep asteroid finds,” reported Darien Stokes. “Each has the capability of producing several million tons of heavy metals.”
“Our primary worlds could use those heavy metals in their defense preparations,” mused Adrian, as she thought of the costs involved. “Who do we
