Troubleshooting took longer than expected. Please accept my apologies. I think we're back on track now.

15-16 Aug 06

Our surplus funds were rapidly diminishing. We had to get a solid defense fleet ready for Tuumen. We started building both at Tuumen and the nearest colony to beef up the defenses. The inbound fleet was only eleven ships and we had five turns. It should be easy.

The problem was the limited resources on Tuumen. It was a smaller colony on the edge of the union. The only planets near it were uninhabitable. Without improving stardrives, we could only get one fleet to Tuumen before the attack. Everything else would have to be built there. Shuulsi was tasked with building a Plasma cruiser and a repair ship. Tuumen started on the torpedo boats and the command ship. Though they were pressed, they managed to field a sizable defense force before the Hivers arrived.

Tuumen was too small to support medium defense platforms. It had a full ring of light satellites. The fleet was in our new standard formation with a lead of torpedo boats, followed by a fin of plasma cruisers followed by the command ship. The plan was for the command ship to stay back by the planet (near the automated defenses) while the rest of the ships engaged at medium range to blunt the force of the first strike.

When the Hivers arrived, we were relieved to see that it was a small swarm without any cruisers. That made the goal simple. Crush their first attack, sweep through and clear out their gate ship then mop up any survivors. As usual, the Hiver attack ships charged right at the planet. Our defense forces engaged with the torpedoes taking out two ships with their first salvo. The cruisers then closed to attack circling around their intended prey.

Three or four ships broke away to assault the planet. We sent a couple torpedo boats after them knowing the defenses and command cruiser was still in place. Instead of attacking the planet, they engaged the command cruiser. Combined with a couple torpedoes fired from the already engaged ships, the Hivers broke the shields of the command cruiser. It tried to maneuver to better protect itself, but the speedy destroyers were relentless. Though the Plasma cruisers weren't far away, they couldn't get back in time to help in this battle. Three of the destroyers were vaporized, but the fourth died simultaneously with the command cruisers. It appears the Hivers will bear any cost to take out the opponents command.

Without a threat to the planet, the remaining defense forces started to sweep out to find the Hiver command and the gate ship. Soon they were picked up on our scanners. With the combined firepower of the fleet, they didn't last long. As the last ship exploded, the planet relaxed. The sector was once again safe.

Meanwhile our strike force was still looking for a target. The Hivers had used several planets as staging areas for their attacks, but had not left any traces on them. We finally found one of their planets in Rozokor. Unfortunately, the fleet found more than they bargained for. The Hivers apparently realized that Rozokor was their nearest planet to our colonies. It was their they brought their new cruisers and cruiser level defense platforms online.

With that kind of firepower, there was no way for an older strike force to take the planet. The fleet commander decided to strike at their response fleet, make a pass at their gate ship and return to a friendly colony to rearm with greater firepower. The plan worked fairly well. The first volley of torpedoes took our several Hiver ships. The cruisers did not take the field immediately. They were relying on their higher speed destroyers to form the initial attack. The fleet pressed on to full speed at they took aim at the gate ship. Several of the torpedo boats started to wither under the fire, but they managed to hang on to fire another salvo before destruction. The first pass was enough to take out the gate ship.

The commander ordered a full retreat then to minimize losses. The fleet continued to pick off Hiver ships as their engines drove to escape the gravity well to fully engage the stutter warp. As expected the attacking Hiver ships swarmed around the command ship. It wasn't long before their shields fell. Still it looked like they would make it as the other ships started to stutter out. Unfortunately, they took a torpedo in the engines before clearing the well. It resulted in a cascade that destroyed the entire section. Without a line of retreat, the commander ordered the rest of the ships to carry on and avenge their loss later. The crippled ship turned to engage the approaching forces. That was the last ever heard from their noble crew. They will not be forgotten.

Jason