Imperial Chronicles
The Admiral stood on the bridge of his command ship. His was one of the few Battleships in the Armada, but with the recent increase in Naval activities of late, there were sure to be more in production soon. Most of the fleet at his command were Corvettes and Destroyers, though the Cruisers he had requested were arriving daily. The funding for the new ships came from the recent raids on the poorly managed and seemingly unattended bases of local magistrates who had tried to carve out their own empire, and had apparently failed.
He did not judge or criticize them, only wonder why one would attempt such an undertaking if they were not willing to see it through. His own Emperor was said to have come from another galaxy where he had fallen to the long knives of his ignoble rivals. But that was of little concern now.
For some time now, this galaxy had been under siege from an Imperial Guild from a nearby galaxy. Some members of the Guild had even gone so far as to build bases as a beach head to enforce their presence. While many were struggling to resist the invaders’ forces, the bases under his Emperor’s banner had not been bothered.Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Guild in which his Emperor helped to govern. It seemed now that the tides may be about to turn, however. The Commonwealth Alliance of which their Guild was a member had provided intel of a coming assault by their enemy on a distant galaxy. According to reports, the vast majority of the enemy’s fleet was preparing to move out leaving their territory poorly guarded. He couldn’t help but question the quality of his enemies tacticians. Even if their bases were well defended by turrets and shields, without their fleets to intercept attackers they would be easy targets.
Even as plans were made to leave their own galaxy in force, the shipyards were already producing a defense fleet of the newly developed Ion Frigates and Ion Bombers to deter any attempts to occupy their home worlds during the campaign. He anticipated the rushed production of the Heavy Bombers which they had just finished developing.
An ensign handed him the latest fleet reports. As he looked over the numbers he was concerned with how few ships he had at his disposal. They were still building more for the invasion fleets, true, but would it be enough? He knew that the enemy bases would be well defended and he’d heard rumors that some of them even had planetary grade defenses. If they were to take more than one or two planets he would need either a larger fleet, or a great deal of luck. Another matter for concern was the Jump Gate.
While it was still more than half completed, his fleet wasn’t going anywhere without it being operational. They could travel without it, but that would take twice as long and could cost them the chance to occupy the wealthier Empires’ bases. If the gates construction wasn’t completed in time, there was the same issue.
This campaign needed to be successful. To be successful, it needed to be profitable. Even now there were ships continuing to scout nearby targets to fund this expedition. So far they had not found any viable targets, most being too small to warrant his attention, the rest were too risky. He glanced down at the reports again. Five Battleships, a few dozen Heavy Cruisers, with another dozen en-route from across the galaxy, and several dozen Cruisers were the backbone of his fleet. Around a hundred each of Destroyers and Corvettes were the meat.
They would need at least double these numbers as well as re-enforcements to be effective and have any of them return home. He handed the reports back to the ensign to be filed into his logs for submittal into the Imperial Archives. As he looked down upon the crater pocked moon base below him he watched as a new squadron of Ion Frigates launch from the base. He hoped that they wouldn’t have their hands too full during this operation. At least they were covering themselves here at home and not leaving themselves open, he thought to himself. For now though, all he could do was wait for his movement orders and hope they were ready.
Story sent by TheMightySpin for the AE Stories event