UNCLAIMED SPACE- EN ROUTE TO UNK527

IRN Riptide

The road to UNK527 would take seventy-two hours. Three days at warp to get back to where they were supposed to be. John had acquired the Rep from the Xaranx, the Writ to Form an Alliance Faction and some connections with the local player base. The Han Solo wannabees he avoided, too many fan-boys. The hard-core players that were building something, he interacted with. He had made a couple of good contacts with both a Mining Alliance and Shipping Alliance, so if he ever decided to start an Alliance Faction he had already made some inroads as far as making some business partners.

He had found some interesting designs for ships and tech, all of them were out of his price range and he would be unable to use any of them at this point. His crew was happy and well-rested after having a minimum of 8 hours of shore leave, UNK527 was supposed to be another binary system and depending on what type of stars it might take anywhere from one week to one month again to map the system. All the naval personnel were continuing to undergo small arms training and mock boarding actions. Time would forge his crew into something more than the fish they were.

UNCLAIMED SPACE- OUTER EDGE OF UNK527

IRN Riptide- Bridge

72 Hours later...

John was anxious, the Riptide was 30 minutes out from UNK527. O'Hansen knew they were going to drop out of the system 1 light minute out. John didn't want a repeat of UNK322, so he would rather add an additional hour of travel in normal space as opposed to ripping out the guts to the Riptide again. They had gotten lucky last time, he would not tempt fate again. He had talked to his boys twice over the last three days of travel, they were doing well and his grandkids were worried about him. It would be another week in the real world before the initial tests about the effects of the medical nanites could be done. So three more weeks for John, hopefully, the time would fly by. All the reports from the previous shift had been boring and indicated nothing significant had happened.

Mission Complete: Crew Arms and Boarding Training

Description: Through intense training in both small arms and mock boarding actions your crew's proficiency in both has increased.

Rewards: All Crew members gained 500 Exp. Crew proficiency in small Arms have increased by 10%, and the crew of the Riptide will be 10% more likely to repel boarders.

Nice benefits incase they ever encountered aggressive pirates, it might be the only thing that stood between them and losing the Riptide. "Ok people I want us to be ready for anything, tactical I want our stealth suite active as soon as we stabilize from the jump, I want our scout drones launched as well. Keep our sensors as passive only and make sure the missile tubes are loaded, the pulse cannons and PDCs are manned and ready." 30 minutes later the Riptide lurched out of Warp and into normal space.

"Transition is complete, Warp drive is charging and will be ready in one hour. We will reach the edge of the system in one hour and fifteen minutes at current speeds." Lieutenant O'Hansen called out.

"Stealth Suite is running and scout drones are prepped and launching in 3 minutes, gun crews are standing down on the Pulse cannons and half the PDCs." the Tactical officer called out.

The sensor officer chimed in "We are clear up to one km out, we are using passive sensors only, we will have a visual in two minutes on the system." John acknowledged the officer's statement while he reviewed the status of the Riptide.

Ship Status- Riptide

Shields- Running 10% Capacity

Hull- 100%

Engines- Running 50% Capacity

Warp Engines- Standby Mode/Charging

Fusion Generators- Online/Operating 60% Capacity

Fore Missile Tubes- Unarmed/Loaded

Aft Missile Tubes- Unarmed/Loaded

Pulse Cannons- Standby Mode

Point Defense Cannons- 50% Manned/Standby Mode

Stealth Suite- Online

Forty-five minutes later the sensor officer called out "I am picking up a large debris field along the edge of the system leading inward toward the heart of the system. No singularities so far though but a massive battle was fought here. I would recommend going around the debris field in case any un-exploded ordinance remains."

John considered his options before agreeing with the sensor operator's assessment of the situation " Lieutenant O'Hansen plot a course around the debris field, I want a detailed scan though. Maybe we can salvage some information on the battle that occurred here. Update the plot with everything we have so far on the system please."

The system plot came upon his station with everything the sensors and scout drones had acquired so far, which wasn't much since they were still so far out. UNK527 Component one, Yellow Sun with seven planetary bodies (asteroid field orbits both components creating a figure eight around both stars), Component two, Yellow Sun with six planetary bodies, large debris field approximately twelve km wide leading further into the system.

One hour later the Riptide had finally reached the edge of the system, they had cleared the main debris field and were pushing into the system. They had discovered three intact computer cores and Kate and Jeeves were working on decrypting them. The AIs had standing orders not to disseminate what information they could find to anyone other than John. The second shift would be on in the next ten minutes and John wanted to read any logs or information they had recovered about the battle. The current estimates for mapping out the system would take two weeks, hopefully, they would not be mapping any more binary systems after this.

UNCLAIMED SPACE- OUTER EDGE OF UNK527

IRN Riptide- Bridge

2 WEEKS LATER...

Although UNK527 didn't have any pirates, it had plenty of things to discover for the Riptide. The debris field had the wrecks of over one hundred capital ships and three hundred smaller vessels. The battle had been determined to be during the Fall, Imperial forces against a mix of Thrax and local rebel powers. After an intense battle, the Imperial forces had been broken and scattered.

The Riptide had found the remains of mining operations through the asteroid belt, several refining facilities, and one Imperial Base. The base and the refining facilities were complete wreaks, either nukes or anti-matter missiles had destroyed them and the mining units without their support facilities had fallen to disrepair or destroyed.

UNK527 Component 1

Sun- Yellow Sun

Planet 1-Rocky Irradiated planet, due to proximity of the planet to the sun and rotation rate this planet can neither be settled or mined

Planet 2-Little Atmosphere, High concentrations of Iron, Veridium, and Cobalt and low rotation rate would support extensive mining operations, 2 moons

Planet 3-"Green Zone" planet, Planet has a large amount of water with hundreds of islands and small land masses no larger than 500sq miles, an Imperial Outpost was located on one of the many islands but the facility was destroyed by nuclear bombardment, due to this planet us suffering a nuclear winter and will not be able to support life for another 400-600 years, 2 moons

Planet 4-"Green Zone" planet, this planet is barely able to support life, it is mainly a desert planet with 3 smaller bodies of water, 3 moons

Planet 5-Gas Giant, this planet will support Helium 3 production, has 4 moons

Planet 6-Gas Giant, this planet will support Helium 3 production, has 7 moons

Planet 7-This planetoid is barely larger than a moon, no atmosphere and shows extensive former mining operations

UNK527 Component 2

Sun- Yellow Sun

Planet 1-Rocky Irradiated planet, due to proximity of the planet to the sun and rotation rate this planet can neither be settled or mined

Planet 2-Rocky Irradiated planet, due to proximity of the planet to the sun and rotation rate this planet can neither be settled or mined

Planet 3-"Green Zone" planet, has 4 continents, 5 bodies of water with islands throughout, the planet would be idle for supporting colonization, 4 moons

Planet 4-Planet is mountainous with little atmosphere, able to support mining operations and domed and/or underground settlements, 3 moons

Planet 5-Gas Giant, 8 moons

Planet 6-Gas Giant, able to support Helium 3 mining, 11 moons

System Notes-This system has extensive ruins from Pre-Fall Imperial mining operations. This system also supported a military outpost. Remnants of a battle that occurred during the Fall are strewn throughout the system where over 400 vessels were destroyed. Mining operations throughout the asteroid belt could be reconstituted. It is apparent this was a nodel system that supported a Pre-Fall project that was being constructed, possibly the facility that was referenced at UNK521 (see attached system and base files)

The planet that had supported the Imperial outpost was still too irradiated for exploration and settlement. From what they had been able to scan through cloud cover and radiation, the facility had been large covering 10 sq miles. During the War, it had probably supported a dozen fighter squadrons and thousands of fleet and marine personnel. The mining operations had been impressive throughout both components of UNK527. Vast resources still lay untapped throughout the system and could be exploited by the Remnant.

John reviewed the systems they still had to scout, UNK402, UNK427, UNK634 (Binary System), UNK501, and UNK702. Until Fleet Command changed their orders they could not scout UNK400, UNK327, or UNK601. The nearest system, UNK427, was 4 days away and deep space scans had detected radio waves. Hopefully, nothing too bad would happen when they got there, the Riptide would be transitioning to warp in the next hour and he would have very little to do between now and then. 'Jeeves, I am going to log out and check on my kids and grandkids. Set my character to Auto-Admin and alert me to any emergencies immediately.' A door popped into existence immediately, he stood and opened the door and logged out of the game...

Digital World- Home Space

It was a seamless transition between the digital worlds, the feeling was not quite as bad as jumping in or out of warp. 'Jeeves what is the real world time?' Jeeves digital projection popped into existence

'Currently, it is 0200 am where you are physically located, where your kids are located, 1000pm.' John considered what he wanted to do as he went to take a shower.

'Jeeves, bring up the information we pulled from the data cores I want to review it again after I get out of the shower and get some food.' Twenty minutes later he was sitting on his sofa, a pizza was still cooking and Jeeves had uploaded the information he had acquired from the data cores on both the main TV and his tablet. The station that was on the TV was massive, with a dozen arms extending the main superstructures. The construction bays were large enough to build Battleships maybe even TItan class ships. Launch bays and turrets dotted the superstructure and arms. The station could easily house one hundred thousand personnel, and from the files, the station required a minimum of twenty thousand personnel to run the station with a skeletal crew.

He had no idea if the station was still intact, based on the specs a Phoenix class missile wouldn't destroy the station. Damage it yeah, but not destroy. Based on the information John had acquired, the Stalwart Class station was one of eight such stations that had been built throughout Imperial space. They had been designed before the war, but due to cutbacks, they had never been put into production. The stations were designed to build a large number of ships in a short amount of time and to enforce the will and security of the Imperium on hundreds of thousands of systems. It was also noted a Jump gate was located in the same system as the station. The station also had the latest in titanium armor, plasma weapons, and nanites that would repair the station. It also had an A.I. core and automated units to assist in construction and maintenance.

The system the station was in had eight planets, three of them were in the "Green Zone" and capable of supporting colonies and/or bases, two asteroid belts populated the system as well that could support an extensive in-system mining operation. The jump gate was located at the edge of the system and static defenses had been planned to be built throughout the system. What had been finished or if the system and what was being built there was ever compromised was an unknown.

'Jeeves, do a search of the Endless Expanse Forums, keywords Stalwart station.' Ten minutes later about fifty threads popped up on his tablet, and after reading for about thirty minutes John figured out that four of the stations had been discovered so far. In the resulting wars that had resulted from their discovery, one had been destroyed after six anti-matter missiles had been smuggled on board and detonated in the heart of the station tearing it apart. Another one was still being actively fought over in Tholian Space and the remaining two were controlled by two of the most powerful Alliances (in Thrax and Argonion space). The stations brought in huge amounts of money and military power toward their owners.

Claiming the station for himself would be useless right now until he had an Alliance that he trusted. Joining an Alliance or starting one was not an option until he finished up his tour. He was sure that the station could play a critical role in the future of the Remnant factions. It might even unite or destroy the faction as well, only time would tell. Time for some sleep and talking with his family before jumping back into the game. Hopefully, some time away would provide some clarity and a path forward in planning.