A War for the Stars

[Erax]

Seeker I, Captain's log, SGY 2404.9 (fifth part):

Wing Commander Grann and his squadron commanders kept their holotransmitters on during the entire engagement with the enemy fleet, so we could watch it unfold blow by blow.

The Yakrin ships were the same model we fought outside Aram I, with six engines and three large depleted uranium cannon, deadly against large ships but mostly ineffective against our fighters. We expected an easy victory.

But the enemy commander was no fool. He kept his ships close together, never allowing the damaged ones to fall behind. They unloaded massive combined barrages against our fighters, in the hope that a lucky shot might connect. Our pilots danced around and between their hulls, firing round after round of laser fire against the slow-moving opponents while avoiding their return fire.

One of the flights from Squadron Two repeated a maneuver once two often, allowing the enemy gunners to guess its next move. All four fighters flew straight into a hail of uranium pellets and were vaporized. The other flights took this as a warning and improved their defensive maneuvers from that point on.

The Yakrin held their massive-fire formation for some time, but eventually our fighters wore them down, one by one. They would disable a ship, then leave it to drift and move on to the next.

The enemy flagship was the Last one left in the fight. As our TIEs closed in around it, its gunners managed to hit a flight from Squadron Three. They should have destroyed the entire flight, but one pilot somehow passed through the enemy fire unharmed. The enemy kept on firing, but one ship couldn't hold up for long against all our fighters' combined fire. After it was destroyed, they turned back to the remaining hulks. As before, the Yakrin refused to surrender and their ships were destroyed.

Our victorious pilots are coming back to Aram I and should be here early next tenth. The Aram system can now be occupied by the Empire, but on Black Sword I and II there will be seven empty places at the mess tables.

Something tells me there may be many more before this war is over.

Seeker I, Captain's log, SGY 2404.9 (sixth part):

Now that the fighting is over in the system, the Fleet can step down from full readiness. Our fuel stores are minimal and it will be some time before the Aram spaceport is rebuilt to the point where we can be resupplied by them. Fleet Command has ordered us to use this time to refit the Seeker and carriers with the new laser cannon, which will give us a 25% power boost over the old model.

The Yakrin spaceyard workers have already started to remove our old guns. If there are no interruptions, the new ones will be installed at about the same time that the Fleet is refuelled.

Then it's on with the war.

[ June 10, 2003, 00:53: Message edited by: Chief Engineer Erax ]