[attack_condor]

2409.4

Mentocka system
...high orbit over Mentocka VIII

Ed Jefferies climbed into his cockpit. It turned out his “bad” shuttle landing ski wasn’t really that bad after all. The day after he was assigned to working on constructing mines for orbital defense, he managed to get a chance to speak to the colony leader, and revealed his true identity to him. Still doubtful of his reason for being on the colony, the colony leader listened as Jefferies explained the positions of the Abbidon and Cue Cappa in this system, and managed to not declare him totally insane when Jefferies had stated the empire would have fleet ships back into the system in less than three months. Jefferies finally won them over to him when he had their ground control link to a Tripwire satellite that was in orbit. The controllers patiently explained to him that there were no satellites launched, to which Jefferies agreed, and had them try to link up anyway. To their amazement, their sensor array started downloading data from locations nine sectors away.

About that time, CDS Shelly made contact with the colonists and reported that the Tripwire was in place. Since the Abbidon didn’t take the bait and attack Shelly or her satellite, the Tripwire was re-launched over Mentocka VII. Jefferies story became not only believable, but feasible. The suggestion to build copies of Jefferies “shuttle” was approved. Only four more could be built but that would be enough for now. Jefferies then suggested that the colony start to build a space yard in anticipation of the fleet’s return. Construction began almost at once.

Now in space with his four wingmen, Jefferies settled into orbit over Mentocka VII and found what he was looking for. Three Abbidon frigates, still severely damaged from their battle with Leeds and the weapon platform on Mentocka VIII were awaiting a repair ship, which happened to be on the way to them. The five fighters attacked. One frigate, although badly wounded, still had an active point defense battery, and one of the fighters lost 91% of its shields before the frigate was destroyed. The second frigate was completely helpless and easy prey for the fighters. The third frigate had no weapons, but had engines, and was able to limp out of the sector, but the fighters pursued it into the next sector, chased it down, and killed their third ship of the mission. There were more Abbidon ships, including the repair ship that was en route to Mentocka VII to repair the now non-existent frigates, but it was guarded by a very un-damaged destroyer, so the fighters returned to the safety of Mentocka VII.

The Abbidon had just been reminded that war was a dangerous business. While a jolt for the Abbidon, the colonists on Mentocka VII were ecstatic. In one mission, they had evolved from targets to opponents – a very big difference indeed.

Zezzis system
Zezzis V operation center…

The word was passed on to the ships in the sector. The time had come for the Sergetti war to end. The Sergetti had continually refused overtures of peace, including one after their colony ship was returned to them. The empire had been patient, but the time for patience had ended. Dawn could not keep a fleet in Zezzis while waiting for the leaders of the Sergetti to see that a cessation of hostilities was the only logical move. They were the only two empires in the system, and exits out of the system were virtually walled off with Dawn mines. The Sergetti had only four planets in the system, and continually demanded the Dawn to abandon its colonies and leave the system. That would not happen, and the decision was made to restore offensive operations against the Sergetti. The speechwriters would have something for the Chairman back at Nekkar III to read to the population about the “greater good” of the move and the unwillingness of the leaders of the Sergetti not seeing the practical solution. All of which might sound noble, but the bottom line was that the war against the Sergetti was about to get a whole lot hotter.

The mission was to eliminate ships, fighters, troops and weapon platforms before using fighters and troops to overwhelm the remaining militia forces. Every effort would be made to not injure colonists of the worlds, nor destroy any current infrastructure. The first stop was Zezzis VI, a small rock world one sector away from the Dawn colony on Zezzis V. The Sergetti colony had twenty fighter in orbit. The captured Phong and Sithrak frigates left Zezzis I and returned to Zezzis V, killing the returned Sergetti colony ship on their way back. Together with Montreal, they engaged the fighters on Zezzis VI. Twenty more fighters launched in response, and the forty fighters and three ships squared off. The Phong frigate was lost to enemy fire, and Montreal was on the verge of taking armor damage when the tide turned. Montreal’s four anti-photon cannon, flak cannon; backed up by the Sithrak PDC were able to destroy all of the fighters. There were no military forces left guarding the planet.

Similar operations were carried out at the other Sergetti planets in the system. At Sergetti XI, two frigates and a freighter were destroyed by Toronto, Norwich, Manchester and Thames, with 36 fighters in a ground attack role. Of the over 90 ground troops at Sergetti XI, only seven survived the ensuing bombardment. They, along with any militia were all that stood between Dawn and the Sergetti homeworld. Overall, the opening move of the Dawn assault resulted in two frigates, two colony ships and a freighter destroyed with over 100 fighters and 100 troops destroyed as well.

The only causality the Dawn suffered was a captured Phong frigate that fell to fighters. Four Sergetti worlds were now wide open to invasion...

Sheliak system
...onboard CDS Beagle...

Cabrerra watched the Norak Coldwolf frigate approach the warp point. Always a moment of apprehension as the fear that somehow, the enemy may have spotted them; yet they always remained undetected. The Norak frigate would be in for a rude surprise if it tried to enter Pantrissa. Beagle headed deeper into the system, and began to gather intelligence on the empire that had made a living stealing the same thing from the Dawn empire...