The Hyades Cluster

by on October 12, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Chinese hyperdrives were never as fast as ours after the Peloran came, but the Chinese held Capella. That star system was one of the strongest beacons systems we settled in the early years, and it was strong enough to form a direct connection with Elnath. Despite their slower hyperdrives, the Capella-Elnath Bridge was one of the most powerful routes humanity controlled in the years after Contact. It allowed the Chinese to travel out to the Hyades Cluster far faster than any of our ships could make the Sunnydale Run. Capella and Elnath was their highway to the Hyades, and they used it to turn the cluster into the strongest fortress in the stars humanity had ever created. The Earthborn part of humanity at least. And considering how important Capella and Elnath were to keeping the cluster in contact with Earth, they were heavily defended as well. Easily an equal to everything we built at Sunnydale.

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Sunnydale

by on October 11, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Sunnydale was out on the end of a nice little trade route back before The War started. Ships took the Alpha Centauri-Tranquility Run, took the next run to Unity, and then completed the final hop to Sunnydale. One hundred and nine lightyears of hyperspace compared to ninety-four lightyears of normalspace. That’s a real direct route let me tell you. And once in Sunnydale, traders could branch off to all the little systems in the neighborhood. The Chinese and the Shang took most of them out during The War, but Sunnydale was still on the end of that nice little direct route back home. And our best ships could maintain an effective one thousand lights all the way into Sunnydale. It was the fastest route to the Hyades Cluster that we controlled. That’s why Sunnydale was worth everything we sunk into it.

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Weylan

by on October 10, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Most historians recognize that the Albion were one of the most advanced races that have ever lived. The Peloran still use Albion technology two thousand years after their death with only minor improvements, and we’ve all seen how dangerous they are. The irony is that for all their technological advancement, the Albion did not believe in technology. They must have been fanatical engineers at one time to build up such a massive advantage over the rest of the galaxy, but the Albion who created the Peloran were a different matter. Technology’s true purpose for them was as a tool to improve the genetics of life. To make all life stronger, faster, and better. The Peloran were one example of this. But it was the Weylan who truly demonstrate just how close the Albion were to bringing about a new era of biological technology that would have revolutionized…everything.

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Angel War

by on October 9, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“All ships, break and attack in three…two…one…now,” Jack counted down and felt his Avenger’s systems come alive around him. T&J shifted into the drumbeats of war, and he slammed the throttle forward to send them accelerating towards the Shang. Avengers, Hellcats, and Blackhawks accelerated all around him, diving towards the Shang en masse. The warships came to life behind him, destroyers and frigates accelerating with the two heavy cruisers and a single light carrier.

The combined cybernetic intelligences of an entire small fleet went to work and he watched the plot come alive with targeting plans refined by lashing the Shang with full-powered sensor sweeps. A blind man could have felt them coming in his teeth, and the Shang were not blind at all.

They recognized the trap they’d flown into in an instant and reacted the only way they could. They turned from Thunderer and her battlegroup and began accelerating straight towards Jack’s tiny fleet. Betty brought their new path up on the plot and Jack recognized the slingshot maneuver that would spin them out the other side of New Earth’s Red Line long before his force could come around and chase them down. They had exactly one good shot at this.

Thunderer and her ships spun to fire full salvos into the Shang’s flanks. Deflection grids flickered and armor buckled, but the Shang had far too much acceleration for the British battleship to keep them in range for long. But it was bringing the Shang and Jack’s little force directly into each other’s best firing range.

“Oh Lord, for what we are about to receive may we be eternally grateful,” Jack whispered and flexed his fingers.

“Amen,” a chorus of voices said from the communications display.

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The Hyades Cluster

by on October 8, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Elnath is on the outskirts of the Hyades Cluster. Scientists claim it is not part of the Hyades at all, but its commanding position made it the gateway to the Hyades. We had to take it, but the approaches were not easy. The sub giant stars Asta and Cornus lay between Sunnydale and Elnath, and most of the best hyperspace runs ran through one of those two systems. Asta was on a direct line between them, which made it an obvious first target. That is why our first target was the brighter and hotter Cornus. We opened up with increased raids against the systems around Asta, destroying every monitoring platform we could find during a month-long campaign. Then we attacked Cornus. Their surprise was almost as complete as our destruction of every facility in the entire Cornus system.

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