Ad Astra! ... an Aurora Forum Game, run by blue emu

[blue emu]

Cash-in-bank is now up to $534.00 and +$4.00 per day. That's with all of our Fighter Factories, all of our Missile Factories, and several of our Shipyards shut down, of course, so it's not quite as rosy as it sounds. Still building more Financial Centers.

Our Engineers on Dravar XV have dug up an automated mine, which has been immediately put to work on the planet. Three of the nine sites have been explored so far, and nothing major unearthed. Hope they find some tech or some money... we could use both.

 

[blue emu]

Commander Henkalv of ESN Hugin has found two new jump points simultaneously, in the Gliese 229 system. One of them seems to be INSIDE the star. Let's hope they are as profitable as his last discovery.

EDIT: As he closes in, he sees that the second jump point is not quite inside the star... it is about 3 m-km outside it. He will explore the other one first.

EDIT As our Battle Fleet moves in on the Sol => Procyon jump point to lay the last set of sensor buoys, sensor readings reveal the Charlie Gate Constructor to have a displacement of 69,600 tons. Almost certainly a civilian vessel.

EDIT: We've laid the last two sensor buoys, bracketing both ends of the Procyon jump point. Found Charlie... all six ships have been lying dead in space inside the Procyon system, about a million km from Sol jump point. Heading back to Earth to top-up our magazines. I think each ship will carry two buoys in addition to their offensive and defensive armament.

EDIT: Jeeze... on his second (ever) exploration of a new star system, Commander Henkalv finds three MORE habitable worlds! That's six in his first two attempts. This time ALL of them are as habitable as Mars. A G5-V primary star quite similar to Sol, two rock-balls, six rocky worlds (one with 1.6g, 84% Nitrogen/16% Oxygen, -25 degrees), four gas giants, one super-Jovian and 107 moons in total. No Asteroids. Commander Henkalv will return to the Gliese 229 system to check out the remaining unexplored jump point. Could it be as good as these last two?

EDIT: Our Engineers on Dravar XV have dug up an installation that is too badly ruined to be useful for anything. Five more to go.

EDIT: Commander Henkalv has discovered our first back-door... not a very useful one, unfortunately. The star systems Procyon - Lutyen's Star - Gliese 229 - Gliese 205 form a round-about back to Procyon. Henkalv will continue searching Gleise 229 for additional jump points, then move on to survey the two systems containing the newly discovered habitable planets.

 

[blue emu]

A second alien installation on Dravar XV has turned out to be ruined beyond repair. Four more to check.

Sensor buoys detect the Charlie vessel Conqueror I leaving the Procyon system, headed for the jump point to the Ross 248 system... quite possibly, on his way home to wherever the hell these Charlies come from. It is not known whether this vessel is alone or accompanied by others of its squadron.

Relations with Charlie now over +180.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

Is it me or are the only dead-ends systems connected to Earth? In which case, Earth is in a surprisingly good strategic position, though not a great one for expansion if one arm gets cut off.

 

[blue emu]

Is it me or are the only dead-ends systems connected to Earth?

The only ones that we've found, yes. Unfortunately, the Wolf 359 system with its six-hundred-odd asteroids didn't pan out nearly as well as we'd hoped. Nearly all of them are junk. Henkalv's latest discoveries are pretty cool, though... six more habitable worlds, four of them (and three in one system) as good as Mars or better.

EDIT: $630 in the bank and +$5 per day... still in shut-down mode, of course. We may even be able to avoid bankruptcy entirely, if we don't encounter some nasty surprise that forces us to start spending big wads of cash again.

EDIT: Damn! Yet another ruin on Dravar XV was empty... that's three in a row. Three more to check.

 

[Evie HJ]

ESN Schoch to Autocrat Blue Emu

At your request, sir, I have combed through the onboard database of ESN Schoch to identify major report of ship actions, especially pertaining to discovery of star systems.

In some cases no broadcasts were made regarding the discovery of various star systems, or only minor broadcasts mentioning the discovery, and as such the information is not in the Schoch's database. This is a recent issue. Affected systems largely are systems of little/no interest, but if possible to track down information in Earth database please advise.

Epsilon Eridani - ESN Copernicus - Coinneach
Ross 248 - ESN Copernicus - Coinneach
Procyon - ESN Copernicus - Coinneach
Wolf 359 - ESN Copernicus - Coinneach
AD Leonis - ESN Avernum - Hellvink
Proxima Centuari - ESN Copernicus - Schwuermann
Gliese 205 - ESN Avernum - Hellvink
Lutyen's Star - ESN Avernum - Hellvink
Groombridge 34 - ESN Copernicus - Schwuermann
TZ Arietis - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
Mu Cassiopia - ESN Copernicus - Schwuermann
Luytens 726-8 - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
Struve 2398 - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Teergarden's Star - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
V1581 Cygni - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Gliese 687 - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Tau Ceti - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
Sigma Draconis - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Gliese 892-A - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Groombridge 1618 - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Kuiper 79 - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Giclas 9-38 - ESN Thor - Blekinge
Gliese 408 - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
Wolf 358 - ESN Ptolomy - Chaos
Gliese 48 - ESN Kepler - Bjering
V547 Cassiopiae - ESN Kepler - Bjering
Sirius - ESN ??? - Von Sachsen
Ross 47 - ESN Chandrasekhar - ???
GJ 1156 358 - ESN ??? - ???
FL Virginis - ESN ??? - ???
DX Cancri - ESN ??? - ???
Wolf 46 - ESN ??? - ???
HR 511 - ESN ??? - ???
EG 290 - ESN ??? - ???
Gliese 229 - ESN ??? - ???
70 Opiuchi - ESN ??? - ???
Gliese 257 - ESN Hugin - Henkalv
82 Eridani - ESN Hugin - Henkalv
Giclas 221-5 - ESN ??? - ???
EG 381 - ??? - ???
Wolf 47 - ??? - ???

Other accomplishment of note:
(Mars Geo-Survey: ESN Agassiz, Billy Bob)
(Procyon System Geo-Survey - ESN Von Haast, Mazer Rackham)
(Procyon VII Xenoresearch Team Transport - ESN Avernum, Hellvink)
(Groombridge 34 Attempted Geo-Survey : ESN Agassiz, Billy Bob)
(Detection of Charlie incursion in Ross 248: ESN Gould, The Executor)
(Further detection of Charlie incursion in Ross 248: ESN Kepler, Bjering)
(Detection of Charlie gatebuilder in Sol: ESN Schoch, Unassigned)
(Discovery of Sol and Groombridge 34 Gates in Ross 248: ESN Schoch, Unassigned)
(Detection of Charlie incursion fleet in Sol - ESN Iche Bin, Iche Bins
(Fist LaGrange Jump : ESN Agora and Colonial Fleet, Stonewall)
(Discovery of Procyon-Luyten-Gliese-Procyon backdoor: ESN Hugin, Henkalv)

Humbly propose that after retired from naval service, ESN Copernicus be marked for transformation to museum vessel as first jump/first contact vessel.

Cmdr. GuillaumeHJ, ESN Schoch, out.

 

[henkalv]

Would have been great to see the face on an hypothetical alien as it goes through the jump point and drives straight into a star.

 

[blue emu]

MSG ESN Lyell @ 82 Eridani to Fleet Ops Operations
Hot Flash Hot Flash
Intercepted by Alien ships in 82 Eridani system
Range 2.8 m-km and closing
These do not rpt do not look like Charlie ships
Reversing course to evade
Will let Diplo Corps handle this one
Will keep you advised
- Cmdr PolarMongoose out
MSG ends XXXXX

 

[A_Dane]

catching up to this but, god damnit more aliens?

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

Well that just makes things even more interesting. I think that settles it for me, do everything we can to keep the Charlies on our side, unless this new race seem like even better allies.

And those last three ruins on Dravar better turn up something interesting, fast.

Edit: A pair of 1375 thermal contact ships sound more like a warship squadron than anything else. Any indications of intent?

 

[Evie HJ]

Well, curses. We finally find an interesting world to Widdershins...and of course the aliens are there waiting for us. And of course they're one jump away from the system that lead to our OTHER interesting system in that direction.

Familiar, innit?

Edited to add:


People who have discovered Light or dark Blue Worlds :
V1581 Cygni: Cmdr Blekinge, with ESN Thor
(Gliese 687): Cmdr Blekinge, with ESN Thor (That's the fake)
Sturve 2398: Cmdr Blekinge, with ESN Thor
Sigma Draconis: Cmdr Blekinge, With ESN Thor
Teegarden's Star: Cmdr Chaos, with ESN Ptolomy
Groombridge 34: Cmdr. Schwuermann, with ESN Copernicus
V547 Cassiopeiae: Cmdr. Bjering, with ESN Kepler
Procyon: Cmdr. Coinneach, with ESN Copernicus
Gliese 257: Cmdr. Henkalv, with ESN Hugin
82 Eridani: Cmdr. Henkalv, with ESN Hugin

 

[blue emu]

MSG ESN Lyell @ 82 Eridani to Fleet Ops Operations
Targeted by active sensors
Alien ships closing at 9614 km/s
- Cmdr PolarMongoose out
MSG ends XXXXX

 

[billy bob]

Sirs,

Might I ask how long until the alien fleet reaches Procyon if they move at full speed? We might want to get the fleet to that location to defend it in case of new hostilities from the Eridani aliens.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

9614 km/s and TS 1375, with active sensors on? :wacko:

Definitely sound like warships, and nasty ones at that.

In fact... what are your second generation missiles' to-hit against 10k targets?

 

[Galleblære]

With some luck, if these guys start moving in on us, they will tango with the Charlie guys, and end up fighting each other.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

With some luck, if these guys start moving in on us, they will tango with the Charlie guys, and end up fighting each other.

Procyon is the halfway point... and Charlie has very kindly built them an interstellar highway from that point on.

 

[Stuckenschmidt]

It would have been too good to be true. Hopefully these guys are not hostile. Guess, that supports our plan to colonize the Nexus. Btw.: How are our colonization efforts going?

 

[billy bob]

Sirs,

Might I also suggest not telling Charlie we know of this new threat? If their jump gate building ship is destroyed by these vagabonds, then perhaps it will trigger a war between these two and Charlie will send its whole battlefleet against the new threat?

 

[blue emu]

In fact... what are your second generation missiles' to-hit against 10k targets?

Not all that bad... 37%

... and nasty ones at that.

Nasty is correct.

========= =========== =========== ============

MSG ESN Lyell @ 82 Eridani to Fleet Ops Operations
Missiles launched
Incoming
Taking evasi

<<< Fleet Ops Communications reports that they have lost contact with Commander PolarMongoose on ESN Lyell >>>

 

[billy bob]

DAMN THIS THREAT! Send the fleet in to deal with them! Let us show them we are not some trifling force to be destroyed! KILL THEM ALL!