HISTORICON 2012 (part 1)

Whew!  Historicon has been over for a week and still I haven’t recovered.

The drive down to Fredericksburg Wednesday morning went well, although I did get stuck in some truck traffic that slowed things down.  I arrived at the Best Western and tried to check in at 2:00 only to be told I had to wait until 3:00.  I arrived back at 3:00 and they still weren’t ready – apparently they hadn’t received their linen back yet so I headed out to find some place to eat (what I really wanted to do was take a nap).  Sometime after 4:00 the laundry finally arrived.  The room was o.k., given what it was.  Heck, as cheap as the room cost was (before all the damn taxes and fees that is) I was a little afraid they had quoted me the hourly rate and not the daily rate.  Later on I went and picked up my registration badge, and then went out to dinner to Peter, Joe, and Dr. Tim.

Thursday morning I played in a Hostile Realm game run by Dave M. of  ‘The Southern Coven of the California Piquet Kult’.   Dave and Gabriel commanded the Orcs while Michelle (Gabriel’s better half) and I commanded some wimpy Elf’s.  Our brilliant plan of allowing the Orcs to close into optimal bow range should have worked, should have.  As it was my shooting was pathetic (at least until I lured the Orcs into point blank range, but by then it was too little to late).  The high light of the game was Gabriel’s Orcs steam rolling over Michelle’s Sorceress and Unicorn, punctuated by Gabriel’s shout of “Unicorn Burgers tonight!”  Fortunately it was at about this point, with all of the Elf leaders dead and half of my command routing that I was thankfully called away to help set up the table for Peter’s First Poltosk  game. 

A view of Dave's Hostile Realms game.  Those are Dave's Orcs in the center right vs. the hapless Elves of my command on the left.  At the top of the photo you can see Michelle's Cavalry command.  If I recall correctly the figures were provided by Eric B.

Here's a shot from the other flank a little later in the battle with a better view of Michelle's command.  You can just make out the white Unicorn next to the lead unit of Cavalry.  In the distance you can see that Dave has closed to melee range and it's about to be crunch time for the pointy eared Elf defenders.  It was shortly after this that I had to leave the game and go help set up Peter's game.

Speaking of Peter's First Poltosk game, here's a shot of the game set up.  The hordes of French reservers are out of frame to the left behind the stream.

Not the best photo I've taken, but it gives you a little different perspective of the battle, looking from the Russian side towards the French masses.

Another view of the battle field looking towards the monastery.

The Russian right flank moves out to meet the invader

The action heats up around the monastery

More fighting around the monastery and center

This is from the French left flank.  On the right you can see that Hugh has gotten his Cossacks on the flank of his son Zach's French.  I always enjoy seeing a father/son combination at conventions, and find it interesting that they almost always choose to be on opposite sides.  This battle was to be a long night for Zach, but he more that got even the following night at Borodino. 

The French right flank (top of the picture) has pushed the Russian left back while the action in the center heats up

Ultimately the French players ran out of Morale points, resulting in a Russian victory.  For a much more detailed report surf on over to Peter's Blunders on Danube  site.

Next up, Part 2 with a little action called Borodino.

Almost There...

Historicon is almost here!  And more importantly, I think I've finished painting everything I need for the con.  And if it isn't painted by now, I guess I'll need to tweak the OOB's to accommodate what we have.  Speaking of the OOB, Peter was kind enough to post the Borodino scenario over on his 'Blunders' site a couple of days ago, if you haven't already done so, check it out.

I had hoped to have everything finished last weekend, but the Czarina had other plans for me, so once again, it was down to the last minute (I hate that).  That combined with me foolishly deciding to go back to (on-line) school a couple of weeks ago has made painting time a very valuable commodity of late.

Enough words, below are photos of  my meager painting production since the last post.

This is the Corp command stand for Rayeveski's VII Corps.  I really don't know why Peter seems to think I don't like the French?  I have to admit, this is my new favorite command stand.  I think it captures the spirit of Rayeveski rather well.

I know you've already seen this one, but hey, I like it.

Another Russian Command stand.  I haven't decided who this will be yet. 

Another Russian Command stand.  Looks like it needs a little touch up on the buttons.

The last 3 Battalions of the Duchy of Warsaw troops.

Another view of the Duchy of Warsaw Battalions.

A Medium Battery.  As I think I've mentioned before, I'm building my artillery batteries as 3 stand units to reflect the considerably larger Russian Batteries vs. other nations, however, for the convention we will be using standard Piquet 2 stand units.

A Russian Heavy Battery.  I know, I just said I'm building my Russian Batteries as 3 stand units and this is only 2.  I sort of 'misjudged' the figures I needed, so I only had enough to do a 2 stand unit.  Clearly and excellent example of the superior Russian high command planning abilities.

I hope to see several of you at Fredericksburg in a couple of days.

So much lead, so little time.

Polish Uhlans Finished

Just a quick post and photo update.  Below is the 'finally' competed Polish Uhlan Regiment, which is the last of the Cavalry units that I have to complete for Historicon.  I may end up doing another Cossack Rgt, time permitting, if not, my Hungarian's make a good stand in.

Sorry about the photo quality and all the clutter in the background.

In addition to the above I've also finished 2 additional Infantry Battalions of the Duchy of Warsaw, leaving me with just one Polish unit left to paint.  Then it's back to Russian Commanders and a Battery or two of 6 pounders.  Next weekend I start boxing everything up by unit, to make sure I haven't overlooked anything.  As of now, I'm feeling like I should have everything done that needs done.

As of now the only thing I'm aware that we are short of for Borodino is one unit of Opolochenie.  At this point, we'll probably just reduce the OB by one unit, I seriously doubt that one unit of crappy infantry will make or break the game.

So much lead, so little time.

RANDOM UNRELATED THOUGHTS

It’s been a while since the last post.  Painting continues, photos to follow shortly once I find the camera.  Below are some random thoughts since my last post and a bit of a rant.

D-DAY

First of, I failed to get around to doing a D-Day post last Wednesday.  As General Dwight D. Eisenhower said 68 years ago: 

"Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied expeditionary force: You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere are with you…”

A truly momentous undertaking, sadly, most of the survivors are now gone.  The last of 3 members of my extended family that took part in D-Day are now gone.  One hit the beaches, one parachuted in, and one flew a Glider in. 

I don't think the world adequately appreciates what these young men did 68 years ago.

On a much lighter note, as some of you know I work in downtown Manhattan, which means I get a good dose of the big apple craziness.  I take a certain perverse pleasure in observing the contradictions, and putting a Nebraska farm boy perspective on them.  I recently passed a battered, pale blue, Van with no windows, and big bold letters on the side proclaiming “NYC DEPT. OF MENTAL HYGIENE”.  Now maybe it’s just the quirky way my mind works, but when I think Mental, I think ‘Brain’, and when I think Hygiene I think “Washing”.  Put the two together and you get “NYC Department of Brain Washing”. 

Then I had this image of the memory implant machine/chair from the 1990’s movie Total Recall being housed in the back of the van and unsuspecting citizens being forced to have their thoughts modified and leaving the Van mumbling,  “20 oz. Soda is bad, Salt shakers are bad”.

This could explain a lot.  Now, move along, nothing to see here, move along.

I think with a little work this could get spun into an interesting background for a pulp fiction type of miniatures game.  Joe, you have pulp fictions rules, right?

This was the best photo I could find on line of the machine (from movielad.blogspot.com)

Zombies, OMG, WTF.  Forgive me for making light of a couple of really terrible incidents that happened in the ‘real world’.  But as a society how the hell did we devolve to this level?

As I’m sure everyone is aware the last week or so of news has been filled with stuff right out of a bad 1970’s Horror flick.  A person high on Bath Salts in FL eating the face of another man like a bad Zombie move.   The Baltimore, MD College student that killed his roommate and ate his heart and brain.  The Gay Canadian Porn Star Cannibal (some of this stuff you just can’t make up) that they finally caught in Germany.  And lastly, there was a female shoplifter in CT that took a bite out of a man’s bicep and spit the mouthful of flesh back in his face. 

Now I’m not really up on the whole Zombie thing.  Fortunately I have a couple of 20 something (kids) that work for me and over the last week they’ve tried to bring up to date.  So, I’m a little bit aware of the current Zombie ‘thing’ in the Movies, and the Television series, but WTF. 

Maybe this is the ZOMPOCOLYPSE?  This could be the excuse to start a new miniatures project?  Anybody know of any Zombie figure manufacturers (GW need not apply). 

And finally, protect yourself; learn the stages of Zombification (courtesy of Zombie Squad).

Still Painting

I'm still painting away.  With the date of Historicon getting closer and closer and the amount of unpainted lead I have piled up I'm starting to get a little nervous.  Hopefully, the quality of painting on the remaining units won't suffer as I rush to complete the remaining units.

Prince Charles of Mecklenburg, Commander of the Russian 2nd Grenadier Division.  Figures are Front Rank.

General de Division Kniaziewicz, Commander of the Duchy of Warsaw 18th Division.  Figure is Old Glory.

1st and 3rd Battalions of the Moscow Militia.  Based on the reflection I guess they must be standing near a lake.  Figures are Front Rank and flags by GMB.

Akhtyrsk Hussars.  I'm painting both 'battalions' of the Hussar and Uhlan Regiments to reflect their being double the size of a standard Regiment.  I've also done the front rank figures armed with lances which some sources indicate were used.  I'm not overly happy with how these turned out, but at least they are done.  Figures are by Front Rank.

Until next time.

Some much lead, so little time.

Borodino play test 2

Two weekends ago (May 6th) the we ran a play test of the Southern flank of our Borodino scenario that we'll be running a Historicon.  Peter who was kind enough to host has posted a write up of the action at Blunder's on the Danube.

Below are some photos of the action around the village of Utitza which was my command.  The main action of the battle occurred around the Fleches where the French swarmed over the hill.

Overall it was a good play test.  One major take away for us is we need to be sure to 'suggest' the respective Army commanders deploy their reserves early.  The 2 artillery batteries that were allocated to the Utitiza sector (my wing) on the second move card never did get into action.  Of course several one move segment rolls didn't help much either.

Russian set up, the 2nd Grenadier Division with its 2 artillery batteries are deployed on the hill among the Fleches. In the foreground is the artillery reserve of the 2nd Army of the West waiting to be deployed.

Greg H. conducting the obligatory pre-game photos.  On the right is Davout's First Corps, on the left  hill top the Russian 2nd Grenadier Division. 

Another shot of the Russian Grenadiers.  Yes, I'm biased, after all I'm the Czar.

The Russian 3rd Division initial deployment.  In the right back ground you can see some of the Cossacks waiting to pounce and on the left you can see the mass of Opolochenie (militia) deployed in the woods.

A closer shot of the mass of Opolochenie.  We had 11 units on the table, we need 12 by Historicon.

The Russian 27th Division with the 2nd Cuirassier Division await the French onslaught.

The Opolochenie and Cossacks start their moves.  At the top left of the photo you can see the French 1st Cavalry.

Another view of the Opolochenie surging forward to secure the North flank of the 3rd Division.  I had rolled uncharacteristically well on my first move card which allowed the 1st Grenadier Division to occupy the village of Utitiza and the hill (mound) to the South of the village on a triple magic move roll.  The 3rd Division rolled a double move which allowed me to support the Grenadiers but left me hanging out there being the only Russian command advancing until the 2nd Cuirassier decimated the French Cavalry - (at least that's how I remember it, I'm sure that's how Kutusov wrote it in his dispatch to the Czar.)

The table about half way through the battle.  At the bottom of the photo the Russian 1st Grenadiers occupy the hill and aline running into the village and are facing off with the Duchy of Warsaw Infantry.  The Cossacks wait just behind them to pounce on the unloaded Polish artillery.  Alas, the cards and dice were not kind and they weren't able to charge to glory.  

The Mass of Opolochenie can be on line with 3rd Division North of the Village of Utitiza.  Beyond them is the Cavalry action where the Russian Cuirassier had a good outing.

Beyond that, the hill with Fleches looks like an Island surrounded by a sea of French.  I think just about every move roll that Davout (James) had was triple move - maybe a few 2 segment moves - and he rolled even which let's you do 'fun' things in Field of Battle.  Of course in the Historicon game there'll be another 14 or so feet of table beyond the hill which may or may not allow such sweeping maneuvers.

Not the best photo I've ever taken but it shows the hill with the Fleches looking South towards the Village of Utitza.  There are still some Russian Grenadiers on the hill at this point but the French are behind the hill, on the hill, and to the front of the hill.  The action here got even more chaotic as a battery or two of the reserve artillery came on the table behind the hill and Joe began to withdraw off the hill.

All in all it was a good battle, good time, with a great bunch of players.  If any readers play as either Kutusov, Bagration, de Tolly or Napoleon at Historicon if one of the H.K. Rats suggest you think about deploying your reserves early on, just remember it could take a lot of move segments to bring the reserves on where you want them (hint, hint)

A painting update will follow soon.  So much lead, so little time.

Back to Painting

Well, now that I've gotten that Science Fiction urge out of my system, back to a right, proper, Napoleonic painting update.  I've managed to get a few more units painted which are shown below (my apologies for the picture quality).  Not shown but finished (except for the flags) are the last 2 Grenadier battalions I need for Historicon.

I'm also about half way through my two Hussar units (actually only 1 unit, I'm building them double sized like the actual Russian Hussar and Uhlan Regiments).  The Hussars are really kicking my butt, I had hoped to have them finished last weekend, but I'm not not sure I'll be able to get them done this weekend.

But, enough with the words on with the photos.  All Russian figures are Front Rank, all flags are from GMB.  The Duchy of Warsaw figures are Old Glory.

1st Battalion Alexopol Infantry

Another view of the 1st Battalion Alexopol Infantry

1st Battalion Alexopol Infantry deploy inside Smolensk

3rd Battalion Alexopol Infantry

3rd Battalion Alexopol Infantry march into Smolensk

General Kniaziewicz, Commander 18th Division of Prince Poniatowski's Fifth Corps

A Random Battalion of the Duchy of Warsaw 

I'm not very happy with this paint job, but it's one less that needs to be painted

Spaced Out

December 14, 1815 hrs Earth Standard Time, Alliance Light Carrier Constitution, In Jump Transit between the United Star Alliance Constitution star system to Lakota star system, Personal Log of Vice Admiral Franklin

It’s been just under three days since we jumped from Constitution to Lakota. We arrive at Lakota in two days and 7 hours. This is my first Task Force command and I wish it were under better circumstances. My command is an impressive peace time force, but we’re not at peace any more.

Admiral Straker’s last words to me were, “Michael, you’ve got everything but the kitchen sink, kick those bastards out of our space.” Fortunately the 9th fleet was in system enjoying shore leave when the attacks occurred; allowing us to send all the sector naval assets to Lakota. Well, not all, three destroyers are going to Kaliban to rescue the crew of a customs station and mine the jump point into Republic space.

We know we’re out numbered, hopefully our training and better equipment will make the difference. Our Destroyer’s are all state of the art; designed after the end of the Civil War none of the hulls are over 10 years old.

I wish I could say the same for our Light Cruisers, all of them saw service in the Civil War. The newest hull is 46 years old, the oldest over 50 years old, when they were built at the height of the civil war they had a life expectancy of about 10 years. How much maneuver stress can those old hulls take? I remember the defense appropriation committee hearings 5 years ago when the military was told we had no need for updated Light Cruisers, the new Destroyers could handle their duties – part of the ‘continuing peace dividend’ and ‘a matter of priorities’ they called it. I wonder how those politicians would feel about ‘priorities’ if they were going into battle in one of those antiques?

Our Heavy Cruisers were all built in the first decade after the end of the Civil War. Externally then look like the Cruisers that fought in the war, but their modular design means they contain the latest technological advances. They may be 30 years old, but the hulls were built to last at least 100 years. I only wish I had more of them, a lot more of them.

The Battle Cruisers are solid but too few in number for the forces we know are, or at least were, in Lakota. We could be passing them right now in Jump space and we’d never know it.

The Constitution, my flag ship, (that has a ring to it) is an updated version of the carriers we used in the Civil War. She’s technically a Light Carrier, but she sounds and just came out of an overhaul 4 years ago. She’s by far the best ship in the sector. I just hope I don’t let the crew down.

What will we find when we arrive at Lakota? Will the Republic forces still be there? Have they nuked the two populated planets there? There are roughly 3.2 billion Alliance citizens in Lakota, what’s happened to them?

And why the hell did they have to attack now, I was going to retire in 13 months. I swear the universe is out to get me.

I pray we don’t find another Grendal when we get there.

End personal log entry.

Franklin shivered as he thought about Grendal. Grendal had one habitable world and is located on the PSSR border with the Alliance and has a direct jump route to the Lakota system. During the last year of the Civil War Grendal was attacked by PSSR forces and mounted a surprisingly strong defense. In the end determined that if they couldn’t have it, no one could, the PSSR resorted to an orbital bombardment that lasted for 2 weeks. Grendal was devastated, to the point that now almost 50 years later the planet was still quarantined. The Southern continent was rendered lifeless and lethal radiation levels still exist there today. The Northern continent was spared somewhat, and some pathetic struggling life remained. Alliance Intelligence over the last 15 years indicates that the remaining life on the Northern continent has been grotesquely mutated by the radiation levels. Additionally, all indications are that the PSSR forces have been conducting ‘genetic modification’ on the hideously mutated creatures in their quest to ‘build’ the perfect killing machine – the ultimate ground combat soldier.

“Lord I hope the intelligence geeks are wrong about what’s going on at Grendal,” prayed Franklin, “and if those bastards did the same thing at Lakota…”

********************************************

Below is a draft of the Sector Map that covers this sector of my universe.

O.K., I think I've tortured all of you enough with this diversion.  This introduces all of the main characters (poorly, but at least they've been introduced) for my post-Historicon Space project.

For the Alliance Destroyers I'll be using the BattleStar 'Brenik' ships from Iron Wind Metals.  With their massive engines they just look like a fast, maneuverable ship.  The poor 'Sheridan Class
Destroyer' below has had at least 3 different paint schemes on her engines, but I think this is the finall scheme I'll go with.  (please excuse the i-phone quality photo)

The Light Cruisers will most likely be Battletech 'McKenna' ships from Iron Wind Metals. They have the basic 'cigar' shape, that looks like it would be cheap to produce which would have been critical during a war lasting almost 100 years.

The Heavy Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, Battle Ships, and Dreadnought's I haven't settled on yet.  The Light Carrier will be the 'not Battle Star' from Studio Bergstrom, and the Heavy Carrier will be the Battle Star from Iron Wind Metals.

Then again, I may see something else shinny and forget all about this for another year.

So much lead, so little time

More Space?

Yet more random thoughts - sorry


December 11, 1757 hrs Earth Standard Time, United Star Alliance Sector Command, Constitution System, United Star Alliance

“Sir, we have a jump signature forming at the point to Kaliban! Readings indicate it’s a message pod.”

“Very well Lieutenant, how long for the signal to reach us?” asked Admiral Joe Straker.

“It’ll take about 5 minutes, Sir.

“I think we can all guess what it’s going to tell us, Lieutenant.” Straker looked around the command center, there was a flurry of activity everywhere. The faces of the staff officers held a mix of fear, and worry.

Since the message pod from Lakota arrived in system 48 minutes ago the sector, his command, had gone from routine to a frantic war footing. The visiting warships from the 9th Fleet who had just arrived in system the other day after a 9 month extended anti-pirate deployment were frantically recalling their people from shore leave. For at least the tenth time he thanked heaven the fleet had unexpectedly arrived the other day.

Admiral Straker turned back to the plotting display where his Operations officer was making finally adjustments to the deployment orders. “Captain Frazer, assuming the pod from Kaliban is going to tell us they’ve been attacked, what’s your recommended course of action?”

“Sir, the deployment orders have one of our System Destroyer squadrons ear marked to jump into Kaliban. The current orders indicate they are to render assistance to the custom station, if the Republic forces haven’t arrived yet, they will maintain station there to assist in the defense if this turns out to be more than an isolated incident… and since Kaliban just sent a message pod, I’m inclined to believe it’s more than an isolated incident.”

“Thank you Captain.” Straker turned to his right, “Communications, get me a link to the Lexington, I need to speak with Admiral Garrison.”

Admiral Susan Garrison, in command of the 9th Fleet was having a hell of a day. The bridge of the Alliance Heavy Carrier, Lexington, her flag ship, had exploded into a flurry of activity as soon as the message of the attack on Lakota was received.. “I should have known everything was going to well. Let’s put in at Constitution for a quick break, re-supply and give the crews some shore leave. What was I thinking.”

“Admiral, I have Admiral Straker on gold channel for you”, reported one of the bridge watch standers. “Put it through to my monitor” replied Garrison as she punched the accept button.

Straker’s smiling image appeared on her monitor, but she could tell the smile was forced, and could see the fear in his eyes.  “Susan, I wanted to make sure you’re getting all the support you need from us. Also, we’ll be scrambling the bulk of our sector forces to Lakota within the next 30 minutes.”

Garrison cocked an eyebrow at him as she replied, “Damn Joe, you look old. I’ll keep the 9th fleet here.  With 4 populated worlds and over 25 billion people, you’ll need our firepower if, or should I say when, the Republic forces get here. But it still hurts like hell to not go with your forces to Lakota. Any update on the strength of the attack at Lakota?”

“Based on the last message pod we’ve received they’ve got 35 Destroyers, 10 Heavy Cruisers, 2 Battleships, and 1 Dreadnaught. I’m sending everything I’ve got to Lakota except for one destroyer squadron which we’re sending to Kaliban. That means 16 Destroyers, 15 Light Cruisers, 6 Heavy Cruisers, 2 Battle Cruisers and 1 Light Carrier go to Lakota. Lakota has 2 populated worlds, with a strong fighter presence, plus several Cruisers. With any luck they will have whittled them down by the time we get there.” Straker sighed, “Susan, I’m glad you’re here. You may have to pull my butt out of this just like in the Academy days. I’ve got to go now, there’s more activity at the jump point to Kaliban.”

“Sir, second message pod emerging from the Kaliban jump point. We’ll have telemetry in about 5 minutes.” “Very well Lieutenant, let me know once we have a summary,” Straker responded.

****************************************

“… and the latest information from Kaliban indicates they destroyed the attacking vessel, but that little Custom’s Base is all shot to hell. Captain Frazer, revise the orders of the squadron going to Kaliban; they are now to evacuate the crew. Make sure they have a full load out of mines before they depart, I want a mine field in front of the jump point from Kaliban to Grendal so dense that if the Republic sends through any more ships they pay a heavy price.” Straker paused and looked around at his staff officers, took a deep breath and continued, “All right, you have your orders, they started this but by god we’ll end it. Let’s go kick some pisser ass!

SPACE

In my last post I mentioned that the Science Fiction bug seems to have hit the Connecticut gaming community, and as threatened, below is my contribution. This is pretty rough so my apologies up front. After one of the more painful commutes in a while that included a 30 minute subway ride with a crying / screaming baby about 4 people away, followed by a 1.5 hour train ride with someone who insisted on shouting, not just talking, but shouting into their phone the whole way sitting in front of me there was no way I was getting any sleep. And being sleep deprived my mind wanders as it is wont to due, which is how I ended up with the following. (The sleep deprivation also explains the poor quality). 

I haven't really found a Sci-Fi setting that fits what I'm looking for - sort of a combination of Starship Troopers (the novel), Wing Commander (the movie), Space Above and Beyond with a touch of Babylon 5.  I'm looking for that gritty, not perfect future.  This is my first attempt at trying to set the tone for the setting plus I'm trying a slightly different approach which makes this very much a work in progress.  

If I’m not attacked with pitchforks and flaming torches (or should that be blasters and light sabers?) I may flesh this out a little more; even if I am, I still may, it’s my universe after all. I have a rough draft of a detailed time line, but it gets a little preachy so I’ll spare you from that (at least for now – queue diabolical laughter).

___________________________________________

In 2578, exhausted by nearly 100 years of constant warfare the Civil War officially ended. The human sphere was divided into two main governments. The inner star systems, the United Star Alliance, having been originally settled by the Western powers of old earth hold to a loosely democratic form of government while the outer systems, the Peoples Stellar Socialist Republic, were primarily settled by the old earth nations of China, Russia and India, have a more socialist form of government.

The year is 2623, peace and stability has returned to the human sphere. Trade between the United Star Alliance and the Peoples Stellar Socialist Republic has once again become common.

**********************************

December 7, 2623 0300hrs Earth Standard Time, United Star Alliance Customs station, Kaliban System, United Star Alliance border with the Peoples Stellar Socialist Republic.

Lieutenant (Jg) Alistair Johnson slowly became aware that he was no longer sitting in his chair at the command console. He could feel the hard cold surface of the deck plates beneath him. He opened his eyes and was staring at the back of the chair he had been in, how long ago, a moment, a minute, a hour? He could hear the muffled decompression alarms going off somewhere in the station, and his nostrils stung with the smell of burned electrical systems. He attempted to roll over onto his left shoulder and felt intense pain shoot through his shoulder. Gritting his teeth he struggled to his knees. Over the back of his fallen chair he could see Ensign Rosa Garcia struggling to her feet.

As he turned to the readouts on the command console of the station bridge he barked out “Ensign, damage report!” Scanning his console he saw the Pisser (Alliance slang for the PSSR forces) ‘freighter’ was still holding station, not taking any evasive maneuvers. “The bastards think they knocked us out” he mumbled. “It’ll take them time to reload their missiles if they even have reloads”.

“Sir, the outboard crew quarters have been breached, emergency bulkheads have sealed. Dorsal beam weapons are off line. Atmosphere is stable. Missile tube 2 is off line, tubes 1, and 3 show green” Garica responded in a shaky voice.

“Very well Ensign, please call the Commander to the bridge. What’s the status of the customs party shuttle that was in route to the freighter”, responded Johnson. Johnson was amazed at how calm he was as his fingers flew over his command keypad as he keyed in the commands to target the operational weapons on the enemy freighter.

“No sign of our shuttle, reading debris field consistent with a destroyed shuttle. Readings indicate probable bodies in the debris field, no signs of life” Garcia stated in an unemotional voice.

“Damn.” When the freighter had exited from the jump point it had been treated as a standard commerce inspection. The Customs station existed primarily to tax and inspect cargo transiting between the Alliance and the PSSR, its secondary role was to act as an early warning station for the Alliance Naval forces, which is why the naval personnel outnumbered Customs personnel by 8 to 1. Everything had seemed normal. The freighter took up station at the usual inspection point; a shuttle was dispatched with 2 customs officers and a detachment of 10 Marines (including pilot and co-pilot). The shuttle was maneuvering to dock with the freighter when the alerts sounded in the control room indicating a missile launch. The Socialist Republic forces had placed an incredible amount of electronic counter measures on the freighter to disguise the 4 missile tubes she carried.

“Ensign, download the last 10 minutes of our logs into a message pod and launch it.” The message pod wasn’t really a pod, it was essentially a large hard drive housed in a Faster-Than-Light or "Jump" capable automated drone. Its range was limited to one jump, but at least they could notify the sector command located in the Constitution system one jump away

“Missiles away! Firing beam weapons, Ensign, where the hell is the Commander.”

“Sir, he was off duty, if he was in his quarters…” stammered Garcia.

Both of the stations missiles slammed into the engines of the freighter while the heavy beam weapons sliced into the bridge area. Secondary explosions and rapid decompression followed the major explosions in the engine section. “Sir, their power core is going critical, estimate 30 seconds to detonation. We’re awfully close…” reported Garcia.

************************

The NCO call was depressing. The station had loss half of its Marine and Custom’s compliment. However, by diverting one of their missiles to destroy the shuttle (amazing actually that a big anti-ship missile hit a shuttle, even at point blank range – maybe the shuttle hit the missile) the freighter had probably saved the station. Gunnery Sergeant Menendez was the only surviving Marine NCO, Chief Petty Officer Bowes was the sole surviving NCO from the station maintenance crew. Station records showed that Commander Chappelear as well as Ensign Park had both been in their quarters when the missiles struck. They were among the 12 crew members who had died when the outer hull was breached and they were exposed to vacuum.

Johnson began to wonder if volunteering for this specific assignment was such a good idea after all. The Kaliban system contained one world, uninhabitable and devoid of any resources. Serving a tour on a custom station was one of the many required ticket punches in an Officers career, and a tour that was despised by almost all of them. Serving on a custom station in dead system like Kaliban was deemed a ‘hard luck’ tour, which meant you typically had a fair amount of say in your next assignment. Plus, being a small station with a total compliment of under 50 personnel, it also meant that as a Lieutenant (JG) you were also the station Executive Officer. No, thought Johnson, if the damn Pissers hadn’t decided to start another war this would have been a good assignment and positioned him for a prime position on a Capital ship.

“…24 dead, another 3 badly burned and unfit for duty, 4 with broken bones, leaving us with 21 ready for normal duty” finished Garcia. “Dorsal beam weapons are back on line. We won’t be able to repair missile tube number two. We have 7 missiles remaining; we can’t unload the missile from tube two at this time due to safety concerns. The emergency bulkheads are holding in the crew quarters, I’ve got teams outside working on patching up the hull. We’re also retrieving the bodies. To answer your earlier question Ensign they were only armed with missiles because they couldn’t adequately shield the power usage of any beam weapons”, reported Chief Bowes.

“Thank you all. Ensign Garcia, I’ll be completing my report within the next 10 minutes, please have a message pod ready as I’ll want to send off the report as soon as it’s completed,” Johnson hesitated for a moment and then went on, “I want to compliment all of you on your actions following the attack. Please continue your repairs and submit updates every 6 hours. We don’t know if the Pisser’s plan on sending anything else through our system or not, so we need to be ready.”

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Johnson flexed the fingers of his left hand as he adjusted the sling the Corpsman had fitted on his sprained left shoulder earlier. He glanced at the clock on the command console in front of him, 7 hours and 35 minutes since the attack. The first message pod would be reaching the Jump Point to the Constitution system in about 2 minutes. Then it would be another 103 hours, 21 minutes, and 9 seconds until the pod exited hyperspace and began transmitting the alarm to the Alliance forces in Constitution. Just a little over 4 days, and the Alliance would know it was in another war.

“I wonder when, or if, they’ll send a ship to evacuate us? Would they leave us to die in place? The Constitution System has a Jump point to Lakota, another border system, I wonder if they hit it too? Or maybe they hit it days ahead of us? If the Republic sends a warship here we’re toast. If we learned anything from the last war it was that bases are just targets waiting to be turned into scrap once the shooting starts. Damn I’m tired,” Johnson mumbled to himself.