Persei-Aries War Resumes
Skirmish at Comet HH779 (Outer Hebrides - Mu Hercules A/B)
FROM: UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL COLONIAL CENTER
22:45 SOL GMT, 19 AUGUST 2521
BREAKAUTH: 181072.18J
CLEARANCE: SECRET (NATIONAL)
**UNITED NATIONS COMMUNIQUE**
The current war raging across the Hercules Rim continues to escalate as the United States Navy has embarked on what seems to be a campaign aimed at winning at least their part of this conflict once and for all. After taking a pause to recover from their losses and setbacks in their failed Hawking’s Star campaign earlier in the spring, then breaking a British raid into the outskirts of the Port Halsey colonies (Vega / Lyra Alpha), they have now embarked on a general offensive on both the coreward and spinward shoulders of the Hercules Rim.
The first of these blows has landed against the British, fairly predictable given the proximity of Port Halsey to two of Britain’s largest colonial systems in this region, Hawking’s Star (HR 6806) and the Outer Hebrides (Mu Hercules A/B). Wanting no part of Hawking’s Star after their earlier frustrations, the Americans have instead shifted focus to the Outer Hebrides, joining with allies in the Holy Russian Empire for a strike against the Outer Hebrides colonies in Mu Hercules A/B. This is a binary star system with a large main sequence star just beginning to enter its red giant phase, and a much smaller red dwarf. British population and industrial settlements orbit the larger star, toward which the Americans have their approach by masking their task force behind the tail of a comet.
This is Holmsberg-Hebrides 779 (Comet HH779), which is now close enough to Mu Hercules A to begin streaming tails of ionized gas, sublimated frozen nitrogen, and crystallized water ice. As these materials shed off the comet’s core, outgassing and geysers have also cracked off large slabs of dust-mixed ice and porous rock, calving off the comet like slabs off a melting glacier.
This is the material the Americans and Russians (the so-called “Coalition of Eagles”) have been using to hide their low-speed, high-stealth Darkstar approach into Mu Hercules A, followed by their final sublight approach toward the first Royal Navy installations in the inner orbital zones of the system. The cover has screened their approach to a surprising degree, but a British Griffin-class gunboat has finally spotted them, and Task Force Agamemnon (Lord Commodore Edward Cavendish) has been sortied to intercept.
The battle promises to be a dramatic one. Not only is Task Force Agamemnon one of the more powerful and prestigious British formations in the Third Hercules War, but the approaching Americans and Russians represent some of the most battle-hardened ships in Known Space. These include the light cruiser CPK Admiral Lazarev and destroyer Syekyra, and the American light fleet carrier USS Liberty, carrying squadrons VSF-221 “The Dead Rabbits” and VSA-193 “The Eight Ball Express.” Rounding out the American force is none other than the Valcour-class destroyer USS Oriskany. One way or another, the Battle of Comet HH779 promises to be memorable.
United States / Holy Russian Empire: Oriskany
United Kingdom: Damon
497 points per side
RAID victory rules
Some times a video say more than mere words
https://youtu.be/GFxkkI9Z-ac?t=19
And sometimes videos won’t embed
But it is Tackleberry who missed a gun fight
No worries, @rasmus – the video link works fine. 😀
And hey, I’m sure you had tons of pirates to paint for Adepticon! 😀