[center][b][i]HMNB Sentinel of the Void[/i], Kaus Borealis System[/b][/center] Being the commanding officer of an insignificant, out of the way naval base wasn’t all bad. It might be a post far away from the front lines, making promotion above the rank of captain a mere dream. It was also a far cry from the luxurious and prestigious postings of the Home Fleet. And perhaps it was an utterly dreary, uneventful post where all he was expected to do was watch an empty swath of space important only for its history. But at the very least it allowed Captain Hudson to get a full night’s sleep. Or at least that was supposed to be the case. “Captain Hudson.” A moment’s pause. “Captain Hudson. You are needed on the command deck. Captain!” “Whazz-it?” Still half asleep, Hudson slurred his question. He slowly began to wake up, recognizing the voice that awoke him to belong to the station’s bioroid. “Senny” Her full name was [i]Sentinel of the Void[/i], but she and the crew prefered to shorten it to Senny. “What could be so important to wake me up at…” He glanced at his bedside clock, “Two A.M.?” “Sir, what I believe to be a portal has appeared. Based off the correlation between its location and that the recorded location of the orig-” “Enough!” Hudson groaned. Senny had developed something of a practical joke streak as of late. He had allowed it to pass thus far, but perhaps it was past the point of reeling her in a bit. At this rate he wouldn’t believe her if an incident ever did occur. “I’m going back to sleep. Don’t bother me again.” Hudson had just begun to settle back into bed when a blaring alarm shattered any hope of further sleep. He cursed as he jumped to his feet and rushed towards his desk where he had left one of his uniform tops. In the hallway outside his room he could hear Senny speaking over the station intercom. “All hands to battlestations. I repeat: all hands to battlestations. This is not a drill. Further instructions will follow shortly.” “You were serious?!” Hudson quickly threw on his top and headed towards the door. “I would never joke about something so important. Unknown ships have been detected.” Thankfully the captain’s quarters were close to the command deck, thus making for a short trip. And in this sort of situation every second mattered. The door to the command deck had barely opened before Captain Hudson was calling out orders. “I need a status report!” “All weapons are active and ready on your command” An officer calmly reported. “One fighter has launched and the other is wai- the pilot for our second fighter has just arrived in the hangar and will be launching momentarily.” Senny reported. “The two unidentified ships have begun firing on each other!” A second officer called out. “Both ships appear to be comparable to our cruisers.” Senny stated. “Although they do appear to possess much greater fighter carrying capability than any of our cruisers.” “Send out a wideband broadcast ordering both warships to stand down.” Hudson turned to his communications officer. ”Do we have any reinforcements nearby?” “The destroyer [i]Vampire[/i] is already burning hard towards us. It reports that it will arrive in the area in twenty minutes and its fighter complement will be here in ten.” “It should already be in missile range.” Hudson commented. “Aye sir, but the captain of the [i]Vampire[/i] stated that he doesn’t want to risk drawing firing on either the station or his ship by launching missiles early if it can be avoided.” Hudson could only grunt an acknowledgement and turn his attention to the tactical map as Senny sent out a wideband broadcast. “This is the [i]HMNB Sentinel of the Void[/i] to all unidentified combatants: you are currently infringing on the territory of the Kingdom of Kaus Borealis. Cease all combat immediately and identify yourselves. I repeat: you are currently infringing on the territory of the Kingdom of Kaus Borealis. Cease all combat immediately and identify yourselves. [center][b]***** ***** *****[/b][/center] [center][b]Arkton, Laurasia, Kaus Borealis System[/b][/center] “Can someone tell me what is going on?” Lloyd demanded. All at once the situation room quieted with the exception of a few whispered conversations between communications staff. After a moment an older gentleman wearing a naval uniform stood and turned towards Lloyd. “Of course Mr Prime Minister” The Lord of the Admiralty answered. “It would appear that the Gate to Earth reopened five minutes ago.” He held up his hand to forestall any excited comments the Prime Minister was about to give, “and through the Gate two unidentified warships appeared and began, or perhaps simply resumed, combat. The cruiser [i]Vampire[/i] will be in the region within the next fifteen minutes. I have already taken the liberty of ordering both the Home and Outer Rim fleets to send reinforcements to the region. We expect a task force from the Home Fleet to be on site in the next two hours.” “Are either of the warships of human make?” The Prime Minister asked. “That is impossible to determine at this time.” “Ok… At this point I believe the Gate poses the greatest threat to our security.” Lloyd’s statement was answered by nods of agreement from throughout the room. He nodded himself before turning back to the Lord of the Admiralty. “We are going to have to pull some of our forces from both the Home and Outer Rim fleets.” “Yes sir.” The Lord of the Admiralty winced. “Admiral Halsey” the admiral of the Outer Rim Fleet, “will balk at giving up more than a handful of ships, but given the situation we won’t push back too hard.” “And he can hold out against the Swimmers with a reduced force?” “Hold out? Certainly. But he won’t be able to push any further into Swimmer territory.” “That’s acceptable for now.” Lloyd turned to the Minister of Finance. “We might want to plan for a further expansion of the navy.” The Minister of Finance shook his head. “I can probably wringe an extra ten billion out of the budget, but that’s about it.” “That’s barely enough to make one cruiser!” The Lord of the Admiralty stated. “We’ll also need to expand the facilities at the [i]Sentinel of the Void[/i]. That alone could cost twenty billion if we were willing to forgo adding more armaments.” “For now earmark any extra funds you can get for expanding the [i]Sentinel of the Void[/i].” Lloyd ordered. “I’ll bring the matter to both the Crown and the House of Commons and see if I can get a new budget passed quickly. Hopefully things won’t get too out of hand before we can get control over the situation.”