Lunar Colony Chronicles --Chapter One

Lunar Colony Federated Territory
Delta Fleet Territory
Phobos One Station and Fleet Command Operation Center
Colony Date: 125.08.23


Fleet Admiral Sharon Wilson entered her office deep within Phobos One to read an encrypted message from Fleet Admiral William Anderson of Lunar One. She sat in the chair behind her desk and spoke to the station’s artificial intelligence. “Apollo, please decrypt and load the file.”

“Yes ma’am, loading.” Apollo replied disembodied throughout the room as the data packet began to scroll across the screen of her computer terminal. A moment later the file was completed and displaying on her screen.

<BEGIN FILE>
Lunar Colony Federation Space Command Priority Transmission
Encryption Code: red-steel-black
Public Key: file/cairo-athens-malta
From: Fleet Admiral William Lee Anderson, Commanding Officer, LCFSC Station Lunar One
To: Fleet Admiral Sharon Kara Wilson, Commanding Officer, LCFSC Station Phobos One
Subject: War game Exercises
Classification: Low

Sharon,
The Federation Council has decided to test the troops of Alpha Fleet under my command in war game exercises against the troops from Delta Fleet under your command. These exercises are to take place on Lunar One colony date: 125.09.15
I wish you the best luck in these games. You will receive a shipment of supplies on or around colony date 125.08.28 to prepare your troops for the games.

Good luck Sharon,

Best Wishes,
Fleet Admiral William L. Anderson
<END FILE>


She smiled to herself and laughed slightly and spoke, “Well Apollo, this will be fun.”





Delta Fleet Territory
Delta Fleet Strike Force Flagship LCSC Destroyer Athena
Colony Date: 125.09.14

Fleet Admiral Wilson stood on the bridge of the strike force flagship, the LCSC destroyer Athena as she looked at the battle plan and reviewed the tactical overview of her plans for the war games that lay ahead of them. They didn’t have a specific time scheduled to start. So her people would be in position to start the attacks. She punched up the holographics display for the tactical and strategic plans.

The small Delta Fleet strike force was moving toward the edge of Delta Fleet space toward Alpha space. Admiral Wilson had thought far enough ahead to move her ships into Charlie space before heading toward Lunar One. A stealth drop ship was already en route to Luna carrying a squad of PA Templars, a hacker AI, and a pair of ground vehicles to move the squad from their landing point to the Lunar One air locks. The stealth squad was intended as an infiltrator team and would go in and hopefully disable some of Lunar One’s air defenses. To make room for further drop ships to land more troops, APUs, SPARTANs, and Templars. The space combat would shape up between the aging F-307, 308, and 309 fighters of Lunar One and the new Scorpion Mk. I’s of Delta Fleet. This was how Admiral Wilson had planned her attack. Luckily, Admiral Anderson was unaware of the fact the Scorpion’s were online when he and the Federation Council had scheduled the war games.


Alpha Fleet Territory
Lunar Surface, Three Hundred Kilometers East of Lunar One
Colony Date: 125.09.14
Time: 2230 Hours

The squad of PA Templars stepped out of the stealth drop ship and waited for the team leaders to drive the surface vehicles out the rear hatch of the vessel. The teams looked around the lunar surface, and noted that within the hour their flat black stealth ship would be in sunlight and sticking out like a sore thumb to the satcoms that constantly monitored the lunar surface to detect any trace or hint or possible attack on the Lunar One installation. The squad leader, First Dragoon Adjunct Cole tapped a few commands on the small datalink on his suit’s gauntlet, the medium-sized dropship’s skin shimmered slightly and a moment later a computer voice chirped back, “Environmentally reactive camouflage online.” The teams headed out in the small and fast surface vehicles for the East gates of Lunar One.

The teams loaded into the small surface vehicles; four inside, one manning the rear mounted weapons turret. The pair of electro-mechanical generators in the Bengals fired up, and the pair of wheeled fast-attack vehicles hummed loudly and shot off into the darkness emitting no light at all as the moved rapidly toward the colony.


Alpha Fleet Territory
Lunar One Colony Command Control Center
Colony Date: 125.09.14
Time: 2340 Hours

Chief Petty Officer Aaron James sat at his sensor console monitoring the movement through and near the air-space of the Lunar One colony.  As usual there was very little irregular traffic, the supply ships coming in from Gamma fleet territory, waste transfer ships coming in from Earth One, and a single Goddess-class destroyer heading in from Charlie fleet space.  When he took a closer look, he realized that the destroyer heading towards Alpha space wasn't even aiming at Lunar One, but instead angled for McKinley Station.  'Hmmm must need repairs at drydock.' he thought to himself as he continued to monitor the screens.  He knew that the Alpha/Delta wargames were due to start up in twenty minutes, but so far there had been no aggressive movements from Delta fleet, not even a peep.  'That, however IS odd.  Normally we get four reports per day from Delta's AI Apollo. Oh well, he must have more important things to do what with the wargames coming up.' he dismissed his paranoid thoughts yet again and went back to monitoring the situation.



Alpha Fleet Territory
Alpha Fleet Strike Force Flagship LCSC cruiser/carrier Britannia
Colony date: 125.09.15
Time: 0010 Hours

Fleet Admiral William Anderson stood in the CIC of the LCSC crusier Britannia, one of the newest and most powerful warships in the entire LCSC fleet.  The engineering station’s readouts showed the ship’s various systems on a readout with a side view schematic of the ship.  Tiny lights flashed beside each system indicating their readiness; all of them were green.  Anderson nodded and turned to look at the other various systems and displays.

An alarm sounded from the communications console and the officer sitting there snapped into action.  “Admiral, I’m showing a perimeter alarm from Lunar One.  How’s that possible? No one has gotten past us.”

Anderson sighed and shook his head, “I should have expected that Sharon and Apollo would have planned to have troops on station ready to begin as soon as they could.”  He turned to the Britannia’s commanding officer, “Captain Trasker, ready my shuttle and alert Lunar One High dock to be ready for my arrival.  Also tell them that I’ve issued a state of emergency and that all civilians should be under immediate lockdown.  You have command back, find Sharon and the Athena, Captain. Find them.”  Anderson said before turning and exiting CIC heading for the launchbay and his shuttle.

He ran down the corridors to the launchbay, arriving at his shuttle, already warmed up, in less than five minutes.  ‘Every second counts in this,’ he thought to himself.  As he boarded his shuttle, he could see fighter crew preparing for combat launches all around his ship.