March 15th

Everyone settle in because this is a long one. And if you do want to keep reading these then please comment. It is nice to know these reports are being seen and enjoyed.

Our crew this week consisted of Capt. Jim Grindrod, Cmdr. William Feil, Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Patrick, Lt. Tim Bordelon, Ambassador Stephen Torrence, and Beardfacé Kevin.

Tonight our pre-voyage meal was made up of a salad and spaghetti with chili for the main course. Dessert was cookies from , half a left over apple pie from pi day, bananas, and finally root beet floats.

Once dinner had be mostly eaten and the dessert of choice was next to each officers station we began.

Our two guests the Ambassador and Beardfacé had never run with our crew before so we gave command of the UES Muffins Battleship, with a jump drive, to Kevin. Jim was manning the weapon console, I had the helm, Jesse had comms, Tim within Engineering, and Stephen scanning with science.
Being Kevin's first time with our crew he was pleased with our level of experience. An enemy fleet with a space monster in tow tried to attack DS3 but the previously mentioned space monster destroyed them before they could do much damage. Sadly that now meant that DS3 had a space monster hovering by it so we would be unable to dock there.
While fighting one group of Torgoth ships DS4 was destroyed, seemingly by a Skaraan vessel. We won the fight but it was a hard fight. Once it was over our energy was down to 102 and our torpedoes had already been fired or used during combat to supplement our energy. We tried to jump to save DS3 but with such little energy in reserve we only got a third of the way. While we limped along running the Muffins systems as low as possible to replenish our energy stores DS3 was annihilated. The force attacking DS3 met its end at the hands of the same space monster that had be loitering around DS3 since earlier but the deed was done.
Without much fanfare we jumped to DS1. Recharged and rearmed the rest of the combined Torgoth and Krelien forces fell before our ECM/Nuke volleys and four forward beam weapons.

In the 2nd game the Muffins was refitted into a Missile Cruiser, still with jump drive, at the instruction of our Captain, Jim Grindrod. I(William) was made Head Engineer, Kevin at Helm, Tim at Weapons, Jesse at Science, and Stephen on Comms.
This mission started our horribly. Our Science console crashed so Jesse was forced to repair it while we continued on. With the high difficulty we were facing Skaraans early and their ship refused to be shot down, instead warping/jumping/cloaking whenever they were close enough to destruction. Having to choose between the many and the few we abandoned DS3 to their fate and moved to reinforce the main cluster of space stations. Once we regrouped we finished off the Skaraan vessels harassing us.
It was around this time that the helm and comm consoles crashed and as they were rebooted Kevin and Stephen had an enlightening discussion about impermanence.
With everything back up and running the Muffins destroyed a fleet via nuking at DS2 then jumped into dock. No literally, the jump put us 50 micro light seconds from the station. It is the belief among the crew that if any poor S.O.B was glancing out the window in the moment we appeared that they either had a heart attack, crapped themselves, or both. While the Muffins was recharging and being rearmed we got to watch a Kralien fleet run itself into the minefield covering where we were docked at DS4.
The last action of the mission was to jump behind the remains of DS1 and nuke an Arvonian/Kralien battle group. The Carriers managed to launch fighters before the were blown to bits but the fighters ran into a laid mine harmlessly. All that was left was a badly damaged Kralien Cruiser which refused to surrender. With no other contacts on long range sensors we decided to do the only reasonable thing. The Muffins four torpedo launchers were loaded with Mk4 Nukes and a salvo of four streaks of nuclear tipped death were unleashed. We won.

After the first two games our special guests had to leave. It was sad to see them go as they were talented officers but they hold honorary UES ranks of Ambassador and Beardfacé, and are welcome to return whenever they have the chance.

Game 3 was in a warp capable Light Cruiser refit of the UES Muffins.
Will(me) was Captain and weapons. Jesse had Engineering, Jim had Science and Comms, and Tim was the Helm.
DS3 was, again, unable to be saved. Encountering a small Arvonian fleet before the Muffins could lend aid. Upon getting to what was DS3 the Carriers launched a wave of fighters at us. We turned and started to move away, launching mines once they were loaded. The mined just barely missed and we accelerated to full impulse to evade the fighters. As it so happened the mine was perfectly laid, not soon after accelerating the fighters turned to return to their mothership only to run head long into our mines and their doom.
DS1 was the next to fall when we ran out of weapons and energy trying to save them unsuccessfully. It was while we rearmed and recharged at DS4 that we noticed two fleets that had been moving toward a black hole were now moving around it. This was not good news but what was is we did a side-mission and had four nukes on the Muffins light cruiser. We attacked the alien forces until all that remained were the Arvonians. Bringing the ship about face to drop mines into a squadron of fighters. The first mine destroyed several and crippled the rest. The remaining fighters wouldn't last long for as soon as they tried to move the second mine was activated and finished them off.
The last bits of the Arvonian fleet was easily dispatched with a volley of ECM torpedoes followed by nukes.

Game 4 was changed up each of the four remaining crew members each taking a ship to solo.
Lt. Tim was in the Light Cruiser Cloudchaser. Lt. Cmdr. Jesse commanded the Battleship Stalliongrad, Capt. Jim was in the Dreadnought Nocturne, and finally Cmdr. Will was in the Missile Criuser Bubbles.
Tim spent the mission split between attacking a few alien ships and collecting anomalies. Jesse proved to be the most lethal, halving the number of surviving enemy ships single handed. Will fired barrage after barrage of Mk1 Homing torpedoes at enemy ships. Jim managed to accidentily nuke Jesse.

Game 5- Trail of Denae
USSE Stalliongrad flown by Jesse. UES Spellcheck flown by Will. UES Moonbutt commanded by Jim. UES WhatPumpkin under control of Tim.

Tim was destroyed when he flew into the minefield surrounding DS1. DS1 fell to a Skaraan ship after it got through the minefield. Will nuked the ship in revenge then jumped to DS4. Jim defended DS2. DS3 was destroyed. Jumped into enemy fleet and dropped four mines. Last of alien ships were blown up by mines. Jesse destroyed most the enemies solo.

After the mission Lt Cmdr. Jesse and Lt. Tim had to depart leaving only Capt. Jim and Cmdr. Will to continue on.

For the new mission Capt. Jim decided on a new vessel. A warp driven Battleship named the UES OMGMUFFINSYAY. Commander Will was on the Helm and Comms. Captain Jim had Science, Engineering, and Weapons.
The OMGMUFFINSYAY was a good Battleship that finished it's mission without much going wrong and nothing much exciting. The only note worthy thing is once more DS3 fell to the enemy. Thinking back on it and realizing that the station DS3 had never survived all night one more mission was launched.
Still in the OMGMUFFINSYAY the helm was given over to Capt. Jim along with comms. Commander Will had the remaining stations.
This time D3 was protected like no other. Then opposing ships got to close the were lured away from the station and mines dropped in front of them. The alien ships that were far enough out to not be an imminate threat were met with ECMs and Nukes until the Mk4 Nuke was unavailable. Then ECMs and boosted beams were the one-two punch of choice. All stations and all NPC ships were safe.

This was the end of the adventures for the evening.