ALJ Chpt 22

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 22 - A Long Journey==
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27 July 2785
Cephei (Unclaimed)
It analyzed the reaction of the SLDF Elephant Class Tug Dropship fleeing the area and heading for the Nadir Jump Point at 3g after taking aboard its fighters. They should have broadcast the proper code when it got close, but it did not do so. They had only powered up fully and activated radar when the fighters got too close in case they needed to maneuver to avoid a collision. The powerful AI could not make sense of the situation, it was down to just 100 tons of fuel and was hoping for a resupply which was way overdue. Its partner ship had even less fuel onboard. It gave the command to power down into extreme power conservation mode.
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30 July 2785
Tug One, Elephant Tug, had made the 5.69 day trip to the Nadir Jump Point in just under three days of hard thrust. Everyone on board had heavy bruising and a few had broken a few bones, but they were safely docked and not a minute later the Star Lord Jumpship jumped from the system.
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21 August 2785
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
 
The moment they had returned Commodore Patricia Mitchell made contact with her brother Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell. "Might want to round up dad and Colin for this, we have a massive problem that I do not think we can handle. I am on my way down."
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24 August 2785
The small group all met up at her fathers house. She took the offered beer and chugged it without a breath and tossed the empty away before opening another. She literally dropped into the chair as she stared at her second beer like it had some magical property in it. After a few minutes of silence Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell spoke.
"Patty, what the hell is the matter?"
"Sammy, how many ships and troops were lost in the invasion of Terra, not the campaign just the run from the jump point to Terra itself? Do you know?" Commodore Patricia Mitchell asked softly
"Something like 200 warships, 30 or so transports and 18 or 19 Divisions. About 100,000 dead." Samuel replied
"Yeah, I came in a week after you all made landfall but I saw the cost. I regret to inform you that Site 222 is guarded by two, I repeat two operational Caspar Drones. There is a bunch there that I want, but not worth all of us dying trying to take it away from those drones. I doubt they would break a sweat wiping us out. I have never heard of any Caspar Drone being deployed outside of the Terran Hegemony." Patricia Mitchell said
The thought of facing more Caspar Drones caused a shudder to go thru Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell, his Division had been lucky and lost no one to the Drones, but he knew too many that had died and sometimes worse, survived the encounter with one of the Drones. "Okay, that is a massive problem. I assume you have no way around this problem?"
"NO ,SAMMY, I DO NOT HAVE A WAY AROUND THIS PROBLEM!!!!" Patricia Mitchell yelled as she smashed her beer bottle against the wall in frustration. She started to get up and clean up the mess she made when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Easy, my girl, that can wait. You might not have faced them in battle but you experienced the results of others facing them in battle. The aftermath is sometimes worse than the actual fighting." Colonel (Ret) Gerald Mitchell said softly to his daughter
"It was horrible. We helped collect thousands of remains from the wreckage and I do not know how many bodies from the void. Being exposed to vacuum is not an easy way to die." Commodore Patricia Mitchell replied with tears running down her face. This caused her father to wrap his arms around her and he held her tight as she cried in his arms.
Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell gestured to his cousin Colin Blaine and Colonel Harper to move away to the front porch. Once there he said.
"Colin, give me something to work with. Please tell me we have something to work with." 
"Sammy, I just do not know. Site 222 only listed a location and some alpha numeric code that I have no clue what it means." Colin Blaine replied
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