Strat-4 Chpt-26

==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 - Chapter 25 - Unexpected Visitors arrive in crossroads of far off space lanes==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
Nadir Jump Point, Rest Stop System
Deep Periphery (Near Gum Nebula)
Some Time Before Now
----
The electromagnetic pulse of incoming JumpShips lit up the space near Rest Stop, disrupting the usual routine aboard the aging recharge station. Visiting JumpShip crews waited in dread anticipation, counting the seconds, while they waited to see what would emerge from hyperspace. 
One hyperspace emergence pulse was worrying enough, given the uptick in piracy and banditry these days. The shifting stellar winds of the war between the Sons of Plunder and the ad-hoc coalition put together by the Outworlds Alliance were in no small part driving that. But a single JumpShip could just as easily be another ship passing through, a deep-Periphery trader, or perhaps a passing Jarnfolk ship. Nothing to get excited about – just another visitor to the station.
Multiple pulses, though? That was never good news. Especially when they were near-simultaneous. Only skilled, disciplined military organizations trained to do stunts like that, and while the three pulses had given each other a pretty wide berth, they were still far too close together to be coincidence.
Aboard the Spinward Showgirl, the mood shifted between existential dread and forlorn acceptance. The beat-up old Monarch class Passenger Line DropShip had no weapons of her own, and generally survived by her policy of offering her services to all paying customers. Her skipper and proprietor hoped this policy would allow her, her staff and her ship to weather this latest change, whatever it was.
Suddenly, a trio of vast WarShips snapped into existence. All were older-looking Aegis class cruisers, their docking collars festooned with assault DropShips and, perhaps most odd, the sections of a modular space station. More worryingly, all three bore the symbols of the Star League Defense Force. Around these parts, only the Sons of Plunder had been doing that, the pirate nation still making the claim of being the true inheritors of the Star League.
Before panic could really ensue though, as the RF interference from the simultaneous jumps dissipated, one of the three cruisers broadcast in the clear on standard spacer frequencies.
<<“To all ships, this is Admiral Murakami of the SLDF Expeditionary Squadron. Please do not panic. We are here to assist in the defense of the Rest Stop system, and to enforce her continued neutrality. To that end, we will be reinforcing the system with a defense station and a number of assault DropShips. We have no intention of disrupting normal operations in this system, other than to ensure the continued safety, security and freedom from predication by piracy for all parties in the Rest Stop system. Please feel free to hail us if you have any questions, which I’m sure you all have in abundance. Thank you for your time.”>>
With that, the ancient WarShips began the process of disembarking and assembling the massive Bastion-class Defense station. Keen observers would note, along with the SLDF Cameron Star, the designation OP-91B-M-8 “Fort Cheyenne”. Swarming space around the ships were a mix of living fossils: DropShips that at first glance looked like ancient Pentagons Assault and Titans Fighter Carrier Dropships, but a historian would notice they weren’t... quite right – more sensor domes, even fewer windows than you’d expect on a military DropShip.
Looking out at the spectacle from her ship’s bridge, the skipper of the Spinward Showgirl couldn’t help but ask herself, ”What the hell is going on here?”
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
4-26