Introduction
So after all of that - after intrigue and aliens and a message in a bottle from old Earth - it comes to this: a man we’ve never heard of, cut off from his chain of command, at the head of a devastating weapon.
It was almost an afterthought. We’d won, hadn’t we? The Council was bottled up, with no practical ability to wage war outside their bubble.
But here was this Admiral Rourke, convinced he could bring Grove to heel.
It would’ve been funny if so many people hadn’t been dying.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
13 November, WY603 – Jericho
Wheeler continues the briefing, informing the gathering that all attempts to placate Admiral Rourke have failed and he intends to bombard and subsequently invade Grove with what resources he has. The Republic of Jericho has chosen to respond in force at the request of the Whistler Union to neutralize the Damocles and provide all aid possible. To that end, Wheeler orders the Jericho Navy to set sail for Grove - a roughly three month journey. Upon completing the briefing, he dismisses his fleet commanders, leaving only the crew, Benny, Jack, Felicity, and the Jericho fleet admiral in the room.
To the smaller room, Wheeler states “the bombardment wasn’t six weeks ago, it was six hours ago, I have a line of communication with Nicole Wahpetonwan on the ground.”
The gathering brainstorms ideas that could end the conflict, as the travel time for the Jericho fleet could mean the decimation of Grove. The Whistler Union fleet of forty-two Murphy destroyers is laying in wait one jump from Grove, but they don’t stand a chance alone against the Damocles and the rest of the 1st fleet (which includes WDF Intrepid, Teddy Banks’ command).
Aiden posits that the gravity generator in the captured satellite could be tuned as a weapon, and after some investigation concludes that it could deliver enough force to destroy Damocles, but would need to be deployed very close, roughly 2000km.
All eyes turn to Dirk when the question arises of how to get to Grove fast enough. They theorize that Dirk could propel a ship there, Felicity’s San Anastasia being the closest to Legitimate Salvage.
The current plan is to modify the satellite into a weapon, have Dirk jump San Anastasia to the rest of the Whistler Union fleet, and deploy the weapon under the distraction of the attack.
