The Akchin were a new Alien race. The Shaman of the Summer Empire watched them appear on the Galactic. Saw their colonies seed and wondered who they were, and if they would become a threat or quickly vanish. They seeded an Open System, claiming the easy revenue with a trade gate and the Shaman decided that perhaps they were going to become a power.

This being the case, the new Mauler 'Alien Eater' was commisioned and was sent with a cruiser escourt - the 'Law Lord' to destroy their trade gate and give them a taste of defeat.

The agenda was the destruction of their gate, and any vessel they may have in system...to teach them to fear the might of the Summer Empire.

Things did not go as planned....

Go 43770

Silence.

The Shaman fleet is on the Galactic, skimming towards the Lavskstar system. Astrogation has identified the Akchin trade gate, and the Shaman fleet prepare for battle.

Go 43771

The Shaman arrive. Scans show a small Akchin ship - the XChinle8, a standard design, easily culled.

The Shaman fleet is in no hurry, the Law Lord moved North to highjack their trade gate while the Alien Eater illuminated the entire region with a beholder. The Akchin ship will be swept aside shortly.

Go 43772

Alarms sound throughout the two Shaman ships, the fleet Chieftain opened comms on the Mauler, all comms, aboard ship and to the Law Lord, "Evade, evade. All crew brace for impact, we are running south."

Both Shaman ships powered up the fully charged Spindizzies and shot south. But at the same time they knew they had to disable some of the massive Akchin fleet. So the Mauler 'Alien Eater' layed down a gravstar field to devide the enemy fleet and fired off some drones at the southern Akchins.

The fact that an Epic Bloom had just appeared was irrelevant compared to the survival of the newly created Mauler.

Go 43773

The Gravstars deploy, and the Law Lord is hit, one hab is infected with alien nano and the crew are doomed. The Law Lord flees further South East, pursued by a large swarm of enemy drones. Flying South East should glue most of these drones in the Gravstars.

The Alien Eater lays down another Gravstar and opens up on the southern Akchins. Last tide only one drone hit an Akchin vessel, the Chinle1 hit on it's armoured flank.

Go 43774

More hits upon the Law Lord. Drones in flight targetted at either the Law Lord or the Alien Eater. It's hard to tell. The Gravstar fields are growing, so both Shaman ships skim south west a little to preserve their line of fire on the Southern Akchins. At the same time they fire off more drones to follow last tides drones targetting the enemy.

The Akchin fleet seems intent on sending volley after volley through the Gravstars, they may have lots of ships, but they are small and their drones must be low powered.

Go 43775

Battle grows more intense as volleys from both sides slam into ships. The Akchin Chinle8 is hammered by multiple hits. The Chinle1 suffers even more hits.

Meanwhile, the Alien Eater is hit for the first time and the Low Lord is hit yet again. The Alien Eater is a huge ship, but cannot afford armour at that size, both Shaman captains know the odds are stacked against them. The Chieftain aboard the Alien Eater has to decide if they should abort - and decides it is too early to concede defeat. However, to be safe he orders the slower Mauler to use more Spindizzies to move to the outer system - into the jump out zone.

The Akchins are also on the move, now that the Gravstar field is large enough to trap their drones they blast after the Shamans. Their small size gives them very high movement.

Go 43776

The Law Lord senses that the Gravstar field will soon vanish, and so it too flees South. The Alien Eater is still infected with alien nano, she continues to blast the Akchins and stays in the outer system, but moves to be close to the Law Lord. One advantage of Maulers is their ability to fire from afar - something that smaller ship classes struggle to do.

This tide sees the Alien Eater claim 0.75 Dark Light from the fleeing Chinle8 which jumps out of the system!

The smaller Akchins are still suffering as the powerful Shaman drones continue to impact. The Chieftain forms a plan - the Mauler can retreat from Lavskstar, but first she must claim the DL from dead or departing Akchins, enough to cover her own DL loss when she jumps out. This means another Akchin must leave or die, and from that point on the Alien Eater can jump out with a net gain in DL (although only a small gain).

Thoughts of destroying the trade gate are abandoned. But could it still be possible to gain the Epic to the North? Even the sacrifice of the Law Lord would be worth it - to have an Epic Mauler like the dreaded Nosferatu would make it worth while.

Go 43777

The Alien Eaters damage is mounting, and habs are under threat from nearby attack nano. But, on the bright side the Akchin Chinle1 departs the system - probably scared by the Maulers attack drone which is about to impact. The Alien Eater claims it's DL. The chieftain is pleased, when they jump they will not lose DL overall.

More hits on the Chinle3, the aim to drive it into oblivion and cement a DL gain! Sadly the enemy have the same idea and the drone swarm approaching the Shaman is still huge and frightening.

It looks like the Law Lord is off the hook while the Mauler is targetted by these drones.

One of the Gravstars has failed, it's power depleted. Some of the Akchin ships have gone silent and vanished from scan. The Alien Eater thinks to do the same, repairing damage, and the Law Lord fires retribution at the approaching alien swarm.

Go 43778

The majority of the Gravstar field now vanishes. The Akchins take their chance and power up engines to skirt the remaining gravity wells.

The Law Lord is hit again and is feeling vulnerable, moving to hug the planet's well and hopefully skirt it to trap any following drones. This act should start her moving back towards the bloom as well - maybe to grab it when it enlivens. The Alien Eater starts to deploy a mine field to act as a buffer while she repairs. Hopefully she can stay silent and undetected.

Go 43779

With the death of the last big Gravstar a channel opens up back North, and the way looks clear or the LawLord to sneak north. Almost all of the previous drone swarm burnt out and inflicted no damage. Three drones remain to track the Law Lord, but the risk is worth Epic Bloom gain. Perhaps the Alien Eater will jump out to let the Shaman reinforce with smaller vessels? That plan can be left on hold until we see how the Akchin behave.

The Akchin fleet is all silent except for their newly arrived battleship; Ganado1. Perhaps the departing Chinle class ships departed to open up space for this battleship.

It is easy to forget how imposing a mauler appears, even when damaged. The enemy must have sent for reinforcements partly for this reason. The Alien Eater itself continues to seed the mine field, those little Akchins should slam right into it.

Go 43780

Disaster strikes the Law Lord! Those drones impacted, and one hit the last remaining hab. The crew scream out for help, even as they know that there is none, and the nano disolves the outer hab. Vacuum claims the lucky ones, while those in sealed pockets live to see their friends and themselves converted by the attack nano.

The Chinle9 apears back on scan - firing off a beholder, and hoping to illuminate te Shaman Mauler. The beholder should hit the mine field, and the Alien Eater should remain invisible.

Go 43781

How foolish of the Mauler to think that the enemy destroyers were still the wrong side of the mine field! The Chieftain cried out as the screens cleared to show the Chinle destroyers on all sides. The maulers huge footprint had obviously given her away to the smaller vessels.

It was like the MapMakers all over again. The swarm of smaller ships opened up with everything while hidden. They were revealed at the same time their drones smashed into the repairing Mauler. The mine field was now mainly irrelevant, and she fired up the slightly recharged Spindizzies to run east - escaping immediate devastation, but at the same time getting further from the jump out zone.

The end game

Two of the drone swarm soon hit. The Akchin destroyers gave chance, and the Alien Eater spun further east to the jump zone. She then stood her ground, drone after drone slammed into her, as she tried to obliterate one last destroyer. It was not to be, and she jumped when her last hab was infected with attack nano.

Emissaries from the Akchin simply state that this was a total victory for them, and that they were never under threat, simply jumping to allow entry for their battleship.

The Shaman know that they were outgunned, but they saved the honour of the Alien Eater, and she came away from the combat a stronger vessel, ready to fight again.