Back out to the unknown.
In reply to Cyril Zotmund (msg # 945):
News of another habitable base as well as a new species causes considerable excitement, though the military reacts to the news of the pirates with a predictable request for a sizable ship to return there immediately. The Jeremiah Jones, a Crocket class vessel and the now aging Tsushima Straights, a modified Karl Marx Carrier, are dispatched within a week with the Lightning Class merchantman Buffalo Bill, with a cargo of weapons, tools and potential colonists. Taking copies of your charts, and details of the pirate vessel, they note that missiles will not be terribly effective against such a vessel due to the number of beam weapons reported, so the Buffalo Bill is rearmed first with an array of beam weapons and a small number of sandcasters.
The Dastavka is repaired, taking two weeks, and resupplied. Since the war is over, the shortage of missiles is not felt as acutely, though the numbers are still being built back up, and resources diverted to modifying captured vessels is making the missile manufacturing slower, but the ever present threat of the Vilani now seems to have returned afer the more immediate war was resolved. Still, a joint force of new Larbysian rebel shots and a couple of Terran Warships, most notably Andrews Friendship class Cruiser, a modified 10,000 dTon vessel based on a rebuilt Labrysian Cruiser. Since it's construction, Kalishnkov enterprises have been contracted to provide another of these vessels for Chrysolite, and then a third similar vessel to replace the original in monitoring the Labrysian government treaty. Basically, you understand that though the Labrysian war is over, it is still very much to Kalishnikov's advantage that continued preparations for war are maintained in anticipation of a Vilani war. Chrysolyte is draining funds, many of them landing in Kalishnikov coffers, to build up their fleet, and Andrew is only too happy to oblige them. News of another sentient race, therefore, is welcome, but the low tech level of the race and the news of the pirates does drain the enthusiasm.
It is perhaps not surprising that all senior officers are called into a meeting with Andrew as your ship nears completion. It seems that the whole planet, including his new offices, are one giant building site, so you are asked to come to the Yuri. The aged warship bears scars from both modifications and battles, but nonetheless, for some of you, it brings back memories.