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The Long Haul.... on the surface of a planet the vibrations of machinery are absorbed by the ground, but in space the entire ship reverberates with the sound's of machinery that would normally go un-noticed. the Stalker class was the pinacle of ship technology. it could carry more anti-ship weapons than any ship of comperable size, but she is expensive, rediculously expensive for all but a few purposes. the Central Commite for Intellegence and Deffence (CCID) had purchased 3 vessels of the stalker class. the Stalker, wich is currently undergoing trials in a classified section of space, most liekly testing it's stealth technologies on the planetary deffences Solaris IV, the millitary center of the empire. then there is the Espionage, it is curently under construction, most likely in deep space. and finally there is the Andromeda.
Comodore Fredrick Dreger, captain of the Andromeda, hand picked to carry out missions so secret that even the Empire's own government and millitary can't know about it. he sipped his coffe and stared into the vastness of space. the Andromeda is currently running silent, a procedure wich can last a days, or even months. all un-necessary electromagnetic and thermal radiation is avoided, meaning the crew shower with cold water, and eat food that is barely cooked. the crew can talk all they want though. That is one of the advantages to being out in space, with no air, no one can hear you. The viewing screen suddenly zoomed into a ship far into the distance, the computer quickly matched, identified, and profiled the ship as it orbited the nearby planet of Hierarch III. the planet is a barely habitable rock, it is being used by rebels who have stationed their fleet in orbit. Andromeda's mission is to reconoiter, and if an oportunity approaches, to destroyer the orbiting shipyard that has allowed the rebel fleet to remain here.
the ship on the viewscreen was a Scorpion Frigit. the Scorpion had seen many battles throughout the Alteran Crisis, and served with the fleet for many years, however it was retired after becoming outdated. the ship was hardly a threat, it's missile complement would cause only minimal damage to the Andromeda's thick armoured hull, that is if the frigit was even able to spot Andromeda, a task that would be physically impossible while andromeda stayed in high orbit with stealth procederues in place. even under normal conditions the sensors of the frigit wouldn't be able to spot Andromeda unitll she fired her compliment of missiles, wich by then would be too late. but the fact was that the frigit wasn't really worth the Andromeda's effort. even the station which has plauged the region for months was nothing more than a training excersize. the viewscreen zoomed back out to reveal the Station, wich has a minimal escort. it was at that moment that sensors picked up a ship droping out of FTL. it was the Revolution, captured and re-named by the rebels. the Revolution is a Arcemedes Light Cruiser. it has 24 missiles and a mark IV Main Cannon, however her anti-ship missile bay only houses 8 missiles. the only field in wich she has an advantage is her anti-air turrets wich number 7 dual 7" guns. the revolution is the only reason the rebel base in this sector exists, but the rebels know this and have demonstrated complete paranoia, not letting the ship and the station out of sight of each other for more than a few minuets at a time. if this station is going to be neutralized, that cruiser has got to go.
