RB0-36, Retired Meklar Emperor: Well, it's always possible there were others that we didn't know about at the time. I couldn't tell you what the battles for Cygni were like, for instance, and how hard it was for the Psilons to take it off the Darloks' hands. But I have to say Hyboria was pretty heavily contested. I already told you about the first battle we had there, and we chased another colony ship off before our own could arrive, but once we built the colony ... well, that's when we found out just how badly our neighbors wanted the place. Miamar immediately made her position crystal clear.
ACP-30: Bluster is one thing, but could she back it up?
RB0-36: Let's put it this way: We'd gathered most of our long-range starfleet at Hyboria, and we had more more ships incoming. But our starfleet was still a bit small ... and extended fuel tanks take up a lot of room that could otherwise be used for more weapons. And Miamar? She wasn't fooling around.
ACP-30: Is that what prompted you to start weapons research?
RB0-36: It might have been. We were already working to develop a new battle computer though, and we knew we'd have to develop some kind of weapon soon. Hand lasers were a welcome option, and they came at the same time as some other important discoveries: Inferno colony bases were ready to roll out, it would someday be possible to double our then-current terraforming capabilities ... and we couldn't yet build long-range inferno colony ships. The only way we could get to Dolz would be by finishing work on a technology we hadn't even begun to invest in yet, like auto-repair or the new terraforming project ... so I finally made the decision to go with a cheaper option than either: I started spending heavily, right away, on sublight drive research. With that complete, years later, we could finally, finally go back and research deuterium fuel.
ACP-30: But that's getting ahead of the story. There was a lot going on in the meantime - most of it at the colony on Hyboria 3.
RB0-36: Well ... I wouldn't put it quite that way. When that Mrrshan fleet reached the system, we tried to fight them off, but it quickly became obvious that they weren't relying on missiles and we didn't have a chance. And when our surviving ships retreated...
ACP-30: Nothing was ever going to happen at that particular Hyboria colony ever again, is what you're saying.
RB0-36: Pretty much, yeah. The Mrrshans didn't immediately rebuild it either; their fleet seemed to be there just to teach us a lesson - and we certainly learned one, about Miamar's predilection for violence. We weren't about to give up on Hyboria though! We got another Outpost ship ready right away, and tried to get it out there to re-establish our colony. The thing is, even before it could arrive, the Alkari came up with extended range technology. Now, the obvious thought was that we could play them off against their historical enemies, and we did what we could to get relations off to a good start.
ACP-30: This in spite of the fact that those two historic enemies had an alliance going between them?
RB0-36: Well, we figured it couldn't last, right? Anyway, we built a new colony up at Hyboria 3, and even got trade going with the Mrrshans once we saw they didn't have any new fleets inbound to the system. Just 100 BC per year, unlike the 175 we set up with the Alkari, but at the time, that was all the Mrrshan economy could bear. In the meantime, we'd been moving research forward, with our new battle computer making way for a push toward robotic factory controls, and getting some exploring done. Even before we explored the Mrrshan ocean world of Drakka 4 in 2380, we had a pretty good picture of our corner of the galaxy.
ACP-30: Apparently including a picture of a nearby Alkari fleet. Care to tell me where that one was headed?
RB0-36: I'll give you one guess.
ACP-30: With Alkari piloting all 18 ships - and with the heavy lasers on those colony cruisers - I'm guessing Hyboria was lost again.
RB0-36: Ah. Well, that would be getting ahead of yourself. You see, we had a little more time to prepare for that fleet than we'd had for the Mrrshans before them, and that meant time for the colony to grow a little larger. There were already transports on the way too, and what we had of a defense fleet managed to destroy a few of their fighters, so I doubt if they could have wiped the colony out with the lasers and missiles on the remaining ships even if they'd tried. What they did instead was to take control of the planet's orbit and send a raft of transports across space to take the colony for themselves. Fortunately for us, those transports had a good long way to go, which meant we had more time to prepare our defenses. And it meant we had time to finish some other important business in that part of the galaxy - starting even before the Alkari fleet arrived.
ACP-30: Of course you needed that base at Hyboria to colonize rich Gion, since you were still flying around with basic hydrogen fuel.
RBO-36: Exactly. But knowing we were about to build that inferno colony, we also knew we wouldn't lose contact with the Mrrshans even if we lost Hyboria again; that's why we felt confident in initiating trade with them in the first place. That wasn't the entire plan though. Sublight engine research came through moments after the Alkari established Hyborian space superiority, and that gave us the chance to build a fleet capable of reclaiming the skies of our world. We would use updated laser fighters, with our best available battle computer and maneuverability, and the hardest-hitting cruiser we could put together.
ACP-30: Seven heavy lasers might have looked okay in that era, but wouldn't you be better off with a lot more regular lasers against Alkari pilots in smaller ships?
RBO-36: Maybe, if it had no purpose but to go after Alkari fighter fleets. That wasn't the Capacitor's job though; I was thinking about the future. Regular lasers are pretty useless against anything with shields, and at least the heavies can do some damage for a while. As for those fighters, we just had to defend against them up at Hyboria. If they didn't want to engage, they were welcome to go home; if they did want to engage and the Capacitor had to take them on alone, all it had to do was wait for them just out of range, with its weapons trained to fire as they approached, then fire its engines and move back out of range again. They'd almost never even get a chance to fire at it while it whittled them away. Of course, with our fighters to support it, and a missile base just completed with support from the reserve, we didn't need tactics that subtle.
ACP-30: So you destroyed most of their orbital fleet, watched the rest retreat, and then took out the incoming transports when they arrived?
RBO-36: That's about the size of it - and still had the fleet available when full-scale war broke out, just six years after the Alkari transports died.
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NEXT: The Wages of War!
