Saturday Morning Schedule at GZG-ECC V

Admiral Blackthorne's cabin was dark, and with his face lit from below by the desk display, the admiral looked even more evil than usual. "Captain, I have an impossible job that needs to get done, and I've picked you to do it." He tapped a key, and an image of the planet Lancaster glowed in the holodisplay.

"Dr. Minnesota Kochte, the xeno-archaeologist, has signaled that he's found what appears to be an ancient Kra'Vak ruin on Lancaster, incuding archives of some sort. If we can translate that library, the insight into Karla's psychology would be...well, 'priceless' is an understatement. Unfortunately the coordinates given were garbled, and we've been unable to raise Dr. Kochte since. We don't know where on Lancaster this treasure trove might be.

"To complicate matters, the Pretender's main fleet is now moving to engage us, with intercept expected in about an hour. In addition--and this is the key part, Captain--Intelligence says the enemy is getting ready to jump a cruiser squadron to Lancaster space. Now, we don't *know* that they know about Dr. Kochte's find, but then again, we don't know that they don't.

"Your job, Captain, is to take a few cruisers to Lancaster close orbit and defeat the enemy squadron. In addition, if you can, get close enough to the planet to make recon scans--maybe the intel people can figure out where Kochte went before the Pretender's people get there. Now, the nasty bit is that we daren't give you too many ships, because if the enemy doesn't know there's something to see there, we don't want to tip our hand. If you're desperate, you can call for reinforcements, but avoid it if possible. Preserving your ships is not--I say again, *not*--a priority."

"Now the good news, such as it is." Blackthorne tossed over a set of datachips. "Since we don't dam' well care if you lose your ships, we're going to make it easier for you to do that. Those chips are the engineering overrides which will let you take your drives past redline. I will not tell you how long it took me to persuade BuShips to give those over, but you can now maneuver your ships in ways they were plainly not built to withstand. Hope it helps you stay out of harm's way."

The admiral stood up and held out his hand. "Captain, you have your orders. Godspeed...and good hunting."

CanAm II will use small, fast moving squadrons in cinematic movement. A version of the WDA Redline, Evasive Maneuvers, and Emergency Thrust will be available for those captains who care to risk it. SSDs will be provided by me, but please bring miniatures: any Human nationality, 3 BC and 6 CL (or similar size ships).