Part 3(?): Bombs away!
The second shard remains a tantalizing treat, so close to our homeworld and yet so dangerous to attempt collecting. Our empire is sandwiched between two threats: Neinzul buggers swarming our homeworld on the Eastern front, while full-scale battles are constantly erupting between fleets on the Western front.
A recent attack by Zenith Bombardment Ships cut a massive hole into our fleet. With our numbers cut down by hundreds, the rest of the AI saw fit to launch a larger attack. All the alert ships that had previously been in waiting surged into our system. The fleet ships took heavy losses until a martyr arrived to cut the attack.
the nature of that attack presented a perfectly sizable window of opporutunity that High Command instantly seized. Since all the guard ships had gone on the attack and been destroyed, the next planet, Oridmurka was now vulnerable. And since it hosted Xampite asteroids and a second cursed golem*, it was a valuable target. Working quickly, the remaining fleet stormed the planet and eliminated the command post. The losses were again severe due to an ion cannon watching over the system. The crews manning the resource harvesters** have been complaining about the extra workload producing replacement ships, but unfortunately it seems as if that load will not be lifted any time soon, as another Exo-Galactic wave is approaching full strength, and we're going to need more Martyrs ASAP.
*EDIT: I also just noticed it has a Spire Civillian Leader Outpost, a Microparasite Fabricator and a Data Center. Woo!
**Yes, I know they're supposedly automated, but I like to think that all the structures and large ships are manned. The survey ship seems to have a crew, after all. So why not others?
