Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Welcome to the Fleet Academy

Welcome to the Fleet Academy, Cadets:

As the Academy's first class, we have very high expectations of you. You will notice that this online virtual school has been divided into your six classes: Command, Intelligence, Tactics, Strategy, Leadership, and Discipline. Your teachers have already introduced themselves and their course in their respective classrooms. Simply click on a classroom's link to access that class. Be sure to check back regularly. Your teachers are not exactly sitting around creating lessons. As we speak they are engaged in preparing our defenses for an anticipated large-scale attack. Each one is highly qualified and experienced in the subject they are teaching. They are also good friends of mine, so mind your manners and don't give them cause to doubt my recommendation of you.

Each instructor has a different personality and different perspective on the subject they teach. In time, you will get to know them better and their expectations of you. Assignments will be posted in each classroom as they become available. I recommend you take it one assignment at a time, and that you work together to ensure that everyone makes it to graduation. Each week, you will receive a mission packet. The mission may be a solo mission, small squad mission, or whole class mission. You will have until Monday of the following week to complete the mission. Failure is not an option here, cadets. We need each and everyone of you ready for command in just a short amount of time. Now grab your notebook and get to class. Dismissed.

Briefing: Update on the State of the Fleet

Good morning, Cadets:

As you may be aware, your reinstatement in the Fleet comes at a very dire and desperate time. In the conclusion of our war against the Legion, the Fleet emerged victorious, but at a cost of heavy casualties and loss of ships. Cryo Rancor, leader of the invading Legion force, is dead. The super-carrier Doomsday is no more. The Legion battleships Arsenal, Onslaught, Nightmare, and Overlord were all destroyed in battle by our own battleships, but in the process, the Fleet battleships Phoenix, Spartan, Falcon, Dragon, and the support ship Sword took critical damage. They are currently stationed at our rebuilt Jupiter forward-base undergoing extensive repairs and upgrades.

Normally, the defeat of the Legion would be cause for celebration, but our victory was short lived. Shortly after the Legion's surrender, FleetCom intercepted a distress signal from the Legion home world. We had reason to believe this may be an intentional diversion to force us to commit more ships to that sector while the Legion mounted a last-ditch counter attack on the Sol System. We were only half-right. The attack on the Sol System that followed was not a Legion attack. When our ships arrived at the Legion home world, they jumped into a trap. Twenty percent of the Fleet was decimated in the ambush, including the carrier Eagle.

Back in the Sol System, a new and unknown invading force tested the limits of the Fleet's strength, resulting in the loss of 60% of our combined strength. We were forced to commit every remaining ship to the battle to drive the invaders back. It was all we could do to protect Earth, and to that end alone, we were successful. FleetCom has since identified the invading force as the Viscera. Their technology is far superior to ours, their numbers vastly outnumber our own...and they're coming back. We've managed to maintain surveillance over their activity in the past few weeks. We know that they are amassing an unfathomable invading force...we're talking hundreds of ships. If they launch today, we don't stand a chance.

That's where you come in. We are in dire need of new leaders. The Fleet has suffered irreparable loses, but there is hope...there is you. If we can rebuild our forces to 100% capacity, we can put up a fight. If we can prepare the Fleet's brightest minds to command those forces, we can win this war. Welcome back to the Fleet.