October 15, 3145
2nd Periphery March Guard Garrison, Redondo
The activity has not ceased since you arrived on Redondo. The introductions, indoctrinations, and training have been grueling as you try to learn how to fight alongside your new found compatriots. Your crew of volunteers that have formed into the 1st Allied Periphery combat group have been placed under Major James Swardlow, a lance leader and academy graduate from the 3rd NAIS Cadre.
News from the front has been slow in coming. The courier JumpShips that normally would bring word of how the war is faring have been interrupted by the conflict, either pulled into the war effort or lost to the encroaching Combine forces. What little you've heard has been bad. The First Prince has fallen at Palyrma, along with a large portion of the standing forces along both the Capellan and Draconis March fronts, a salient has formed that is snaking its way to New Avalon, and both March capitals have fallen. On the bright side, you've seen the vetrans of the Islamabad PMM, Periphery March Guard, and Tau Ceti Lancers all preparing to go in following you, exploiting any holes generated.
After a short few weeks of training together, news comes that your JumpShip has arrived in orbit. She is a reclaimed Magellan, christened the FSS Gorkha by the shipwrights on Panpour. With her is the Orca, a old Triumph DropShip. You navigate your machines from the March Guard facilities to the starport. As the Orca is loaded, you have time to meet with the crew. The Orca is captained by Noah Bright, a fairly by-the-book veteran of the strikes into the Republic, seems resigned to carting around kids and yokels for the foreseeable future.
You reach the Gorkha and settle in to your new home as best you can. Every nook on both ships seems to be filled with provisions, and you are fairly certain you will never want to see an MRE again after this endevour ends. The Gorkha gets underway from the recharge station, ponderously making way to the jump point. A few hours later, reality blinks and the stars rearrange themselves.