When the Imperial Consortium first blitzed human space from across the nebula known as Cooper's Veil, the 139th Reconnaissance Task Force was in the midst of an anti-piracy operation. They had just located and commandeered a large pirate base in an asteroid field near the watery world of Venelia when word of the devastating attack, and the destruction of the Sector Headquarters and Fort Halsey, came in. Commodore Kathleen Branch, assessing the situation, knew her small task force had gone unnoticed, and they decided to lay low. Using a few captured pirate vessels, particularly a well-armed Boone-Class scout vessel named the Xiphos, Branch's task force harried the enemy, destroyed supply depoys, assailed convoys and essentially made it so that the Imperials were constantly looking over their shoulders. When the Imperials discovered their asteroid headquarters, Branch turned it into a trap, sacrificing a pinnace (and it's crew) with fake asteroid drift charts in the computer. Thinking they had a plotted course through the asteroid field, the Imperials sent a task force to destroy the Morlocks (so named because their base was in a series of tunnels in the asteroid). The task force was three times the size of Branch's fleet, and fresh and in full repair. Half the Imperial forces were destroyed by asteroids. Most of the rest were ripped apart by Branch's task force. After that, she left Cooper Sector, heading back with important intel for Terran Protectorate command. The Imperials hoped they'd seen the last of her. They hadn't. When Kathleen Branch came back, she was an admiral, leading an armada that spearheaded the Liberation Fleet. Models created in DOGA and rendered in Carrara. Background, starfield, planet and nebula created in GIMP 2.6. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.