So I was moving a little too slowly early on in my game, and the Klissans got the advantage and have now taken over most of the systems. There are only 9 free systems left. I was frantically flying around defending and bringing Klissan tech to the science bases, and I finally managed to build the mental communicator. Now, I just need to find Machpella so I can try to get a peace agreement.

The problem is, I have no idea how to locate Machpella. I saw it once, before I had the mental communicator (I came out of a black hole and there it was) but I ran for my life. It's no longer in that system. Any advice for locating it? Does it move in certain patterns? Does it only appear in Klissan-controlled systems or will it sometimes show up when Klissans are attacking a system?

it's 3012 and I don't have good enough tech to take back systems on my own, so I was hoping to try to get to Machpella as quickly as possible.

Well, I managed to find Machpella, but it took a while.

Turned out that we were able to hold the Klissans back and keeps things fairly steady for the next few years. We kept around 10 systems free, and towards the end we were slowly taking a few back. I think this was probably because I was playing on easy, and because higher-tech equipment and weapons were starting to appear, so all the rangers were better equipped for fighting. I had cash problems in the beginning, and eventually had to scrap several of my non-standard items because I couldn't afford the repair fees at the science stations. But this freed up more hull space and probably ended up being a good thing in the long run. I tried to fight off Klissans where I could and eventually found a few government missions which gave a nice influx of cash to use for ship upgrades. After a few upgrades I was in much better shape for fighting and was getting ready to start taking some systems back.

But then I jumped through a black hole, and when I came out, there was Machpella! She was in a border system, but it was fully under Klissan control. Since I had the mental communicator, I was able to get the peaceful ending. It was December 3016 when the game officially ended.

So I guess my advice for any players who are trying to find Machpella is: Don't go out of your way looking for her, just keep playing normally and you'll encounter her eventually. Even if it looks like the Klissans are winning, keep fighting and you should find Machpella before you're defeated.

This was a fun game. I might play again at some point, or maybe I'll just move on to Space Rangers 2.

I Just finished in a slightly different way.
I found Machpella in a system 1 days flight away with a fleet of klissians in the centre of the system. I approached Machpella. dropped a quark bomb which I set off after retiring to a safe distance,this still left her 75% healthy so I deployed my military droid and freshly hired subordinate ranger together with myself to attack her while the klissians charged in.
We made some progress but hey presto a Black hole opens up, Machpella heads for it, the klissians arrive, my subordinate runs off to a safe system (typical of the rangers in this game) so I head to the black hole with Machpella.
There follows a typical Black hole type battle but with Klissians instead of pirates which I played on automatic and victory was mine.
I never did become the first ever commander I suppose I'll Have to be satisfied with ace.
A totally unexpected end. Great game.