Good Evening,
I began my day with Ensign Beaumont and I decided to patrol Leeds knowing that the Gauls like to test our defences, well, it seems the Gauls weren't our only problem. At Planet Leeds, we came across a Freelancer piloting an Eagle, callsign Ur_Maa. I ordered him to stop for inspection, he refused and activated the trade lane to Stokes. Beaumont and I pursued him to the Tau-31 Jump Gate whilst he repeatedly ignored orders from both myself and Ensign Beaumont to stop. Near the gate Beaumont managed to get close enough to scan him. Turns out he was hauling 14 units of Cardamine. As he ignored our orders to halt several times, I ordered Ur_Maa to be destroyed. In his infinite wisdom, the Freelancer fled through the Jump Gate.
Ensign Beaumont and I pursued and engaged him in the vicinity of the Jump Gate. The Freelancer was destroyed in short order and his illegal cargo destroyed. WIth that, Ensign Beaumont and I returned to Leeds.
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Not long after this incident, I came across another odd sight at Stokes. Two Transports carrying Nuclear Devices with Bowex Transponders coming in from Kusari. Callsigns: G-Logistic:Controller and Optim. Both of them were unaware of Bretonian Law regarding such cargo and pleaded ignorance, whilst at the same time begging me to let them continue to Graves Mining Station in Dublin. I refused and I recieved back up with the HMS-Vindicator, Captain Storm commanding. We issued a demand, that both traders drop their cargo and asked them to leave under the War Material Section of the Bretonian Charter of Interstellar Law. They, however, though they were in a position to demand that we let them proceed with the cargo. The trader Optim took this opportunity to illegally dock on Stokes. The other trader, G-Logistic:Controller also tried to run but was destroyed by the HMS Vindicator.
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Shortly after this, I recieved intelligence that a Gallic Fleet was gathering in Edinburgh, clearly in preperation for an attack upon Leeds. Ships were scrambled and a sizeable fleet was gather in orbit of Leeds, with new Siege Cruiser HMS Venona, Lt Cdr Langley commanding alongside the HMS Vindicator, HMS Redoubt, HMS Thunderer, HMS DIamond and HMS Furious. We also had several bombers and fighersfrom the BAF and BPA and friendlies from the Colonial Republic and the Council. Not long after a Gaul appeared on scanners, Marcell Chevalier. Of course, he couldn't resist spouting the usual drivel. Then another Gaul appeared, only it was a Kusarian who was clearly part of their Foreign Legion. Interesting that the only efficient part of the Gallic Royal Navy is the one made up on Non-Gauls.
As the Gallic Fleet in Edinburgh was taking it's time. We got into an awful long discussion of which I won't bore the DIS with, however, I will extract a certain bit which was interesting.
BAF Battle Log Wrote:[19:13:53] BAF|Lt.Thomas.Gordon.: Funny how you describe Gallia as "more suitable". A country which massacres it's people is more suitable? All on the whims of a bloated and corrupt King?
[19:14:25] GRN|Marcell.Chevalier: Interesting, that's what the council told you?
[19:15:29] BAF|Lt.Thomas.Gordon.: Again, spoken like a true idiot. I've seen the footage from New Paris. Gruesome, but let's not forget. It's more "suitable".
[19:15:46] GRN|Marcell.Chevalier: How could you seen it, monsieur?
[19:16:03] BAF|HMS-Venona: Langley: It was all over Sirian news, frog...
[19:16:20] BAF|HMS-Redoubt: Arland: Publicly broadcast footage is hard to miss.
[19:16:24] BAF|Lt.Thomas.Gordon.: Don't you know? The footage was smuggled out of your hellhole of a Kingdom and broadcasted on the news.
As much as I hated to burst the man's bubble. He didn't deny the aforementioned massacre happened. Clearly speaks volumes about the character of those who serve in the Gallic Royal Navy. That they condone such barbarous acts. Well, nevermind. After a very long wait, we recieved further intel that the Gallic Fleet decided not to attack us head on in Leeds despite reports suggesting they held the upper hand sheer firepower.
Instead, we recieved distress calls from the 12th Fleet in Dundee. The Gallic Fleet was spotted in Dundee heading for the Newcastle Jumphole. Elements of the Fleet RV'ed at the Battleship Yamaguchi when severe Ion storms hit the system. Causing near enough the entire Fleet to lose power. Including my Challenger's life support. Fortunately, my pilot's suits backpack Life Support kicked in and after a few minutes power was restored to the ship. However, the fleet was scattered and comms couldn't be restored. Some of the Fleet managed to RV at the Yamaguchi and myself with the HMS Thunderer, Diamond and Vindicator scouted the Dundee system for the Gallic Fleet. We found no trace of it, cleary the Ion storm had scattered their fleet as well, or they had just ran away, either is plausible
We proceeded back to Leeds through Edinburgh, which was risky but we encountered no patrols and the Battleship Villeneuve's guns were offline allowing us to pass through the Leeds Jump Gate untouched. WIth that, I continued on to Planet Leeds and docked to make this report.