First step of the S&R was to locate the IMG|Starlight in the navgrid by following the search pattern, which was devided into four quadrants: D5-Low-Left ; E5-Low-Right ; D4-Top-Left ; E4-Top-Right.
Unfortunately, Corsairs forces were on the hunt fort the ship, aswell, and found the Starlight before us, however, a decrypted comm message revealed the position of the heavily damaged Yacht to the IMG wing.
Quote:[11.01.2013 22:10:45] [57th]Sula.Benitez: got him hermanos on B4
[11.01.2013 22:11:17] [57th]Sula.Benitez: intersection of A/B and 3/4 sectors
All Guild ships rushed to the given coordinates and ran into the IMG|Starlight surrounded by several Corsair squadrons.
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Marc Hudson and 7 passengers, including two children/babies, were survivors on the ship. Four of the passengers were wounded and required medical attention.
The situation was hectic at first - Corsairs demanded the IMG wings to stay far off the ship and threatened with its destruction; I took lead of negotiations and managed to have the Corsairs allow us to get within 2k range of the ship.
As I entered further negotiations, the Starlight registered an Oxygen leak, therefore my first priority was getting the survivors on any ship in the vicinity. All children and passengers were then evacuated onto two Corsair Titans, Mister Hudson had to stay inside.
In order to put pressure onto the Corsairs, who valued Mister Hudson as hostage, too, I ordered him to re-activate the self-destruct functions of the Starlight and then enter a pod after the last passenger was taken off the Yacht. The Corsairs did not know this, as the 2k distance allowed me to use short-range secure communication systems.
With the fuse set off, I bargained with the Corsair side: The children in exchange for the deactivation of the self-destruct mechanism - The Corsairs agreed, but the Starlight was destroyed by an unidentified explosion close to the vessel.
My Lhotse apparently tractored Marc Hudsons damaged escape pod and in the hectic confusion of the Corsairs, Mister Morgan carried the pod to Freeport One, where Mister Hudson was taken to the medical station.
After the situation was resolved, the negotiation over the last passengers was continued at the Freeport, which NFZ made the situation calm enough to have the Corsairs elect a speaker, who I could talk to from there on.
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The agreement states: Five IMG transports will ship any cargo the Corsairs demand to Omicron Gamma, in exchange for the safety of all passengers, who will be set free on Freeport One after the deal is completed.
The deal was confirmed by myself and Ronaldo Benitez.
Next, IMG|Red-6 took off to the remains of the Starlight wreckage under protection of the IMG wing; the Black Box and few hull segments were retrieved, possibly allowing further analysis of the event.
Four passengers were transferred to the medical bay of Freeport One, their medical state is stable and they are now protected by Zoner law.
Marc Hudson's medical state remains critical with a good chance of survival, the Zoner medical staff lead will confirm any changes of this situation on IMG request.
The S&R missions succeeded in the primary objective, Marc Hudson and the hostages were brought to safety or will be in the close future, the Black Box was retrieved. The secondary objective was successful as in retrieving ship data, even though the Starlight was destroyed.