To: [RHA] | From: Octavarium Intelligence Commission | For The Hel Of It

[Thexare]

[ Incoming Transmission ]

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Identification: Taskmaster Escher
Affiliation: Octavarium Intelligence Commission

To: Red Hessian Army

Subject: Purchase Inquiry
Encryption: Oh my.
Location: Melbourne Station, Tau-44

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This was not normal wear.

Our exodus from Kansas was a dangerous thing, given Gallic forces in Magellan and Cortez. With the Metropolis only barely holding together after the Zwickau massacre, many of its systems were transferred over to the Black Cloud II in order to ensure our safe departure and, more importantly, that of our civilians. We could not fight our way through; if Royalist forces detected us, they would move for a decapitation strike. We had to put everything into evasion.

The oversized jammers and scanner systems worked admirably, but we had to keep them running long enough to reach the upper Barrier. Those systems were designed for a far larger vessel. The core was tapped out purely from engines, half-shields, life support functionality, and electronic defenses; nothing remained for even point-defense cannons. That maintaining this power usage for such an extended period would cause this kind of damage is inevitable, and it's a credit to Hessian engineering that this only damaged the power arrays.

Prior to that, the Huginn-pattern refits were performing very well, and power draw was well within the Hel's standard allowances. Had we been able to continue operating the Metropolis's systems aboard their proper vessel, it's very likely we would not need any repair assistance at all.

I will have the ship moved to a mooring position with Canberra. The station is not publicly open yet, and hidden away as it is that should be a suitably-concealed location for at least initial inspection. A mooring umbilical will also allow us to make temporary use of the larger station's life support, so we can more easily offline the existing power array for repair or replacement.

I will also arrange for the pickup of those two vessels.

Taskmaster Escher
Octavarium Intelligence Commission

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