As per my orders, I was required to sortie from HQ and perform a recon flight around the Coronado system. However while on route and having just entered the Coronado system, I think a corporate patrol nearby must have caught a glimpse of my transponder - seeing as moments later a wing of Hunters swung by and tried to kill me. I was forced to bank hard and retreat in the only free direction, which took me past a rogue installation. I saw my pursuers break pursuit to engage the plethora of criminals behind me and I took my chance to escape and jumped through an anomaly that had showed up on the navigation console.
Much to my dismay however, I had been spat out into the middle of what seemed like nowhere. The asteroid field was thick, inhibited proper sensor scans and it crippled my comms almost entirely. With the appearance of Hacker transponders on the scope, I was certain I'd be engaged under the perception of intrusion and likely buried among the asteroids. However the pilot, whom identified themselves as Vesper Lynd upon inquiry, instead offered to escort me out of the cloud. Seeing my odds as not worth any displays of foolish bravado, I accepted and didn't make any deviations whilst on their wing.
With consent from Command, I informed them of my original mission to reconnoiter the system of Coronado, to which the Hacker once again offered to help with. Naturally, I accepted. Though I was somewhat apprehensive upon the approach of a second Hacker in a heavy bomber, operating under the alias of Elektra King.
Together, they guided me through Coronado and pointed out all key infrastructure. We already know of Camp Lister and the local cluster surrounding Pecos given our recent operations, so I won't go into that. However, I will list sites of importance as follows:
- Sabah shipyard and Planet Yuma - Crucial Colonial infrastructure. Located in grid-square 2-Delta.
- Baffin Jump hole - Transit point. Located in grid-square 4-Bravo.
- Barrier Gate - Independent infrastructure. Located in grid-square 5-Bravo. Seems to be a neutral port of call for anyone with a vested interest in the region. Likely a hive for the underworld. Worth investigation.
- Manchester Jump hole - Transit point. Located in grid-square 6-Charlie. Should be monitored in the event of usage by Bretonian forces or corporate interests. Advise establishment of a local presence if possible for the purpose of interdiction of such vessels.
My personal assessment of the Hackers as partners in future avenues where cooperation is simply necessary and cannot be ruled out, is that while they do seem to suffer from an obvious hubris, they are at their core technical experts, capable of being professional when necessary. This is perhaps the reason they have done so well for themselves and been so efficient at keeping the Rogues under their thumb, while also skirting the line between partnership and enslavement under Malta's influence.
If future operations make cooperation with them necessary, I foresee no complications arising, at least if this cooperation is arranged to occur between the Phantoms and Hacker operatives. I cannot accurately account for the opinion of Serpentis regarding this, but it is likely that they still see the Hackers as pansies incapable of doing their own wet-work. Which is true, to an extent.
It would be prudent to keep them in mind for future operations wherein their skill-set would make them useful partners of convenience. I will now proceed to check the electronics suite on-board my Prosecutor for back-doors in the software. The console is still of their make.