Evangeline Anastasia McDowell

[Bazza]

Entry#: 093
Date: 26 - 05 - 818 AS @ 16:56 SUT
Title: The old girl's still got some bite behind her.

After waking from one of the most satisfying nights' sleep I've ever had, I commandeered my crew, disembarked from the Alsatia and made our way to the Maelstrom.

She looked absolutely resplendent in her new livery, commissioned during her stay in the dry dock. That combined with the recent replacement of the failed generators and overhaul of the engines, demanded that she be given a chance to stretch her legs and strut her stuff, as the head of the McDowell Company Fleet rightly should.

I had originally intended on a short flight around the system, but I just couldn't leave it that. I ended up sneaking us back into New York via the jumpholes over three days. During that time I had every inch of the ship cleaned and returned to (almost) showroom condition.

The flight across New York space proved to be a highlight of the journey. During the trip through the Badlands I, by what seemed to be mere coincidence, encountered some of my good friends in the Liberty Rogues. Omitting the details of the ensuing conversation we ended up as part of a raiding party assembled to destroy a particular Liberty carrier that had been causing a great deal of trouble for the "local" population - The LNS Independence.

According to the reports I was previewed to the carrier in question had been engaging in repeated attacks on the Rogues in the area, indiscriminately destroying even those ships who surrendered when caught. It had also been seen attempting to breach the Badlands on at least one occasion, albeit being beaten back by a Barghest cluster at the time.

It ended up being the Maelstrom controlled by myself, the Heart of Gold - captained by the ever wonderful Evangeline Jones - plus one of Maelstrom's younger sisters the Rogue Scylla I Blame My Mother and two bombers flown by Diana and Wolf. There might have been more ships in the mix but I was simply lost in a sea of Rogueyness.

We compiled our forces at Rochester Base. From there I impersonated a Liberty ship and called the offending carrier to disclose his location to me, using a scrambler to hide the source of the signals and to hopefully snare the victim. To my utter disbelief it actually worked and we obtained the ship's location. Whilst I continued baiting the carrier claiming to be heavily damaged and on the run from my own accompaniment of allies, we set out on an intercept course across new York space.

We eventually encountered the LNS Independence near the West Point to Norfolk tradelane, bordering the badlands. At that time there were two Scylla, two Barghest, a Gunboat and two fighters on our side, with the carrier, a gunboat buy the name of Pandora and a single fighter on the opposing team.

The fire fight erupted almost the instant my allies were in range. It took the commander of the carrier some time to work out he'd been stooged; but by that time we had the ship in our grasp and quickly begun the "deconstruction" process.

Putting my "training" into practice I took up the role of helping the Maelstrom sink her teeth into the opponent, whilst our favourite raven-haired princess took over the navigational controls avoiding the barrage of laser fire emanating from the Independence. Kana and Fumika between the two of them oversaw the ship's vital signs, including the state of the new generators and engine which were both being pushed to - and beyond - their limits.

The adrenaline rush I felt back there was unlike anything I've experienced before. The utter and total decimation of the enemy forces is something that will put all of us down in the history books. The Maelstrom, her sister and the rest of her stable mates reduced the Independence to smouldering ruins in a matter of minutes. It was the first of the enemy fleet to go down - having attracted the concentrated fire of every single ship available.

From this point on the Liberty gunboat would suffer the same fate, as well as the remaining fighter escort.

The battle ended with not a single causality on our part, which was simply staggering. The might of the Liberty Navy had received complete and total castigation from a motley assortment of ships whose manufacture can only be defined as agricultural - and even that is flattery. The fact we had done so without a single loss to our own side further cementing our place in the history books. The LNS Independence was no more; the aftershock of such a massive failure of Liberty sure to create waves across Sirius and sure to make my name more infamous than it has ever been before.

Fleeing the battle scene before more competent fleets arrived, we high-tailed it back to the concealing safety of the Jersey Debris Field, reflecting back on our spectacular victory the entire trip. Whilst the rest of the Rogues saw fit to go their own ways, Eva Jones decided to stay back and relax with me and my girls.

We partook in a hens' night-come-lingerie-display-come-slumber-party, eventually the lot of us, including little Sakura, conked out in the weightless atmosphere of the Maelstrom's common room at some ungodly hour of the next morning. Some of us were comically floating around in a sleep-deprived stupor, others having tied themselves and their sleeping bags to whatever they could manage, and yet others still indulging in the bare skin of the ones they hold dear. I myself was in the latter group. Misaka, however, was in the first of the three.

When I eventually woke up I found myself in a suspiciously compromising situation and I believe there may have been some underhanded tactics involved, as I distinctly remember passing out with underwear upon my person, yet found no such thing when I awoke - further investigation locating the lost underwear inside Jones' sleeping bag yet without any reason for them being there.

What a way to spend my early pregnancy. I could get addicted to this sort of thing if I'm not careful.

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