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Reporting of a massive onslaught conducted against the Liberty forces stationed near planet Houston, Texas. The outcome could be debated, we lost a considerably large amount of vessels, capital ships and fighters alike, but managed to destroy even more of the Texas defense fleet and the... militants that decided to take arms in their "crusade."
An uncontrollable amount of Rheinwehr ships amassed and with the sudden departure of Admiral Rall, I got to organize the rabble into an at least seemingly competent strike force. I split the wings into 6, 3 of them under my direct control. The three others were the Battleship strike force led by the RNC-Munster, with the Wallenhorst and several gunboats on his wing, the WRF assault wing led by Hauptmann Steiner and one led by a self-proclaimed Admiral, a certain Hans Wurst, former Flieger of the Hauptflotte. The three other, Hauptflotte wings that I was directly controlling was one consistent of Mertins, Koehler and Landers, another led by Major Maximilian, and Hauptmann Weissman's wing, composed by military reserves.
The beginning of the operation was horrendous. The wings were rather difficult to get together, seeing that the WRF flew ahead to Texas without receiving orders to do so and the wing of Wurst was lost somewhere in Bering. In addition, an LSF wing tried blocking our route, giving the Munster and the capital fleet time to catch up and thus, block the Texas gate.
By the time the main strike force got to Texas, the WRF were already swarmed by the Libertonians. It took too long for us to reach them, two fighters, including their Hauptmann, was shot down. Upon spotting us, the Liberty fighter wings; Xenos, LSF, Liberty Navy primary fleet and reserve alike, even some Hackers began to engage us. Three carriers, the LNS-Manchester, the LNS-Los.Angeles and the LNS-USSIndependence were identified in orbit, yet not engaging.
We were successful at distracting the sizable enemy fighter wings (and even shooting down a few weak spots) until our two battleships, the Munster and the Wallenhorst got into position and began firing their salvos at the three carrier-class vessels. The Manchester was immediately ripped to shreds, the Los Angeles soon following its example. The Independence however, had enough power left to take out the Munster, which was heavily crippled at that point. The carrier was soon destroyed regardless of the Munster's loss.
As we destroyed gunboats such as the Pure.Arrogance and the Toast204, more enemy reinforcements kept pouring in, including a carrier, the LNS-Lake.Erie, under the cover of the Siege cruiser LNS-Vortex. The Michigan fought a deadly battle with the Wallenhorst, resulting in the loss of both vessels, under fighter cover, we could destroy the Lake Erie before the Vortex and its bomber wing finished off our last battleship.
As the battle was nearing an end, and the Liberty forces kept pouring in endlessly, we lost some of our men in the fray, not without wounding and taking out several Navy vessels, even a pair of Primary fleet fighters, piloted by Sykes and Villiers. I ordered another wave of reinforcements, the RNC-Prometheus responded and took off from Hamburg to assist us with fresh wings and supplies.
To our surprise, this plan was sabotaged by the arrival of a whole Hellfire Legion battlefleet, spearheaded by a battleship I've never seen, databases speak of it as a part of the Spyglass class, the Libertine to be precise. The arriving Legionnaires seemed to be keen on opening fire at our already crippled fleet, with even using their battleship's formidable weapon systems. The arriving backup, in the form of the RNC-Prometheus was wiped out in a short-range skirmish, not without inflicting fatal damage to the enemy flagship... or something of that sort.
Even the wounded vessel put up quite a fight, I counted two or three fighters we lost to its massive, red beams. Carelessness or finally a competent battleship crew on the Libertonian side? Not mine to determine. The Libertine was regardless very hard to take out, especially as a certain civilian gunboat, the Sleepyhead gave nanobots to the massive battleship.
On the other hand, our plan was successful. With determination, persistence and courage, we brought the perhaps toughest enemy we had to face that day to its knees. The Libertine lit up in flames.
The arriving Hellfire Legionnaires decimated our already crippled forces, so I called a retreat. Somehow, the Legionnaires, the LSF, the LPI and the Xenos alike seemed to be keen on pursuing me through the path between Houston and Hudson, if not for Hauptmann Weissman's interference, whom the Libertonians relentlessly ignored, I may even be dead.
Losing them at Hudson, we both made our way back to the Westfalen successfully. I'm still gathering the remaining forces, but I do know that Major Maximilian, Feldwebel Koehler, Flieger Mertins and Ludwig Meyer of the reserve made it back intact.
We lost an awful lot of men today, including three battleships. A loss which could have been avoided with the appropriate precautions taken, as the Admiral rightfully claims. Little could we know what would be waiting for us on the other side. The only comforting fact is that I know that the enemy still lost twice as many vessels, four carriers and one massive battleship is not something the Liberty forces can replace every four hours... or is it?
On the final note, I would like to notify the fleet of the following:
Bounty Hunters dave.daverd, an Orca-class gunboat, and his companions in the form of two Bottlenose gunships, the ZorgTheBorg and the Bratobranitelj decided to take arms in defense of the Liberty forces, opening fire at both the RNC Wallenhorst and the fighter wings covering her massive hull.
All three Bounty Hunter ships were destroyed, but if they manage to somehow re-acquire these gunships, any Rheinwehr patrol ship is to treat them as Libertonian invaders and neutralize them on sight.