Today was the day I saw my first real combat action with my esteemed superiors. I was flying around outside Ouray base, picking off stray bounty hunters foolhardy to wander towards our glorious stronghold. I wouldn't like to suffer the fate they did when I handed them over to the base. I hear it wasn't pretty.
Noticing that a group of my superiors were in the system, I enquired if they could make use of my services. They said that they could and I joined their group. After a small skirmish at the Colorado to New York jump gate, we returned to Ouray base. We regrouped and decided to mount an attack on Manhatten, with independant Xeno -Spear- as leader. I formed on him and we proceeded to manhatten, high above the plane of the usual system traffic.
The rest of us waited about 20km from the planet while -Spear- proceeded to the main area of Manhatten's orbit to aquire persuers to lure back to the waiting squadron of fighters. We got quite a few bites; many more than we'd expected. In all, there were 4 gunboats, and a cruiser with fighter escourt. I entered the fray along with my cohorts, eager to make the most of my first real opportunity to take revenge on the corrupt autocrats that had forever disgraced themselves with their atrocious crimes. We converged on the ships jinking around to avoid enemy fire and returning that fire in equal measure.
Alas, my ship was destroyed quite aerly on in the engagement. I was fortunate however, my escape pod was picked up by a fellow pilot and hours later, I found myself back at Ouray base. What an experience. It is one I am sure I'll never forgat.
A good day today. Met with John.Conway outside Ouray base; -Spear- arrived at almost the same time. We grouped and decided to mount an attack on Rochester base. The concensus was that those Junker scumbags had gotten used to being left alone for a while, and we couldn't have that.
While en route to the New York jump hole, the three of us came across Scepter and Ol' Jack'Tar, who joined us. On arrival in New York, there were a few bounty hunters hanging around. We sent them to their cold graves via hot plasma stream and moved on to Rochester. Strangely, their weren't any junkers around. Seconds later, we realised why. A Liberty Rogue squadron was bearing down on us, at least five fighters with a freighter -and- a gunboat. We hadn't planned on this but it didn't matter. Instantly, we broke formation and swooped on the gunboat. It sure wasn't expecting to be blasted by a bunch of Xenos though. I took heavy damage, but used my nanobots and shield batteries to fix that.
After dealing with the rogues, It was decided that we should to proceed to Manhatten, with the intention of causing what damage we could there. Upon arrival, we saw a Liberty Cruiser under the command of Rogue_Warrior. He was to be our first target.
As we moved in to attack, i thought of a friend of mine who had actually been hit by the forward gun of a Liberty Cruiser, safe in the knowlege that it was -never- going to happen again. The cruiser was unprepared, we flew around it like flies, too agile to be hit. A few Liberty fighters turned up as well, but we concentrated fire on cruiser
We were just about to finish it. And a barrage of pure energy almost obliterated me in an instant. Breaking attack, I swung around to see a colossal Liberty Carrier ship under the command of Kay heading towards our small attack group. I shouted a warning to my comrades but kept up the attack on the cruiser, dodging all the while. I could only dodge for so long however and before i knew it, I was sitting in a cold cramped escape pod. My luck held and I was picked up by a friendly. We retreated soon after that.
Witnessed some strange activity around Nome base recently, it seems as if a large ion storm has swept through the area- people have just been appearing on the stations' scanners, knee deep in the Denko cloud, some of them right next to Nome. I could swear that the cloud has been moving, too. A contact of mine, currently operating in the vicinity of Ouray has reported the activity of a Liberty cruiser around the base. Unfortunately, being a low level member of the Alliance he was unable to effectively engage the cruiser.
I have been confined to Nome base while my Eagle is grounded- I have been engaging in combat often recently without performing maintenance on the components of my fighter. Unfortunately, both my Crow and my Civilian Bomber are on Barrow Base in Hudson, and seeing how my Eagle is out of action, I can't immediately have my other vessels moved over, so it looks like I'll be practising my gunnery skills and drowning my sorrows here on Nome for a while.
The battle in which my Eagle was disabled was a saddning but none the less fun bout. I was refueling on Nome when suddenly I got a message being transferred on the emergency frequency from Colorado- 'All XA pilots get to Colorado NOW! REINFORCEMENTS NEEDED!' I had just reloaded and refueled- ready to go. I instantly clambered into my Eagle, and launched from Nome to the nearby Colorado Jump hole, neglecting the fighters' engine systems, which had been gravely damaged in the last engagement.
I arrived in Colorado and asked the other XA members for their location. 'Pueblo, hurry!' was the responce- it seemed that the battle was raging. I activated my cruise engines and burned my way through the system directly to pueblo station, where I noticed a large Liberty cruiser, and weapon discharges and explosions all around it. It was obviously at the center of the battle. I proceeded to the warzone, and armed my weapons. I cut my cruise engines, and flew in at cruise speed without them active, alowing me to fire on the enemy at will, while being extremely hard to hit. I selected a target, Adrian Croneur, an Ageira employee was my first target. I ignored the bumbling cruiser and reengaged my engines, singling out him as my primary target.
Unfortunately all support was destroyed soon after, and I was once again left alone, with a massive fighting force on my back. Still I engaged Croneur.
The battle went from a battle of skill to a battle of persistence- one where his bomber would easily win- the battle was reduced to more of a joust, where we would sail past eachother on just our thrusters with our engines turn off, fire, turn back, fire, thrust past, turn... untill one would be destroyed. But I had a clever trick up my sleeve. Suddenly, a Liberator going under the name 'Khat', swooped down on my back, tearing through my shields with at least two Imp. Debilitators, throwing off my plan.
I had inflicted by this simple technique however enough damage to force Adrian into a withdrawel from the battle. It was time to sort out Khat.
He was tougher.
I turned toward his Liberator fighter and he unleashed another barrage in my face. Before I could react he had turned and thrusted behind me- I was in for a tough engagement. He was dodging and weaving, almost all of my projectiles missing him, all the while he was weening down my shields, untill I found a pattern in his flight and attacks. After learning this it was only a matter of time until I was destroying him. Then the battle turned on me again. While the Liberty Cruiser was sat in space, I assumed it to be doing nothing, ignoring this lone Xeno. What happened next was proof- he wasn't just sitting there, he was radioing New York, for reinforcements.
LSF fighters poured out of the tradelane toward me, some mopping up the independant Xenos that had been attracted to the fight, the others turned their attention to me. One of them, Fluid, had engaged and destroyed some allies of mine previously, without provocation or reason. Revenge was in the air. I changed my target yet again, to =LSF=Fluid, ignoring the Cruiser and Khat, and engaged him promptly. It was an easy fight, with my awesome manouverability far outmatching his, allowing me to quickly turn onto the broadside of his Raven Claw Very Heavy Fighter, and let loose with all my weapons with deadly accuracy. His shields were decreasing, yet still he attempted to outturn my Eagle to no avail. It broke out into a 'joust', as before with Croneur, his four heaviest weapons dealing significant damage to my ship' shields. I began to dodge, and he simply could not hit me. I thrusted past him, and tailed him, stopping the joust, maintaining a superior vantage point over him. It broke out into a battle of turning once more- I brought his shields down, and took down half of his hull. He was on the ropes, so to speak. He would not last long. I could taste victory, the odds were in my favour, when suddenly the cruiser and all other fighters in the area opened fire on me, almost destroying me. I decided that I would not last long either.
Having tractored in my fellow Xenos I turned tail in dire conditions, and headed back to the Kepler Jump hole. Out of the system I was safe. I left them behind, obviously unwilling to re-engage me, and activted my cruise engines. On the way out, in the nearby asteroid field, I was ambushed by the Navy. They didn't need engage a fleeing, half-destroyed terrorist anyway, it would be far too much effort to end a lazy day. Their technique was deadly, however. They fired off a cruise disruptor, dropping me out cruise instantly. Fearing for my copilots lives I tried to reingage cruise, to no avail. The navy simply launched to missiles at me as I thrusted for the jumphole: A Paralyzer missile, which instantly brought down my failing shields, and a deadly Cannonball missile. This I did not expect.
The missiles' explosion tore through the engine of my ship, shredding the hull, disabling my craft, and leaving me to drift in space. The hull quickly sealed itself, but my condition was critical. I thrusted to the Jump Hole to Kepler, and managed not to get torn apart in the jump. But the radiation eating through my ship was just as bad. As soon as I pulled into the Denko Cloud it began to destroy what little hull integrety I had left, reducing whatever chance still remained of getting to safety. I still don't see how I did, it was a miracle, surely, but it seemed closer. Possibly the radiation getting to me, who can say? I was relieved to get back to Nome, but not so relieved to see the state of my ship from the outside- It looked like a Hawk without engines. I seriously wouldn't be flying for a while.
So here I am, telling the kiddos and myself stories about why I am telling them stories, sat in the Nome bar with a Sidewinder Fang in my hand. Sucks to be me. Cheers, Tubalcaine out *Hic*.
How in tarnation dus ya use this damn thin'?!?!
I thinks I got it now.
Right, I jus' wanted to says that I am flatter'd t'be 'a' workin' fer you boys now. I gots me a shiny new Hawk, hell, this ship is jus' as nice as when I flew it as a boy, back when Pa used ta fly. Hell, I love ma ship. Yes-siree. Just the same as tha ol' days it is.
Well see t'day I was a flyin' round in california just talkin' to some of them folks who lives there ya'see, and I was jus' gettin' them t'see ma point of veiw. that we should be a gettin' rid 'o' them damn Rheinlanders, when who should be a comin' along, but the ol' SA. Now I wasn't to pleased t'be a seein' this now was I. So I told 'em. "Look if you comes near me I am a gunna be a-kicking you's to this side 'o' next week". Well they jus' laughed at me, an called me a stupid ol' man. An I got really offended at this now see, and I started a shootin'. Now them SA boys got some mighty nice ships see, and I a-couldn't be a doin' much damage to ethem so I a-scarpered.
Now I dun' know if I dun' gud here or naw.But either way it were a damn exitin', hell it reminds me o' the ol' days.
Anyhow, I ain't got much more t'be a tellin'. But I'll be a-reportin' what I a-does when I does it.
Transmission destination: Mrs Anton Slavik, Alamo base
Transmission priority: Low
Encryption level: Low
Subject: Promoted!
I've been promoted! Sorry that this will be such a short message but my prescence is required in the hangar soon and I needed to tell you. I was promoted 2 days ago and have been configuring my new ship (an Eagle! I'll also be getting a bomber soon)! Who knows, maybe one day I could be a wingleader, anything seems possible at the moment!
Tonight was a fairly slow night around the Colorado system, save for one encounter. I departed from Ouray on a mission to take out some Liberty scum in New York, and on my way what do I find? An Outcast going by the name of Vonviper floating in the Silverton field. I demanded that he state his business and his response was static followed by opening fire on me. I scanned his hold and found the reason for his silence... He was carrying over 40 Xeno pilots in his hold! He showed no signs of yielding to drop the pilots so I was forced to destroy him. I did manage to save six of the pilots and transport them back to Ouray for medical attention. The rest of the evening was filled with oddjobs until I docked to get some rest.
Source: Alamo Base, Tau-45 System Comm ID: XA-Viper (Glenn Thacker) Subject: Status Report
Today's been a hell of a day, and I need a drink. Today, I decided to take my shiny new Kushan Freighter out for a spin. Copperhead's right about that ship, Zoner engineering is nice. Of course, this report isn't here just so I can rave about the Kushan. No, this isn't nearly as good as that. In fact, it's going to take the engineers here at Alamo quite a while to beat this thing back into shape.
I decided that I wanted to go stop some shipping, and thought that the Magellan system was a good place to set up shop. I set up right in the middle of the Trade Lane so I could get the drop on any traders that came through. After a bit of waiting, I didn't catch any traders, but a Lane Hacker Gunship piloted by Edward Morris found me sitting there. Knowing that I didn't have the firepower to even scratch his paint, I promptly hit the cruise engines and tried to get away as quick as I could. He managed to CD me several times, then fired swarms of missiles at me and stripped me of my mine dropper and half my turrets. After that, I managed to finally kick in the cruise, and got to the Magellan -> California gate and went through. He followed me, and managed to knock out the trade lane before I could get in, stripping off he rest of my guns in the process. I flew to a different ring and managed to jump in there, but since I lost my mine dropper, I couldn't close the door behind me. He entered the lane as well. Instead of letting him get the drop on me at the end of the lane, I dropped out early and tried to engage cruise. He managed to CD me a couple times, and blew my shield generator out. Finally, I managed to re-engage my cruise engines and ran for the Ontario jump hole. I tried a flyby of the Battleship Yukon hoping one of the Liberty Navy ships there would CD him for me, but it wasn't to be. He followed me all the way into the Ontario system. After I got into cruise, I sent a long range broadcast ahead to Ouray calling for some help. Fortunately for me, Diamondback and Lancehead were sitting at Ouray and scrambled their bombers to help me. After I got into Colorado, I led Morris right into them and used the cover to get away.
Logged at comm station Bravo, Ooray Base, Colorado.
Pilot ID: Adam Greerson.
My friends, another successful broadcast in New York today. I stayed on air for more than half an hour in a show that mainly concentrated on Rochester, the Junkers and the continuing influx of disgruntled men and woman into our ranks. A few members of the law enforcement even contacted the show to ask a few questions, which as you know i encourage. Of course, the minutes the poor unfortunates opened their mouths they betrayed their ignorance, or their indoctrination, or both. The SA were out in force tonight, it seems operating near Zone 21 but they still managed time to speak to me, much to their frustration no doubt.
As of today i have now made four major broadcasts into New York, with only one of those being under escort and as yet the law enforcement officers have not located any of my broadcast locations. I'm sure they are looking, they were strangely silent between calls today.
After my return to Colorado i was met by several of our people, Viper, Lancerhead and one of the non aligned Xenos John Conway. We attempted to intercept a lane hacker transport loaded with Cardamine but our proximity to the Jump Hole to New York meant he was able to escape. John Conway though followed him through and managed to intercept him, however when we arrived the vessel had disappeared. Unusual....
And then Edward Morris arrived.
Now, i know this that this Lane Hacker needs no introduction to you all. I have read on many action reports recently that he has been making a nuisance of himself. The man does seem to like missiles, no doubt he imbibes their fuel....
He also has no love for us generally, and seems to have taken a particular interest in myself. He has attempted to locate me several times whilst broadcasting and as actually called in to the show once or twice, usually blind drunk and making about as much sense as an alien organism on cardamine. Nevertheless today he did find us.
The skirmish ended though with him fleeing the scene... no doubt one of the few sober decisions the man has made in his life.
My ship sustained no damage, and my broadcasting equipment is intact. I am taking measures however to procure spare parts, which my sources in Liberty are locating for me now. I do not anticipate any problems here, the units i need are hacked together parts from civilian and military units but it should be easy enough to construct another should i lose the one presently installed on my ship. It's a shame we cannot gain access to an inter system comm unit, our cause would be greatly aided by broadcasting into more than one system. No matter, i will move around as best i can
Word of mouth can do the rest.
Source: Ouray Base, Colorado System Comm ID: XA-Viper (Glenn Thacker) Subject: Status Report
Finally, a good day! I was in California hoping to stop some trade, when a smuggler in a Firefly appeared on my scope. Unfortunately, the only thing I could do was pop into cruise and follow him, since my bomber isn't equiped with a Cruise Disruptor. He gave quite a long chase before ducking into the Texas system. I followed him in, but only got to chase him for short time before I recieved a distress call from a Xeno pilot named Morgan Freeman. Seems like he was doing some trade interdiction of his own when he got jumped by a Liberty Cruiser and an SA fighter. I broke off pursuit of the trader and went to help out. He must be a good pilot because he held out long enough for me to come from 40k away to help. I stayed in cruise right up until the last possible second and launched my first supernova at point blank range. From there, Morgan and myself took turns taking shots at the cruiser until it went up with a satisfying boom. After that, the SA fighter followed it's friend into oblivion shortly afterwards. We barely even broke a sweat. Neither the cruiser or the fighter could hit the broad side of a battleship.... All in all, a very satisfying trip out of Ouray.
*Scratching noise followed by unexplainable high pitched screeching comes from the comms equipment*
Well I'll be danged, I think I'm a-getting the hang of how t'be a-usin' this ol' thing now!
Well Incase ya didn't know this is Ol' Jack agin' just tellin' ya what I have a-been up to.
I got a lil' bit ill a few days ago, which sure did put me back on ma patrollin', but that Diamondback, he sure is an understandin' kinda guy. He jus' said "Now dun' you be worryin' yersel' Jack" he says to me "You bein' ill ain't no great loss to tha XA" well I was a findin' them words most reasurin' 'cos I dun wan' t'be a-puttin' no one out y'see.
But before I wus put in ma bed by that goshdurn illness, I wus flyin' about in the Ol' capitol of what should be our proud ol' nation. There ain't no people no finer than them libertonians is what I say... No sir-eee... Well back on what I wus a-talkin about see.
I was a flyin' about with ma good ol' friend Spear in New York y'see, jus' talkin' 'bout the Ol' days, and sayin' how the Ol' country be a goin' down the ol' you-know-what.
now while we wus a flyin' about we was a seein' that ol' lawdog mr John talon on our sensors, so we was a thinkin' heck, there two of us an' theres only one 'o' him, so we went and attacked him see. Well I soon found out that I wasn't abou' t'be a-doin' much damage in ma little hawk, purdy as she be though, bless her, lil' ol Mary, heck I dus be a-lovin ma ship I tells ya.
But anyways, we wus attackin' him, and then Ol' Black Mamba came along, an' we were findin' outrsel's a winnin' the ol' fight y'see... An' then something real odd kinda happened. Suddenly everythin' moved apart real fast, like unnatural see. and then I passed out... an' found mysel' back on Ouray Base! Now I dun' know how this was a-happenin' but it did I tells ya, Spear was tellin' me that is wus an Ion storm, whatever that be...
And jus' t'day I was a flyin' roun' in Colorado with a one of the good people (one o' us) called Averace, just talkin to some traders that I wus a-thinkin needed t'be a-givin' us all their cargo. When an ol' loon called Edward Morris turned up an' before I could even look t'see who he was, he just blasted Ol' Mary and left me fer dead a-floatin' in ma escape pod.
Well.. That be about all I been up to in them recent times...
I still am a-hopin' am a-doin' you proud sirs.
Jack out
Now how dus ya a-turn it off agin'?
*Weird screeching noice on comms resumes until it suddenly cuts off*
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