Hi everyone, i'm back from my deserved holidays on Gran Canaria, had a nice time with old friends & family.
What i didn't expect when going back to business, is that we have some odd lane hacker attacking/pirating zoners, i've had an "encounter" with this guy and my ship's gonna need some repairs. I have published the adventure here. Whenever i get out of hospital, i'll take the ship back to Freeport to assist there.
Take care everyone, these are strange times for us zoners...
Greetings all, T.Anderson
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Message from the bridge of the TAZ Defense Gunboat Ravenhurst
More Keepers showed up today...went with Bs|Asar an' Jinxy to Minor to have a look-see. Saw one of 'em runnin' back to Major, so we went along. Got to th' other side, an' it started tryin' to draw us closer to the Dyson Sphere. I followed kinda halfhearted-like, since it was just a fighter...an' there was already Jinxy in her Virage, an' two Bs| Osiris.
Jinx an' I passed a mite too close to the one planet in Major...no "Entering Atmosphere" warning, nothin'. Just "POP!" as I passed within a couple K of it...armor started to disintegrate, an' we had to run away quick as we could back to Minor. The intense radiation was too much for her Virage, so she had to just land on Toledo. I docked for minor repairs, an' hightailed it back to the Alien Jump Gate to wait an' see, since the Bs| folks were talkin' like they were havin' some serious trouble.
Two Liberty Battlecruisers went to help out while I waited outside the gate. And guess what came through? One light fighter. Woooo. Two battleships an' two battlecruisers, just to attack a coupla light fighters? Psshhhh. I went back to Toledo so I could finish gettin' repairs done on the Ravenhurst. Then, the weirdest thing happened...I cringed, got this feelin' like somebody was 'bout to start beatin' on me fist an' foot...it was real intense, an I've had this freaky itch inside my head since then.
I think it was a Keeper tryin' to communicate...man, it was creepy.
I feel kinda sorry for the buggers, I gotta admit...they come out in their little playfighters, an get jumped by a buncha huge caps. Crazy overkill. Next time, I'm stayin' with Freeport 11 unless there's some kinda actual threat.
Freeport 11 to CRI, Ames Research station, Willard Research station, Kansai Research station
enabling transmission interface...
"Battles with the nomads appear to happen on an allmost daily base now. Not allways is delta the battlefield, but it is far from being safe.
Intelligence arrived me earlier, that the Harbinger was destroyed or badly crippled in a larger battle against units of the Order and possibly other defense forces. However more keepers showed up on the long range sensor array in delta and so i hired a mercenary to do a reconaissance task for me.
with bravery and luck, the mercenary Alejandro Garcia managed to take following pictures in omicron-iota, while the nomad forces were busy:
back on freeport 11, we were able to identify the vessels:
- picture 1 is a nomad IFF called Sekhmet, it appears to be a new fighter design, which has not been seen in the recent nomad war.
- picture 2 is a nomad IFF called Prohpecy, this one appears to be a remote controlled ship of gunboat size.
- picture 3 is the well known battleship Harbinger. that one is an old design frequently seen in the omicrons.
- picture 4 is a nomad IFF called mourning, - it appears to be a nomad fighter, frequently seen in the nomad war.
- picture 5 is a nomad IFF called Blitz, that one, too appears to be a new design like the Sekhmet.
- picture 6 is confusing. the computer identifies it as a Starflier, which cannot be right - so we have to take it as an "unidentified" ship.
this intelligence will surely help us greatly in any further operations concerning the nomads. Explorers also told me that a deeper system in the omegas, - called omega-58 has been discovered which contains a base of the Wild aswell as showing heavy activity. it does not seem like the wild are cut from their masters at all - it is surely something that must be watched carefully.
Jinx out"
end of the transmission, level 9 security encryption
"it has been a long time since the Nomads went for the station. but today, two of their gunboats came into close proximity of freeport 11 and instantly opened fire on the persephone II. to protect the station and the traders, the battleship pulled away from the station and dragged the attacking forces along into a longer distance.
during the encounter one nomad gunboat was damaged severely and the other followed the retreating ship. i was not pursuing them or attempt to stop them from retreat, cause they retreated from the near distance of the station.
during the encounter an osiris battleship ( NPC ) assisted and some brave zoner escorts fired on the attackers, too ( NPCs )
the persephone took damage during the encounter but no vital system was hit. the reason for this attack was probably the presense of a warship along with various samples of nomads in its hold.
"Today a large shipment of samples collected from previous nomad encounters safely reached the CRI. Allthough the keepership "harbinger" was in scanner range, the transport made it to Cambridge without any interruptions.
we can just hope that the study on the nomads will make a positive progress. the Cambridge Research Institute staff ensured me, that the works on the nomads are proceeded non stop and that the nomad issue is regarded with the utmost priority and importance.
Due to the nomad ban in liberty, i was forced to take the more dangerous route through the omicrons using the knowledge of fellow zoners about secret jumpholes - the transport took severe damage in the dense asteroid fields though - and the reactor was damaged by the anomaly in omicron-41.
Repairs will be done in New York - and the transport can return safely to freeport 11."
"a massive nomad attack wiped many ships away in omicron-delta. while the nomad fleet proceeded to go through omicron delta, the distress calls from derelict vessels echoed through the com channels on the station. at least four warships were destroyed by the keeper fleet and then they came into the close range of the freeport.
they were engaged by the remaining defending fleet - but defeated the defenders there. those who managed to retreat took shelter at yaren base, but the nomads advanced against yaren aswell. a TAZ vessel confirmed though that the station was not shot at that time - so the aggression appeared to be directed against the military presence.
during the fight, the defenders only managed to slightly damage the nomads. all in all, there were various nomads involved, some light fighter, which was named "Prophet" by the ID system, the battleship harbinger, a pair of remote gunboats, the prophecy and another one with a more difficult name.
Delta is a highly dangerous system - and all traders are adviced to either pay for heavy escorts or avoid the system!"
Message from the bridge of the TAZ Defense Gunboat Ravenhurst
Yep, that was me. TAZ vessel, that is. By the time I got the Ravenhurst undocked, the Freeport defenders were already bumpin' asteroids with their escape pods...good 'ole Yoda was over near Yaren, but decided not ta fight. I made moves over there, 'till I saw our old buddy Harby. Discretion bein' the better half o' valor an' all that, I fell back to the Freeport an' waited to see what was gonna happen.
An' wouldn't ya know it, here came the Keepers. I remember it was the Harby, plus a coupla remote Scorp gunboats an' a Nomad LF by the name of Prophet. I voiced over the comms that I wasn't gonna shoot this time unless I got shot...maybe that's what made this time different.
See, the Ravenhurst got kissed by Keeper energy beams a coupla times before, so I was just about beside myself when Harby & pals came and paid me an' the Freeport a li'l visit.
Kali tore me a few new holes in my shoulder with her claws, clingin' on fer dear life. I swear, that kitty's smarter'n some humans I know. Anyhow...so there we sat. You can see I had my CM primed for a hasty exit; I'll fight if I hafta, but I ain't in the mood to be a dead hero, y'know?
But they didn't shoot. Derned if I know why, but they didn't. After the loooooongest five minutes of my life, they just turned and left for the Iota jump hole. And when they were gone, I left for Crete to pick up a stiff drink...and so a few Corsair dockhands could help pry Kali off my shoulder! That's one good coat ruined, but it's alright.
And then, on to the Veranda on Gran Canaria to relax...I need it after that. I tell ya, if I ever get that close to the Keepers again, it'll be too soon. Danged ion storm hit, though, so I'm sendin' this message from somewheres in Omega-47.
One last thing. The Keepers are creepy. They're unbelievably dangerous. An' it ain't too easy to figure out what they're gonna do...but today, they didn't shoot at me, or the Freeport. Why not? I ain't complainin', but I think I might sleep better if I knew.
Transfer report from the Persephone to the temporary containment ship.
***Today a large amount of secured samples of nomad organisms have been transferred safely to the high security bays of a temporary containment ship. well over one thousand samples of all kinds were put into deep freeze to preserve their usefulness for research purposes at the CRI.
The persephone had to leave the hideout in the Takelau Nebula for a brief time for that, but returned safely afterwards. more samples are being "collected" from the nebula, a place that appears to hold countless nomad organisms. Meanwhile the security on the firefly class ship has been tenfolded. Extra crews and a security staff have been brought on board from new london CRI institude.
as the powerneed for the special customized cargobays require enormous amounts of energy, the ship is currently permadocked at freeport 11 while a set of extra powergenerators are being installed in the ship.
freeport 11 enjoys extra security staffs, too right now - and the neutral zone around the station is upheld to prevent damage to the station***
"i am back from my journey to Bretonia and everything went well. the transport reached its destination and we did not run into any troubles. - the local authorities even thought it was worth a newsflash.
The hired high security transport was left at Cambridge again, and i switched back to a more appropriate vessel. The cash earned from those samples will of course go to repairing and improving the station structure, We will be able to refill our storage rooms aswell as fixing the stations weaponry and armorplatings.
meanwhile the persephone will return to its hiding position in palau. all in all, it has been a very successful day.