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Torment · 05-15-2022, 05:12 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #20: Sisyphean task
Date: May 15th, 829 A.S.

It has been two week since Liberty began its rabid push into Vespucci. While we've managed to deflect their initial assault, the Liberty fleet seems nearly endless. The Torment has been engaged in skirmishes around the Sonora Ice Field almost constantly, with the moments of peace sometimes being no more than a few hours before the next hostile shows up on radar. It's starting to feel like they shifted tactics from trying to push through for a swift victory, to a drawn out war of attrition. Their vessels keep harassing us, forcing a response, all the while we are cut off from most conventional ways of resupplying.

Meanwhile we have to deal with our old Gaian problem on top of that. The Torment has been spared having to deal with them in the past, but now they have made their presence annoyingly known. I'll admit this much though, damn bretonian bastards know how to build destroyers. Those "Caliburn" class vessels pack a mean punch, fortunately they don't seem to have many of them, they tend to retreat once destruction of the vessel becomes a real risk.

Word has reached us that the evacuation efforts are still underway, Veracruz might not be a 'significant' planet when compared to the likes of Manhattan but we were hardly expecting Liberty to try something this desperate out of the blue. It seems we'll have to buy them some more time so we can evacuate as much personnel and equipment as possible. The Torment will continue to stand against the tide of Liberty.

...That said, I have feeling things are going to turn ugly soon.

Torment · 05-24-2022, 04:17 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #21: Lull of the storm
Date: May 24th, 829 A.S.

A little over a week has passed since my last log, surprisingly, it seems the prediction I made then turned out to be false. Instead of further intensifying the combat seems to have died down a little, the flames of conflict reduced to a small simmering instead of a blazing inferno that covers the entire system. Colorful words I stole from the ships chef *laughs* but accurate ones regardless.

There have been some reports of Insurgency vessels seizing the chance to take the fight to Liberty; launching assaults in the California and New York systems. While it is tempting to join them, I have kept the Torment in Vespucci to further protect the evacuation efforts. However this unexpected pause in the conflict might provide just the opportunity to reach out to some of the powers around us, if only to secure a pathway out for when the time comes that we cannot hold our position anymore.

...I wonder if the Crayter Republic would allow military vessels to evacuate through Coronado.

Torment · 05-30-2022, 05:46 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #22: Blitzkrieg
Date: May 30th, 829 A.S.

Wouldn't you know, right as we thought things were starting to die down a little, Liberty pushes straight back in. Heh, that's bound to be some kind of euphemism. Well frankly it sure as hell feels like it, the Torment is starting to get thinly spread trying to cover most of the system. I expect the lull was only to lure some overambitious Insurgency captains out of formation. Their assaults on Liberty space has barely harmed the corrupt house but left our defenses in shambles.

As I log this entry the Liberty forces have all but pushed the battle to the doorstep of Veracruz. We are trying our best to hold off the enemy but with our diminished numbers it won't last. The crew is feeling the effects as well, almost every encounter we end up taking casualties, as if that wasn't bad enough our systems are also becoming harder to repair.
Fortunately we did have some time at the Fort this past week for some emergency maintenance, I'd hate to think what our condition would have been if we hadn't.

Reaching out to Crayter seems unlikely at this point,. Even if they would receive the transmission, they'd be unable to help, what with Liberty this close. Assuming they even would have, for that matter. This leaves us with only two ways out. Either we take our chances and try to travel through Crayter space unannounced and hope for the best, or we take our chances with the cloak and try something extrmely foolhardy.

Unfortunately I won't have much time to decide.

Torment · 06-06-2022, 01:14 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #23: Contingency Plans
Date: June 6th, 829 A.S.

Liberty forces broke through our lines the other day, it took us quite a while to reform and drive them back again. Unfortunately Marshall Station took quite a beating. While the station remains operational to some degree, the damage it took is extremely apparent. With more of us dying with every encounter and the one station supporting our rear now heavily damaged, it has become clearer than ever that we can't keep this up for very long anymore.

While I had initially considered reaching out to the Crayter Republic, the risk of them handing us over to Liberty is just too large to take. Ironic really, since as a result I've had to take a different, still very significant risk, instead. I sent out a communique to the Starfliers; a rag tag bunch of Freelancers who have earned themselves a reputation of doing odd jobs all throughout Sirus. It is my hope that they'll be able to use the contacts they've developed to arrange for some sort of safe haven for us to retreat to once staying in Vespucci is no longer an option.

I'm sure they'll ask for a pretty penny in return, if they even accept the job at all, but worst case scenario this mister Leon fellow might provide some insights into the other groups out there. Kind of wish I paid more attention to the plights and struggles of the rest of Sirius during my service instead of only focusing on fighting Liberty.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Torment · 06-12-2022, 02:33 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #24: Bomber problems
Date: June 12th, 829 A.S.

We suffered several losses today while at the warfront and had to limp back to Fort Leniex for repairs. Initially things seemed to be going fairly well, all things considering, that is until a bomber showed up on our radar. "Red-9" proved to be quite an annoyance when backed up by all of Liberty's capital vessels. While this loss has damaged morale, the crew thankfully doesn't seem to have picked up on what this could mean.

Considering this is the first time we've seen a bomber being fielded in this war so far, it's my guess Liberty has decided sending in their big assets was leading to too many casualties. The Insurgency fleet, scattered and broken as it is, can still fight off heavy assets fairly well. These new bombers however? That could prove problematic very fast. I have ordered Alpha Wing to redouble their patrols, if Liberty does intend to send in a fleet of bombers to 'clean up' what little remains of the insurgency fleet, we'll need every snub vessel deployed that we can spare to try and keep them off of us.

On the plus side, mister Leon of the Starfliers has proposed a rendezvous location and intends to reach out to one of the local organizations in the region so we can negotiate repairs. It might be prudent to leave before things get worse, considering this latest revelation.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Death message

Torment · 06-19-2022, 11:24 AM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #25: War of attrition
Date: June 19th, 829 A.S.

My suspicions proved correct, Liberty has stepped up their assault by fielding more and more smaller,
agiler bombercraft to take down our last remaining defenses instead of remaining focused on utilizing their capital vessels.
We have tried to fight them off, but we simply lack the snubvessels, and experience pilots, to keep up with their numbers.
What's worse, as a result of the skirmishes Alpha Wing has been reduced to a mere 3 fighters. Bravo squad is off even worse, with only two bombers left the squad has its claws all but clipped.

It has become obvious to me that sticking around is no longer an option, I have given the order to bring as many able-bodied refugees onboard as possible.
We'll try and train them as best we can to serve as part of the ships crew, that will be their way of 'paying' for their ticket out of the system.

Once they are onboard we will try and break through the Liberty blockade.
Considering all the evacuees are heading in the direction of the Crayter Republic, we will be going the exact opposite way.
With a bit of luck, Liberty will be too busy chasing us to catch up and shoot down the remaining evacuation ships.

Considering the rendezvous location mister Leon arranged, we're going to have a rather interesting trip.

Odds are this is my last entry, should Liberty catch us.
To anyone reading this in the case of our demise I leave these final words:
It is better to die standing than to live on your knees.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Torment · 06-21-2022, 05:53 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #26: Exodus
Date: June 21st, 829 A.S.

It took the bigger part of a day to find the most able bodied, and willing, refugees left on Vespucci, let alone get them onboard.
Add on another day for some bare minimum training and I gave the order to depart.

Unfortunately our trip took a turn for the worst the moment we loaded in the last supplies from Veracruz.
A Liberty scout designated 1st|Gold-7 seemingly launched an assault on planet Veracruz by his lonesome, clearly a suicidal madman.
I gave him a chance to back off, a snub vessel is no match for the Torment, even in our damaged state, but he refused and insisted on sabotaging any attempt to leave.
Left with no other option I gave the order to launch T-Alpha-1 to run interference, something which seemed to catch the bothersome little nat by surprise.

WIth T-Alpha-1 engaged, we were clear to leave the area and resume our exodus.
By the time we were halfway across the system we received a transmission from Marshalls that Alpha-1 went down,
fortunately thanks to the overzealousness of that navy pilot the combat had taken place right next to the station and Alpha-1 was able
to eject from the ship. We didn't know at the time, but the pilot is doing well and currently on his way in a replacement ship, I should buy him a drink when he catches up.

As we were going through the system my tactical officer suggested the Liberty pilot might not have been suicidal after all, but rather a scouting party.
While I doubted it, I could not take the risk of facing a Liberty force at the moment, especially not with so many refugees onboard.
Left with no other option, I gave the orders to activate the salvaged cloak, a mercurial thing at the best of times but all it had to do was get us through the jump hole and out of the system.

Turns out my tactical officer was right, something which I should be careful saying out loud, she'd never let me hear the end of it.
There was a Liberty bomber parked near the jump hole, waiting for us. It didn't take long for that other Liberty pilot to show up on scanners as well.
The cloak held and we managed to slip right by into the Kansas system. We were lucky they didn't catch on and follow us, as the cloak gave out shortly after.

The final part of the journey to the first waypoint was quiet, too quiet. Nothing but the rumbling of the engines and a constant reminder that we fled like cowards.
The only solace I have now is that the Liberty vessel saw us leave, with a bit of luck they'll deviate some resources to try and chase us, thus buying some more time for our friends back home.

In the end we arrived at Galveston Outpost safely, a bittersweet reunion.
We'll resupply here and wait for T-Alpha-1 to rejoin us before continuing.

I wonder what will become of this station in the coming days.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Torment · 07-22-2022, 07:24 PM,

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CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #27: Bootcamp
Date: June 23rd, 829 A.S.

We have spent the last two days at Galveston Outpost, utilizing what little facilities are available to train the new ‘recruits’. While they were healthy and willing enough, the complete lack of military training of many, let alone onboard a capital vessel of such prodigious size as an Arbiter, has proved to be challenging.

To make the bootcamp more realistic I had the instructors I appointed focus on making sure each new recruit knew how to do one or two tasks well without supervision. This will already remove a significant workload from what little experienced staff remains onboard the Torment.

I have been told the training has gone well enough given the circumstances, they are currently working on a last series of drills before we depart.

To compensate for imposing on the outpost in these trying times for the Insurgency, both Alpha and Bravo wing have temporarily joined up with Galvestons patrols in the system. It seems we’re in luck for once; patrols have noted an increase in criminal presence in Liberty, it’s as if every criminal organization throughout Sirius is somehow being attracted to the New York system. The patrols haven’t entered New York to avoid being detected, but the current speculation is that there is some sort of upsurge on the black market.

At any rate, this will hopefully prove to be the perfect distraction so we can sneak by the Liberty Navy and Police. I just hope these ‘modifications’ to the Torment will do what they’re supposed to...

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Torment · 07-22-2022, 07:25 PM,

INS-Torment

CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #28: Unorthodox Means
Date: July 18th, 829 A.S.

I am unsure on how to even start this entry. I suppose the logical step would be to continue on the previous entry, when we left Galveston Outpost back in the Texas system. Simpler times.

We made sure we had a significant amount of supplies, food, water, engine parts, the works. We also took several large, semi intact pieces of debris from the West Dallas Debris Field and attached them to the hull of the Torment, specifically around the crew quarters and storage. An odd sight for sure, but a necessary one.
Thanks to the uprise in criminal activity in Liberty at the time we were able to enter Hudson without issue, utilizing a lesser known jump hole in the South Dallas Debris Field. However, it was at this point that the difficult part began. Going through Rheinland with a battleship and escort was clearly not an option, we would have never been able to make it past the entire house without being detected. As such, we had to get creative. Taking note from our ancestors from many centuries ago, we set course for Cologne…with our cruise engines.

Once the course was set all personnel was instructed to remain in the designated parts of the ship, specifically those that had been ‘reinforced’ with extra plating to minimize the impact of radiation.
Controls of the ship were redirected to safer areas, though major course directions would still require visits to the bridge, which would have been lethal for whoever went, so we had to be absolutely sure about the planned route.

The journey itself was, bumpy, to say the least. Uncharted space between systems contained significant radiation as expected, but we heard several ‘bumps’ against the hull as well. Assuming the rendezvous goes well, I’m hoping we’ll be able to take a proper look at the scanner data.

Unfortunately not all of the crew members made the long trek. While we used countermeasures to reduce the impact of the radiation, it proved far from complete protection. We left with an almost full compliment of 1000 crewmembers, including the new recruits. We have arrived in Cologne with 856.

Among the casualties are six of the Torments veterans, bringing our original crew down to 124.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

Torment · 07-22-2022, 07:25 PM,

INS-Torment

CAPTAINS LOG - Entry #29: Into the lair of the beast
Date: July 22nd, 829 A.S.

We were unable to stay in Cologne for very long. While our arrival has gone unnoticed, largely thanks to our unconventional travel method, the fact remains that this is supposedly a major trade artery between Gallia and Rheinland. The Torments patrols discovered a significant amount of wrecks throughout the system; both of Rheinland and some, of then, unknown origin. Later we learned that these were Hessian vessels. At any rate, I had no intent on sticking around and being discovered.

Heisenberg Research Station proved to be a useful discovery, while posing as a group of mercenaries, Alpha wing was able to obtain the location of several jump holes that will bring us closer to our rendezvous location, though we were warned that two of the systems along the way were particularly dangerous.

To maximize our chances of getting through as unscathed as possible I gave the order to activate the cloaking device the moment we arrived in Dresden. The warnings we received on Heisenberg proved true, as Hessian presence in the system was significant to say the least. Fortunately the cloak held until we made it to the next jump hole, though it proved too stressful on the improvised device. I doubt we’ll be able to utilize the cloak again until we manage to get to a shipyard for some proper repairs and maintenance.

The ’Omega-55’ system was disturbingly quiet, at least the part that we saw. Long range scanners picked up several planets in the system though, if I were a betting man I’d say that most of the ‘activity’ in the system would be around there. Keeping that in mind we made sure to keep our distance from them.
I’m afraid I can’t say much about ‘Omega-48’, the jump hole took us straight into a nebula that affected our scanners, fortunately for us the next jump hole we needed was practically right next to us.

Which brings us to the hellhole we’re in now: ‘Omega-41’, the rendezvous system. Nothing but asteroids, radiation and a neutron star. Figures that even in such a desolate, hostile place such as this would be inhabited by Zoners. Can’t say I’ve ever been this glad to see a freeport in my life.
Now to wait for this contact mister Leon arranged.

Captain Lucian Perez,
Signing off.

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