I managed to obtain a weapon from the wreck of the Black Bart, codenamed CERBERUS. It has been turned over to R&D for further study.
Yesterday, I flew with LH~Phate. Our first target was a pilot named Crateg, who was flying a mining ship. He managed to escape me in Magellan, but we pursued to California, where I managed to disrupt his cruise, and allowed Phate to intercept. After a brief fight, we obtained 2000 units of Luxury Food, which we delivered to Leiden.
After that, we moved to the Shikoku sector.
Phate and I occupied different trade lanes in the system, Phate saw a Corsair Gunboat come by, and signalled ahead to me. I hacked the lane as the gunboat came through, and he fell to Phate's brilliantly planned ambush. Also, a Xeno came along while we were fighting the Corsair, who was promptly reduced to his constituent atoms.
I lost my Countermeasure Dropper in the fight with the gunboat, but apart from that, we suffered minimal damage.
Right after we destroyed the Corsair, we pursued a Whale carrying engine parts. He fled, however I botched the pursuit with a misfire of my cruise disruptor.
After that, we moved to the Kepler system, where we found an artifact smuggler. He chose to make a fight of it, and we were forced to destroy the vessel after he refused our demands. Fortunately, we were able to recover hundreds of artifacts from the wreckage of the vessel.
The radiation fields took their toll on my weaponry, and I lost one gun during the fight. Its a good thing that the chase ended when it did, as I only had four cruise disruptors remaining in my hold.
Finally, I outfitted a new Scimitar, it is more suited to the area around Magellan than my Slipstream. After outfitting it, we moved to New York, where we came across an Interspace fighter. Sadly, this appeared to be a trap, and after two more fighters and a Liberty Gunboat appeared, my new Scimitar was destroyed. Phate tractored me in and returned me to Buffalo.
I was about to start a smuggling run with The Enlightener when (oh, thanks to the funny bug) I noticed that some KoF & BH, perhaps mercenaries and who knows what other scum were entering the system via the New York Jump Gate. I immediately gave the order to get the hell out of there ... and just in time. When we tried to wait a few moments near the California hole for Dexter //some connection issue// four hostile contacts showed up on my long range sensors. Seeing the KoF signatures and familiar names, Max Tarn and I immediately jumped and shaked them before we left Whitney Ice Field. We entered a low orbit around the sun. Unfortunately Dexter only made it as far as Alcatraz. The defenses kept the buggers off, but it wasn't safe for him to launch and catch up to us ... even after I "hired" an independent Hacker as a decoy to draw the hunters away from Alcatraz.
All I could do was to order to maintain radio silence And finally leave for Cortez with Max.
I guess they got annoyed when they ended up empty-handed, but harrassing Dexter //with interpreted rules// didn't improve their image much. For the record, none of us ever fired a shot. So telling us that we're "dead" was ... just wrong.
I'd like to add a comment on the recent hacker ops. Here's a confirmation of the Corsair Gunboat getting destroyed:
Thanks to Dexter Smythe, I had my work much easier - keeping his shields down and avoiding incoming fire. The gunboat had two missile turrets, so it could have got nasty and I hesitated with the engagement, but in the last moment I told Dexter to hack the lane between Junyo and Deshima. The trap sprung and even that Xeno Stinger got caught in the ambush. When I noticed that he's being a nuisance for Dexter, I switched targets and took him down. The gunboat didn't use that moment to flee ... to its own loss. (But I bet Dexter wouldn't have let it go anyway).
Right after that, we got our hands full again and we tried catching up to a Whale and disrupt its engines. Details on this technique should be added to the Technical Bulletin, I will PM the suggested ammendment to Moriarty shortly.
Now a few notes from my personal log.
[5.9.2008 22:57:56]
I've set up two fighters for Leiden Base, operating from there is well worth it.
And nothing out of the usual has happened ... I robbed several million credits out of way-too-rich traders, set on fire those who'd rather die than pay ... and rammed a Spyglass upon undocking from America.
[7.9.2008 15:05:44]
I was just attacked by a Slipstream.
It had Navy IFF & ID but the weapons were definitely not from Liberty. I mean since when did the Navy get their hands on Slipstreams? Anyway, watch out for "Ferralynx". I think he shouldn't be alive as Ageira's Bane scrapped his ship, but who knows.
I made a brief incursion into Bretonian territory last night. Due to the sheer number of Bounty Hunter vessels that I've destroyed in my time, the Corsairs appear to have developed some sort of affection for me. I flew from Magellan to the Omega-3 jumphole in Cambridge to...adjust their attitudes accordingly.
When I ventured closer to the Omega-3 jumgate, I encountered a Bretonian Military Destroyer, the HMS-Gillingvase. Considering that my mission did not involve fighting the Bretonian Military, I quickly assured the Gillingvase that I was not a danger to shipping, then promptly made my way back to the Magellan sector.
I did not approach the Gillingvase close enough to scan it, as Military vessels never seem to approve of the Cardamine in my hold.
While rushing to Mactan base from the Cortez sector, I ran into a trader, BIP. A Universal Mammoth transporting Boron to the Bretonian territories. Being on a strict time frame, I did not have time to threaten, cajole, or persuade the vessel to donate the amount of credits befitting its crimes, so I merely asked for 500k credits, which was promptly handed over.
After reaching Mactan, I adjusted my IFF to indicate my status in the Lane Hacker Guard, which was the purpose of my little expedition.
Later on, I received a message from a Liberty Police Officer, Jacob Hasting. An Outcast and Hacker vessel, by the names of Zamfir and Solari, were under Naval fire in the Texas system. I was doubtful of the LPI officer's motives, however I left for Texas to help our allies.
By the time I arrived, Zamfir and Solari were under fire from four Navy or Bounty Hunter vessels. I did not manage to record all the names, however [LN]-Valence.Harper fell under combined fire from Zamfir and myself, with Zamfir scoring the killing blow. I destroyed a Navy bomber by the name of Jayne.Cobb. Unfortunately, Solari was destroyed in the battle, though it was still a resounding success. A total of 6 Navy allied vessels were destroyed, two of which were destroyed before I arrived in sector.
Also, that Liberty Officer that tipped me off to this engagement, Mr. Hasting? He defected from Liberty and joined the 522nd. During our battle with Naval forces, he managed to slip out of dock and made his escape. On my return to Mactan base, I was notified that he had transferred a large sum of credits into my account in exchange for the diversion that we created.
Please check the Encrypted Network on a regular basis, I'd like us to get ready for an operation (special event). Here are the details: ENCRYPTED
From my personal log:
[19:26:40]
I love this job! Heh, now I know what routine patrols are good for...
Keeping those sneaky civilians out of our favourite fields.
I specially took my Scimitar for this.
Task 1: Check if the Vespucci jump hole is secure. Checked, no buggers.
Task 2: Check if there is everything okay on Freeport 4 with the supply deals. Checked, OK
Task 3: Get to California along the lanes and try to find anything interesting. Aborted.
I didn't even get out of the FP4 area. There I saw a Civilian Armored Transport with faked ID papers (was way over rank 40).
I followed him and tried to get ahead of him in near Manchester gate ... some Gateway slow-backs were stuck in the queue. Before I could do a thing, I felt neutron impacts on my rear deflector! I flipped around and behind the Ar.T. and scanned. Guess what, neutron guns mounted. No word at all. I went behind/ahead him through the gate and the next lane, which he aborted and headed for planet Jersey. I almost thought he's going to try landing there. Overall dissatisfied by the fact that he said absolutely nothing at all, I nuked his turrets off and went back to the Magellan gate, because I noticed another contact back then.
The second civilian, well ... I tracked him down easily. He was busy shooting at some of our daggers, and scans indicated that he's a rookie civilian. (Under 30 this case).
I detected 2 Hacker escape pods in his hold and was about to say something funny, but ... only thing I managed to say was a greeting. I stopped my ship and waited for his answer.
He must have mistaken me for one of the Daggers, because he turned around, flew close and opened fire. My shields reached the 30% mark in two seconds and there was nothing else I could do ... I pulled the trigger. He had a defender and must have been very surprised that ... well ... the Hackers do shoot back. I was accurate and his cockpit was incinerated by my two Hellflurry guns. I brought those Hacker pods back to Mactan, but in one there was a voodoo doll, and in the other, well ... was nothing. I guess the remaining two daggers got the pilots before I arrived. Still, it's funny ... those pods show up as "Lane Hacker Pilot" on sensors. I guess the Hackers outsmart themselves sometimes, too.
My today's personal goal was to catch up to some [KoF] shippers. I did not succeed, but I've been tracking their movement ... They seem to be trading through Texas and Bering. This calls for some operation in the upcoming days.
However I did 'bump' into a few other ships on my way to Texas, as I wanted to take the short and dangerous way through Virginia and surprise whoever was in Texas at the time. I had to destroy a non-coipliant Camara full of Engine components, a Mammoth paid his bills for being a commercial sneak. That was at the California-Magellan gate, which I couldn't avoid jumping through.
Finally in Texas. I didn't reach the high orbit I planned to enter for scanning the area and hacking the lane to Bering as I planned. The lane got disrupted and an unfriendly BH bomber came up - S/D-Athena's.Memory - which happened to have 4 Junkers in its hold. I wanted to bring them back to Beaumont as I often deal with the Junkers and am on very friendly terms with them.
Unfortunately, the pilot refused. I mean ... bad for him.
Shortly a friend of his showed up - S/D-Feral - and didn't disengage when requested. Heh, I did give him the chance to save himself. He didn't take it and died under my guns. During that time, an obviously insane IMG - IDentIFFied pilot went in all guns blazing and shouting "kill the hacker". Well, I told him why I think he's a jerk. He ran while I was paying my attention to the S/D.
This is a matter for the Lane Hacker Assassins and whoever else would want to rid us of this pest. Details here.
Then I was jumped by a Navy volunteer (indie) in a Guardian. He fought well, but his ship exploded in the end. At that precise moment, =LSF=Christian.Deus jumped in. It took me some time to find his weak spot and he tried to run as he had a hull breach, but then his flight control system broke down and he collided with a Lane Ring part ... and disappeared from my sensors with a small fireball.
Just as I wanted to get finally out of there, 3 fighters and a Mercenary Blood Dragon Gunboat arrived. I couldn't take that on, because I was getting really hungry. I made a run for it and reached Buffalo in a matter of minutes. They lost me in the North Dallas Debris field when my jammer electrically charged some large debris pieces.
Yesterday's operation was a success! With great precision, the Ageira transport was taken down in Shikoku today, thanks to Dexter Smythe and USI readings from the New York system. (CNS link)
[Ageira]William.Betthel - Ageira Technologies, Mammoth, 5 Civilian Pilots, ~2200 Gate/Lane Parts - annihilated
[ITC]Exothermic - Interspace Commerce (Escort) - took damage and fled
Black_Force_1 - IMG jerk (Raven Claw) - destroyed, pilot rescued by Exothermic
Reconnaisance data (Kepler):
Some white boxes survived the explosion:
The recovered containers have been transferred to the local interrogation vessel in Galileo. If we can't open them, we can at least rig them with explosives and sneak them back to Ageira...
This operation has demonstrated the importance of Leiden Base, as well as that advanced strategy, tactics and cooperation is required to take on such important tasks. Bankrupting Ageira won't be easy, but we can do it.
...encryption.in.progress...hack.terminated...
Phate planned an excellent ambush. Phate collected reconnaissance data in the Kepler system, while I moved to intercept in Shikoku. I hacked the lane on the Kepler Jump Gate -> Deshima Station route, and Phate soon caught up with me. Within minutes, the convoy came through.
Phate engaged the Mammoth while I attempted to occupy the fighter escorts, and occasionally disrupted the Mammoth's cruise engines. Eventually, when it became clear that the transport wasn't going to accept our demands, we moved to destroy it, leaving only the fighters.
Despite the fact that the target they were guarding was destroyed, the opposing fighters fought on. Eventually, the vessel Black Force 1 was destroyed by its own mine. The pilot was tractored in by Exothermic. We attempted to destroy Exothermic, however he was eventually able to escape into a tradelane.
In any case, the transport was destroyed, mission successful.
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