I started off yesterday's patrol by heading to Colorado for a quick sweep of the system. I'd expected to run into one of those Xenophobic terrorists, but instead ran into a Zoner Borderworld Transport near Pueblo Station.
As you don't exactly see those things in Liberty every day, I decided to ask the ship to cut its engines for a routine inspection. I scanned the ship, and noticed it was equipped with one of those cloaking devices a few of the secondary navy fleet's battleships have, too.
Although I distinctly remembered seeing a paragraph in Liberty's laws stating such devices were forbidden, I couldn't find it when I looked them up. However, given the experimental nature of a cloaking device, as well as the fact that it can easily be used to smuggle goods into Liberty right under our noses, I decided to levy a one-million-credit fine, and ask the ship's captain to turn around and return to Kepler.
The fine was paid (and later transferred to the Leavenworth,) and sergeant - or is it lieutenant, now? - John Aryn and I, as well as a secondary fleet dreadnaught christened the 'Viscious', began escorting the Zoner ship towards Kepler.
However, as I was following it on the tradelane towards Battleship Rio Grande, I noticed its shields drop; a sign of it engaging its cloaking device. I was right. Its cloaking device activated seconds after it reached the Rio Grande. I managed to fire a few shots at it, damaging its hull quite significantly, before I lost visual.
John Aryn and I attempted to chase the ship using heat-seeking cruise disruptors to pin it down, but did not manage to destroy the ship. I suggest we treat the ship, called the 'Horny Cacodaemon', as shoot-on-sight should it return to Liberty.
John Aryn and I returned to New York to rendezvous with officer Buck Frost and deputy chief Colin Sinclair. As we reached Fort Bush, we noticed two Behemoth-class transports from Rheinland. One held ALG papers, and was allowed to continue. The other, however, was registered as a freelancer.
We attempted to communicate with the ship's captain, but he did not respond. Instead, it tried to flee, and Buck Frost - who had arrived during the interrogation -, myself and John Aryn opened fire. The ship was promptly destroyed, with John Aryn delivering the final blow. I have to say, those Behemoths make for some nice fireworks.
Both John Aryn and Colin Sinclair had to take a brief break from patrol duty in order to do some paperwork, leaving me and Buck Frost to continue the patrol. We soon noticed a rogue flee towards the Jersey debris field, chased by secondary fleet officer Duane Dibley.
As we were worried that officer Dibley might get himself into trouble, we also gave chase, observing from a safe distance. The rogue seemed to be about to crash-land on Rochester, and we decided to jump in to prevent him from doing so - we didn't feel like having to explain to the junkers how their landing bay got wrecked.
Soon, the Rogue broke off and fled towards a jumphole. Officer Frost and I were hesitant to enter it, but Duane immediately gave chase. Worried about his fate on the other side of the jumphole, we entered it as well. It led us to Colorado. Thankfully, there were no surprises there. The rogue remained alone. We continued the engagement, and the Rogue ended up blowing himself up with a nova torpedo.
As it didn't seem safe to stay so far from the lanes, we immediately returned to planet Manhattan in order to join John Aryn. Soon, we noticed a rogue - apparently one of the more dangerous ones - approaching the planet's orbit.
Of course, we closed in on the rogue to interrogate them. As the rogue wouldn't surrender - despite being outnumbered 3 to 1 - we opened fire to take their pod by force. Unfortunately, DC Sinclair, who arrived late to the battle, was taken down by the rogue's nova torpedoes. To make matters worse, the rogue managed to tractor in the pod!
Luckily, together with Aryn and Frost, I managed to quickly down the rogue, and tractor in the deputy chief's pod. The rogue's, however, was nowhere to be found.
We returned the life pod of Colin Sinclair, who managed to safely eject before his ship's destruction, to planet Manhattan, where he boarded the ADX-Washington.