Comm ID: Recruit Officer Cho Sprinks
Subject: Patrol Report
Date: 06.06.818 17:00-20:00 SMT
Location: New York System
After Action Report:
At 17:15 SMT I started my patrol of the New York system. It soon became clear that there must have been a sell-out of Starfliers and Rhinos somewhere, considering the huge number of fresh space pilots that was around. Sadly, there was quite a number that was subject to the Lawls Syndrome, in addition to having ship configurations that are unfit for current space regulations. I immediately spotted one of them roaming with a Dromedary and somehow his ID signal was scrambled. Despite my kindest efforts to help, he deemed it funny to attack me and fled to behind the Norfolk shipyard area. However, I managed to stop him before he entered a possibly hazardous area, and finally he became open to reason. At 17:32 issues were resolved...finally.
I returned to patrol, but didn't get far. Between West Point and Manhattan, I stumbled upon a pirate, Atalawohisdi, who was in process of extorting a trader. Surprisingly, my appearance was enough, I didn't even say a word yet. He handed over the Navy and police pilots he had in hold and I escorted him out of the system without him posing any kind of resistance. A pleasant surprise. Matter was resolved at 17:36.
At 17:40 Void.Bot was powered up, trying to bring at least some order into the chaos that was New York. We both remained at Manhattan, trying to direct and assist startup pilots. We spotted two Outcast gunships roaming out there, but they were immediately swarmed by independent law enforcers, so there was no need to intervene. One was destroyed, the other escaped heavily damaged.
At 18:04 I continued patrol and stumbled upon a single Broadsword bomber, using the same spot along the Manhattan- West point trade lane to bring up traders. He was just in process of extorting [*USI*]Chicago[S], but moments before me a freelancer named Jason.Stihrm had arrived, intending to stop the Broadsword. I took charge of negotiations, ordered the civilians and traders to move along as it was apparent this one was not very open to talking. After telling the pirate called Desert.Eagle to leave the system in nice words, he asked 1 mil of me so he would comply. Seems brains are not distributed fairly among those pirate bunch. And that's supposed to be the "elite" Lane Hackers? His incredible skill in talking ("I will not go." "I will not leave.") made further negotiation attempts futile quickly, especially as he ignored multiple orders to halt his ship, always trying to get in good firing position behind me. Yeah right, as I'd let his Razor do all the work for him.
At 18:08 I declared him free to shoot on sight for resisting arrest and evident crimes committed. Jason and me engaged. He did never do more than a scratch to my shields, helpless like a bug on its back. I gave him two chances to surrender, one at 18:11 when his shield and 3/4 of his hull were breached and his bots&bats were apparently out, another one at 18:14 when his hull was about to breach. He ignored both of them, continuing to fire.#
At 18:14 Desert.Eagle was eliminated by my puny Vengeances.
Sadly, it was only then when I noticed that my guncam has been suffering a bluescreen all the time, so I'm missing image proof of all that happened before, only the communication logger worked flawlessly. However, that kill can also be confirmed by the log files of Void.Bot, who should have records of this as well.
At 18:20 Void.Bot returned to base for refitting and data analysis, while I continued my patrol.
Only two minutes later I again stumbled upon a pilot who forgot to set up his ID transponder correctly and also was unfamiliar with the use of his comm system. At least he was very cooperative, so things were resolved at 18:30 and another happy and enlightened new pilot roams Liberty.
At 18:42 I received new reports of Hacker appearances. At 18:48 I received an emergency message by the Assault Battle Cruiser "Frankunit", pinpointing the exact location of the hackers at quadrant C-5. I immediately started moving there, while inquiring about the enemy shipclasses. He reported two gunboats, which in turn meant that I called for SWAT assistance via S5kyp3 at 18:49. At 18:50 the Frankunit LABC was reduced to dust, which advised me to stay clear of the hot zone and wait for SWAT to arrive. I tried to advert trade traffic from the trade lane and informed SWAT about the exact location of the enemy.
At 18:52 Anderson joined me with his Roc bomber, also reporting a Rheinland Military vessel at Fort Bush. We gave priority to it, but it already escaped towards Texas when we arrived, so we returned to Manhattan.
At 18:55 Smith joined with his Grizzly.
At 18:57 we approached the enemies, only to see a mercenary called Tommy.Vercetti already being in a full-blown firefight with both enemies. Also it immediately became apparent that the enemies were only one Lane Hacker Gunship, The.Spirit.of.Doom and an Outcast bomber, Broadsword-1.
The reasons for the firefight were completely unclear, so we ordered all three to cease fire immediately, which was followed reluctantly after three minutes. Vercetti held three Hacker pilots in his hold, which were demanded by the Hacker vessels. He refused and had opened fire. During the interrogation, a Rogue hunter in a Werewolf known as Crackhead.Johnny appeared and backed up the Hackers. Anderson took lead in the negotiations.
At 19:02 Sergeant Maggard joined us.
At 19:04 the Lane Hackers agreed to leave the system, should Vercetti hand over the pilots. Anderson agreed and ordered him to transfer the pilots, which Vercetti did reluctantly.
At 19:06 transfer was complete and the surprising thing happened: They kept their word and charged cruise engines and moved out of the system without causing a fuzz.
We commenced cleanup and ordered the last stray civilians around to leave the area finally, then our SWAT forces returned to Fort Bush. Just when Sgt. Maggard and I reached Manhattan we again had a new hostile on scanner, Lane Hacker Jarek.70 in a Sabre. Sgt. Maggard offered me to lead on this one, which I did, he remained in the area as backup if needed. A secondary police officer was also on site, Lt.Columbo who offered his assistance.
At 19:08 I commenced interrogating Jarek, ordering him to stop his engines so we could have a talk. He refused and started to strafe all around the place, spitting out threats of life against everyone around him. Once again civilians piled up, I ordered them to leave as it became apparent this one was not up for talking.
At 19:11 he simply stated "Attackin police forces" and started shooting all-out on Lt.Columbo. When Columbo's shield collapsed in a blink of a second, it was clear that he was trying to surprise-snipe us, so we engaged without much further ado.
At 19:12 Sergeant Anderson joined us again with his Liberator vessel, accompanying Maggard and managing traffic in the vicinity. They also continued interrogation of Tommy.Vercetti, who had a Police pilot on board.
At 19:16 Jarek_70's Sabre proved inferior to our Liberators and had critical hull breach.
At 19:20 we all separated, each patrolling lanes in a different system. Anderson went to Pennsylvania, Maggard took California and Columbo and me headed to Colorado, after dropping off pilots and refitting at Fort Bush.
All patrols were completely unremarkable, no contacts whatsoever. All of us returned to New York system at 19:28.
At 19:30 Maggard had a hacker on scanner at the California Jumpgate (on Cali side). Me and Columbo moved out immediately, Anderson just had started maintenance routine at Fort Bush and only managed to join us 10 minutes later.
At 19:35 Columbo and me arrived at California, seeing a Hacker Sabre "Go.Crazy" firing on Maggard, assisted by another Sabre, Outcast "Viva.El.Presidente!". We moved to assist and during the firefight it very quickly became apparent that these two knew very well how to handle their vessels, almost matching the agility of our Liberators and packing way more of a punch. The result is not something to be proud of, I fear.
At 19:42 Sgt. Maggard's vessel was destroyed by Go.Crazy, two minutes after Anderson finally had arrived to relieve the situation.
At 19:46 Sgt. Anderson's vessel was crushed when it hit a nuclear mine deployed by Go.Crazy.
At 19:48 Lt.Columbo's vessel was shredded by "Viva.El.Presidente!" while simultaneously another vessel, "Red.Bayonaise" showed up, another Lane Hacker, by appearance.
After mainly concentrating on evading fire of two Sabres, trying to lure me into their nasty mines and whatnot, I quickly realized that I had no real prospect of getting out with my Liberator, while the enemies amused themselves, starting to bet on who would finish me with a Battle Razor first. I took the chance and joined the talk, posing that I'd like to join that bet, asking the minimum entry fee. At least that did buy me precious seconds. Sadly, I was unable to reach any more officers, not even Navy or LSF was available to relieve me. It was a rather odd scene. They arguing how to set up the bet, me powering up my lifepod, strapping in the seat and taking all necessary precautions to eject safely.
At 19:52 the bet layout was decided, finally. I had to pick who would eliminate me, entry fee was 1 million. If I were correct, I'd receive one million credits transfered by every one of them. As it didn't really matter if I ejected and let the Liberator self-destructed or let them do the work, I though I might as well join this madness and put 1 million on Go.Crazy. Perhaps I even could have evaded them long enough until reaching a friendly perimeter or stumbling on backup.
As we still were finishing the details, it appears Go.Crazy went...well...crazy... and just started firing out of the blue at 19:57 not even giving a new engagement notice, so I couldn't even start to give them a hunt. I just in time managed to hit the eject button as a split second later my Liberator detonated, debris clattering on my lifepod. I could still pick up transmissions though, and heard Bayonaise and Presidente go angry on Go.Crazy. In the end Bayonaise made sure that my lifepod was picked up by a passing-by Bounty Hunter, who returned me to Fort Bush. When checking my bank accounts, I found that there was a plus of 4 million credits recorded. Well, at least that will cover the costs of a new Liberator outfit...
Still, probably one of the weirdest encounters I ever had.
Total results: -=Destroyed=-
2x Bomber, Lane Hacker -= Removed from System=-
1x Bomber, Rogue
1x VHF, Rogue
1x Gunship, Lane Hacker
1x Bomber, Lane Hacker -=Losses=-
Sgt. Anderson's Liberator
Sgt. Maggard's Liberator
Recruit Officer Sprinks' Liberator
Things were really crowded and busy at times, so if one of the other officers has to amend or even correct something of my report, please go ahead.
EDIT: Once again: Fixed grammar&spelling as well as some fancy Engrish inventions.