Two Hellfire Legion fighters made an appearance during the briefing, but were driven off by the combined fire of Yukon and Fremont. Callsigns and classes are listed below:
• [HF]-Strongest ('Sabre' Very Heavy Fighter)
• [HF]-Adam.Williams ('Prosecutor' Very Heavy Fighter)
Our squadron arrived in Manchester without further incident at 2034, where we split into two flights (1: CDR Valentine (CO), LCDR Hale, LT Jones; 2: ADM Hartman (CO), LCDR Lewis) to conduct a search for the Gaian raiders identified in LT Rivers's report. CDR Valentine's flight conducted a search of the southern tradelane and surrounds, without success. My patrol, in the system's eastern quadrant, was similarly unsuccessful. EWS reported an incoming ion storm at 2050 hours and I ordered the squadron to Suffolk, New London, rather than land aboard a civilian installation.
Hale and Valentine's systems responded poorly to the storm, and they were unable to rejoin the patrol. LT Rivers; however, was available. Jones was dispatched to guide her from Manchester while Lewis and I explained the situation to Commander Jacobs (BAF|) aboard HMS Wellesley.
At 2015 system scanners detected a capital-class hyperspace rupture later identified as Pine Ridge, CDR Ellington commanding. In light of the Commander's report (below) I abandoned our earlier sweep to return Pine Ridge to republic space ASAP.
Code:
[21:24:17] [LN]-LNS-Pine.Ridge: We've picked up an artifact, Admiral.
[21:27:13] [LN]-LNS-Pine.Ridge: We've found the Normandie.
En-route to Birmingham LT Jones reported contact: <G>Gaian.Raven ('Claymore' Gunship) in the proximity of the north-west field at 2133. Jones broke to pursue the gunboat while Lewis and Rivers remained with Pine Ridge. Contact with Jones was lost at 2134. I broke formation with Pine Ridge and set course for Jones's last position (2C, Manchester), where I found a stable jump hole. Both Jones and the Gaian were within scanner range on jumping in to the system, with Jones under fire from the gunboat. Rather than delay Pine Ridge, Jones and I disengaged without damage and RV'd with the carrier at Birmingham. The Gaian pursued us approximately 10km from the jumphole in Manchester and broke contact shortly after.
Jones docked aboard Pine Ridge and the remainder of the patrol continued to Cortez. En-route to Curacao the lane was disrupted by [HF]-Strongest, the same sabre that harassed the squadron in L.A. orbit. Alone, the ship was unable to inflict significant damage on the fleet and both Pine Ridge and LT Rivers were able to re-enter the lane while LCDR Lewis and I ran diversion. Both Lewis and I were able to disengage once the carrier arrived in Liberty space.
The flight from L.A. to Norfolk passed without further incident. I expect CDR Ellington will have more to contribute on Pine Ridge's operations once shipboard operations are complete.