TARGET ID: [color=#33FF33]Liberty Navy High Command SUBJECT:Patrol Report #OED-2317: Kepler Encounter, Hudson Sweep, Pirate Interception ENCRYPTION:High PRIORITY:Medium
Today I was on routine patrol around Liberty space when I encountered =[SRF]=Ben.Cohen outside Manhattan. I'd never run into the guy before but I knew about our standing orders regarding his faction. As expected, he was flying a Gallic Lynx, and making no effort to hide it.
I ordered him to accompany me out of Liberty, and he agreed to go peacefully, but not before talking my ear off with a bunch of nonsense about Gallia and how they were going to conquer Sirius. I offered to take him to whichever border of our house he preferred, and he wanted to go to Kepler so he could continue to Kusari.
En route, he told me that Admiral Hale had personally given him permission to be in Liberty space with his Lynx, "as long as he obeyed the law". I briefly checked with the other Navy ships around, including Vice Admiral Baker, and the response was an overwhelming "No".
I escorted him to Kepler, where he idled at Ames for a while. I stayed (on our side of the line) to make sure he wasn't going to try to sneak back into Liberty. Few minutes later, [KNF]Ni.Bensuke shows up on the other side of Ames. I spoke to him briefly and informed him of why I was in Kepler and why Mr. Cohen had been expelled from Liberty space.
Roughly at the same time, both Vice Admiral Baker in the LNS Bunker Hill and a Kusari Secondary Fleet Battleship captained by Admiral Chistu Wanabe showed up. V Adm. Baker was one of several Navy ships in-system at the time, conducting an investigation of a possible illegal base. Since she was present, I'll avoid going into too much detail, but several more KNF ships arrived, including a Vice Admiral of their own, and we called in the other units in-system for backup. This was Lieutenant Polstari and the two newest recruits, Hayes and Dacino. Despite some attempts from a few irritating independents at Ames who sought to provoke a confrontation, along with Cohen spouting more of his inane drivel, I am proud to say we defused the system diplomatically and maintained our good relations with the Kusari Naval Forces.
Later on, I conducted a sweep of the Hudson system with Lieutenant Polstari and Recruit Hayes. The Lieutenant had some intel that suggested an independent might be attempting to build a base in the system. We conducted a very thorough scan of the entire system, but unfortunately failed to find anything.
However, the patrol was not entirely fruitless, as on our way back we encountered two independents in Pennsylvania, near Allentown Base. They were both sporting pirate vessels and IDs, one in a Barghest and the other in a Pirate transport. Names were Lawges and Facon_2, respectively. The transport, carrying contraband, fled to the base, but the fighter stopped. We offered him the chance to go to jail but he engaged the three of us instead. We destroyed him near the base and then caught and killed the transport as well after it opened up on us.