Be advised, due to severe damage to my vessel, a considerable amount of data was irretrievably lost. Support technicians aboard Missouri were able to recover some of the information.
I commenced my patrol, leaving from LNS Missouri at 0300HRs SMT.
-0315HRs Received contact from a civilian trading vessel advising me of heavy pirate activity in the California System.I moved to investigate.Upon entering the system, my long range sensors detected the presence of Liberty Navy Siege Cruisers LNS Hammer, and LNS Champion. LNS Hammer held position near the New York and I linked up with LNS Champion in the Tahoe ice cloud, to act in a fighter support capacity. The Champion was acting on reports of a pirate vessel who was also engaging in acts of cannibalism towards his victims. At this point, the Champion and the pirate contact (Call sign "Solari", which after action reports confirmed as a "Sabre" class fighter) engaged in a fairly long exchange.As the Solari was not in sensor contact, I assume the Champions commander was attempting to lead the pirate into revealing his position.After several minutes of mostly irrevelant communications, the contact stated his position as grid coordinates D/E 4/5. The Champion immediately moved to that location, and I followed in support. As we arrived, we came under attack by several Dagger class light fighters, which the Champion engaged in self defence, downing several. We did not pick up the Solari contact. At this point LNS Hammer no longer appeared on my scopes, apparently leaving the system.
-0354HRs We were addressed by a Bayonet class fighter, call sign "VR-Abacus.Ibanez" who ordered us to leave the area, despite the clear fact that we were Liberty Navy vessels. I detected the vessel charging his weapons, though he did not fire. He told us flatly to leave the area, though he had no authority to do so.
-0356HRs Several additional vessels were detected on scanners, coming to support the original contact. New contacts were Id'd as - VR-Dwight.T.Barnes[Ba], VR-John.Petrucci[OL], VR-02[AI], Valentine.*, and the original pirate vessel that we had sought earlier, Solari. (More Detailed information on contacts appended to this report.) Scans of the ships indicated that they didn't necessarily pose a serious threat to the Champion, so the Commander on scene attempted to defuse the situation.
The Commander of the Champion inquired of the vessels who their commander was, and he was identified as John Petrucci. At this point I believe there may have been secure comms between the Champion and the contacts leader.At approximately 0358HRs the Champion yawed sharply to bearing 350 (Towards Planet Mojave) and began moving at speed. One of the contacts placed his vessel in a position blocking the Champion from continuing.
-0403HRs The contacts, having had time to scan our ships, demanded the Champion release several pirates it was holding in its custody.
-0404HRs At this point, the AI designate "Vergil" of the Champion seized contol of the Champion and Liberty Command codes were used override the controls of my fighter.My fighter was placed in a formation pattern with the Champion, but at that moment we held position.
At approximately 0405HRs , I picked up a new contact, call sign "VR-VCS-Systematic.Chaos" approaching our position.
-0413 Call sign VR-VCS-Systematic.Chaos arrived on the scene and I confirmed it to be a Sarissa Class Battleship of Outcast construction. Several of the hostile fighters were requesting persimmon to fire on us.
-0417:09 I intercepted a transmission from the Battleship to commence fire on the Champion.We were immedtiately under extreme fire from the combined hostile vessels, including the Battleship.
-0417:37 The AI link to my fighter from the Champion was severed, and I worked to regain control of my ship.
-0417:45 The Champion took a critical hit, resulting in apparent loss of all power, weapons, and communications. That assessment is based on what I could determine visually , as by this point, my fighter had lost most of its scanning equipment. Now under fire from possibly as many as seven ships, including the Battleships' guns, I determined there was zero chance of success in attempting to defend the Champions hull, and I was forced to retreat. At this point, the hostiles apparently divided their forces, sending ships to pursue my fighter, and the remaining units apparently turning on the contact "Solari", requiring the vessel to surrender its datalogs.I has unable to ascertain anything else as the incoming fire was extremely intense.
-Every attempt to dock with a trade lane was met by my pursuers targeting and disabling the lane before I got there. I maintained an erratic course to avoid fire, but eventually lost all shields, and sustained heavy damage to all primary and secondary systems.
-0425 The amount of fire on me seemed to have lessened. At considerable risk, I turned my fighter around for a quick look, and found only one of the hostile fighters still behind me.I do not know if the other pursuing fighters lost me, or if they were simply called elsewhere.
(It should be noted, that there were two additional contacts, call signs "Omaha" and "Gouger" who were observing my retreat, and seemed ready to support the hostile forces. I was unable to conduct any scans of these vessels, and no additional information is available.)
-The remaining hostile (call sign VR-Dwight.T.Barnes[Ba]) was clearly underclass compared to my Avenger, and why he still pursued me after the others disengaged, I do not know. I had lost my shields, and had taken severe hull damage. If he had continued, I would have certainly been killed; so in defense of myself, and the data I was carrying, I fired on him, crippling the ship. I did not stop to see the extent of the damage, and I am unsure as to the fate of the pilot. I retreated though Virginia and docked with LNS Petersburg for emergency repairs, and reported incident to the Petersburgs commanding officer.
-Returned to LNS Missouri
++LOAD IMAGE++
Recovered call signs and ship classes of the hostile vessels.
Partial scan of weapons loadout of contact "VR-John.Petrucci[OL]"
Parital scan recovered of Battleship weapons loadout
Valentine.*- Additional information on this contact has been deemed CLASSIFIED, and I am unable to include it in my report.