COMM ID: Recruit Lachlan Talmont TARGET ID:Liberty Forces Reporting Centre SUBJECT:Apparantly we're corrupt now. ENCRYPTION:Low PRIORITY:Moderate
Talmont here again.
Well, what a night.
First things first, the earlier report's been fixed up to sync with Fl. Adm. Hale's. Should be good an' in order now.
I've also finished off that damn enlistment paperwork, and ran the last few sims (Thanks to Commodore Robinson for getting that machine going. Two recruits 'ave been locked in it in as many days.). Imagine systems'll be registering me as fully qualified now.
With all that nonsense out of the way, I got stuck into patrolling. Barely left Ontario before runnin' across someone hauling Blood Diamonds. (Transponder: Frazzledragon) [Spatial]) He told me that he'd pulled them from a wreck. With the number on board, I was willing to believe him. Still, the law's the law, so I agreed ta' escort his to Manhattan to hand the stones over to the LPI.
Converstaion Log File Reference:PR-LT#011 And Manhattan's about where things got messy. Evidently the local commander's couldn' be bothered reading a damn file (Frazzledragon's records say he's registered as a Zoner pilot.), an' insisted I'd just dragged some Corsair into Manhattan Orbit. Sometime 'round here I was called a corrupt pig. Really hurt my feelings too. Didn't hurt me anywhere near as much as 'dragon though, who was fired upon by a nearby siege cruiser in direct defiance of orders (Transponder: Liberty_ashley) [Siege Cruiser]). My thanks ta' the LNS-Providence for trying to maintain some degree of sanity. With all the ships around Manhattan docking control must've been having fits.
Traffic File Reference:PR-LT#013 Good thing the Commodore showed up when she did. Apparently while I was tryin' to stop a bar-brawl amongst Cap'ns, an Outcast Tridente had slipped on by. Thing being, they don't 'slip' too easily, and he'd picked up a few of our ships in pursuit (Yes, I did see that Bretonian gunboat. It was dealt with later.)
Friendly Forces
[LN]-Christina.Robinson
[LN]-Lachlan.Talmont
[LN]-LNS-Durango-Liberty Dreadnought*
LNS-Providence-Liberty Gunboat
LSFC-Rhinebeck-Siege Cruiser
Liberty_ashley-Siege Cruiser
Dorian.Tenament-Liberty Gunboat
B_dragon_117-Bretonian Gunboat
*The Durango didn't take part in the combat proper. She was only bought in as a disciplinary measure.
Hostile Forces
Bose
-Outcast 'Tridente' Gunboat
Now, that was just a bloody ridiculous deployment of ships. All capital vessels were ordered repeatedly, by both Commodore Robinson an' myself to withdraw. I don't know if the Outcasts've been droppin' cardamine in the water or something, but we got no response from any of the Siege Cruisers. All gunboats, with the exception of the LNS-Providence withdrew (Cmdr Frost was the only vessel given clearance to pursue.) The Bretonian Gunboat floated off at this stage (He later resurfaced near Rochester.) Now, since these commanders completely bloody ignored us, Robinson ordered the deployment of the LNS-Durango in case a more... forceful approach was called for. The Durango seemed ta' return the Ashley somewhat to her senses, though the Rhinebeck disappeared. Ashley reckoned' she wasn't part of the Navy and therefore wasn't under our jurisdiction, something that's now been rectified.
Movin' swiftly on, we received reports from a trading vessel (Transponder: ITV-Freebom) regarding an Spyglass pulling in at Rochester. The bar there's decent, but 'ardly worth risking a battleship for. Somehow he pulled the thing into dock before we arrived. Got a decen' conversation about the bar out of the crew of Hell.FM though. Robinson opted not to take action on Tharog, so we pulled out of the field.
Was around then the Durango returned to base, and I received a report of a Rheinland Gunboat in Texas. Two gunboats were dispatched to give him a warm ol' welcome to Liberty. Shame that he surfaced in New York shortly after (Transponder: RNC-Kaiser.Wilhelm) [Gunboat]). The Rheinlander then launched a solo attack on Norfolk Shipyard. The thermal plates prevented any harm to civilians, thankfully, though the port bay'll be unable to launch ships for a while now (Was told about three weeks.). We were damn lucky that there weren't any civilians in the area.
Our gunboats, two from the Assault wing, moved to intercept. We got a nice little explosion out of that one, though Dorian.Tenament's Gunboat suffered serious damage and was forced to withdraw.
A few Hellfire pilots had turned up, wanted ta' watch the show apparently. There wasn't much I could do with them at the time, thanks to some hacker turning up. Basterd'd shot down a good few Navy and Civilian craft, and kept the pilots with him. Negotiations broke down an' I went in to retrieve them. That... didn't go too well. An LSF fighter was dispatched to provide assistance, by the time he arrived the ol' Executioner had given up and died. Had an engine failure and just coasted straight into a mine. Hurt like a -... Well, it bloody well hurt.