[color=#CCCCCC]At 1500 hours I staged an armed reconnaissance operation into Omicron Delta, to give our Scouts a first taste of warfare against their chosen nemesis, the Order. With me were Lieutenant Sayoko Kato, Major Alexei Stukov, Orca-6 and the Scouts Alvarez, Morozov and later on Myagotin.
Approximately twenty minutes later we assembled at the Omega-41 jumphole in Omega-5, minus Scout Myagotin. The latter was already on stand-by in Omicron Delta itself.
We made way quick through 41, Gamma, then Kappa and joined up with Myagotin, then proceeded to the vicinity of Freeport 11. We encountered an OSS Pilot after a short while, going by name of "Martino Peralta". Since the Scouts, especially young Alvarez, were eager to play the game of rip and tear, I let them try to handle that threat on their own while letting our more experienced pilots dispose of a Nomad threat.
The latter disappeared in an Ion Anomaly after a few minutes while the Scouts were having significant difficulty in handling the OSS pilot. - At this time I would like to say that while they are more than eager to fight for the Volkhan, especially young Alvarez, I find that that their ferocity isn't only beneficial. Regardless of their status as Scouts, in a sense they are still kids, teenagers.
I'd also like to note that the OSS pilot was rather hesitant to shoot them at first. No doubt, after a while he changed his mind. And he was, from what I've heard, rather annoying to fight for the Scouts, taking down Alvarez and Myagotin after a while if I recall correctly, with Alvarez having started to request Cruise Disruptor support at some point repeatedly as the hostile was apparently cruising in circles everytime his shields went down.
Regardless, with two Scouts down I ordered our men to lend a hand to the remaining one, Morozov. We took down the OSS fighter effortlessly, with Major Stukov landing the final blow. Unfortunately however Morozov flew his Loki right into a double-Nuke of Stukov's around that time and his ship, too, exploded. Next on came Order reinforcements to handle, with us four against four of them, another OSS pilot, designation "Euer.Schild", a random Order pilot by the moniker "Mpak", Cerberus operative Nikolic and Primary Fleet Sergeant Eckhard.
While Stukov was having a hard time dodging their fire, with his Insurgent being vaporized at some point, - here I'd like to note that he chose not to pull out, but to fight to the bitter end - we managed to take the rest down with moderate effort. In the middle of it all, a Bounty Hunter Gunboat, an Orca, blazed in to engage the Order, apparently. I ordered to dispose of it. Opportunistic as the Hunter was, he wouldn't hesitate to take potshots at us if he had the chance either, so I saw it as the best course of action to remove him from the picture.
Funnily enough, the Order pilots kept shooting us however, with only one of them shooting the Orca, whose captain's focus was still on the Order fighters. Somewhat humorous, really, the whole ordeal.
In the end we shot everyone down but the second OSS pilot, and then we withdrew from the scene, with our comrades' pods secured.
Which brings me to the conclusion.
Far be it from me to question our Scouts' tenacity or their fighting spirit, and of course their burning desire to serve the Volkhan, seeing as they are most fine examples of their generation in those regards, but I do have to question their usefulness in combat. They are inexperienced, and that ferocity of theirs might lead them into too many situations they can't handle in the end. I am all for having them treated as members of the Fighter Corps, and I can see the morale-boosting implications of their ferocity and attitude for our troops, but I highly discourage sending them into areas like Omicron Delta or the like on their own. I would advise letting them gather first-hand experience among our veterans and our Hessian allies in the Omega systems and in the occasional raids to Omicron Gamma for a start instead. With some practice they might end up becoming a very valuable tactical asset, much like the SCUDs, and an even greater political one, should they manage to make themselves indispensable.