The Corsairs had bold and intoxicating visions of a final victory over the Red Hessians, with an overwhelming surprise assault crushing their backline infrastructure in Dresden. Following such a victory, the Red Hessians would fold like a house of cards, the century-old Omega front crumbling before the Corsair pincer attack. Perhaps this plan would have worked, were it not for 834's joint Zoner and Outcast counter-attack in Omicron Theta, which saw much of the Penitence's fleet cannibalized to bolster the defence force. Initially, they had knocked at Vogtland's doors, tantalizingly close to their victory. However, the reduced fleet's momentum faltered and then stalled.
Soon the Corsairs were expelled from the Giftnebel and limited to opportunistically destroying Hessian miners in the Innenstadtfeld. As the months ground on, they were pushed back to the borders of the Schwefelnebel. The Hessians continued to recuperate, fortify, and push forward. After almost a year of deadly attritional fighting, the Penitence's fleet has nearly been entirely surrounded at its anchorage near the wreck of the Bundschuh's Zwickau Station. Seeing the noose tightening and supply lines severed, the Penitence's commander has signaled the need to retreat immediately; despite this, the order may have been left too late. An emergency call has been put out for reinforcements to cover the Penitence's retreat.
The only Corsair forces within range to respond in time are the defence garrisons of Lagos Depot in Sigma-13 and Petra Base in Sigma-15. Both have sent urgent messages back to Crete asking for guidance on the course of action: reinforce the Penitence to cover the withdrawal, or man their stations and trust in the force of the Penitence's own arms? It is expected that the going will be difficult in either eventuality, and in a best-case scenario the Penitence will still need to return to Tripoli for repairs before it is fit to return to service. The route home will be dangerous, necessitating the fleet to break through the Hessian blockade, traverse Frankfurt and the Sigmas, and pass through the volatile Omicron Theta.
The Penitence's commander has reflected on his vessel's name with grim irony. It seems to him that when you try to take it all, very often you are left with nothing.
DETAILS
Convoy Details:
The Penitence will be a Tribunus with 10x event armor (~9mil effective HP) and infinite powercore. It will be flown by a staff member. It cannot dock.
The Penitence can only be brought to 1/5 of its total HP, but not killed.
The convoy will proceed to Freeport 9 in Omicron Theta via Frankfurt, Sigma-15, Sigma-13, and Sigma-17.
The convoy must stop at Lagos for 5 minutes.
Bounties:
Event IDs will earn points and a $200k bonus for non-Corsair kills.
Event IDs will earn double points and a $400k bonus for Corsair kills (Corsairs and Unioners earn this for all enemy kills).
Rule Changes:
All event participants will have their respawn timer reduced to 10 minutes.
Corsair snubs may respawn from the Penitence en-route (via an infinite docking module).
All event participants are limited to Battlecruisers and below, with the following exceptions.
Bundschuh and Red Hessians may field one Battleship or Dreadnought (Corsairs may field two) which must be registered in advance. These ships cannot respawn.
If the Penitence arrives mostly unscathed, it will undergo little to no repairs before being available for further use, and will remain as a dockable solar near Freeport 9.
If the Penitence is severely damaged, it will need extensive repairs, and will need to be towed to Tripoli, where it will remain as an undockable solar for the foreseeable future.
Rewards: Custom Title
Requires an INRP write-up about the event from the point of view of your character. Can be submitted as a report within a relevant faction channel, or as part of a story thread.
Cruiser
Requires at least 8 kill points. Can be chosen from these options: Donau, Fearless, Hel, Praefect, Storta, Vidar. Only one per character, regardless of final point total.
Shared Ships
Kills by tagged ships on the config will be summed, allowing the purchase of faction shareds with the resulting points at the following rates: BS = 32, BC = 20, Cruiser = 12, Gunboat = 8. Faction leaders should pm @Barrier with the final details.
Results
Despite the valiant efforts of the Penitence battlegroup and the Petra garrison, the Corsars' flagship in Dresden has suffered severe damage during its evacuation. Breaking through the Hessian blockade and shaking off its Rheinland pursuers in Frankfurt, the ship got bogged down during a particularly unfortunate jump within the Sigmas. Only the continued support of the convoy security forces and the Theta garrison ensured that the Penitence could drift into the Freeport's protective bubble unscathed. Plans are already underway to tow the vessel to the shipyards at Tripoli, where the Penitence will remain in the upcoming months of its refit.