Message to: RHA
Comm ID: Hauptmann Johannes Farb aboard bomber Red Autumn
Location: Vogtland, Dresden
Kameraden!
Yesterday Red Hessians showed in New Berlin to traders that it's wiser to pay or co-operate with us when we ask nicely than to listen to corporate heads sitting millions of kilometers away in safety.
I left for patrol from Vogtland and soon was hailed by [HT]Klaus.Reinhardt to join forces. At first things were quiet. Just the way I like them to be. We were operating under orders from high command to go fund raising and decided to lay in wait in one of the trade lanes crossing New Berlin.
A trader, who must have some issues for certain, had named his Behemoth Corsair-Paserak was stopped and asked a small donation of 1.5 million credits. He decided to play time since a known military pilot Jack.Landau kept calling out his location for a desperate rescue attempt. We repeatedly warned the captain of the Paserak that the military will not arrive in time to save him. Sadly he kept ignoring the fact.
I have to give the military pilots that they have balls but sadly lack in brains. When Herr Landau arrived, he engaged us. Paserak thought that he saw an opening to escape using the diversion created by Herr Landau. He was sadly mistaken, since we both concentrated our fire on him to make an example of him. We need to send a strong message to all traders!
After the demise of Paserak we concentrated our efforts to make Herr Landau a slowly cooling space flotsam. Reinhardt was especially efficient in this task and got in the shot that finally put an end to the struggle. We then flew to Vogtland to rest and re-equip. While there Rainer.Frank and [HT]Felix.Segur reported of an enemy contact near Vogtland. It turned out to be a Rheinland military cruiser [RNC]Freistaadt_Bayern. She flew to Stuttgart baffling us all with the knowledge of the location of the jump hole. It seemed that she had stumbled upon the Stuttgart jump hole by chance. We followed and jammed her communication before she could radio in the location of the jump hole. In Stuttgart we decided to engage it. There was something strange in that ship. She flew straight and appeared very reluctant to answer our hails. Well. Our forces made a very quick work of her hull. It was one of the most one sided engagements I have witnessed. It seems that Der Kanzler has a large supply of capital ships but not enough experienced personnel to fly them. It shows that Der Kanzler is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Oberleutnant [RHA]Shimada was patrolling the New Berlin at the time and I ordered my wing to form on me and head to New Berlin. In New Berlin Felix got ambushed and lost a sizable percentage of his bats and bots so we swinged by the Kreuzberg on our way to Shimada. Herr Reinhardt got called to base.
I, Felix and Rainer answered to urgent calls for help from Shimada near New Berlin. We made the best possible time there and found the situation under somewhat control but chaotic. Multiple vessels in vicinity. We told civilians to scoot, but it must be in human nature to be voyeuristic. Rainer and Felix proceeded to tax one KoF trader while I concentrated my attention to trader Hiro_Kaneda. Sadly he had missed the earlier show of force and after waiting for very long him to give in he decided to run for it. He didn't run too far.
The tactical situation slowly grew more clearer and we spotted a Corsair gunboat BK-Fury. He had been spectating the whole thing for the better part of 5 minutes. The ship was accompanied by a gaggle of civilian ships tagged similarly. Very strange. They must have been some sort of Corsair groupies. Must be starvation affecting their judgement since he just didn't leave when he had had a chance so we made him stay. In escape pod. I never cease to wonder the deathwish of some people. They have a complete chance to get away but choose to stay instead.
The hit and run operation was a success. While flying back to Vogtland we stopped an Interspace trader [IND]Trader_Jihad. We proceeded with standard donation request, but the trader presented us a lucrative alternative. Shimada's patience grew pretty thin and the trader was scrambling to come up with a better offer. He asked if he could get something for us instead. After a brief negotiation we agreed that he will get Military Vehicles from Bonn and meet us at a location we would specify. Shimada remained to keep an eye on him while I contacted Vogtland and requested [RHA]RHT-Raeuber to get in space. The trader came through and followed our instructions to fly to Brandenburg and then get into the asteroid fields where the exchange took place. Raeuber then flew to Vogtland with the cargo.