Incoming Transmission
Source: Aperture Science CEO
Location: Borealis
Greetings, Thank you for taking the time to listen. It would seem that one of your dreadnoughts (or perhaps, a fake resembling one of them?) has attacked and destroyed multiple civilian ships in Pennsylvania earlier today. One of our research vessels captained by Amanda gates, one of our recent test subjects, was studying the helium fields.
During this expedition she encountered several friendly transport captains. She also encountered two SCRA vessels. Surprisingly these SCRA ships seemed to have no hostile intent, and began a casual discussion with the transport pilots. This encounter was interrupted abruptly by a ship calling itself the LNS-Arizona. The ship made demands that the two SCRA ships leave, and they quickly engaged cruise engines. Now, being that they complied Miss gates saw no urgency in vacating the area.
Then the Arizona opened fire. Our research ship took a direct mortar hit, miraculously shields absorbed most of the blast, and she was able to evade most of the further blows. The two transport captains however were not as lucky, the Arizona continued its onslaught and destroyed the helpless ships in seconds. Luckily for them, miss gates opened the cargo bays and took in as much of the debris as she could (including the escape pods) and took off at cruising speed.
The Arizona took up chase all the way to Philadelphia station, but she lost them in the trade lane and eventually made it back to the Borealis safely. Miss gates can be difficult to understand at times, however I believe the two gentlemen on the transports will confirm this story once they recover. They are currently in the urgent care section of our medical deck, and should be released within a day or so.
Here are Amanda's image logs. We apologize for the distortion, but as you know Neuralnet devices save images exactly as the eye sees them. And from what we can tell, she sees light on a different band than humans.
Here we see the Arizona issuing its demand, and the Coalition ships engaging cruise immediately.
And here is the Arizona firing directly on our research vessel.
Here are the images salvaged from the black boxes of the destroyed transports. They are self explanatory... A word of caution... They are graphic.
So long as this ship was not operating under orders from the high command, we do not hold the Liberty Navy responsible for this in any way, however we felt it was our duty to inform you of this so that measures can be taken to prevent a massacre like this from happening again.
Well... I've one hell of a headache, that's for sure. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Captain Steele of the Ironic.Gentleman. Or, atleast what's left of the ship. The LNS-Arizona destroyed my one worldly possession, that ship was my livelihood. Willows account of the events are accurate. The Arizona attacked all of us under the guise that we were all "Coalition Supporters". Such incompetence that's sweeping through Secondary Fleet. I don't hold the Primary responsible, but I want justice to be served for the destruction of my vessel.
Incoming Communication Protocol
Sender: Secretary of Defense Robert Mackay
Recipient: Aperture Science CEO; Steele Encryption Level:[color=#FFFF00] Medium
This matter has already been forwarded to the Joint Chiefs. I must say myself that it is troubling to get news of such incident. The chances to meet an unlawful person in Liberty space are quite high and it doesn't mean that persons talking to such criminals must be prosecuted by the law or its representatives.
The Arizona did not act on behalf of the Liberty Navy or the Liberty Government. It is quite believable that the current captain of this ship has slipped through the nets of the Navy's evaluation team for promotion and ended up with a whole Dreadnought at his command.
Security is a priority for our nation. I can guarantee that measures will be taken against the perpetrator of these draconian actions. The Navy admiralty will discuss on the matter as soon as possible. In the mean time, we will try to contact the ship captain of the Arizona.
On behalf of the Government, we thank you for forwarding this incident to us. This will contribute in optimizing the service of the Navy and its government.
[font=agency fb]Signed,
Robert Mackay Secretary of Defense