I was ordered to Malta yesterday. Apparently, the Colonials were planning to enjoy our hospitality. I actually met them before they went to Omicron Alpha, which was...amusing, to say the least. Most of the things they told me were insignificant, but some of it actually managed to make me laugh, albeit for a short time.
CR|-Vindication[49th]: Victus: Run home and spread the word. The circus is coming to town.
CR|-Saurian[49th]: Liz: You'll burn later, dear!
Overconfidence has been the bane of many people before, and that won't change in the future. The Colonials were greeted accordingly, once they entered our home. Even some Corsairs decided that it was a good day to die.
Circus indeed.
Death: CR|-Argo[FF101] did their best.
Death: CR|-WO.Frost was put out of action by CL}Lucrezia.Acerbo (Gun)
Death: CR|-Wisdom[49th] was put out of action by CL}Rina'Como (Gun)
Death: CR|-Pericles[49th] has suffered a self inflicted catastrophic decompression.
Death: CR|-Eagle[49th] was put out of action by The.Placeholder (Gun)
Death: Granada'|Sails was put out of action by The.Placeholder (Gun)
Death: Puzzle|Sails was put out of action by The.Placeholder (Gun)
Death: Bebe|Sails was put out of action by K'Hara|Lotan (Gun)
Death: CR|-Sentry[17th] was put out of action by Liutel (Gun)
Death: CR|-Avenger[49th] has suffered a self inflicted catastrophic decompression.
Death: Cabron|Sails has suffered a self administered loadout error (Mine)
Scout reports indicated a Colonial raid on Omicron Alpha. Several 101st captital ships immediately rushed to the jump hole to 37 in defense. Luke, Rina, and I were the majority of the fighter class support during the invasion. As the first Republic ships jumped, they fired upon the 101st and were instantly taken out by our fleet of Ranseurs. For the next hour or so we remained in combat with the Colonial fighter support with the cover of the Ranseur fleet's fire.
I have stepped up patrols in Tau-23 and the neighbouring territory recently. Mostly alone but with some fellow Lance on occasion. It seems Miner activity is still high and they're flourishing. This is not good. It's been a busy time down on the Savona Compound so we've had little time to stop such operations. This will change soon however. Preperations for training and more effective injection of Cardamine into Liberty are in their final stages. Morale is high in the Contari Famiglia. Though times have been tough and disloyalty has lead to some peasant being released from our holds, we are still a formidable force in the nation.
A patrol in the Tau-23 system found a vessel laiden with ore. After determining it had come from territory we claimed, I enforced an appropriate tax upon the vessel before dismissing it from my presence.
While involved with this, a Colonialfighter arrived. It presented no interference with the taxation, so I moved to an appropriate position to prepare for the inevitable combat. The combat was swift, and I tripped the vessel's pilot over his own ordinance. It was not the only fighter to arrive and contest my presence, as a Joker had arrived to oversee the failure of the previous vessel. A third fighter arrived, however this Hotdog was tripped up by Signore Castro. He then departed and left me to finish up my own fight. I state that while I fought hard and did much damage, I was not able to overcome the second vessel. Another time I will be victorious.
After returning to Savona Compound I met up with Commandante Orsini, and we proceeded to make a run to our Junker friends upon Rochester, where we made a good profit. Nearly arriving back at our home with a shipment of arms we ran across a Brigand carrying the orange. Commandante Orsini made it clear that while he would let the vessel depart this once without incident, it should contact us via Neural Net means before making any further dealings. We then landed, where I dispensed the light arms to our compound's armory.
This is all to be reported.
Addio.
~D. Celestino
(--- USER SIGNING OFF: Drago Celestino, Cavaliere ---)
An unfortunate series of events on my first day as a part of the Lance, I started a small patrol with Comandante Orsini and while passing near Java we came across a Behemoth transport and proceeded to extract some credits, although it was cut short as the damn thing just opened fire at me out of nowhere, and a few moments later IMG reinforcements started pouring out of Java.
It got messy. But even worse as more of our own reinforcements arrived, several Lance members as well as a non-Lance gunboat, but for every one of ours, they sent in two more, most of our forces were destroyed but I got away with all Lanciere pods accounted for. I have attached images from my guncam at the end of this transmission, however most have been lost due to damage to my ship.
What has surprised me though is the lack of our own firepower...I will have to get in contact with the Comandante about this.
To the point, there was an engagement with IMG and Bounty Hunter forces in 23, no need for details, we were outclassed in firepower at first but with some reinforcements from the Samarran Raiders and the Maltese Navy. We took down several snub vessels as well as both of the Hunter gunships but we did lose a Fanteria to the IMG Cruiser before we forced it near Java.
Afterwards Comandante Orsini ordered a raid force into Kusari, we came across some loco freelancer that just had lots of ships to lose..although unfortunately we crossed paths with a KNF patrol and were mostly destroyed, however we all made it back in pods.
Well we got our new Sabres and put them to the test, I was a bit late but Comandante Orsini and Fanteria Fitta Coltello had caught a few transports although they could only just hold one in place before the others ran off.
Needless to say it was destroyed after refusing to pay full in credits, the captain went down begging for his life, heh.
Other than that, nothing much, we completed a patrol, completely dull, nothing to do and afterwards we did some combat simulations. And that was the end of that.
My first few patrols have happened over these passed few days, and here will be the first report. Finally got my first bit of action.
When I underdocked from Cali, I was recieving transmissions from other Contari Lance pilots laughing and cheering like they have just pirated a IMG Miner.
I gotta say I missed it, which sucked but moments later there was an IMG nyx fighter flying around Java Station. There was something weird about it though.
Gave it a quick scan and noticed it had no guns on it, just shield blasters a mine and a mini razor. We all started making fun of the poor bugger, then it tried running so we engaged it. As it did not comply to the request given.
The other Contari Lance pilots sat back and let me faught the Nyx pilot by my self and I am not gonna lie, he gave me heavy damage with the little weapons he had. I believe the call sign of this pilots ship was IMG|TheWickerMan.
Once the pilot start running back to Java, we all headed back to Cali and found a wonderful Flare gunboat. I quickly docked for ammo and supplies, before undocking again noticing they were already engaged to this gunboat.
So I quickly engaged and moments later, the pilot decided to head towards the sun with auto pilot on, am not sure if there was an escape pod or not. But the ship is dead.
(--- USER SIGNING OFF: Camillia Rose, Fanteria ---)
Though it's been a short while since I found his application at my desk on Savona, commitment is clearly a strong point for Jax Santiago. Having flown and operated effectively with great consistency, I am happy to promote him to the rank of Lanciere.
I have great hopes for our other Fanteria as well, with a bit more flight time I will be presenting them with the same privileges.
In the past few days the Lance has come under much pressure from the Miners, Bounty Hunters, Colonials and the greed of Mercenaries. However with a new spurt of growth in our ranks, morale has never been higher. I'd like to take a moment to, as Comandante, to complimenti every member of the Lance. These operations will continue to ensure that the Tau's and neighbouring systems do not fall into the wrong hands.
Viva La Famiglia di Contari Comandante Luke Orsini-Contari
I'm seeing the vessel shipments have been arriving in our hangars, I've already picked a Tridente for myself and the customization and module fitting has been completed, simulations are showing it to be running at 100% efficiency. I've also handpicked some crew members I know will stay loyal.