Red Hessian Reporting Facility

[Varyag]

Location: Vogtland
ID: Markus Heissner

We have gotten the Varyag back to operational readiness after our refit. The ship is responding well to her new fuel and power plant and the revised targeting system is simply making my master gunner giddy with excitment.

We Reloaded provisions at Vogtland and moved into the New Berlin System to conduct a shakedown cruise and to do a general test of the new shields and engineering systems.

At this time we received a call from scouts that a cruiser/gunboat pair was reaking havoc on hessian raiding forces in the Hamburg system and they needed heavy reinforcements. I told Ackart to plot an intercept.

We met up with the RNC strike team above the battleship Westfalen. We could not make a direct attack so I lured the cruiser to about 11K above the orbital plane. We cut engines to 180 and swung the Varyag around so we would nose into them. Our momentum carried us while the power was restored to weapons and the cruiser caught up with us.



When my gunners were in range we opened up on her. We were able to drop several full battery salvos into her before her power was able to recover. This panicked the commander and he put his cruiser on the defensive. We swung the nose of the Varyag around managing to keep all 12 guns trained on her as she went evasive. The cruiser opened up with pulses and mortar fire in a last ditch effort to throw us off. The new shields and armor plating held up well and we were able to finish her off with minor damage.



At this point her gunboat escort arrived just in time to see her reactor go critical. It turned, ran and was able to get within the Battleship's range before we could engage. Evidently the control tower does not operate as fast as the gunboat commander would like.



We heard of other RNC forces massing in the area so I decided it was worth slipping away before we ere overwhelmed.

Commander, RH cruiser Varyag

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"I looked up and all I saw was green death"