Another eventful day filled with the usual pirate scumbags and even a few other interesting types this time. Namely Rheinlanders. Patrol started off with reports of a Rogue controlled destroyer, Pure Destruction, but the situation appeared to be under control at time time as there were several capital ships and a handful of fighters chasing it. Myself and Morse decided to patrol the lanes, I covered New York, and Morse started to head to California. During my patrol I decided to swing around and take a run through Pennsylvania to check on the miners, but the lane was blocked by a Rogue pirate ship by the name of True Challenge. I told the yahoo to get lost but he was not having any of it. That is when a Rheinland cruiser suddenly appeared and shot up the Rogue and then went after me. Morse quickly arrived on the scene to lend a hand, but the Rheinland ship had already killed a Junker merchant by then, and was very keen on blasting the two of us. We were able to lure the ship back towards the trade lane where the LNS Prometheus was able to blast it to pieces at close range with her cerberus turrets.
The thick particle clouds of the badlands prevent clear guncam shots, but the cruiser's hull is visible in the second shot here.
After this we redeployed to Ontario to assist in patrols as the LNS Iron Peak was going through her shakedown cruise. En route though, I was notified of a Lane Hacker bomber harassing traders near the Colorado gate. The ship fled into the scrap fields with me and an LPI Eagle in pursuit. He turned to fight us, but the battle only lasted a few minutes. In the end the rascal tried to hit me with a nova, but he collided with a nuclear mine I launched and his nova detonated on a piece of scrap metal an instant later, vaporizing his ship.
Only after that were we able to help get the Iron Peak through her shake down cruise. During the final tests on her engines we were notified of an Outcast battleship hanging around in California, so I had my bomber prepared to launch. By the time I arrived there were three battleships! Myself, Morse, and the LPI stayed at range while we waited for backup. They came in the form of a bounty hunter bomber, and eventually Teerin, who was immediately attacked by all three battleships. With the Prometheus and several smaller craft en route, the bombers moved in to take the pressure off Teerin and distract them until backup arrived. An unmarked ship going by Marine.Ball attacked our forces several times in the battle as well. Backup for both sides slowly trickled in, our forces were even backed up by a Council cruiser going by the name Cassini, which was escorted out of our space after the battle had finished.
