COMM ID: [color=#99FFFF]Lieutenant Jane Hartman TARGET ID:Liberty Forces Reporting Centre SUBJECT:Pirates and Volley Fire. ENCRYPTION:Low PRIORITY:Low
Sirs, Ma'ams.
[color=#CCCCCC]Hartman here, reporting Clearwater's first brush with hostile forces (under present command.) Clearwater was en-route to Fort Severn, passing by Norfolk Shipyard at the time of the incident. Two Freelance transports (see patrol summary) had been halted approx. 600m from Norfolk by a Gallic bomber bearing an Outcast transponder (Callsign: white.eclipse). TACOM aboard the Battleship Missouri confirmed hostile designation of eclipse and had dispatched a light fighter wing to intercept at the time of arrival. Fighter intercepts proved ineffective, and the bomber also ordered the Clearwater to halt and transfer 3.000.000 standard credits to its account. A similar demand was also made of both Freelance transports. With my prompting, all refused. At this point, the Clearwater engaged the enemy with the objective of stalling the bomber until the other transports were able to clear the combat zone.
Didn't quite work out that way.
Once the first transport reached the lane to West Point, the bomber broke in pursuit and entered the lane after it. Thankfully, he didn't think to disrupt the thing behind him. The second transport and I also docked with the lane to pursue and re-engaged the target within range of West Point's battery. With our arrival, I'm glad to report that both Freelancers were able to reach trade lanes and disengage. With both transports out of the picture, the bomber focused on the Clearwater, critically damaging cargo pods 2-4, and severing the starboard fuel line. At this point, I ordered gunnery to stand down and attempted to stall the bomber. Not entirely successfully, and we had to make a transfer of funds to keep the Clearwater in space (an amount that was later paid by the <$>Blue.Danube.Waltz). Thankfully, Lieutenant Polstari arrived on the scene and was able to destroy the bomber before he broke through to the crew deck.
Clearwater is currently moored to Fort Severn, undergoing minor hull repairs. She'll be fully operational again in a matter of hours.
![[Image: icthMHY.png]](http://i.imgur.com/icthMHY.png)