ENCRYPTION:NORMAL SOURCE:Battleship Strausberg - New Berlin SUBJECT:After action report
Guten abend,
Feldwebel Maximilian Meyer berichterstattung,
This time I'm going to compile three reports in one, to make the paperwork easier for everyone. Two encounters with smugglers and one with Corsairs.
Day started just like any other, patroling the lanes of Rheinland. But with the absence of any hostile targets, or anything of interest I returned to Battleship Strausberg. Shortly after arriving back, a Camara class Civilian Freighter named L.Freeman exited the trade lane from the direction of Brandenburg Border Station 10K from Bonn Station and headed for the gate to Stuttgart through open space, probably because he saw me on radar and tried to avoid me. I anticipated his action and that he might be a smuggler and immediately entered trade lane to Stuttgart to intercept him before he gets away. I exited the trade lane in front of him and disrupted his cruise engine even though he was constantly dropping countermeasures to avoid my disruptors. I stopped him there and didn't try to run again after that. Upon scanning the transport I discovered that the ship was a Freelancer transport and that it was transporting illegal Black Market Munitions. I clearly stated to him that the commodity he was transporting was illegal. But he kept telling me that it was for the resistance fighters on Planet Leeds. Even though his actions might have been honorable the law is the law and it must be upholded, so I told him to drop the black market munitions so that I could destroy them. Upon shorter talk and persuasion with the captain of the ship, I managed to make him he dropped his cargo. Before I could have destroyed them, he already fired and vaporized them and told me that he did it instead of me to make it easier for me. After the encounter, the transport went back to Planet New Berlin and took the lane to Frankfurt system and from there into Sigmas. I don't know if he was telling the truth about going to Leeds, but by my last check Bretonia is in the other direction.
I continued patroling through Rheinland and by mere coincidence I again caught a smuggler right back where I started, at Battleship Strausberg. This time it was an Unione Corse vessel named Silencieux and it again also transported illegal Black Market Munitions, but it's captain didn't didn't try to run. He complied with my demand to drop the cargo without resistance, which is rarely found in smugglers. A few seconds later I destroyed the illegal cargo and I let him go. He didn't complain and entered the trade lane to Stuttgart gate.
Not long after, an IMG reported a Corsair presence in New Berlin, which was very disturbing. At that point I was already at the Planet New Berlin. One IMG transport entered the lane from Planet New Berlin to Essen Station and there got trapped by one Corsair transport and one Corsair Cruiser. They issued him a demand to pay to be left alone and alive. IMG transport decided to pay and left soon after. I was the only one left there so I first radioed for backup and then attacked the Corsairs. First I engaged the transport and a few minutes later RM capital and bomber backup arrived and engaged as well. The transport quickly turned into flying scrap. The Cruiser was giving more resistance and entered the asteroid field in order to get away from us to Frankfurt. But they didn't, because the Admiral arrived as well with the new prototype bomber and quickly destroyed it. No repairs were needed after the engagement so I just returned to Battleship Strausberg and called it a day.