Bretonian Armed Forces Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS) (iRP) (AO)

[Thunderer]

- Message Class: Textual -

-= Medium Encryption =-

Priority: Medium
To: BAF DIS
From: Admiral George Richard Hall
Location: HMS Norfolk, Cambridge System

I had heard many complaints of the new Invincible-class performing poorly in combat and two days ago my preparations for a test were finished. I assembled two carriers, myself commanding the Venerable from the Auxiliary as the Avalon did not have the suitable armament, that being two Cerberus turrets and four tertiaries. The other carrier was named redrussian (I am not responsible for the naming). We were supported by a destroyer, HMS-Spearhead, a BPA fighter and a BIS fighter. The fleet headed to Leeds. After a short waiting near the planet, we had visual of a Valor-class, {B}RNS-Versailles. All our scanners were picking up unidentified signals, which meant that there was another capital ship cloaked somewhere near. The Versailles was supported by two fighters.
While we were waiting for the cloaked ship to run out of fuel, they attacked. As our carriers were firing at the Versailles, RNS-Cygne, another Valor-class, revealed itself near the redrussian and opened fire. The Venerable quickly rallied into her defense, which for some reason caused the Cygne to change its target and attack us instead. We were the Versailles' target from the beginning. The Venerable, however, performed much better than I thought and we managed to avoid many shots. Although she is wider than the Dunkirk-class, she accelerates as fast in a strafe despite her larger mass, the mass which allows her to take more hits. I admit that I would always rely more on a Dunkirk-class, but the Invincible-class in fact performs a lot better than I was told. We were able to withstand fire from two Valors.
TheCygne was put out of action by focus fire. After that the redrussian dauntlessly turned her prow towards the Versailles, which left the Venerable alone and returned fire. I was expecting flames to start emerging from the redrussian, but she held firm and it was the Versailles that fell. The Venerable charged at it in the last moments and passed through the exhaust fumes where the it once stood, victoriously.
Both of our carriers were heavily damaged. We started hunting for Gallic automated patrols in order to loot their nanobots.
A certain Ferdinand Mounier who piloted a Lynx managed to escape during the battle and soon he was back, but now in command of a Valor-class, GRN|RNS-Montpellier. Despite the severity of the situation, the moral was high. The carriers lured the Montpellier away from planet Leeds and its defenses, while the Spearhead moved forth to attack it. I was unaware that the Spearhead was a new warship and that their crew and captain were inexperienced, otherwise I would not have sent them to face a Valor-class alone. Additionally, some of their internal systems appeared to have been assembled with too much haste, which prevented her nanobots from reaching the damaged parts on time. Our destroyer was disabled as we were on our way to flank the Montpellier. I tried getting us out peacefully, but captain Mounier refused to negotiate. Instead it disabled the redrussian, which was so bravely facing them. However, it took a lot of damage from both our ships in the process and it failed to disable the Venerable as well. In her stead the Montpellier succumbed to the raging flames. It was only the six nanobots that we had looted from the automated patrols before that saved us from the same fate.
Meanwhile, a Freelancer fighter that we had hired before, piloted by Miss Siara Solatra, was ending its duel with the Gallic counterpart, Defragmentation. The outcome was as close as the previous, but this time it favoured the Gaul. The Lynx managed to flee and all they could do was mutual taunting with the BIS agent. As my ship was heavily damaged, I decided to retreat and retain my victory. Along the way the Venerable has, with the agent's assistance, put two automated Valors and eight automated Perilouses out of action. I awarded my crew with a cup of tea for each when we reached Southampton.

Allied forces involved:

1) BAF|A-HMS-Venerable (Invincible) -- Damaged;
2) redrussian (Invincible) -- Disabled;
3) HMS-Spearhead (Crecy) -- Disabled;
4) BPA)Mr.Smith (fighter) -- Unharmed(?);
5) BIS)John.Davis (fighter) -- Damaged(?);
6) Siara.Solatra (freelancer fighter) -- Disabled.

Enemy forces involved:

1) {B}RNS-Versailles (Valor) -- Disabled;
2) RNS-Cygne (Valor) -- Disabled;
3) GRN|RNS-Montpellier (Valor) -- Disabled;
4) GRN|Ferdinand.Mounier (Lynx) -- Damaged;
5) Defragmentation -- Damaged.

Recordings:

1) {B}RNS-Versailles in flames
2) Hull integrity status after victory

Admiral George R. Hall

- Open for Reply -