Gallic Royal Navy Transmission Center (iRP) (FO)

[Omi]

Royal Naval Battleship Dax, Tau-31 System
7. janvier, 739 AGS

Sender: Maréchale Lucie LeBlanc, Marine Royale Gauloise.
Recipient: Selected Pilots, Marine Royale Gauloise.
Topic: Tau-23 Patrol.

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Pilotes,

Once again, elements within the Tau Corridor are hard at work to destablise our grip on the area. The miners aboard Java are our 'allies' in name only - however, we must never stop scrutinising their comings and going. With the Guillestre in close proximity to their station, this is easier than ever - or, at least, it should be.

Following an amber alert issued by the comms buoy network connecting the Languedoc and Tau-31 jump gates, I dispatched a patrol wing to ascertain the system's current status, consisting of myself, Général Roche, Commandant Mounier, and a secondary fleet Lynx. As flight lead, my Cougar was the first to ascertain a neutral contact - a Guild Annapurna returning from the Niobium fields at a conspicuous speed. Almost immediately, the pilot informed us of Coalition elements squatting in the fields ahead, without even so much as an initial 'bonjour' to prompt him.

Sure enough, two new, red-flagged contacts soon appeared on my navigation panel, and as I closed the distance they resolved into Rheinlandic-made transports, each flashing a Coalition IFF. They immediately tried to flee - although I have no idea where they were headed, as their flight path took them in a large loop around the north-west of the system until they were halted close to the Languedoc gate.

A brief - and ultimately fruitless - discussion ensued, wherein the more vocal of the two captains failed to fully understand what was being asked of him. The fine for trespassing in the Crown's territory was paid successfully, but they refused to hand over the ore within their bay, claiming that they had mined it lawfully themselves. At this point, additional dissident elements began to crawl out of the rocks - a Brigand fighter, a Colonial fighter, and a Maltese fighter.

As the transports continued to prove uncooperative, I had them both disabled before our operations were cut short by harrying enemy forces - however, the amassed forces posed surprisingly little threat. Although all three fighters cooperated in their attempts to disable our single Lynx and two Cougars, they were all shot down in short order. Afterwards, our wing returned to the Guillestre for debriefing and minor repairs.

In service to the Crown,

Maréchale Lucie LeBlanc
Duchesse de Maine
Marine Royale Gauloise

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ATTACHMENTS:

Data Packet (LeBlanc's Cougar) || Data Packet (Roche's Cougar)

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Transmission End

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