Xeno Alliance communications (iRP) (FO)

[Dusty Lens]

After action report, May 03. 816AS

The flight kicked off with Coachwhip and myself heading to the Bering system for interdiction duty. Wasnt long after we knocked out the lane that we were rewarded with the company of two traders, OTC_Zeus and UnitedTraders_Butcher. We demanded they drop their cargo afor they take another step, Zeus took offence to this prospect and returned with fire, our two vessels made quick work of him before returning to Butcher who seemed mighty eager to cooperate in light of (literally) the burning debris of the other trade ship.



Not too long after that Coachwhip came up on the end of his shift, simultaneous with another Xeno, -=[Geronimo]=- appearing on scene. Geronimo must have been full of good luck because he also brought along a Bounty Hunter Battlecruiser by the handle of Terminator with him for fun. Given that a single bomber and eagle against a ship of the line didnt sound like a good time I proceeded to mash every halp halp button in my cockpit until Sunbeam showed up with his heavy iron. The fight was a heck of a ride, but we managed to take the cruiser down without suffering any losses.



Following this Sunbeam, Geronimo and myself were feeling bold in numbers and hopped on over to Texas, where we yammered with the locals for a spell afor settling in orbit of Houstons moon, watching local fill up with lawfuls. That was when something magical happened, Gafwmn, in a Liberty Assault Cruiser coasted by our location with hull ablaze and in a hurry to carry on to the next local. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.



Sunbeam and I fired up our burners and gave chase, quickly putting Gafwmns hull to the test, wasnt but two moments afor local space was littered with burnin hull and the tracers of escaping pods, but it turned out to be the signal that finally stirred the hornets nest.

Another BH Battlecruiser by the handle of Lephi cruised in to engage us, with LSF Mike.Edwards, JG Dulaptacus in a Rheinland bomber, JG Skysurfer in a Kusari explorer and the [SA]-LNS-Corregidor, a Liberty Gunboat, closing in fast on its tail. The odds werent looking good but we reckoned on giving a good accounting of ourselves.



I ordered Sunbeam to ignore all other targets to concentrate all fire on the battlecruiser, we could afford to ignore the two gunboats while we took down the cruiser. It was a tense few minutes of ducking and dodging before the vessels hull ultimately failed, the second flash of an exploding fusion engine filled space as Sunbeam and myself turned our attention back to those who had been so earnestly shootin at our rapidly dodging selves.

Geronimo managed to get the better of Edwards, but not before the bomber and combined gunships did him in. With just the two of us facing off against the gunboats and the remaining bombers I ordered Sunbeam to focus fire on the explorer. Perhaps it was simply the exhaustion of the running battle, but the explorer seemed to dance before my eyes, one moment being in my crosshairs, the next moment a hundred meters to the left. Sunbeam and I couldnt seem to connect a shot while our hulls continued to be pounded by the forces arrayed against us.

Skysurfer opted out of the battle at this point, cruising away after receiving a few too many blows, though seemingly returning for a moment before remembering that he had been on his way somewhere else afor the fact. Sunbeams vessel was on the verge of collapse at this point, with all weapons offline and but two engines capable of sustaining cruise speed. Loath for the movement to come up shy another precious bomber, I covered his escape long enough for him to make it away from the general melee and to relative safety.

Alone with the gunboat and bomber, ship afire and with little recourse left in the way of armaments, I proceeded to attempt to disable the shields of the gunboat before ultimately setting my vessels autopilot to simulate one final run and ejecting behind the haze of fire it laid down.

Damn shame to lose a ship, but I think the XA took the price of a single bomber from the hides of our enemies today.

-End action report.

I need a drink.