I then found a derelict transport, callsign Wade_Shankton, with a hold full of refugees. It was an independent DSE mastadon, just floating there, completely unresponsive and defenseless. I decided to park my fighter and bring the Fort Wayne back to liberate the doomed passengers and transport them to safety. The mastadon was still unresponsive by the time I returned, and yet my decision was met with some negative comments from onlookers. I explained that I felt it was better that the majority of the refugees survive than they all perish aboard a derelict transport.
I was escorted back toward Texas by Lambda-5, a navy fighter pilot, and Lt. Commander Alex Kingston of 1st Fleet. We ran into a Xeno pilot, callsign Kelborn, at Cold Bay just after leaving the wreck of the DSE mastadon, and not long after my escorts engaged, a second Xeno fighter, callsign Leonard.White appeared. I tried to assist as best I could in the Ft. Wayne, but my escorts got fragged. Three Battlegroup Auxesia pilots offered their help, and engaged the Xenos as I steered the Ft. Wayne toward Texas. Once the Ft. Wayne was safely docked, I returned to Cold Bay in my fighter but the Xenos and the Auxesia pilots were gone. They claimed to have chased the Xenos away.
I stopped another mastadon hauling passengers and ordered him to dock on Planet Houston. However, the captain apparently decided to hide on the surface until I left, as they never returned to space while I was on duty.
I decided to dock my fighter and scramble my upholder, as the number of transports requiring holes in their hulls was getting out of hand, and I was anticipating encountering the junker frigates again.
Another independent DSE captain went by hauling passengers in a mastadon, callsign RaVeN-Skull. He did his damnedest to evade me when I ordered him to stop, but out of hesitation to risk civilian casualties, I tried my best to be patient. Once I had him cornered, he agreed to pay a fine and let all but 650 passengers disembark. However, he undocked after letting only 650 passengers off, and tried to get around me with 4,313 delegates onboard. What ensued was a sad sight, as I attempted to once again corral the obnoxious mastadon captain while he did his best to escape. By the time I got it through his thick skull that he could only carry 650 passengers, we had ended up in Rheinland-controlled space. I was fined for trespassing and escorted back to Hudson. It was humiliating.
However, my spirits were lifted when a Junker frigate and his escort decided to try their luck at convincing me that they were somehow immune to the laws of Liberty while in Hudson, and they lost the bet. As it turns out, the frigate was the same one I spotted earlier, and he ended up spouting nonsense about being immune from Liberty trade regulations even until the moment I ripped his hull open with my antimatter cannon.
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