Xeno Alliance communications (iRP) (FO)

[Tubalcaine]

<strike>Combat log</strike>-

Inactivity log-
Nome Base- Kepler
0700 hours

Witnessed some strange activity around Nome base recently, it seems as if a large ion storm has swept through the area- people have just been appearing on the stations' scanners, knee deep in the Denko cloud, some of them right next to Nome. I could swear that the cloud has been moving, too. A contact of mine, currently operating in the vicinity of Ouray has reported the activity of a Liberty cruiser around the base. Unfortunately, being a low level member of the Alliance he was unable to effectively engage the cruiser.

I have been confined to Nome base while my Eagle is grounded- I have been engaging in combat often recently without performing maintenance on the components of my fighter. Unfortunately, both my Crow and my Civilian Bomber are on Barrow Base in Hudson, and seeing how my Eagle is out of action, I can't immediately have my other vessels moved over, so it looks like I'll be practising my gunnery skills and drowning my sorrows here on Nome for a while.

The battle in which my Eagle was disabled was a saddning but none the less fun bout. I was refueling on Nome when suddenly I got a message being transferred on the emergency frequency from Colorado- 'All XA pilots get to Colorado NOW! REINFORCEMENTS NEEDED!' I had just reloaded and refueled- ready to go. I instantly clambered into my Eagle, and launched from Nome to the nearby Colorado Jump hole, neglecting the fighters' engine systems, which had been gravely damaged in the last engagement.

I arrived in Colorado and asked the other XA members for their location. 'Pueblo, hurry!' was the responce- it seemed that the battle was raging. I activated my cruise engines and burned my way through the system directly to pueblo station, where I noticed a large Liberty cruiser, and weapon discharges and explosions all around it. It was obviously at the center of the battle. I proceeded to the warzone, and armed my weapons. I cut my cruise engines, and flew in at cruise speed without them active, alowing me to fire on the enemy at will, while being extremely hard to hit. I selected a target, Adrian Croneur, an Ageira employee was my first target. I ignored the bumbling cruiser and reengaged my engines, singling out him as my primary target.

Unfortunately all support was destroyed soon after, and I was once again left alone, with a massive fighting force on my back. Still I engaged Croneur.

The battle went from a battle of skill to a battle of persistence- one where his bomber would easily win- the battle was reduced to more of a joust, where we would sail past eachother on just our thrusters with our engines turn off, fire, turn back, fire, thrust past, turn... untill one would be destroyed. But I had a clever trick up my sleeve. Suddenly, a Liberator going under the name 'Khat', swooped down on my back, tearing through my shields with at least two Imp. Debilitators, throwing off my plan.

I had inflicted by this simple technique however enough damage to force Adrian into a withdrawel from the battle. It was time to sort out Khat.

He was tougher.

I turned toward his Liberator fighter and he unleashed another barrage in my face. Before I could react he had turned and thrusted behind me- I was in for a tough engagement. He was dodging and weaving, almost all of my projectiles missing him, all the while he was weening down my shields, untill I found a pattern in his flight and attacks. After learning this it was only a matter of time until I was destroying him. Then the battle turned on me again. While the Liberty Cruiser was sat in space, I assumed it to be doing nothing, ignoring this lone Xeno. What happened next was proof- he wasn't just sitting there, he was radioing New York, for reinforcements.

LSF fighters poured out of the tradelane toward me, some mopping up the independant Xenos that had been attracted to the fight, the others turned their attention to me. One of them, Fluid, had engaged and destroyed some allies of mine previously, without provocation or reason. Revenge was in the air. I changed my target yet again, to =LSF=Fluid, ignoring the Cruiser and Khat, and engaged him promptly. It was an easy fight, with my awesome manouverability far outmatching his, allowing me to quickly turn onto the broadside of his Raven Claw Very Heavy Fighter, and let loose with all my weapons with deadly accuracy. His shields were decreasing, yet still he attempted to outturn my Eagle to no avail. It broke out into a 'joust', as before with Croneur, his four heaviest weapons dealing significant damage to my ship' shields. I began to dodge, and he simply could not hit me. I thrusted past him, and tailed him, stopping the joust, maintaining a superior vantage point over him. It broke out into a battle of turning once more- I brought his shields down, and took down half of his hull. He was on the ropes, so to speak. He would not last long. I could taste victory, the odds were in my favour, when suddenly the cruiser and all other fighters in the area opened fire on me, almost destroying me. I decided that I would not last long either.

Having tractored in my fellow Xenos I turned tail in dire conditions, and headed back to the Kepler Jump hole. Out of the system I was safe. I left them behind, obviously unwilling to re-engage me, and activted my cruise engines. On the way out, in the nearby asteroid field, I was ambushed by the Navy. They didn't need engage a fleeing, half-destroyed terrorist anyway, it would be far too much effort to end a lazy day. Their technique was deadly, however. They fired off a cruise disruptor, dropping me out cruise instantly. Fearing for my copilots lives I tried to reingage cruise, to no avail. The navy simply launched to missiles at me as I thrusted for the jumphole: A Paralyzer missile, which instantly brought down my failing shields, and a deadly Cannonball missile. This I did not expect.

The missiles' explosion tore through the engine of my ship, shredding the hull, disabling my craft, and leaving me to drift in space. The hull quickly sealed itself, but my condition was critical. I thrusted to the Jump Hole to Kepler, and managed not to get torn apart in the jump. But the radiation eating through my ship was just as bad. As soon as I pulled into the Denko Cloud it began to destroy what little hull integrety I had left, reducing whatever chance still remained of getting to safety. I still don't see how I did, it was a miracle, surely, but it seemed closer. Possibly the radiation getting to me, who can say? I was relieved to get back to Nome, but not so relieved to see the state of my ship from the outside- It looked like a Hawk without engines. I seriously wouldn't be flying for a while.

So here I am, telling the kiddos and myself stories about why I am telling them stories, sat in the Nome bar with a Sidewinder Fang in my hand. Sucks to be me. Cheers, Tubalcaine out *Hic*.

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