Sender : LN Ensign CJ Edwards
To : High Command Priority : High
Greetings,
A little story about today, based upon information from various sources.
Whilst standing guard at Houston to scan incoming ships from Bering and Hudson, I picked up a Corsair Gunboat and repeatedly requested that they stop and do not jump into New York. They failed to obey and proceeded. At the jump gate, I scanned a Trader called Spectar that had a full load of Diamonds in their Percheron vessel. I lost them both immediately upon entering New York whilst broadcasting over the public channel for them to abide by the given orders. I proceeded to Fort Bush where I found a Bounty Hunter Battle Cruiser (their name escapes me now, but it had the [BH] tag on it and was the same vessel that had a skirmish with the Yoda Battlestar about 10 hours earlier in New York). This vessel was attacking Liberty forces and had such personnel in their hold. I questioned the matter and then an IMG Gunboat appeared next to me, which I requested to move along. It immediately opened fire and destroyed my vessel. This vessel was commanded by a Mercenary called Balkerac. Spectar contacted me via secure channel, asking who killed me and upon stating it was Balkerac they admitted that it was they who contracted them to assassinate me. Fortunately, I survived this horrendous attack.
I immediately contracted a good Bounty Hunter friend to terminate with extreme prejudice, this was fulfilled in orbit of Cambridge after a hunt through the Border and Edge Worlds. As always, Escape Pod technology prevailed and they survived. A bounty has also been placed on Balkerac but there has been no sighting or long-range detection as yet.
Once I had recovered and acquired a new ship, I returned to duty and noticed that Spectar was inbound from Cortez, so I quickly made for the California gate in New York where I soon encountered the felon. I committed a grave mistake here, I opened fire without even realising that they had purchased a new ship, a Bretonia Gunboat. At first they did not return fire so I inflicted heavy damage, but once they did attack I stood no chance thus fled for my life, eventually reaching Missouri. As soon as I got there, Spectar undocked from this base. I am dismayed as to why they were granted docking clearance. Thankfully I docked and repaired my new vessel.
After this event, I contacted my Bounty Hunter friend and they set off once again to terminate with extreme prejudice. At first, it seemed like they were heading for Rheinland via Texas, but soon after entering they noticed Spectar had returned to New York, most likely through the jump hole, so they also returned. Then it was noticed they were in Alaska, so clearance to enter was requested from LSF which was naturally denied. The hunt took a detour, the long route as it was realised they had gone to Omicron Minor. The Hunter decided that it was too risky to pursue given the considerable presence of Order and Corsair craft, as well as Nomad Bombers and despite Dark Wing also operating in the area.
According to Intel, Spectar had entered Minor with a Liberty Navy identification and were eventually questioned by the residents. Apparently, Spectar was seeking to improve their reputation with the Order and to hopefully take out missions for them. It was also reported that they had Liberty Navy personnel in their hold that they had captured from Minor or its surrounding systems, but it was rumoured that they were not attacking Bounty Hunter assaults. Unfortunately, a major storm suspended all operations and no further information is available at this time, the fate of Spectar has not been determined. Hopefully they are either dead already or will face the wrath of Omicron-90 where they were last detected after a chase through the Order Guard system by its operatives.
MESSAGE AMENDMENT
Interspace Commerce has since reported that one of their Liners encountered Spectar departing Zone 21 shortly after the storm passed and noted that they had a considerable quantity of Nomad species and weapons, as well as Liberty Navy Pilots, Cruiser Commanders and a Fleet Admiral which one can only assume were taken hostage in Alaska. Forces in New York were immediately notified of this matter, but it was claimed that no support ever arrived. Given the nature of the situation and despite the Navy Identification they possessed, which was in fact deemed to be fake, the IC vessel was ordered to uphold its allegiance with Liberty Navy by pursuing and eventually engaged the felon in Magellan, but was unfortunately unsuccessful in releasing the captives. Waterloo Station in New London reported that Spectar was last sighted docking with Cambridge Research Station with no confirmation that they have since departed. There are no reports regarding the welfare of the hostages. Interspace assured that they will continue to monitor the situation as much as their boundaries allow within Bretonia. I personally will also be keeping a very close eye on their position, as will my Bounty Hunter friend who is very eager to double their pay cheque.
