»UPLINK: ICN FIRESTORM, INCURSUS NODE

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Biweekly activity report

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Greetings to High Command,

I was honestly shocked by the promotion, and apologies for assuming my new duties late. We were quite in the thick of it. There are three main matters of concern to report on this cycle:

On Sector Security

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First and of lesser concern is the increased activity of intruders within the Valravn perimeter and Inverness at large. As a result of our increased patrol activities, we seem to have heavier Freelancer, Xeno, and Bounty Hunter traffic. There were also rumors circulating that I've been engaging with a Lane Hacker named Chloe. I would like to assure High Command that any dealings with such an individual have been only ever done with conduct befitting the Legion, and would like to move forward with the other items on hand.

First up I would like to advise against trusting the Xeno named King High. A charmer at best, myself and [REDACTED] Mason met him while evading a 46th patrol, upon which Mason, my then acting commanding officer, made the executive decision to temporarily ally with the apparently Colorado man. I cannot vouch for his conduct following the strange circumstance under which I was separated from the wing and taken out of combat by a Defender pilot. However I must point I was closest to the aformentioned Xeno when that happened. Whilst I survived due to the ongoing combat peeling my assailant away out of necessity, we know how Crowe ended up after trusting potential bad actors, and I have my suspicions which I am now putting on record. An additional point of concern is my duel with King High following that incident, taking place close to Freeport 14. Whilst my language was admittedly crass, following the incident with Commander Crowe, I must also stress that King High refused refused clarifying the issue I now present to you.

An additional report deserves a Coronado Freelancer installation which recently rudely attempted to force their goods on Valravn Citadel without permission. As I'm certain all of you have read the reports of all present and my participation in questioning the interlopers as an assistant to Auxesia's Revenant, I shall omit further details in this report.

Finally a notable incident happened with a bounty hunter named Bella Donna. The individual had been stalking the system for quite a while, until they attempted upon my life in order to professedly consume my flesh. Thankfully the assistance of other legionaires prevented this eventuality, and after spotting them close to another combat zone, this time in Coronado, I challenged the Hunter to a duel, and seem to have caught them at an inopportune moment. We collected her cargo pod and have placed her in cold storage at Valravn Citadel, pending interrogation. For further information, I believe the Fleet Captain Locksmith may have more detailed information on the intruder and their motives at this point in time.

On Core Experimental AI Incursion

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During the last three days we have repeatedly sighted what appeared to be an independent Core battleship within Inverness and Liberty. I will, again, omit the information available in other reports and add my own view to them. The ship seems to be an autonomous entirely robotic construct whose primary feature is advanced nanorepair systems. So far its purpose-apparent seems to be merely improving that specific aspect of its build. Of higher, but unconfirmed concern, is its apparent ability to improve its weaponry over time without any obvious logistical support. In addition it seems to be adapting its ID tag over time, changing from AIWV-3000 to AIWV-Helios, the origin of the naming convention yet unknown to myself at least.

We have encountered the vessel twice in Inverness, once in a patrol in Pennsylvania, and once in Coronado during a logistical supply operation. The most notable encounter was the Pennsylvania incident, whereupon it attempted to intercept the Incursus at the California Jump Gate in New York. Myself and HFGB - Dance For Me were assisting. As previous encounters were mostly silent and entirely hostile, I attempted to at least extract information from the machine, upon which it responded as following:

[18.06 04:42:52] AIWV-Helios: [:: My objective is to smash all Technocrat terrorists into tiny pieces. ::]
[18.06 04:42:59] AIWV-Helios: ?: [:: THAT'S RIGHT. ::]

Upon sighting the Incursus its main routine seemed to be fully active, and we received the following on open channels:

[18.06 04:43:20] AIWV-Helios: [:: There it is. The Incursus. ::]
[18.06 04:43:26] AIWV-Helios: [:: Executing combat subroutine. Tactical module initialized. TARGET: TFP)-Lt.Carmine ::]
[18.06 04:44:01] AIWV-Helios: ?: [:: LET'S ROCK AND ROLL. ::]

The final sighting of the vessel was during our final supply of advanced targeting computers to Arranmore, where our forward scouts intercepted the AI Mako inside the Coronado system. With a quick sortie of the Incursus and the assistance of local Auxesian assets, we managed to deal with the ship promptly once again:

This time the ship repaired exponentially faster than before. Due to the heavier Legion traffic however, its return around an hour later was quickly routed all the way to a shipyard in Leeds. More information on that will be present in the third section of this report.

A small note should be made on the aforementioned Bounty Hunter being present at the time of the second Incident with this strange vessel inside Inverness. I would like to do the interrogation myself, as I was involved in the majority of incidents which might involve her, as well as due to her special interest in my person. Something herself and the Battleship seem to share, judging by the comm logs.

On Ally Supply Efforts

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As High Command has expressed concerns about our presence in the aid of our allies in Dublin, Task Force Prometheus Logistics decided to dedicate the current week to supplying advanced onboard hardware of Valravn design as both a reminder of our friendship with the Mollies, and to bolster their combat capacity after the sustained losses in recent mass engagements. I'm happy to report all four runs were met with success. We have also stockpiled quite the supply of whiskey, which I found out mere hours ago was in fact an agreement between the Dockmasters of Valravn and Arranmore. If High Command finds concern with the transaction, please raise it to the appropriate parties. My role is a logistical officer, as such we had no reason to carry any other cargo on the way back.

Let's go with a quick overview of our activity.

The initial probing run was done via smuggling in the Serenity transport HFL Helldash, which aptly named, managed to speed through border patrols too fast to be noticed. As the Lieutenant commanding the ship crew was impossible to reach securely past Newcastle, we couldn't advise on overtaxing the structural integrity of the vessel. Thankfully Helldash managed to complete its mission successfully and broke down not too far from the Inverness jump hole, whereupon we managed to tow it back to Valravn mostly in piece. The replacement engine, I was told, would be affixed by the 7th this Sirius month.

After we made sure the route is relatively safe, we sent then Initiate Cassandrine Knox on a second run with the HFL Nocturnal and minimal escort. The personnel picked were myself as supervisor, and then-Lieutenant Scerri due to her prior knowledge of the current route. Between my prior experience and Scerri's valuable information, we successfully entered Bretonia unimpeded, delivering the cargo and getting a suspiciously large batch of whiskey, which was what first clued me in on the Dockmasters' involvement.

The third run was covered inside Lieutenant Knox's report, found here.

Due to the hot situation in Coronado at the time, I helmed the HFL - Feral Son myself and, following the forward party clearing the path inside Coronado, took off under heavy escort from TFP)-Darjeeling, TFP)-Hurricane, TFP)-Watatsumi, and TFP)-Witch!, a correct call it turns out.

The Task Force valiant fighters encountered a powerful Bretonian vessel in the face of HMS - Warspite. The storied capital ship and its crew gave a valiant attempt at defending the border, however our pilots were more than a match, routing the ship back to a nearby base, letting our convoy pass. The location seemed close to the last known location of the AIWV - Helios. We started to notice heavy activity in New London and decided to take a risk, navigating the gas pocket field to reach the entrance to Dublin.

Upon entering the system, we were met by heavy fire from the defense forces stationed nearby, evading by slingshotting around the sun at cruise speed, somehow securely entering the secret route into the minefield and delivering the goods safely. The dockmaster shoved another full cargo of whiskey upon the Feral Son without providing an explanation. I'm sure he knew he was exploiting our urgency in returning to base before New London got even hotter! At that point Watatsumi stayed behind with what seemed to be authorization from High Logarch With, and we found a replacement in the face of TFP)-Witch!, whom we rendevouzed with at Trafalgar base in order to avoid local Bretonia Navy assets.

The rest of the run was uneventful until our return at Valravn Citadel, with Hurricane and the Lieutenant confirming each other's backgrounds to satisfaction. As the Lieutenant turned out scrawnier than Task Force standard, I took the liberty of assigning her to assist unloading the whiskey manually, and sought out the Dockmaster with my, evidently true, suspicions.

It has been quite the hectic two weeks, and I would like to request another Curacao vacation as soon as possible.

Glory to the legion,
Cmdr. Carmine out.

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