I came on-duty today to find the wanted Xeno gunboat Prospector orbiting planet New Tokyo. I intercepted it in my Chimaera with initial assistance from fighter pilot Misfit in his and called for backup to which the destroyer Shikakan responded. With the bulk of KNF forces deployed elsewhere, Misfit-san called for further backup from SA headquarters which dispatched a fighter, plotted by Dekker-san. Unfortunately Misfit was forced to withdraw, reasons classified. Meanwhile an alien heavy cruiser (the design unknown to me but commanded by Vaporlinx) offered assistance and I decided chasing the enemy ship away from the densely populated planet was priority. We would work out who was aligned with whom and what they were doing in Kusari space after. Combined with the Shikakan we four engaged the Prospector. Regretfully instrument failure lead me to fly between the Shikakan's flack turrets and the Prospector which resulted in loss of my vessel. Credit to rescue teams for evacuating my escape pod in the middle of a fire-fight. A little dazed I returned to battle in a new Chimaera.
The Prospector was by now severely damaged and, systems failing, it fled the area on Cruise. I tried to use a trade lane to head it off and other ships were in pursuit on Cruise, however it disapeared from our sensors.
Shortly the Xeno ship returned. At that time we received somewhat flamboyant open comm signals from corsair gunboat Lopez indicating he was going support the Xeno ship in combat. Further support was requested from the Southern Alliance and they dispatched the Thor's Hammer.
To my shame I allowed myself to be distracted by comm traffic: order requests; clarification requests; distress calls; target positions requests; and unexpectedly receiving a long distance priority message of a confrontational nature from the leader of the F.E.A.R. group. In the confusion I allowed the Corsair vessel to take a clear shot at my fighter with it's starboard batteries and I found myself drifting in an escape pod again. Luckily I was very close to Roppongi station and quickly rescued. I believe the Shikakan was badly damaged at that point and all hands were forced to abandon ship. I have little recollection of what happened next but by the time my escape capsule had been recovered the battle was over, the Coursair and Xeno ships nowhere to be seen.
My thanks to the captain of the Thor's Hammer whose long journey from Liberty space was for nothing. Kussari high command is appreciative of the support from the Southern Alliance and hope we may return the honour one day.
I do not intend to be so ill prepared again. The strength of the enemy was underestimated and the direction of the attack unforeseen. The conflict with Bretonia has weakened our planetary defences. I am taking steps to ensure Kusari security.
Draft report (third review, authorised for final release)
![[Image: kusari4-small.jpg]](http://home.pacific.net.au/~nadir/KNF/kusari4-small.jpg)
