To: Rheinland Military Command
From: Feldwebel Hans Putzkammer
Subject: Patrol report #5
Guten tag mein herren,
Down to business. This patrol started out very smoothly. I launched from Planet Holstein in the Frankfurt system and proceeded on a patrol route from there to Omega 7. Along the way I met a cheerful man but the name of Rass. He worked as the captain of a Kruger Minerals Transport and was heading the exact same way as I was. We talked with idle chit chat and made our way to the Kruger Minerals Station in Omega 7. The trip there was completely devoid of any hostiles and strongly patrolled buy reservists. After staying in Omega 7 for a bit and having a chat with the IMG and Kruger vessels there.
I moved back to the lane and finished a patrol of the system. Wile finishing the rest of the patrol I was contacted buy a helpful Reservist looking for a job to do. As Rheinland was devoid of and Criminal activity all I could do for him was to patch him into the comms system. As i was moving back to Stuttgart I passed by Herr Rall who then joined me on patrol. Wile MG Rall outranked me, he kept a passive attitude and let me take the lead for the most part. As things were going quite swimmingly we made passage for the Omega 11 system, looking to clear it of the hessians who frequent it. However once we got there it to was absolutely void of and Criminal or Revolutionary activity.
Heading back to New Berlin was just as cool and calm as everything else. Arriving at New Berlin Rall and I were contacted by a Reserve Gunboat who had just came on station and was requesting orders. Sadly we had none, so we instead enjoyed some particularly fine Roast Duck made buy the Gun Boat's chef. (I must say, I do recommend the man for promotion, the Duck was superb.)
After the meal had settled I came with an idea. If Rheinland really was devoid of Unlawful activity, perhaps we could turn our attentions to the Libertonians. I asked MG Rall if he would OK a recon action into Texas to plant a Mass Sensory Probe on the Trade Lane to the New York Jump Gate. Rall replied in the affirmative and gave the go-ahead for the mission. I asked if he would like to take command as he was the ranking officer on this sortie however, Rall declined this and let me proceed with the tactical command on this mission.
Gathering our forces we made for Hamburg. Rendezvousing at the planet, we counted our forces. One Gunboat and Three Very Heavy Fighters; perfect for a infiltration mission as the Fighters can slip through defenses undetected wile the Gunboat has an excellent sensory package and is still small enough to avoid triggering Mass Detection Alarms.
We set out on a coarse for the Bering system. Upon reaching said system we encountered a major setback, Rall's fighter was malfunctioning. We had to wast precious time trying to hunt down Rall as his fighter took him on wild goose chases though the asteroids. I almost scrubbed the mission right there and then, but Rall insisted that he was fine and the problems were over. We jumped to Texas.
Upon reaching Texas I had giving orders to travel 10K up and off the standard plane. Proceeding up off the plane, we met at the proscribed location and divided into two forces. The Gunboat was to stay 12K above the Bering gate and keep it clear wile we worked our magic on the trade lane to New York. The Gunboat had standing orders to, if detected, Set coarse for the Hudson JH and steam there with all speed.
Making our way to the trade lane, we encountered no hostels and everything was on the up and up. The gunboat notified up of new Mass Readings in the system consistent with the profile of Naval ships. Indeed, soon enough, wile I was working on the trade lane device, a LSF gunboat appeared and hovered just inside of contact range. Surprisingly it did not investigate our mischief, and left us to finish our work unhampered.
The deed now done and the TLMDS in place we made our move for the Bering Jump Gate. The LSF Gunboat, whom had remained at bay so far began to follow us. Fearing that our vector had been calculated, I ordered our GB to the secondary exfil point, the Hudson JH. As the GB moved, we headed for a vector in-between both JGs out of the system in hopes that they would not have enough men to cover all the exits. Due to a misinterpreted order, our GB had jumped back to Bering and was moving towards the Hudson JH there. Taking advantage of this misfortune, I ordered the GB to plot a course to the other side of the Texas JH in Hudson, so as to not alet the LSF GB to our GB's presence until it had already jumped through. We might as well take out a liberty war ship wile we were there, so we began planing for it.
As we approached the JH the LSF GB broke off our trail and made way for the Hudson JG. We ran though the JH and meet with our GB waiting there just in time to see the LSF GB approaching from the TL. We began to set up ambush positions and we getting ready to strike when a new contact appeared on scanners, a Libertine Siege Cruiser. Fearing that the initiative had been lost and that our GB was at risk of being destroyed, I began to issue a Pull out order. Rall, however told us to hold position as he could keep the cruiser from getting to our GB with CDs. Holding in possition we recived word that a [RM] Bomber was in route and would be there soon.
Things were looking up. No shots had yet been fired and we would soon have the advantage. That's when two [LN] fighters arrived. Even worse, Rall's fighter began malfunctioning once more. Rall stated that he was combat ineffective and transfused command to me. I gave the order to pull out. We got out of the CD envelope just as two more [LN] fighters jumped in. Making our way back to Hamburg we were followed to Atka by the LSF GB however he left us there. Back in Hamburg we congratulated ourselves on a complete success.
Final tally: RM deaths: 0 LN deaths: 0 Intel gained on libertine fleet movements: Massive
Mein herren, It is at times like these when I am proud to be a Rheinlander!
