Message to: RHA & allies
Comm ID: Conrad Egon
Location: Vogtland Base
It has been a very eventful two days...the Captain and I ran into difficulties retrieving my Marauder. Namely, the RAB and SCRA. We landed on a neutral base to discuss our options, as the enemy was blockading the area nearby. We decided to run for the Freeport on the other side of the system, with the Captain going first to act as distraction. Luckily, it worked - by the time the enemy got permission to fire, I was out of range, with the Captain following not far behind.
We made it to the Freeport, where I was able to get my fighter and outfit it with passable, if not impressive, weaponry: four class 8 chainguns and two class 4 photon guns. But without shield-busters, it was apparent that the Coalition bombers would be difficult for the two of us to defeat; but fortune was again on our side. Others came in-system, and became engaged in an argument with the SCRA forces.
We used that distraction to flee the Freeport right under their noses! About halfway to the jump hole, however, the Captain bravely fell back to engage the enemy, in an effort to keep them from following us. That was where our good fortune left us; I waited a few clicks from the jump hole in Omega-41, safely away. Of a sudden, the Das.Starke.Feuer burst through, bombers in tow.
Captain: Run!!
I complied; that was his last transmission from the gunboat, which was destroyed seconds later. The bombers were hot on my heels as I fled through a minefield to the jump hole on the other side of the system, taunting me in an effort to provoke me into a futile fight. I was not about to let the Captain's sacrifice of his gunboat be in vain, however, and I reached the jump hole just two clicks ahead of the enemy.
That was when a group of allies I hadn't known were nearby came to the rescue, rushing into the Omega-41 system to engage the enemy. I know they were Kusari, but beyond that know little of them. After that, the journey the rest of the way back to Vogtland was uneventful, as was my trip to Omega-11 to acquire some heavy lasers.
I spent the night there, and set off this morning for Liberty space, intending to use my good relationship with their police to buy a pair of advanced debilitators. En route, I encountered and destroyed a convoy consisting of two Humpbacks and their Hawk escorts, as well as a Train that was trying to dock. I tractored in what cargo I could (though the Train was empty), and destroyed a storage depot at Alster shipyard on my way out. All told, I brought home 15 captured pilots of various stripes, some H-fuel, and silver.
That was when I was contacted by one of our Ghost allies, a fellow by the name of Nightblade. After a bit of conversation, he mentioned that he had plenty of guns that he could simply give me if I returned to Dresden. How could I resist such a generous offer? I did so, and good as his word, he met me in a heavy transport loaded with goods. He was even good enough to give me the Skyblast B's I wanted, and a Discovery Scanner.
After I'd equipped my lovely new weapons, Nightblade got into his Viper fighter and offered to train with me, as he wanted some practice. I hadn't much experience in my Marauder, so I agreed. After the first few salvoes, however, a red blip appeared on our scanners: a Rheinland bomber, carrying Neutral ID. In spite of his ID, he was shooting our Hessian guard ships, and was carrying Hessian pilots in his hold. We asked him to leave, and to drop our pilots. He refused, and continued attacking our guard ships, so we engaged.
It wasn't a long fight; he couldn't get a good bead on us, nor on our RLB ally which had entered the area just before the fight began (Wolf). The bomber pilot fought well, but I don't understand why he fought at all. If he'd dropped our pilots and stopped attacking the other Hessians, we'd have left him alone. But he pressed the issue, and refused to answer any of our comms, so we were forced to destroy his ship.
Since our ships were still in near-perfect shape, Nightblade and I continued our training session after that. In spite of the Marauder being more lightly armed, shielded, and armored than the Viper (Marauder=HF, Viper=VHF) we were quite evenly matched. The fight lasted for nearly half an hour, and in the end, our shields were down and we were both down to the last 5% of our hull. It could have gone either way, but Nightblade got the last salvo and defeated me. It was an excellent fight, and good practice!
I was, however, somewhat disappointed in my Marauder's wide turning radius. I don't think it can turn much, if any, sharper than the Viper. Does have a slim frontal profile, though, and I suppose that helps. At any rate, I'm quite glad to see we have such skilled and generous allies to aid us in our cause.
