The moving has been silent, since the convoy entered the system. The Samuran Escort fighters left at Tsushima, leaving the three transport vessels currently only under the cover of the station itself. Shortly after the fighters left, small ferries exit the hatches aboard the transports - the caring observer can notice the faces of young crewmen, baffled and stunned by the sudden order to leave the ship by their commanders and only leave a skeleton crew aboard.
After a wait for minutes, a group of fighters exit the trade lane ring. They immediately open comms with the waiting transports.
"SIS Kinesaki-maru I presume?"
"Acknowledged. Leading the Convoy SS-13312-Sakura headed for Nansei. You're our escort?"
"Positive. Something wrong with your video transmitter, Kinesaki? I can only hear your voice, captain."
"Only a slight defect caused by the Hokkaido radiation, sir. Nothing serious."
"Copy. I say we move, we're already behind schedule."
Not that far away, four fighters hide in the outcroppings of the Dust field. It's view protection is not perfect, but scanners won't give your position away here.
"All vessels, report."
"Hien-Ni, ready"
"Hien-San, nominal"
"Hien-Yon, all green"
"Understood. All ships, stay in formation and wait here. Don't get distracted by the dust. They're coming, and they can't give us more than a ping to warn us of their coming. Radio silence until you pick something up, you know the drill."
The fighters line up and reduce their engines to a minimum. Nothing can be heard inside the cockpits except for the repeating sound of the rebreathing unit, not even scanner pings are online.
"Everything nominal. I just have some metal readings in the dust cloud, most likely a wreck. Cold since years, it looks."
"Seems like another quiet day, doesn't it?"
"Hai. Hope the snails in the transport catch up again. Growing tired of the waiting."
Wait, I see something, sir. Some ping just slipped by, can't locate its source - my god, there're fighters closing! How did they get so close?"
"No clue, doesn't matter. IFF?"
"Imperial"
"Right. Let's light them up, soldiers. You're trained for that. Kinesaki, stay back, we have bogeys incoming!
Aboard the Tomozoru , everything is quiet. The receivers are on maximum, and deadly silence envelops the bridge. Admiral Sakuma herself sits in the chair between the three command consoles, hearing every single 'beep' in the room.
As the ping, and a minute later a zealous 'Tenno Heika Banzai' out of four mouths is heard, she finally issues an order.
"It started. Move in, upload the virus. And be on guard."
//Since the happening of this event, the imperial force has been operating on reserves and the support from benefactors. The few freighters they own are just enough to justify patrols around their immediate basing areas, and since they're pretty broke, just buying transports is not an option. Instead, they decide to prepare for a daring raid and contact their friends at Samura, to tackle the supply issue.
They assault a convoy to Research station Nansei with a small force, coordinating with Samura for the time and using the lesser training of the KNF to divert their forces away from the convoy, while sneaking a sole gunboat (depending on the amount of people, with a small escort) through the Tau corridor, coming from the other side and upload a virus into the navcomputers of the Samuran transport, through the firewalls lowered by the captains themselves.
The intent is to get the transports to safely slip away to the Tottori system, and then move away through the same corridor they took into the house.
Rules of engagement
The KNF engage the diversionary force of the Exiles, trying to fend off the attack before it can call for backup.
Exiles objectives:
Hold off the KNF fighters for at least five minutes to create a diversion for the Tomozoru to upload the virus (Primary objective)
Destroy the KNF fighters so they can't pursue (Secondary objective)
At least one of the Exile fighters must survive (Tertiary objective)
Flight path fighter wing: Halfway between Tsushima and Nansei, waiting for the convoy
Flight path Tomozoru: Entering through Tottori, waiting at the D/E 4 conjunction for the fight to start
KNF objectives:
Destroy the attacking exile fighter wing (Primary objective)
Manage to destroy or rout them in at least 5 minutes to prevent the Tomozoru from executing her goal (Secondary objective)
Pursue the Exile Gunboat fleeing with the transports if the above is completed (Tertiary objective)
Flight path: Tau-29 Jumpgate -> Tsushima, then open space to Nansei, engaging mid-flight
Samura objectives:
Pretend to be abducted by the gunboat closing in to not raise suspicion (Primary objective)
Get safely to the IKS Nagasaki, if necessary by spreading out and pretending to have been boarded while the gunboat fends pursuers off (Secondary objective)
Flight path: Tsushima, then open space to Nansei, staying back and moving away from the closing fighters (into the direction of D/E 4), then following the Tomozoru
Total Slots:
Exile force (4-6 men projected, 5/6 slots occupied)
This event is not that heavy in organizing. Samura and KNF should poke {343}IKS.Tomozoru once they are ready to move out, to make sure all are in position before moving out.
Participants, please state name of character, side you're participating, and ship.
Indies are of course always welcome, although official players will be getting preferred treatment in case a slot is to be occupied by two people.
Feedback and questions are welcome. Please try to even out the numbers.
![[Image: VF_sig.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/418068668572893194/421020083763150870/VF_sig.png)
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