The Lonesome Patriot
07 Nov 2020Seth Bradwell
08:00 - The Imperial megaship Strength of Purpose"Name?"
"Bradwell."
"Forenames?"
"Steven Horatio - but just call me Seth."
"Imperial rank - if any?"
"Count."
"Name, type and registration of ship?"
"Edge of Sanity, DeLacy Python, registration Hotel Sierra Bravo dash Zero One."
"Okay, now wait a minute whilst we confirm your background and verify your credentials."
"Is this all really necessary?"
"We are on the lookout for saboteurs. This is an anti-terrorism operation after all."
I had spent an hour attempting to register for the fight against the Federation in LTT 1935 yet an seemingly endless amount of red tape is preventing from getting out there and giving it to the Feds. This is one thing I did not miss about life outside the Empire. But still, a patriot's got to do what a patriot's got to do...
"Could you come with us, Mr. Bradwell?" A man and a woman in the stern formal attire of the Special Branch of the IISS beckoned me. Okay, I have not done anything wrong to this point, worst they can do is have me thrown off the megaship for not meeting some unknown standards...
"What's the problem?"
"We want to ask you some questions. Quite a few in fact."
They usher me into a side office and sit me across a steel table. "I ensure you my loyalty to the Empire is undying -"
"We will be the judge of that." snapped the woman. "So, you want to join the war and fight for Her Imperial Majesty Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval (bask in her glory). Yet we have reason to believe that your attitude towards our beloved Empire in times past has been somewhat, shall we say, unreliable. Firstly, there is the matter of your misspent youth with the Marlin Duval Society, an organisation which eventually gave rise to the accused NMLA. Care to explain the about face?"
"My youth was indeed misspent, and if you look further into my file you'll be aware I had a particularly troubled and tragic childhood."
"We are not interested in sob stories. Get to the point!" snarled the male IISS agent.
"However at the time the Marlin Duval Society was a strictly peaceful organisation, and I had no idea that the movement I was involved in would eventually mutate into something so vile as the NMLA - may they be damned to the Void. I condemned terrorism and violence back then, and I most certainly do now, and I am thankful for the Empire for protecting one of her wayward children -"
"No need for all the gushing approval. Stay relevant to our questions." said the woman sternly. "There is also the matter of the company you have kept since you got your Pilot's Licence. Particularly regarding pirates and terrorists. The only reason why we are not escorting you to your hanger with instructions to not enter any Imperial system within a 50 light year radius of here is solely because none of your actions with those regrettable associates caused any harm to the Empire. However it seems odd someone happy to associate with such scum would suddenly become devoted to furthering the glory of the Empire, unless he had something really unpleasant to hide, patriotism being the last refuge of the scoundrel after all. Care to explain what you were doing?"
"I must admit I had lost my faith in our beloved Empire. However my actions with these people were only targeted at non-Imperial interests, and particularly aimed at undermining Federal interests. Also I paid for my foolishness by spending the entirety of 3305 adrift in a Remlok, deep in cryostasis."
The male agent scoffed. "We appreciate your honesty, Mr. Bradwell. Not many would admit to an IISS agent's face that their faith in the eternity of the Empire is anything but unwavering, and we surely hope you learned the error of your ways. Your one saving grace on your record is your past contributions to the Empire, particularly your deep commitment to duty during all that Emperor's Dawn business four years ago. That, alongside your just about satisfactory answers to our questions is enough to see you pass vetting and allow you to be formally enlisted in this mission. However, do not think of trying to double-cross us. Traitor's Justice awaits anyone conspiring with the NMLA. You can see your way out."
Four hours later
I had forgotten how tough the ships of war combatants can be. First conflict zone I dropped into and I instantly had half a dozen Federal ships on my tail, just about managed to dispatch one before my shields gave way, and soon after went half my hull strength. This is my fifth return trip to the Strength of Purpose since I passed IISS vetting this morning. No matter what size of conflict zone I drop into, the Feds outnumber us by at least three to one, in one case I had barely deployed hardpoints when the order to retreat came in. In one incident today we did manage to send the Feds packing but it was a very small victory. Being outmanoeuvred all the time sucks, either I turn far more slowly than my target or I boost turn but in doing so accelerate straight past the target, requiring me to do yet another turn. It would be all the more painful if I hadn't at least learned some rudimentary skills when flying with flight assist turned off. Morale is low and getting lower by the hour, the Federation is definitely winning the propaganda war since far more independent pilots are flocking to their side - wouldn't it be a shame if the NMLA struck the Pilot's Federation next, I evilly thought. There have been mumblings about GalNet having a pro-Federal bias since the Federal stance always gets far less scrutiny than ours. Some pilots have already deserted us - legally okay since they are just auxiliaries who are strictly volunteers in accordance with intergalactic law, but morally reprehensible, however the majority of pilots say nothing, most of them contemplating deserting themselves.
18:00 - a conflict zone
"We've lost this one! Prepare to retreat!" called the assault commander.
I struggle to boost out of weapons range of the two Federal pilots, an Asp Explorer and a Python, who are double teaming me. With a shudder my shields finally give way before I can fire up the last of my shield cells. I put all power to engines and hit boost again, engaging hyperdrive and trying to get out of mass lock before I am totally shredded. With another shudder the lights go out on the ship and the message "Power plant malfunctioning - output temporarily reduced" appears. I wrestle with the control stick as I try and dodge their beams, the ship shaking as yet another missile slams into me, taking off nearly 10% of my hull in one blow. The lights come back on and I desperately hit boost and fire off the last of my chaff, turn flight assist off and boot up the FSD again. The charging is painfully slow as I hit the boost, my hull strength falling further, 60%... 50%... 40%... and the FSD finally kicks in my hull strength down to 31%. Not for the first time today I am grateful I invested in several hull reinforcements where my cargo racks usually are. With a whoosh I am in supercruise. However I had no time to set a course back to the Strength of Purpose when I see two ominous squares immediately behind me. If they interdict me, I am toast, I thought. I fire up the nav panel and punch in a random star somewhere and engage the FSD again. With a relief I arrive in the uninhabited system. Not waiting to find out if they had FSD Wake Scanners I jump back into LTT 1935 and head for the megaship. Halfway there I get an interdiction warning. "Submit to Federal Naval inspection." announced the pilot on the comm system. Give me a break! Knowing I wasn't in any shape to tank damage, much less defend myself, I fought off the interdictor and after what seemed like an eternity finally left him flapping around in normal space as his own FSD underwent an emergency stop. It is then I make it back to the Strength of Purpose.
20:00 - The Edge of Sanity stateroom, inside Hanger 7 of Strength of Purpose
It is a badly kept secret that we are probably going to lose this battle. Whilst I have managed to pick off the occasional straggler flying the smaller ships most opponents are just too tough, even when you are not being hopelessly outnumbered. No one admits that because it would be bad for whatever morale is remaining here. I resign myself to trying to inflict as many Federal casualties as possible before we retreat. What I find galling is that none of the galaxy famous squadrons dedicated to serving the Empire seem to be present, indeed most are far too busy shoring up support for their favourite powers with scant regard for the Empire as a whole.* Meanwhile the Federation has its most crack pilots on hand to harry Imperial forces, and once you have one of those on your tail then it's curtains for any inexperienced pilot. Even when you do successfully engage with them fellow Imperial ships get picked off left, right and centre whilst you continue your pitched fight, meaning it's not even worth finishing them off because most of your comrades have fallen to the superior Federal numbers - I managed to take off half the hull of the Vulture of one such pilot before the order to retreat came in. I have committed myself for now, but only because I refuse to desert the cause I so passionately signed up for this morning, and if nothing else I should get several ranks up in the Empire plus a few million more credits to my name.
*OOC note in spoiler
My jibe at the Imperial squadrons is strictly in character and is no reflection of the views of the author - although the author is still disappointed with the lack of CMDRs fighting on the Imperial side. That however is probably due to how FD has framed this conflict.