July 3304--Inaugural combat ops; routing out the terrorists
23 Aug 2018Raumfahrer Spiff
—CMDR Raumfahrer Spiff—July 3304–Ienpalang system, Brundage City—Brand new paint job and detailing in place, this would be the official inaugural combat operation of the [EIC] Tracer Bullet. Although I've been tinkering with her for a little while now and putting her through paces in limited combat test-runs, this would be her first major combat operation in hostile territory. The mission: Assist local Imperial authorities in Ienpalang against a mounting terrorist uprising by the League of Reparation. Duty to the Empire calls.
My arrival in system was uneventful. There seemed to be a light stream of Imperial CMDRs passing between Brundage City and the few scattered CZs. I dropped right in and got to work. I deployed pilot Hendricks in the Taipan. Hoping to soon join me in reaching Elite combat ranking, he was excited to take point and fire at will. Following his lead, I ran interference as he began to help clearing out a squad of Asps and Eagles. The Eagles where a piece of cake for Hendricks, and the Asps would drop shields fast enough, and just a couple of hits from my supped up plasma accelerators would finish the job neatly.
We carried on for a bit like that—Hendricks performing admirably, aside from a couple fighter hulls expended. Occasionally we'd pass one of the handful of other CMDRs working this zone, all handling things just fine in similar skirmishes. Until two enemy Alliance Challengers dropped in, right on top of a Competent ranked CMDR in a Viper about 11km out.
He was gonna be in trouble fast so I set course—full pips to engines. I ordered Hendricks on the closest target while I took the other. By the time we got there the Viper was scrambling away with steadily falling hull integrity. We hammer down to get the enemies attention and drag them off the limping Viper. The shields go down on my target fast enough, but the hulls on these bullfrogs are surprisingly tough, and they are nimble as hell, even against my dirty drives. I'm not landing many PAs, so I switch to the three large corrosive/drag Frags topside. By the time I take him out Hendricks has the shields off his bogey so I go in to help finish off the wretch just in time as the Taipan loses its shields. The Viper gets away and Hendricks and I score two more to our tally.
The fighting continued routinely for a while, I even ended up winging with another savvy CMDR sporting an equally slick Krait. With his rails/lasers and my Frags/PAs we had Pythons and Condas dropping like flies. And with both of our tricked out Bi-weave shields working overtime, we never even got scuffed. By the time my ammo was out I had well over a million credits worth of combat bonds logged.
As I was cashing in and resupplying, I notice on my wing status indicator that my comrade was suddenly in some trouble. Some 900ls away, sitting comfortably in a hanger, there was nothing I could do as I watched his shields melt fast, followed by his hull practically vanishing into thin air. In a few moments he was just gone. For him to go down like that, after how well he'd been flying so far.. Something big must've made it's way onto that battlefield.
I hustled my way back across the system to try and find the culprit. At first I only see a few familiar allies and run of the mill League of Reparation ships. I jump in the fray and we all clear the screen till the scanners are showing all green. That is until I notice the tell tale flickering of an unresolved enemy contact that must be some 13km out. I headed out that way with Hendricks in tow. Getting closer, we saw a secondary battle raging on with laser beams and rail shots pulsing off in the distance. The contact resolved and I saw it was an enemy CMDR. Expert Rank, he was flying an Anaconda. There was also another friendly CMDR in this scuffle, woefully outclassed--Novice rank in a Vulture. As I feared, by the time I covered the gap, the Conda had trained on the greenhorn, who had made the rookie mistake of jetting away in a straight line. Luckily, with a max boost speed of 529m/s, I snuck in before too much damage had been dealt. I was clearly a bigger threat, so I pulled him squarely onto my signature.
Immediately I realized this wasn't going to be simple. This Conda was a beast. Fast for it's size, loaded to bare with target-lock breaker PA's and corrosive frags, along with prismatic shields, a full compliment of SCBs, and who knows how many shield boosters. This was gonna be a big deal. I could have run at this point, I'd already saved my nameless colleague, but this jerk was flying for terrorists in Imperial boarders and I just couldn't let him get away with it. What honorable Imperial would ever leave the fight with an unblemished hull? New paint be damned. I couldn't let that treacherous scum think the Empire or the EIC would give up on liberty so easily.
I was fast enough to keep out of the firing arc for at least half of the time, and nimble enough to dodge a portion of his PA vollies, but my weapons were just barely scratching at his first ring of shields, even with Hendricks' help. By the time he had dropped my bi-weaves he was popping an SCB and back up to full shield strength. I sped away toward the center of the battlefield, hopping he'd give chase—the only way I'd have a chance is to get some cover-fire from my allies.
Down to 80% hull but with modules still operating nominally and shields back up I rounded back and continued to dance. I'd roll around long enough for him to pop my shields then leave him occupied while I sped away to recharge. After a few of these tangos I was down to 47% hull, out of frag rounds, and seriously low on plasma rounds. He was happily holding onto 2 rings of shields with maybe a few spare SCBs to go. I could have given up, but I'd barely made any bank on this run, wasted almost all of my ammo, and you know, honor and glory for the Empire and stuff. So I quickly left his sensor range and started synthesizing some more ammo. Then I noticed.. I had been busy prospecting for rare minerals lately and lo and behold.. I have a few spare reloads available of premium ammo. Well... this could work.
Hopped up on weapons-grade steroids, I changed gears. Full power to engines to cut down his time on target and occasionally edge me into his blind spot. I had to be even more careful with dodging his shots since my hull was alarmingly perforated and I was shortchanging my shield juice a bit. I'd begrudgingly gotten sort of attached to Hendricks over the past few months, so re-buy was not an option. But neither was retreat. Victory really was the only option left. With less room for error, I hugged his flank and dodged his vollies, while hammering him down to one ring of shields and just chewing through the remainder of his SCBs. As Hendricks launched the last of our fighters, the terrorist finally gives up and turns tail. Without enough mass to slow him down, he wakes out before we can finish the job. Even though I wasn't able to cash-in his ticket, I felt good knowing he'd remember what the Empire has to offer. These terrorists don’t stand a chance. I think Hendricks is due for a bonus.
—CMDR Spiff out—