NationStates Jolt Archive


Midnight on the Firing Line

United Indiastan
19-09-2003, 23:35
0014, Earth Standard. Personal log of Scott James, Captain, INV Empire.

"Yesterday, I think fate signed our death warrents. As part of Trajan Divison, it is our job to go on routine wasteland and outer rim patrols, in order to keep the peace, keep pirates in check, and such. Generally, these patrols are long, peaceful, and very boring.

Yesterday though... well, wasn't.

Gold squad, which we're a part of, had finished its patrol through system ZH8854B, a pretty standard wasteland system orbiting a red giant. Well, after forming up and heading out-system, we met.. them. A rather large fleet of sleek ships, of unknown origin, came in-system, and they camein fast. There were as big as us, and they looked very well-armed.

Flag-Captain Tariq aboard the INV Calcutta panicked, especially after we detected what we thought to be weapons systems powering up. When they came into range, still no trace of targetting systems could be detected, but we figured thats because they're more advanced then out scanners. Tariq gave the orders to stand by to open fire when the got to optimal range. We were at peak readiness, having just finished a patroll; all of our fighters were spaceborne, the guns were hot, and the crew at their stations. We tried to hail them, but they didnt respond. After the third try, Tariq gave us the firing order. The guns spat death as fast as they could, but the computers had problems finding targets. We saw that a few smaller support ships were incinerated, and that the big lead ship took hits to her prow and what looked like a superstructure. Other then that, our few hits seemed inconsequential. After firing for twenty seconds, they started shooting back. In the same amount of time, the Calcutta was vaporized, and the Hawk and Eagle were crippled. After that, we retreated, falling back into hyperspace. We hoped we were safe.

We're heading back to Osiris Station now, over Cygni Alpha. We'll be there in a few hours. Hopefully they won't have follow us."