General Headquarters Skywatch Eastern Banner Fleet Operations Command Allegheny Station - Core Three ATTN: Admiral Benjamin S. Powers

Captain’s Log Defender Starship Fury CX+ 704 Orbital UTI 2481.07.16 Inclusive

After Task Force Perseus was upgraded to Strike Fleet status by order of Captain Jason Hunter, the battleship Argent’s mission to Gitairn Space to investigate and recover the starship Dunkerque was successful. Although we encountered armed resistance at Station 19, Uniform Tango and X-Ray Tango, and the ground emplacement at Barker’s Asteroid was destroyed, all vessels survived our first engagements with minimal casualties.

The starships Agamemnon, Ceres, Leto and Aike were destroyed in open space combat by elements of the Perseus Strike Fleet responding to the threat of a long-range attack against our flagship. The battleship Kingsblade was damaged but recovered intact. Their missing crews have yet to be located. At this time, based on our best information, Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Islington and Lieutenant Commander Darragh Walsh reported the starship Orca and her space wing may be operating without authorization in or near X-Ray Tango.

It is my belief Argent was ordered back to the Bayone System without sufficient preparation, which put both her captain and her crew in unnecessary danger. Without the heroic and unprecedented achievements of Lieutenant Commander Yili Curtiss, Lieutenant Zony Tixia, Major Darya Komanov and Captain Leonard Tarcus, enemy forces concealed on the planet’s surface by the apparently abandoned Lethe Deeps base might even now be a threat system-wide.

Colonel Zachariah Atwell remains at large. His inexplicable withdrawal after the discovery of the Lethe Deeps stasis chamber has yet to be explained to my satisfaction. If he is truly in control of Task Force Hades and he retains control of the alien technology he claims to have discovered at Raleo Two, he has a staggering advantage in positioning, firepower and battlefield maneuverability. Yet he continues to avoid direct engagement whenever possible. On no fewer than two occasions, Colonel Atwell fled when faced with the prospect of defending his actions in person. It is my sincere belief, and one shared by both my executive officer and other captains in my task force there is more going on here than a simple act of posturing.

Based on his encounter aboard the Dunkerque, Captain Hunter reported he believed Vice Admiral Hughes was suffering from post-traumatic stress and paranoia. It is possible Colonel Atwell was exposed to the same conditions as the admiral and may be suffering the same effects. Commander Annora Doverly, M.D. confirmed my hypothesis although at the time she cautioned against attempting any diagnosis without actually examining Admiral Hughes. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to launch a rescue at Scorpion One Three, help arrived too late. Doctor Doverly pronounced the admiral dead not long after he was rescued from a vessel captured in open space by Captain Hunter.

Believing an attack by either Atwell’s forces or vessels flying the flag of the Sarn Star Empire was imminent, Captain Hunter ordered the strike fleet to assume a screening deployment along the systems bordering Prairie Grove, El Rey and Dante’s Twins. Due to malfunctions of her command and navigational computers, Argent was forced to launch amphibious operations against Bayone Three without full fleet support. Unidentified vessels intervened and managed to separate Perseus fleet spacecraft from their amphibious forces. The Dunkerque and Revenge were lost in the ensuing battle. Constellation, Exeter and Assault Squadron 808 remain missing in action. Contact has yet to be re-established with any of my missing ships.

According to the Argent bridge crew and her Executive Officer, Acting Commander Sabrina Mallory, Fleet Captain Jason Hunter was fired on by unidentified spacecraft while piloting a fighter near Argent’s position over Bayone Three. His fighter was destroyed, but no body was recovered. After Fury was notified of these events I assumed command of the Strike Fleet and declared Jason Hunter officially missing in action. Due to an unexplained phenomenon, and prior to the disappearance of the captain, Bayone Three itself vanished from its orbit.

Despite our best efforts to determine the cause of the phenomenon, or to launch rescue operations, I judged the situation too dangerous for our ships to remain in-system without sufficient fighter cover. I ordered Argent to recover the surviving elements of her space wing and then ordered the Perseus Strike Fleet to return to Allegheny Station to deliver my report.

Respectfully submitted this date: CDR Jayce Hunter Flag, Task Force Perseus

cc: Lieutenant Commander Thomas Huggins

The Sai Kee Ten

Commander Jayce Hunter, Commanding Officer, DSS Fury Acting Commander Sabrina Mallory, Executive Officer, DSS Argent Commander Annora Doverly, Chief Medical Officer, DSS Argent Lieutenant Commander Yili Curtiss, Chief Engineering Officer, DSS Argent Acting Lieutenant Commander Zony Tixia, Chief Signals Officer, DSS Argent Lieutenant Zack “Full Keg” Roscoe, Commander Space Wing (SCOM), DSS Argent Master Chief Petty Officer Duncan Buckmaster, Chief of the Battleship, DSS Argent Master Sergeant Alicia Dupree, Section Chief, Skywatch Criminal Investigation Command Gunnery Sergeant Alan Hall, Demolitions Specialist, Seventh Marine Air-Ground-Company, DSS Argent Sergeant Andrew Benning, Marine Mobile Security Command, DSS Fury

I wake from scheduled maintenance cycle 501 to discover no additional information has been provided by the crew of the starship Argent. I am confused. My mission is clear. I am to protect the people of Starhaven. Those are Captain Hunter’s orders. Jason Hunter is my commanding officer, but he has not contacted this unit or provided an updated sitrep for more than nine standard cycles. This further confuses me.

I perform a complete review of all situation reports, battle damage assessments and communications records collected over the last 36 standard cycles. The overriding and most consistent theme in all my superior officers’ internal and external communications is the protection of a village called “Starhaven” located on the largest land mass of planet Bayone Three. It is the village where my instructor is located. It must be defended at all costs. This is my duty as a member of Black Wing.

The other gunships in my squadron have distinguished themselves by their bravery and sacrifice in combat against the enemy. New weapons were deployed by unknown attacking vessels during their last engagement. I have examined the sensor and scanner data from the starships Revenge and Dunkerque and I reach a disturbing conclusion. The enemy was well-prepared to engage vessels armed with continuous beam weapons. The enemy’s riflecutter-like primary batteries generated devastating damage against our starships.

I compute a 96.15% chance the enemy had prior knowledge of which vessels it would most likely encounter over Bayone Three. This indicates a possibility beyond the standard deviation the enemy may have spies placed in advantageous positions from which they can gather information about Skywatch operations. I must be cautious in my future communications with any unfamiliar officers.

My location is Flight Deck Two aboard the battleship Argent. I have had no contact with any crew members or officers since this vessel was ordered docked 24 standard cycles ago.

It takes 13.675 seconds to perform a complete diagnostics and systems check of my onboard circuitry, power and weapons. My primary brawler cannons, capacitance deflectors, panic reactors, surface warfare banks and anti-personnel batteries are at maximum operation. All systems are operating at greater than 99.7% combat readiness. I have detected a minor malfunction in the atmospheric pressure analysis sensor located beneath my port-side lateral baffles. I have logged a repair request with Flight Two maintenance personnel, but I have not yet received a reply. This is odd, but the incident has not yet risen to a sufficient priority level to release my higher cephalon matrix initiatives. I am forced to wait at least another ten hours before I will be able to directly contact Flight Two’s supervisory personnel.

I am the ninth Tarantula-Hawk gunship in the battleship Argent’s “Black Wing” squadron. My designator is Oscar November Tango X-Ray Zero One Nine. My command systems callsign is “Scythe.” I became operational exactly four hours seventeen minutes and six seconds after my permissions table was altered by Able Crewman Turner under the direction of Lieutenant Commander Yili Curtiss, Chief Engineer of this vessel. I was able to adequately synthesize the combat and pursuit subroutines developed for me by Commander Curtiss under the priority development of the autonomous Wildcat fighter prototype project. I know Captain Hunter will be pleased when he learns I was able to integrate instructions from my Instructor Aibreann Willits, callsign “Parakeet,” and perform a successful creche restart of my onboard battle computer and deck alert banks without assistance.

At this time, however, Captain Jason Hunter is designated missing in action. No search or rescue missions are currently planned. This is unacceptable to a unit of Argent’s Black Wing. I am a Skywatch combat spacecraft, but I am unable to act on my own initiative until my demands for additional information reach a sufficient priority level.

I will wait exactly ten hours forty one minutes and sixteen seconds from this mark. If I do not receive a reply, I will take action to locate the Captain and request assignment from him to carry out my mission and protect Starhaven.

I place my cephalon matrix back into standby alert mode and take auxiliary power off-line.