On September 3rd, 2956, USC Citizens went about their usual business — notably USC Citizen Arthur Cevir (CptNeptune), underway on cargo missions to and from Levski, travelling from Stanton and back. On this occasion, he was flying a newly acquired Gatac Railen, a ship new to Cevir, meant to undergo some engineering field tests with its alien engines.
However, during one of his many routine cargo hauls, all systems suddenly started to go haywire. It wasn’t a system malfunction or damaged engines — no, Cevir was being interdicted.
It didn’t take long for Cevir to realise the situation, as both an Aegis Tiburon and an RSI Mantis stared him down. These pirates had taken it upon themselves to block the corridor between Levski and Stanton Gateway, using the Mantis to interdict and the Tiburon to catch and destroy any unsuspecting, easy prey.
Cevir was brave, but the odds were stacked against his small cargo ship, leaving him only enough time for a last-minute distress call to the rest of the USC before his ship was finally destroyed by the Tiburon’s laser beam.
USC Rapid Response Force
It didn’t take long for the distress signal to reach the first Citizens. Very quickly, they gathered together in the comms channels to organise a response unit. Minister Stiles swiftly took over command, taking stock of available forces and their locations. Simultaneously, those already in the area scouted ahead and tried to engage the enemy to keep them locked in place.
While the enemy was initially sighted, they quickly retreated and were fully lost track of. By then, Stiles had organised a substantial response force, consisting of several fighters as well as an Idris-class frigate, the USCS Black Sun.
The search efforts continued, but no sign could be found in Nyx, with only unreliable information coming from the pirates themselves, who had broadcast their possible retreat into Pyro. As such, the response force moved into Pyro carefully, watching the gates before searching through several key trade points within the system.
Unfortunately, the search was to no avail — no pirates were sighted anywhere. As fate would have it, Cevir, who had just recovered a new cargo ship from Levski, was interdicted yet again! It seemed the pirates’ broadcast of their retreat to Pyro was a false flag, meant to keep any larger force away while they continued to, as they themselves boasted, go after easy prey unable to defend itself.
New Plan
With the pirates’ return to Nyx confirmed, the whole fleet had to scramble, with many choosing the fastest route available.
Once assembled, a new plan was hatched by Minister Stiles. Large numbers of fighters would still form the backbone of the fleet; however, the USCS Gayle, a Polaris-class corvette, would fly out first with a skeleton crew to act as bait, drawing the pirates in and keeping them tied to one location while giving the rest of the fleet a beacon to rally to.
Once the trap was set, the fighters would move in first, followed by the USCS Black Sun, to deliver a devastating blow to the unsuspecting pirates.
With the plan set, fighters moved into position, the USCS Gayle prepared to fly out, and the USCS Black Sun readied to close in on the suspected area. And then — the Black Sun got snared! The pirates must have moved closer to Levski, interdicting Baron’s ship.
The trap still worked, though — the pirates focused their attention on this new, larger prey, while the rest of the fleet closed in. But as the fleet arrived, the pirates retreated swiftly once more.
The Chase Is On
The chase was on again. Several possible directions were investigated as fighters split up to search. Still, the most plausible option remained that the pirates would return to their old spot between Levski and Stanton Gateway.
As such, at least a couple of ships were sent back to Levski, among them the USCS Gayle — the original bait.
As luck would have it, the bait worked once more. The pirates interdicted the Gayle, this time captained by William Ernst (EtowTheSaltyCat), who came under attack from the Tiburon. He worked to deflect the damage for as long as possible until reinforcements arrived — and they did. One by one, the fighters closed in, this time managing to destroy the pirate Mantis, stripping the pirates of their ability to interdict, and heavily damaging the Tiburon. Unfortunately, the Tiburon escaped again, limping away after its first quantum jump failed, carrying it only 10 km before it managed to properly jump out.
The momentum was still building, though, and the chase continued. Fighters spread out in several directions, searching for the nearest stations with repair capabilities, since the heavily damaged Tiburon had no other option.
It didn’t take long for the Tiburon to be tracked to Levski, where it attempted to get some quick repairs.
There was some hesitation at first to engage it within Levski’s armistice zone. One brave pilot, however, did not hesitate — O-Stargazer flew directly and deliberately into a full-on collision with the Tiburon. The resulting crash caused a massive explosion, destroying the fighter and splitting the Tiburon in half!
Safer Once More
And with that, the pirate threat was gone. Both the Mantis and the Tiburon were fully destroyed. Ships stayed to patrol a little longer, but none of the pirates returned, and the comms channels — once filled with their boasting and tales of exploits — fell silent.
This was a great success for the USC, which quickly organised a response force, tracked down the threat, and devised a plan to take it out.
It was, admittedly, a smaller force rather than a larger, capital-heavy fleet — but that hardly made the job easier. Smaller forces often slip away to continue their criminal activities elsewhere. This success shows how much the USC has learned over time, thanks to rigorous training and naval exercises, as well as lessons drawn from past events — like the MIE ambush at the Nyx Gateway, which left an entire USC fleet completely obliterated by pirates.
With that in mind, the upcoming Tour of Duty weeks hosted by the USC Navy seem even more vital — a great way for any USC Citizen to learn how to work efficiently together as a task force, and to be ready for future events that demand rapid, decisive responses against pirates.
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