Quoted By:
I have fought in an asteroid belt before. During the bitter internecine conflicts that led to the fragmentation of the Jovian Lunar Polities, efforts to sniff out strategic weapon carriers intensified. More than once, the RAIN's predecessor had been forced to engage with an over-eager patrol behind the shadow of a nearby asteroid. I still bear decompression-scars from those encounters: panicked, close range ambushes and counter-ambushes written in glittering chains of autocannon fire and the pulsing of high-wattage laser emissions. Seconds marked by the shrill of escaping atmosphere and chill of hardening vacuum.
I make every effort to prevent similar memories from forming here.
A day ago, I sent a trio of probes racing out from the RAIN, targeting orbital slots with the highest likelihood of pulling along a fuel-conscious warship. I was rewarded with three hits: a capital cruiser escorted by a pair of plucky corvettes and its isolated counterpart - seemingly bereft of its typical escort detail. Their positioning was troublesome but not overly so: a compromise designed to provide decent coverage without burning fuel for a patrol route. I spent the rest of the evening considering our strike vector: to either start with the isolated station sunward of the RAIN or the more heavily defended pair closer to the belt's fringe.
>Approach Station C
>Approach Station A/B
>Write-In
In either case, our plan would be straightforward. As soon as the RAIN entered engagement range of her target, MERRYGATE would send an activation signal to our commandeered drone fleet. The Mizarian mining drones were individually simple - possessing only the essentials for spatial navigation and data transmission. In aggregate, however, they had the potential to be useful. Over the past few hours, MERRYGATE's had uploaded fragments of a intrusion subroutine into their comm buffers. Once transmitted and reassembled, this subroutine would open communication with the RAIN, rendering the station susceptible to the elaborate set of icebreakers held inside her home turf.
But again, there is a choice here. It is possible for us to target our intrusion at the same target as our physical assault - ensuring success - or to spread it at an alternate target, maximizing resource use and creating a diversion...
>Same target. MERRYGATE will target the intrusion at the same station as our previous vote.
>Different target. MERRYGATE will target the intrusion at a different station, creating a diversion.
>Increase Drone Fleet size. Two of the drone clusters remain outside of intrusion/propagation range. If we move either the RAIN or a commandeered drone element in range of these clusters, we could increase the effectiveness of subsequent intrusion attempts. However, such movement poses risks. The RAIN could stumble closer into detection range, and unexpected drone movement could provoke suspicion.
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, MAY 7, PERSONAL JOURNAL
