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Suddenly, an alert pops up. Ugh! Right when you're in the middle of something!
Along the Hegemony and Consortium's borders is an unclaimed asteroid field. The large cluster of asteroids are only loosely held together with gravity, and have been a juicy prospect for mineral extraction. It's position being far away from any star systems also means it could contain useful BAG gas, which the Hegemony makes great use of. The Consortium's knowledge of the gas is yet unknown, but as one of your rivals in space, it may be best to deny them a source of this strategic resource.
However, this asteroid field is <span class="mu-i">stalked</span>. Because of the large asteroids and clusters of space rocks, only very small ships, with single pilots, can really get deep into the field to do prospecting work. However, the last time you did so, your shuttles were destroyed and a few crew members were killed. There is a Leraay fighter pilot that has become a nuisance; attacking and destroying Hegemony ships that enter the asteroid field, using ambush tactics, and he's also quite good, able to defeat the few scouts you sent into the field before.
The Consortium, naturally, is not taking responsibility for this; but it's clear that this hardware is military. The Leraay pilot has been so named the <span class="mu-i">Panther</span>, and in the Consortium culture has gained a bit of a fearsome reputation and a symbol of Leraay skill and ferocity in battle. He's also apparently a religious zealot, and chalks up his victories to divine protection.
Sending in a fleet wouldn't be an appropriate response, and blowing up the field would knock it into Consortium space where it's unreachable. It'd be best to simply knock them down a branch.
>Send a Jaxtian pilot
>Send a Swall pilot
>Send a Vetucker pilot
>Retreat from the asteroid field
