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Lull In Attacks - Calm Before The Storm?
Posted by: Ambrosius |
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Topic The Conflux Menace
107.4.4.12:46
by Alexa A'vros
TRI-HQ (TRI-FP) - The lack of sentient activity last night, following several days of raids and probes has many people wondering if this is the calm before the storm that was predicted by Dr Calatorius.
TRINN has received several reports of light sentient activity, over the past week, similar to this one from vorlon31 from 107.04.01:
"Last night saw another testing bout of sentient Conflux incursions into our territories, with attacks reported in both Hyperial and Quantar Core station sectors.
"And it was at Quantar Core where I caught up with the Sentients. The initial target located was a sentient C8 Kraken, armed with Ions and with a top speed in excess of 640v. After a brief but vicious fight I, (aided by the Mk 1 defense drone launched by Quantar's station officials, a well timed Morning star and some heavy hitting gunfire) destroyed sentient and received a 250k credit bounty as a reward.
"It was only after the first sentient was destroyed that I noticed the second. A plasma firing c3 sentient squid which flew at me with speeds in excess of 500v. I launched a Rapier missile in its direction which honed in on its target with unerring grace. In an attempt to destroy the closing missile I witnessed the c3 envelope itself in a plasma field, but it triggered its self defense too early and the missile survived a few seconds longer and hit its target.
"I cannot say what the Sentients were doing in QC, my mindset was focused only on their destruction. Nor can I say what occurred in Hyperial but this does lend credence to Calatorius's suspicions of a major attack coming soon."
This was followed up with an attack two nights ago, reported by pilot Istanbul:
"After several tries, I made my way back to Corridor and refreshed my ship. While docked their, sent markers appeared in Oct Shore. I made my way to QC to get flashfires. The sents had almost reached OC by the time i docked. I then made my way up to Oct Core. Well on the way, RedDwarf had engaged the flux and reported a C17 and a C3 sentient in sector. Pilot _RAZAAR_ was also in sector at the time and had engaged the sentients. They were both unsuccessful in their attempts and were reequipping when I entered the sector.
"As reported, there was a c17 and a c3 (which was doing 660v). I engaged the C17 which was at 80% shields from the prior conflicts. I unfortunately wasn't able to do much damage in my raven, though I made the fight last awhile with very tight circles. (A distant observer may have thought we were mating... but we were NOT!) The C3 seemed to stand by and watch the fight. Perhaps it was concerned about hitting it's cohort."
These attacks appear to have generated significant concern amongst officials.
"Station officials at Octavius Core have confirmed that the most recent attack knocked out the plutonium factory as well as the RB-4 facility," remarked Dr Calatorius, from the Octavian Ministry of War. "We are now certain that the tactical intent of these raids is to test and evaluate our defenses with the strategic goal of disrupting or terminating the ongoing efforts to restore production of nuclear weapons at Cornea. We believe that biomass extraction capabilities at Hyperial, as well as repair beam facilities everywhere are secondary targets of opportunity.
"We are close to isolating the CLAWS infiltration that has been preventing the array from working at peak effectiveness, as well as finalizing a plan to enhance the interaction of CLAWS with standard TRI beacons to offer more specific advanced warning of incursions. In the mean time, I strongly encourage all pilots to keep beacons tuned, and to report all encounters with sentient conflux."
Although Calatorius declined to offer specifics on a timeline, an anonymous source within the Ministry of War, who is familiar with the analysis, suggested that a full scale attack on Cornea and/or Hyperial was likely within the next 24 to 48 hours.
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