So much for the welcome party

We've just been transferred over to the Aquitaine and Admiral Petrarch himself gave the welcome speech. I can't help but think that he sounds a little exhausted, probably because he's been fighting on the front lines all this time without rest. The man's something of a legend back at the academy. I remember screwing up a tactical simulation against one of his strategies, losing all three wings and most of my engines with half of the bridge burning around me. Some of the vets called it a "Kobayashi Maru", based on an old film centuries ago on Earth, their name for an unwinnable situation. I still thought I won it, though. My ship wasn't entirely crippled leaving me free to ram the enemy flagship. My instructors didn't see it that way, though.

Before I can even hit the head, we get sent straight out to the Deneb system to engage the NTF. It seems that the GTVA and the NTF have been slugging it out over Cygnus Prime and both sides are getting their asses handed to them. It was my first time fighting the NTF, the first time for a lot of us. My hands were shaking in the cockpit, not so much out of fear, but out of the anticipation of matching my skills against pilots that may have gone through much of the same training as everyone else had. That thought quickly dulled, steadying my hands, when I realized that someone I might know could be in one of those ships.

Our first sortie had us defend a few transports evacuating civilians from Cygnus Prime. The NTF apparently saw them as targets of opportunity and we got into a furball with a few Hercs. The big surprise came at the end, though. Command told us that the NTF Belisarius, a Deimos class corvette, had broken through the blockade and was heading our way. The GTVA Psamtik was being ordered into the area to meet her since we had nothing to fight a cap ship with.

I've heard of the new beam weapons that were being developed and know that they've been in use elsewhere, but I've never really seen one in action until today. It's like a finger of light stabbing its way through whatever is between it and the void beyond. If only we had these thirty three years ago.

Takeda tells me that I'm allowed to post pics from my flight recorder, so I'll be adding more pictures in with my posts. I guess the GTVA doesn't have as much of a problem with this as I thought they might, then again, these aren't for general perusal by just anyone.

We were also told that the NTD Jacobus and the NTD Hengst were also destroyed in action elsewhere in the system. Sheryl's wing had taken part in the fight against the Jacobus and from the kill board, it looks like she did just fine. Studi took part in the fight against the Hengst and his numbers weren't bad, either. It looks like me and Wilkins have a lot of catching up to do.

If I had any doubts about the NTF, they faded as quickly as the battle had concluded. Attacking civilian transports? It didn't make any sense. It was as if Bosch's ideals went from violently opposing the GTVA to exercising genocide against the Vasudans simply because he didn't like them. Even if my former classmates were a part of the NTF now, I don't know how I could look at them in the same way if they're willing to take orders like this. I guess the rumors that I had buried my head over were true.

I saw Sheryl later and had coffee with her in the mess. It seems after my performance, I've been recommended to be a wing leader based also on my experience in the frontier. She was happy to hear that and Wilkins couldn't help but crack a few salutes my way as a joke. I thought I had him going there for a minute when I asked him if that was appropriate behavior for someone of his rank, until he told me to get the hell off of his ship. We asked Sheryl about the Jacobus and to hear her tell the story of how they cleared the way, you could almost see her enjoying it as much as she may have when she was out there. There's something in those steel grey eyes of hers that was pretty unnerving. I don't know if it was hate for the NTF, but it was something.