Free Synchronicity War Part 1, The by Dietmar Wehr Page A

filed with the Committee goes into considerable detail about the events
that have occurred in the last week. I will now summarize the major events that
should be taken note of.
     
    “It began with the routine survey of the target star system
by FE 319. As per standard operating procedure, the 319 and the other
exploration frigates of squadron SFE089 were each surveying a different star
system in proximity to the system where the support group – containing tankers,
supply ship and command/support ship – were waiting. When the 319 did not
return from her assigned survey target at the expected time, and in light of
the disappearance of the 233, the rest of the squadron was sent to investigate.
Even though we had not met another alien race up to that point, contingency
plans had been created with that possibility in mind. When the squadron, led by
Commander Torres, arrived at the system where 319 had vanished, she deployed
the squadron according to the approved contingency plans for such a mission.
     
    “One frigate, the 344, was ordered to remain at the edge of
the star system at a fixed location to act as a relay for the remaining members
of the squadron. Those others proceeded to search for the 319 in a widely
dispersed pattern. In order to cover the maximum volume of space in the minimum
amount of time, the searching frigates launched reconnaissance drones. After
some time had passed, the recon drone launched from Squadron Leader Torres’
ship detected a drifting vessel that had the right dimensions to be the missing
319. Now you have to remember at this point that the recon drones were using
passive sensors only, as were the frigates. Passive sensors do not emit any
electro-magnetic radiation that could be traced back to the sender. What the
drone detected was the shifting pattern of reflected sunlight from the 319’s
slowing rotating hull. Squadron Leader Torres changed course to intercept, and
directed the 323 and 299 frigates to rendezvous with the drifting ship as well.
The other four frigates were too far away to get there in a reasonable length
of time, and at this point, since they weren’t sure if the drifting ship was in
fact the 319, Commander Torres decided that the other four frigates would continue
to search their designated areas. When the drone made a flyby, it became clear
that it was indeed the 319, and that she had been the victim of an attack by
some kind of energy weapon. Torres then ordered all frigates, except for the
344, to rendezvous with the 319. While the drone was turning to make a second,
closer flyby pass, Commander Shiloh, who is present here today and who was in
command of the frigate 344 that was performing relay duty at the system’s edge,
took the precaution of launching three recon drones of his own. They orbited
his ship in order to give better sensor coverage of the immediate vicinity.
This proved to be prescient because one of those drones detected an unknown and
stealthy vessel moving towards the 344 from further out in the system. If the
344 had attempted to jump out of that system in order to bring back the
collected data, as per Squadron Leader Torres’ instructions, it was highly
likely that the unknown vessel would have detected the 344’s maneuvers.
     
    “Because the unknown vessel was behaving in a hostile way,
and by that I mean moving closer at slow speed without running lights or other
normal emissions, Commander Shiloh made the decision, which I fully support and
endorse, to open fire pre-emptively. After a short and vicious battle, in which
the 344 suffered considerable damage, the alien vessel was disabled and
presumed destroyed. This was due mainly to the imaginative use of recon drones
as offensive kinetic energy weapons. Shortly after this battle the two frigates
that were close to the 319 were attacked by other alien vessels, which
apparently had been waiting in ambush near the drifting 319. As we learned
later, this second firefight ended badly for our