Spotlight #2: Operation Osprey
Operational Objective
Location of the survey frigate Adamant in deep Belaire space and recovery back to safety in Legion space if possible.
Operational Assets
Ars Magica class Survey Frigate Adamant, Captain Achlys Tartarus commanding
AR-56 class Recon Fighter 002 “Osprey”: Subcommander Thetis Hyperion commanding
Recon Fighter Osprey transited the jump point from Kuiper 79 to WISE 0350-5658 on 9 October 4007, fortunately emerging on the other side to empty space with no Belaire vessels in sight. As there was only one other jump point leading out of that system, namely to the intersectional system of Struve 2398, Osprey immediately proceeded towards this jump point in search of Adamant. However, knowing that any Belaire fleet traffic through the system would almost certainly be traveling between the two jump points, there being no other bodies present besides the star itself from which a fleet might operate, Subcommander Hyperion ordered her crew to set a course parallel to the line of flight between the two jump points at a 34 million km offset. Osprey arrived at this position without incident, having spotted no Belaire vessels traveling along the direct line of flight while traversing the system.
At this stage, while most fighter captains would have proceeded through the apparently unmonitored jump point, Subcommander Hyperion ordered her crew to hold position. Prior to the onset of war with the Belaire, Legion intelligence had confirmed that the Belaire had deployed a number of escorted stabilization ships across their budding jump point network, and as the Republic had only recently started expanding beyond their home system any stabilization fleets were likely to still be in the vicinity of the jump point terminus. Therefore, having no way of knowing how recently the WISE 0350-5658 side of the jump point had been stabilized, Osprey would hold her position and wait, in the end, over seven months before risking the transit into Struve 2398.
Finally, on 10 June 4008 the by now quite restless crew of Recon Fighter Osprey fired up her engines and bravely transited into Struve 2398. Subcommander Hyperion’s guess had seemingly paid off, as while there were once again no Belaire vessels there was quite ominously a floating wreck several hundred thousand km from the jump point which was quickly identified as the charred remains of Warden 7. This had been the traffic monitoring vessel assigned to support Adamant during her survey work, but fortunately deep space scans of the system found no sign of similar wreckage belonging to Adamant herself. At the time, the crew of Recon Fighter Osprey considered this ominous wreck to be a sign that the decision of their Captain to wait behind the jump point for so many months was well-justified, though from later debriefing it seems this idea was first suggested by the Subcommander herself. Later cross-referencing with the logs of Adamant herself would indicate that Warden 7 had been destroyed in the first days of the war, and the jump point was likely stabilized by January 4008 at the latest, five months before Recon Fighter Osprey would transit the jump point.
In any case, as the wreckage of Warden 7 had not been salvaged by the Belaire, the Osprey crew were able to recover data logs from the wreckage which included gravitational survey data of the system which had been transmitted from Adamant. Using this data, Osprey carefully approached each other jump point in the Struve 2398 system in turn, first detouring to a nearby comet (labeled #3 in the system map below) to avoid being caught by a patrol fleet on a direct lane between two jump points. Having surveyed each jump point, the Osprey crew further determined that the third jump point, marked by Adamant as leading to a system labeled as DEN 0817-6155, had been stabilized by the Belaire. At this point, the Osprey no longer had enough fuel to explore any further into unknown space, and further her crew had no way of knowing which jump point Adamant had fled through to escape from the hostilities. However, it was at the very least clear that the Belaire would have a presence within or beyond the DEN 0817-6155 system, therefore Subcommander Hyperion determined that her crew would remain on this jump point to monitor it for any Belaire activity which might give clues as to the whereabouts of Adamant for as long as she was able.
Around the same time, in early June 4008, Adamant herself began to run low on fuel, and despite the danger Captain Achlys Tartarus ordered her crew to plot a careful course back to Legion space, hoping that by now the Belaire had either been defeated or at least motivated to withdraw any armed forces from this sector of space. Adamant had in fact fled through the jump point to a system identified as Kapteyn’s Star, after having witnessed the unceremonious destruction of her Warden-class escort. This was not a small system to survey, and throughout June and July Adamant carefully made her way back to her entry jump point, carefully avoiding any bodies in the system where Belaire scouts might be lurking. In the early days of August, Adamant made her final approach to the Struve 2398 jump point, fortunately detecting no Belaire signatures on her meager passive scanners, and on 9 August transited into the system creating a pleasant surprise for the crew of Recon Fighter Osprey. After a joyous reunion, Osprey formed up as an escort to Adamant and the mismatched pair set a course back to Kuiper 79. Notably, at this time neither ship’s crew had any idea how the war situation had changed since they had lost contact with the Legion at large, and thus the crews of both ships were cautious of any Belaire patrols or convoys as they followed their return course.
Thankfully for the Legion public relations department, and also the crews of the two vessels, Adamant and her unlikely escort arrived in Kuiper 79 on 1 September, the crews greatly shocked to find that the Legion had in fact occupied the system and was in the process of establishing a fleet headquarters to conduct their breakthrough assault. This was particularly fortuitous for Subcommander Hyperion, whose fighter likely would have lacked sufficient fuel to reach the Adamantine jump point had the strategic situation remained unchanged.
In the aftermath of this bold operation, the commanders and crew of both Osprey and Adamant were awarded the Belaire Campaign Ribbons for their bravery. Subcommander Thetis Hyperion was awarded the Adamantine Medal as well, appropriately enough, while the Adamant and her crew were also awarded the Bronze Star for her intrepidity deep behind enemy lines. Given the propagandized version of her exploits which soon began circulating in the Duratus media, some critics claimed - though not loudly - that this award had been largely for appearances’ sake rather than any actual bravery exhibited by the crew of Adamant. In any case, regardless of how thrilling her actual return journey may have been, in the end the return of Adamant served most usefully as a needed morale boost for Legion Navy sailors.
As a last footnote, after this date the Legion high command designated the AR-56 class of recon fighters as Ospreys, seeking to capitalize on the excellent publicity of recent events as well as instilling pride in the fighter crews. The venerable R-56 class, having not been involved in this operation, remained without a callsign.
OOC Note: A short spotlight, not as detailed as the previous, but hopefully a welcome addition of flavor to the universe. If any single ship deserves a Spotlight surely it is the Adamant. Any and all accusations of this entry being “filler” to “buy time to finish the next update” are of course utter rubbish and will be categorically denied.