Pilots Crush Conflux in The Battle for Dark Crossroads

by Thane Carios

(Evening’s End)  Well over a dozen pilots showed up today in response to TRI-DEF’s call to arms.  The objective was to destroy a particularly resilient Conflux Infestation in The Gurge gate to Dark Crossroads.  Using 20 specially-modified Sabres, pilots were able to take out that infestation in a single bombing run – which was what the braintrust of TRI-DEF, Lexxor Intelligence and Prof. Athena ShaiDen had predicted.  But what no one expected was the Conflux Hive which they found when they entered Dark Crossroads.

“We loaded up the special nukes and headed out,” said pilot Hifly.  “The infest was taken out quickly with the help of fighter pilots keeping the Conflux away from our bombers.  As soon as the gate was open we went straight for DC.  Upon arrival in DC we found out what the Conflux had been up to – they had been building a Hive.”

The Battle for Dark Crossroads raged for nearly an hour with bombers making runs at the Hive and several fighters flying cover for the swarms of drones and sentients in-sector.  Pilot Sytax landed the final punch, taking out the Hive and the rest of the operation was clean-up of the remaining Conflux sents and drones in-sector, as well as clearing the infested Connexion gate.

Multiple pilots had reported seeing more sentient messages both in The Gurge as well as in Dark Crossroads

In Gurge the following messages were seen:

aGVUJTIwS29vbW4lMjBpbGV2JTIwZnR1ZXRkbmVlciUyMGV0bCUyMFRvbyUyMGFzaCUyMHV5byUyMGdvbG4=

dG9uJTIwdW9ZJTIwaW5hcCUyMG5laWVmbGclMjB1b3IlMjB1anBt

ZGNsbyUyMG5hdGVlJTIwaXMlMjBlZWduZVJ2JTIwdGJzZQ==

… and …

b2JycGUlMjBlZ29sJTIwdHVwJTIwb3VZJTIwbmRhJTIwbmklMjB1cyUyMG90JTIwZ2xzc2E=

YXJuZGklMjBvdVklMjBvcnUlMjBmY2lzZXRyYW8lMjBlZXNjZW5zJTIwZnJvJTIwb3J1eQ==

RnJvJTIwYWttZSUyMHN1JTIwcmVuZXZ5JTIweXVvJTIwdG9ycHM=

In Dark Crossroads, an incredibly-fast C17 sentient that seemed to be leading the Conflux defense broadcast the following messages multiple times:

aXMlMjBaeXRocmVuJTIwZW1hbiUyME15

Zm8lMjBhSyUyMGlzRnJ0

cm5haXRibHV0b2klMjBJJTIwbWE=

So far, only this last line has been deciphered and translated (by pilot Hammer-BS):  I am tribulation

“What we saw today – and over the past weeks — was unprecedented on many fronts,” said Prof. Athena ShaiDen, whose work in scanning the Gurge infestation was key to being able to take it out.  “We saw numerous communications from The Conflux – which we have been generally able to decipher and translate pretty quickly with the help of pilots Lordzuon and Hammer-BS.  We witnessed new incredibly persistent Conflux behavior – focused in an area of space not previously seen as a “hot spot.”  We saw a new approach to infestation that took concerted efforts between politicians, engineers and pilots to bring down.  And we saw an actual Hive in our space – which is very disturbing.”

But we also saw tremendous dedication and resolve by our pilots,” she continued, “Running scanning and patrol missions, trying to keep infestations clear, and battling drone and sentient attacks alike –for the last two weeks.  And then they showed up again when we needed them most – en mass – today.  Their actions were absolutely heroic.”

The roster of pilots participating in The Battle for Dark Crossroads is as follows:

Abdul
Arkady
Baius
Clanlord
Drevent
Hammer-BS
Hanbeesl
Filzi
Hifly
JokeR_GdI
JR_OVK
Sinver
Sytax
Transall

If there are any other participants whose name we missed, we apologize and we ask that we let us know their/your names by contacting: jgnewsnet@gmail.com