Warriors,
 
Zion rejoices at the successful transfer of Commander Lock to our fleet. Machine, Merovingian, and Cypherite craft attempted to interrupt the operation, but thanks to the battle prowess of our captains--RedBindi, Neoteny, Fenshire, and Deffdog--as well as those of E Pluribus Neo--Steelle, Gerik, Lt0Brien, and ShiXinFeng--the Commander was moved safely from Captain Steelle's hovercraft, "The Hand of God," to Captain RedBindi's "The Titan," aboard which he is now on his way to New Zion.
 
We have received this brief update from the Commander himself:
 
\\~~~~~~~
 
Thank you all. I have never been more impressed with our captains and their crews than I was while they, together with Pluribus Neo, routed the combined forces of three enemy fleets simultaneously. I cannot adequately express my pride in your fighting spirit. I have yet to set foot on the dock of New Zion, but I feel already that this is a true homecoming.
 
Jason Lock
 
~~~~~~~\\
 
New Zion is in the midst of excited preparations for the arrival of the Commander and our victorious crews. Everyone who is not on critical duty is strongly encouraged to attend the welcoming ceremony at the dock.
 
Tyndall
Mission Control
Zion Command
 
 
 
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Compiled transmissions from the captains in the final stages of the battle:

Three years ago, the Trust was formed as one of the first and only Zion factions that followed Lock instead of Morpheus.  Everyone made me real proud today, and I'm glad we could continue to serve Lock in this regard.

We were all honored to be chosen for this mission, and I'm glad we did not let you down.

Welcome home, Jason.

I hope Lock saves some dap for me when I get The Saltpillar back up into New Zion.

We are overjoyed that we were able to assure the Commander's safety, and would like to thank E Pluribus Neo not only for nursing him back to health, but for keeping him safe and dispatching a team of some of the finest hovercraft captains I have served by to help assure his safety.

To a lesser extend, I would like to thank the Merovingian operatives for withdrawing their ships frm the battlefield in accordance with a cease-fire. Really, you could've agreed to do this before shooting me down, though. Heh. I'm not complaining - we all came to a "profitable" conclusion here, you folks might say.

As for the Machinists and Cypherites? Well, it was a tough fight, but I can't say I didn't enjoy destroying that Cypherite fleet. It did bring a mixture of sorrow and rage into me to see the Machinists on the field attempting to abduct Lock, but, well, we did what needed to be done to assure his safety.

Congratulations also to Fenshire, Gerik, and Lt0Brien, who received promotions for their valient efforts in this battle.

But most of all,

It's good to have you back with us, Jason.

I was looking forward to hosting Lock in a prison he'd find surprisingly more delightful than he anticipated, maybe even more pleasant than what New Zion could offer, stocked with things I bet he never knew were availble in the Real, and to being able to tell my children about this occaision, when we hosted one of Zion's leaders the way Robin of Sherwood hosted a rich man he and his merrie men captured. Ah well, I'll have to reserve the guest house in Outpost Segur for someone just as important...

--Sieges, Nautonnier of the Quinotaur and Chatelaine of Outpost Segur

I hope Lock saves some dap for me when I get The Saltpillar back up into New Zion.

We are overjoyed that we were able to assure the Commander's safety, and would like to thank E Pluribus Neo not only for nursing him back to health, but for keeping him safe and dispatching a team of some of the finest hovercraft captains I have served by to help assure his safety.

To a lesser extend, I would like to thank the Merovingian operatives for withdrawing their ships frm the battlefield in accordance with a cease-fire. Really, you could've agreed to do this before shooting me down, though. Heh. I'm not complaining - we all came to a "profitable" conclusion here, you folks might say.

As for the Machinists and Cypherites? Well, it was a tough fight, but I can't say I didn't enjoy destroying that Cypherite fleet. It did bring a mixture of sorrow and rage into me to see the Machinists on the field attempting to abduct Lock, but, well, we did what needed to be done to assure his safety.

Congratulations also to Fenshire, Gerik, and Lt0Brien, who received promotions for their valient efforts in this battle.

But most of all,

It's good to have you back with us, Jason.

Many of the Machinist captains who were approached to engage in this battle refused as they didn't see Lock as a viable objective. Had they thought otherwise I'm sure that the battle would have been a very different animal although I will not speculate on outcomes that hardly matter at this time.

As I said, It's all practise for the next one where the prize might be worth something more than a few outdated command codes and information we cannot verify. A win would possibly have affected Zion's morale most of all but as it stands we are no worse off than we were before.

As for the 'peace talks' Vaico speaks of, the talks of soldiers on the battlefield are inconsequential to an outcome of war unless their leaders are pressured into those talks. I do not see Zion's leadership talking to the Machinist leadership and vis versa so in my opinion peace talks have not yet happened and are yet to begin.

Many of the Machinist captains who were approached to engage in this battle refused as they didn't see Lock as a viable objective. Had they thought otherwise I'm sure that the battle would have been a very different animal although I will not speculate on outcomes that hardly matter at this time.

As I said, It's all practise for the next one where the prize might be worth something more than a few outdated command codes and information we cannot verify. A win would possibly have affected Zion's morale most of all but as it stands we are no worse off than we were before.

   Hmm.  It doesn't seem to mention the mysterious black hovercraft of unknown configuration, which appeared towards the beginning of the battle, moved around extraordinarily fast, and took off ...

   Anyone have a picture of the board when the mysterious hovercraft was on it?

Aside from the 4 wrecked ships.

Othinn1 wrote:

   Hmm.  It doesn't seem to mention the mysterious black hovercraft of unknown configuration, which appeared towards the beginning of the battle, moved around extraordinarily fast, and took off ...

   Anyone have a picture of the board when the mysterious hovercraft was on it?

Carylne I'd imagine. He was the one with the fast ship.

((Sadly I don't, Othinn. I could draw it from memory, though. We had been describing it amongst ourselves as looking much like an X-wing, but with shorter wings width-wise.))

Vinia - Machinists that attacked Lock will not be permitted to the peace talks. However, this does not mean that we are not willing to discuss peace with those who are actually seeking it. Judging by who we've pushed away here and the people behind them, though, I think we'll see just how easily this all falls apart.

As for whose ship it was... I wouldn't count it out as Halborn's. We were told that Cypherites had passed him a set of coordinates and told him that it was where Carlyne's craft was, while it really held the coordinates of the vessel transporting Commander Lock (Steelle's The Hand of God). Certainly, the ship was fast in comparison to our own, but we wouldn't know how quickly it moves in comparison to ships of a similar build. This ship could easily be far slower than what Carlyne's sporting.

Of course, this is backed up by the fact that he took no action and simply withdrew from the battlefield as soon as possible. If it were Halborn, he probably would have recognized that none of the hovercraft on the field were of unibody construction, realized that he had been duped, and left.