Alliance Prisoner Rescued - Fierce Battle Followed

The Alliance Prisoner, Imhrien Fargis, who was captured the night before during a special ops mission on Blackburne Friday night, was rescued from the Alliance Cruiser IAV Sun Tzu in a daring two - ship operation on Saturday.

Despite ship to ship missiles and a number of security measures - as well as the presence of guards on the main deck - the risky daytime raid took advantage of the lower guard levels and were able to hack the security system on the SunTzu and fight a running battle that lead to casualties on both sides, but the independent forces were able to override the security system and keep reinforcements out from other sections of the ship and rescue Mrs Fargis-Voom.

After restoring security - two gunships rapidly descended on Hale's Moon in an attempt to recapture Mrs Fargis-Voom prior to her escaping the planet. This was the first time two heavy gunships have landed on the surface and it put the local militia and reinforcement is an bad crossfire position - although independent forces fought fiercely - at least 10 Alliance forces attacked with heavy cannons, grenades and flame units.

Independent Forces used the distraction of this heavy battle despite the costs to launch a small shuttle on a stealthy trajectory - bypassing the Sun Tzu's ship-to-ship missiles and returned Mrs Fargis Voom to a safe location.

The Alliance Forces were accused of numerous crimes of war in this attack - including attacking unarmed civilians. Radio transmissions pleading for Alliance Forces to cease their attack went unheeded as both armed and unarmed militia and civilians fell.

Although several Alliance casualties were noted - the Alliance finally withdrew. The only comment obtained from Commander Marcus Condor of the Sun Tzu was "We do not target civilians - however in the midst of battle there may at times be collateral damage. We regret this. However, we withdrew after confirming the escaped prisoner was no longer on the planet."

This was the first time such heavy artillery was used on the Hale's Moon settlement and at times it appeared the entire town was ablaze.

It was notable that in the aftermath of such a heavy and lasting battle that no arrest warrents or broadwaves were broadcast for Mrs Fargis-Voom, and no request for reinforcements. Commander Condor had no further comments on the matter.