Combat log. Battlegroup Commander for Battlegroup III, Vice Admiral Locke Setzer reporting. Day #20 of the Battle of Tkon Rift.

Our skirmish at planet P3069 is over, for now. We have momentarily pulled out of the system, but leave having dealt a major blow to the enemy.

We are bruised and battered, but, in my mind, victorious. In more ways than the enemy even knows.

The fleet we encountered was the same one that had foiled the Secret Order mission to deliver critical intelligence to P3009. Admittedly, I had written them off as a lost cause, unlikely to be seen or heard from again in the Tkon Rift.

I should have known better than to underestimate members of the Secret Order.

A transport launched during the heat battle, reporting friendly IFF on an encoded channel. I ordered them to board the Challenge, and sent a squad of Hammer’s Fist members down to the docking bay as a precaution. But I knew. The moment the message came in, I knew. It was our lost Secret Order members, returning to us in the most unlikely of ways.

During the fight at Sector 1208, the Secret Order members, already successful at infiltrating one Kilji ship, decided to press their luck and go for two. Taking the intelligence they had gained previously, they managed to sneak aboard one of the Kilji cruisers during the battle with the Roost. How they managed to stay undetected these past few days, I have no idea. But they’ve returned with a treasure trove of information.

Ship schematics. Reports. Logs. Deployment history. The Kilji's own analytics and models… even information about what they perceive to be our own strengths, weaknesses, and strategies.

I’ve seen to it that this information has been shared with the entirety of the fleet. Once the analysis is complete, the schematics alone should prove to be immediately beneficial, allowing our cruisers to attack with greater precision, while giving our fighters a better idea of how to be more effective against the enemy craft.

The numbers may say that our fight at P3069 was a draw, that both sides took as much as they dealt.

But fights are not always about how much damage you can deal. In this particular battle, we gained something precious.

Not just a win. Not just intelligence.

Momentum.

End log.