“Miss Hanto, could you take
a look at this?”
Kaori walked to the communication and navigation desk:
“What is it?”
“Well, I here Rheinland all over the place, and not
only that, we have ships on an incoming vector. But they are not ours. The
design doesn’t fit the profiles.”
“Have they tried to communicate?”
“No, not yet, but we are not yet out of the sun’s
blind spot. There is a good possibility that they haven’t seen us yet.”
“How long before we get into their sensors?”
“At this speed and vector, I think a minute or 12.”
“Plot a chart of this area on the main screen.”
“Miss?”
“Do it, now! If those ships are not ours, they are Rheinland’s. And if they are here in great numbers, they
are not here for a nice chat!”
The main screen plotted the surroundings of the ship.
Kaori looked at the screen, searching for a way out.
“Nothing to hide beyond. And
they are way faster”, went through her mind. If only….
“Helm, full stop”, she called: and I want a full power
down in 10 minutes. Put on the environmental suits. It will be cold quickly
when we are done with it.”
She ran to the elevator, and pressed the button to the
refining deck. Once the elevator got there, she noticed that not all of the raw
fuel was in the storage tanks yet. “Foreman, I want all the fuel you can get
spilled over space in 7 minutes.”
“What is going on?”
“We are going to try to become a gas pocket. Put
everyone in environmental suits, we are powering down to accomplish that. I’m
betting that those Rheinland raiders haven’t seen much of the system yet, so
they might be fooled. I am going to the bridge now.”
“Brains and insane, I wonder why she doesn’t have her
own ship”, went through the
foreman’s head, as he saw
Kaori running to the elevator. “Ok, maggots, listen….”
Suzaka was standing in the main hangar of
Toriyoshi walked with Suzaka to an elevator that was
normally used for getting on top of the ships. When they were lifted up, the
hangar became quite. Toriyoshi began: “Pilots, we are on a turning point in the
history of the GMG. About 30 minutes ago, this message was sent throughout
Rheinland.”
The large display on 1 of the halls of the hangar,
normally used to show the schedule of incoming and departing ships, now
displayed the Rheinland insignia. Then, suddenly, the face of the Chancellor
was shown. “My fellow Rheinlanders”, he began: “today we will embark on a
journey to achieve greatness for our people. In the ages after we came in
Sirius, we were 1 of 4 nations, all equally in power, all striving for a better
humanity. Or, at least we thought that. But we could be much further if it
wasn’t for the ridiculous fuel prices. Why is it that Kusari is so clean, well
all nations are dealing with problems they do not have? Why is it that we are
still here in Sirius, while we could be travelling to the ancient earth and
back? I will tell you, my fellow Rheinlanders. It is of those GMG prices. They
are so greedy that they will humanity suffer. And what does there Kusari
government? Nothing! What do the other nations about this? Nothing! Therefore
we will act. As of now, I dispatched a newly created fleet into the sigma 13
system. As of now, Rheinland claims sigma 13!”
The message was stopped and Toriyoshi looked at the
silent hangar: “From here on he rattles on about how good they are and that
they will win a swift victory. I do not plan to give them that victory! Once
they get their hands on our main fuel recourse, they will only fuel up to go
further and further, until they are large enough to strike at Kusari!
Officially, our government can not interfere, since there is no direct attack
on Kusari.”
A voice talked through the communicator in Toriyoshi’s
ear. “I just had word that Rheinland ships have entered the sigma 13 system,
and that 1 of their patrols is pursuing one of our scouts. We will put it the
screen.”
A man came into the screen: “This is Musei 3. I am
being pursuit by 4 Rheinland fighters.”
“This is
“They are catching up to me. I am not going to make
it. I will send the gathered data now. But it is massive, at least 4 cruisers
and a battleship. Even design I don’t know. Oh god, they are catching up!”
The screen switched to the flight cams, showing the
ship’s front and back view. He was flying between small gas pockets. The back
cam showed 2 Rheinland ships following. The other 2 weren’t seen yet.
“GMG pilot, stand down and we will spare your live”,
said a Rheinland voice.
“
“I will stop”, the pilot said on the open channel.
The ship stopped next to a large gas pocket. The front
cam now showed the other 2 ships, both closing in. The 2 pursuers from the aft
were also closing.
“This is a present of the GMG!”
Musei 3 fired at the gas pocket and the screen went
black. Silence remained in the rooms
After 20 seconds, Suzaka spoke.
“I am commander Suzaka. Now you know what we are
facing. They have sent at least 4 cruisers and a battle ship. And who knows how
many fighters. But 1 thing I know, Musei 3 is responsible that there are 4
less. Our government has sent a message through the military. All pilots that
are willing may retire to do some voluntary work for the GMG, with a generous
pension. 21 pilots have already signed up to this arrangement, and they got
their planes with them as a farewell present. I estimate that their will be 120
additional ships arriving. That will compliment our strength to 354 fighters.
Even then, my most hopeful guess is that we are outnumbered with 3 to 1, and
then we don’t count in the capital ships. But, you know the system. You know
what is at stake. If we do not stand here, we will fall tomorrow. Musei 3 saw
this, and I intend to let that sacrifice not be in vain. I intend to get rid of
the Rheinland dogs. I intend to kill every Rheinlander that sets foot in sigma
13. I will to terminate that Chancellor pathetic life. And afterwards I will
have a good laugh and drink sake while looking at his dead corps.
Are you with me?” Suzaka shouted.
The hangar shouted back, everyone fired up by the
speech of Suzaka.
“Now, let’s hope they are still this strong after the
first battles”, she thought, while the elevator was lowering.
"Is
this it?" Lorean asked."
"1
package, sent by Rheinland diplomatic channels,” the Bowex
administrator answered. "Just so you know, it will be a lot more expensie to get anything from and to Rheinland. They have
invaded Sigma 13 and are searching every ship and all cargo that passes their
borders. That takes time, and will have to be calculated."
"I
understand, now where is it?"
"If you sign here, plz. Ok,
give me a sec." The man walked back trough a door, and came back within a
minute. "Here you are. 1 briefcase. If you wish,
you may check everything in a private room."
"No,
that would not be needed."
"Ok,
your call." The man handed over the briefcase and opened the door for Lord
Lorean.
"To the manor", he said to his driver. As
the pilot navigated his way to Lorean’s house, he opened the briefcase. It
contained a small letter and a dagger. After preparing a drink from the ships
minibar, he started reading the letter. When he arrived 25 minutes later at the
manor, the drink was still untouched.
“Status”, Marlene said. Her ship had just made the
jump into sigma 13.
“Al systems green, sir. No damage from the jump.
Reports of the fleet are coming in.”
“Give me a visual of the system!”
The main screen displayed the fleet. The blue
gaspockets of ozone and Hydrogen surrounded the fleet.
“Any reports of opposition?”
“1 Scout has been reported when there were 5 ships
here. The Münster has sent a wing to intercept it. No further opposition
reported. Several patrol wings have been sent through the system”
“Ok, alert the Vanaheim. The chancellor can jump
safely”
She looked at the radar. 20 kilometres is all that it
displayed. At cruise speed that would take 50 seconds.
They would have been torn apart if they tried that. The explosiveness of the
gas would do more damage then the shields could regenerate. Her attention was
drawn by the movement of the jumpgate.
“The Vanaheim is entering the system, sir! It is
sending out orders”
The main screen showed the face of the Chancellor a
minute later. “Rheinland warriors, this is a time of great glory for our people.
No longer will we buy ore fuel, we will take it! We will take what is
rightfully ours! To do that, we will have to fly to the other jumpgate and
secure it. We will not allow any ship from
The screen showed the light of the twinstars again.
Broken by the gas, it was refracted into a blue colour.
“You heard the chancellor. Contact the engine room. We
will need full power to shields, Helm, plot a course. Do not take point. If the
gas pockets are more explosive then we anticipated,
someone else may get blown away. We will maintain battle status”
“Commander Suzaka!”
She looked up from the improvised battle screen. Kurohyou
Ryosuke walked in the room. “What is it?”
“They told me I could find you here. So, this is a battle room?” He
putted a pad on a desk. “When I left I thought it was called a storage room.
And that was 7 hours ago. How did you manage this?”
“Aside from your brother’s terrible welcoming skills, he really is a good
mechanic. The stuff I had sent for from Planet arrived 6 hours ago, and your
brother had it running in this room 4 hours later. He even gave me flowers “to
brighten the room”, as he called it.” Suzaka pointed to a set of flowers on a
desk near the corner. “This is supposed to be a battle room to gather
information and create orders.”
Ryosuke laughed. It was the first laugh she heard in hours. “I think that
your, uh, counter greeting in the mess went all the way to his wife’s ears.” He
walked to the flowers. “She runs the R&R shop on the station. If I know her
well enough, she is behind the flowers and his hard work. Don’t be surprised if
he is really friendly the next few day’s. Anyway, that was not why I came here
for. Here are the reports of our scouting mission.” He pointed at the desk,
where the pad had been. Without noticing it had been in Suzaka’s hand for quite
some time now. When she finished reading it, 1 minute later, she went to the
battle screen, on the other side of the room, and putted in the received
information.
“I have another mission for you. In 3 hours, the first new pilots from
our navy will arrive. I need you to pick some men, and get them familiar with
the place.”
“You want me to be the navy’s babysitter?” He slammed on the desk. “I
have better things to do. Pick someone of the mining squad for that! Give me
something useful to do.”
Suzaka crossed the 7 meters between them in a second and without sound.
“This is no debate, pilot. This is an order! I do not give useless orders when
I have time for that, and certainly not while that Chancellor is knocking on
our door with 12 capital ships! Do you copy that, pilot?”
The room went silent for a moment. Ryosuke said nothing and the noises
directly near the room were also gone. Suzaka realised that the door was open
and that it directly connected to the fighter hangar. Quickly she calmed
herself.
“Sorry, that could have been said more tactful. This is not the navy and
there I haven’t had a decent sleep in 36 hours.”
“I am the one that should apologise”, Ryosuke replied. “You are the
commander here, and I should have listened.”
Suzaka stepped to the desk, picking up another pad: “Here are the first
pilots. Remember their names and show them around for the next 6 hours. Oh, and
when I said, show them around, I also mean that the must see the system itself.
If you stumble upon a Rheinland scout wing, it is your call if you take it out.
It will increase morale, and create a band of trust between the GMG and the
navy pilots. Got that?”
“Yes, Sir”, Ryosuke replied. He walked to the hangar.
“Oh, and Kurohyou, I want every ship in one piece back. They have more
then enough fighters, we don’t.
“Welcome gentlemen, in the sigma 13 system”, Kurohyou said to the pilots
on his wing. After a quick intro through the station with the five navy pilots,
they and 2 GMG pilots geared up, and flew to the sigma 13 system. “As I already
told, the pockets of gas are highly explosive, don’t bump into them. You will
get a full report of their curiosities when we are home.” He looked at his
radar, which only displayed 7 ships, which were all on his wing. “For now, you
will have to know only a few things. They are explosive and can ignite when you
hit them, pass them to fast or shoot at them. Your shields should be able to
handle a blast or two, but when they are gone, and you have another explosion,
you are gone. Now, we do a series of manoeuvres for you to get used to them. I
have selected a site that is a few kilometres away. We will take it slow until
we get their. Don’t stray off, radar range is very limited until we can modify
them.”
“Commander, do we need a formation?”, one of the
former navy pilots asked.
“Well, you may try, but I doubt you will be able to keep it. You will
have to manoeuvre trough the gas fields. We never take any form, but we keep a
certain distance to each other. Now, follow me.”
Kurohyou gave his ship a burst and the 7 ships followed. “Not bad, they
can keep up. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.”
After 20 minutes they came in a clearance where the clouds were less
packed together. “Ok, I will show some manoeuvres. Please look them and learn
from them.”
Kurohyou flew his ship trough a cluster of smaller clouds and executed a
hard turn left, followed by a spin. The clouds tightened a bit together and
drifted slowly towards his initial direction. After a few manoeuvres, Kurohyou
asked them to repeat his manoeuvres. Then, suddenly, 1 of the GMG pilots
transmitted: “Cut engines, now!”
Kurohyou stopped his engines, and, a few second later, the other ships
did too. The GMG pilot that warned them now transmitted on the laser system, a
communication device that needed a direct line of sight to be used, but it
ensured that only the target could pick it up. “4 ships, Rheinland design, on
the radar, they will pass in 3 minutes on a distance of less then 1 kilometre.
Commander, what are your orders?”
Kurohyou thought of his situation. They had more fighters in the vicinity
and the element of surprise. But he also had to keep these pilots alive on
their first tour.
“Sir, what are you orders?”, the pilot asked
again.
“Don’t worry about us, commander”, one of the navy pilots now interfered.
“We will fight and if it is our time, we will die. And I assure you that we
have no intention of that last.”
Kurohyou decided: “Keep your engines down until they arrive, then blast
them out of the sky. Wait for my command.”
In less then a minute the heat signatures of the Rheinland fighters
appeared. Before they knew what happened, the first 2 were shot in flames. The
other 2 saw the threat, and fired back. A GMG ship was hit, but his shields
held the blast.
“Shields down to 16 %”
The dog fight began. 1 Rheinlander turned to fire another volley.
“I can’t shake this guy. Damn it, he has a lock. O my god.”,
The Rheinlander behind him lighted up in flames. 2 navy pilots passed
him, immediately looking for the other Rheinlander.
“My first kill in 30 minutes, not a bad score”, 1 said.
The other Rheinlander saw that he was outmatched and decided to run, the
GMG pilots were on his tail. Just before they were entering the dense clouds
again, Kurohyou ordered to slow down.
“He is getting away, 1 pilot shouted.”
“He will not go anywhere with that speed.”
8 seconds later they saw an explosion from the clouds and the last
Rheinlander disappeared from the radar.
“That wraps it up for today’s exercises. Let’s go home.”
“What, they
lost contact with 8 ships already?” The chancellor looked at the report. The
Rheinland fleet moved at a slow speed to the gate to the
“None, Chancellor. One wing was following a ship that might have been a scout. They could
have been ambushed, but it is more likely that they got careless and flew into
a gas pocket. The Münster’s pilots are mostly rookies. The other wing was on a
deep scouting mission, near the jumpgate. They should have reported back on the
Münster about an hour ago, but nothing so far. So close to the jumpgate, they
might have been overtaken by a GMG force.”
“Well, let
them enjoy their victory, since it will be their last. Are there any other
reports?”
“Our agents
reported that the Kusari have sent someone to the GMG to advise them on the
current situation.”
“Who is the
general they sent?”
“They
didn’t send a general, it is a major. She is named Suzaka. It puzzles me, since
it seems like they don’t realise they will lose there main economy. It sounds
like it will be an easy victory.”
“Don’t be
so naïve, captain Hoff. The Kusari are not to be underestimated. I doubt that
they will give Sigma 13 without a fight. I want all available intelligence on
this Suzaka before we are at the jumpgate.”
“Yes, Chancellor.”
Graff
walked to the port window on the bridge. He noticed that the Ran, 1 of the new cruisers, drifted of to
the left. “What is wrong with the Ran?”
“She is reporting
an engine malfunction. They request to take a position on the rear of the
fleet, so they can ease it up a bit”
“Granted.”
As he watched the
manouvre taking place, he wondered. “Was this an omen? Did I overlook
something? 12 years of preperation should be enough, but still this feeling.
What could be wrong?” He looked across the bridge untill his eyes rested on the
command chair.”Who is this Suzaka? There were not many female officers in the
kusari fleet, so why sent her to the GMG? Why didn’t they send one of the
experienced generals?“ Suddenly he felt more relaxed again. ”Our spies must
have made a mistake”, went through his mind: “That must be it.” He walked to
the elevator in the back of the bridge. “Captain Hoff, I am going to my
quarters. Inform me when there is any news.”
“You are
cleared to proceed, but be warned. Do not stray from the navigation beacons.
The recent developments in the sigma 13 system have made everyone a bit edgy,
and we do not want spies roaming around. A trigger-happy pilot might shoot you
before they notice the Bretonian diplomatic signal.”
“Thank you,
Kusari defence. Transport knight 3 out”, Lorean’s pilot replied.”
Lorean
looked out of the window while the pilot engaged the cruise engines. The
asteroid field ahead was not really dense, but still deadly if you hit a piece
of rock. The beacons showed a straight path to planet Aso, 1 of the 2 planets
in the system. Unlike the farming planet
Why he was
chosen, he did not know. But it was a great opportunity to carry out his
orders. “Why did she send that idiot of a
As if
“We have
just entered Kusari, sir”, the pilot replied:”We are
currently cruising to planet Aso; from there we will head to the New Tokyo
jumpgate via planet
“At what
colonel, I see only rocks”, lord Lorean replied.
“That is
it, Lord. Where we and the other houses take all the resources and leave a
place to be, the Kusari clean up after their selves. You will find no junk in
their space at all.”
“That is
indeed remarkable”, Lorean replied.
“Talking
about junk”, Graves continued: “did you know that recently a new power emerged
within
“You maybe right,” Lorean replied with a forced
smile. “Anyway, I will try to catch some sleep before the next jump.” As he
walked to the back, he thought about everything
Ryosuke
stepped out of the cockpit and looked around. He had just returned from the
training with the 4 navy pilots. His eyes noticed his brother, who walked
towards his ship. As he climbed out down the ladder, his brother called: “Ryo!
Our lady said you should come to her as soon as you are done with your ship. I
will take those cute boys from your hand.”
As
Ryosuke walked to the Navy pilots, he heard the older brother displaying his
charming talent: “OK pretty boys, I am the brother of that fly boy you just had
near you. I and my crew are going to help you keep your ship together. Now,
first I….
“Commander,
here I am. You called me?”
“Yes. I
want a report of your progress after each mission. This way we can keep track
of the enemies’ movements and progress. Further more I get to know what we
have.”
“Ok,
that is easy enough. The navy pilots behaved well. A little bit shaky at the
beginning, but while we were in combat they did fine. They helped one of my men
out.”
“Hmm,
sounds eventful. I expect the written report on a pad in an hour. That is all
for now.”
“My what?”
“Your report, on a pad, one hour. That is all,
pilot!”
“So many
different ways”, went to his head, as he walked out of the command chamber.
Behind him he heard the sound of an incoming call. “Hey, Yuji, can you check
everything for me, I have a report to write”, he shouted to his brothers back,
while the elder one talked to the pilots. Yuji didn’t stop talking; he just
putted up 4 fingers in the air. “That makes the fourth time this month my
brother helps me out. I wonder where I can get the tickets of next match.”
“No! I
cannot come to the Palace. There are to many problems here”, Suzuka shouted to the monitor. “You may not have noticed,
but we are on the edge of a little war here. Or did you think that I requested
that Local command ship for my pleasure. So I have no time to talk to some
Bretonian diplomat at the home planet. If they want to talk to me that badly,
let them come here.”
“We
can’t. They insist to talk to the Emperor and you at the same time. They seem
to have some valuable gifts.”
“So,
they cannot give it by mail? I have forces to prepare.”
“It
seems to be related to Sigma 13”, the minister replied. “We might be able to
make a good deal with them. As you know, we cannot lose 13. And we cannot win
without allies.”
“And of
course we cannot send the emperor to here, so I need to come to the Palace. I
can’t be at 2 places at the same time, can I? “
“Well,
no. Or maybe you can. Is the Kishiro board member
still there?
“Well,
but what he cannot split me.”
“We will
see about that miss. Find him and contact me in an hour. In the mean time I
will make sure the LCS is on his way.”