To:Oberst Erich Klugmann Sender:Sparks Origin:Frankfurt Relay #1
Silence and Light
Hey Erich,
I'm not sure if this'll even get to you. Don't let the relays fool you, this is coming straight from Bruchsal. I just had to, well, you know... Run it out through just about everything to have a chance of hitting something that could, maybe, be you. Metropolis might have been able to do a better job of it, but that's just it, isn't it? Nothing's quite like it was. The raiders stopped answering calls a while back too, so it'll just have to be me and my relays. Sorry about the quality. Sort-of unavoidable over this kind of distance. I'm not sure if you're with the raiders or if the military finally got to you. Maybe you just got sick of it all and hung up the badge. I don't blame you, really. I don't. Wherever you are, I hope you're happy. I mean that. Really.
Oh, and if I missed and hit the BDM instead, it'd be great if you could just stop reading here.
Something tells me you won't though, so I might have to start leaving names out here. I'm sure you'll figure out what I mean, Erich. Besides your name's hardly a secret, is it?
It's been quiet since you left. It'll be a long time before all of Zwickau's scars heal over completely - if they ever do - but she's breathing again, and I guess that's all we can really ask for. I've been spending a lot of time in the workshop lately. I wish I could say what I'm working on, but that'll have to wait until another time. Once I've had a chance to discuss it with our irradiated military friend.
Speaking of which. A.E's taken post as Oberst in your place. I don't know how he's handling it, to be honest. Than again, I've spent most of the past few months locked in a workshop, so handling natural sunlight's a little new to me. Maybe he'll get used to it. I don't think I ever could - that many people relying on you, every day, all day... You two can keep it.
The Witch (don't look so surprised. Everyone knows her nickname) has been appointed Vorstand. Noth's following fell apart not long after you left, and with Zwickau... I guess people wanted retribution. I guess they thought the Witch could give it to them. I'm not so sure. I mean, I've met her. She certainly seems aggressive enough, but... We were never meant to be aggressive. That's not who we are. Not who I am.
I'm worried that if we start down that path we'll lose ourselves along the way.
You know how they say to dig two graves when you start out for revenge? I think they (whoever they are.) might've underestimated her. Just a feeling.
Anyway, I should get back to the machines. Look, if you do read this, by some freak chance of nature, I just wanted to say thank you. I know I came to you a stranger and a pirate and a... I don't know. Whatever else I was. The Widerstand gave me something else. You gave me the chance to do something good in this crazy, messed up place. You trusted me to keep this place working, and I haven't forgotten that.
So thank you.
We'll keep fighting.
Your friend,
Sparks
End Message
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.
- Incoming Transmission -
:::ID: Erich Klugmann:::
:::LOCATION: ERROR:::
:::ENCRPYTION:HIGH:::
Mein gott.
Sparks - Sarah... I am so incredibly sorry that I had to do what I did. Disappearing, and all.
Noth is gone? Good. I shouldn't go into details here if I am being tracked still, but Noth blackmailed me into granting him leadership. We disagreed about something and... Well, you know the rest.
I'm even more sorry about what I need to ask of you now, Sarah, but it needs to be done. I can try to fix this; all of this... But I need to first know if my disappearance was considered desertion or treason. I need to know if I can show my face around Bundschuh holdings again.
If you can verify this for me, wonderful. I'll attempt to secure my return and challenge "The Witch" for some means of direction again.
If you discover that you by extension are being tailed, send me a reply whenever you can and include mention of "Saarbrucken Colonization". If you do, I'll know to cut off this transmission and seek another means of both raising the funds and influence to return.
I just want you to know that I've... Done many things I regret. Deeply regret. Leaving you and the others was the second worst of them. I also want you to know that I don't think I'm entitled to this position of leadership. It isn't glamorous or privileged... But rather, I feel it calling to me because I need to do what it right.
Please reply as soon as you can. I'm counting on you.
The parliament meeting plodded along at it's glacial pace, discussing taxes on freelance traders carrying non-vital materials to the Bundschuh's shattered installations, or something similarly useless. As they had since the planets crawled out of Frankfurt's accretion disk. As they would until the star swallowed them again. To all appearances Jana Achen had stopped listening to the rambling representatives some time ago, head buried in the book in her lap, her gray hair barely visible from the floor. But she was listening. Not to the speeches, heavens no. The Bundschuch had so little to trade that the few pilots who graced their stations could dictate whatever terms they chose.
No, Jana watched the speakers.
Hands, eyes, feet. Who they were watching in the crowd. Who they avoided. She didn't care what they were saying, but who they were saying it for. Who was working for who. There were three main factions in the room. The radicals, a mixture of former Volksfront officers and younger survivors of Zwickau. They pushed to simply commandeer the transports, take what the Bundschuh needed to survive, and pay what they considered a fair rate but any freelance captain would regard as little better than robbery. Another group; those too young to remember Zwickau or too old to consider it relevant, argued that the freelancers should charge what they wished, that natural commerce would force a fair price. The last group, Klugmann's old guard, argued for comprise between the two, seizing vital resources where essential and deregulating minor commodities.
The last group was smaller than it had been a few months ago.
"-and further, the prohibition of free trade is a direct assault on the liberties this party stands for!" The current speaker was Cameron Tucker, a wiry young man that looked as though he'd been dragged through a maintenance shaft on the way to the floor. One of the last recruits of the Klugmann-era, though he hadn't adopted quite the same policies. His suit had sweat stains under the arms.
In Jana's pocket, a communicator buzzed. She pulled it out and held it between the pages of her novel, brightness dialled low in the twilight seating. The message was addressed to Sparks. The girl was smart when it came to ships, there was no mistaking that, but she was woefully inadequate on matters of politics. Copying Jana in on the exiled engineer's mail had been a labour of minutes for one of her interns.
Far above the dusty parliament floor, Jana Achen shook her head in disbelief.
A particularly astute observer may have seen a gray-suited woman slide to her feet, pick up a dog-eared novel from her desk, and leave the sitting. But there was no such observer.
To:Oberst Erich Klugmann Sender:Sparks Origin:Frankfurt Relay #6
RE: Silence and Light
Erich!
You're alive! I mean, of course you're alive. I don't think I could get this transmission if you weren't and, you know, receiving messages from the dead's sort-of more a seance thing anyway. Standing in a circle and humming was never really my thing, so I'll go with the alive option, if that's fine with you.
Either way, it's great to hear from you. Although I don't think I'll be able to offer as much of a help as you might be hoping for.
You see, I'm sort-of exiled from the Widerstand now. No, it wasn't anything to do with you, just a certain, really moronic move on the part of a friend of mine. He flew in a- Look, it doesn't matter what he did. The end result is that I'm pretty much lucky to be out with my clothes and ship more-or-less intact. I'm sure the Witch'd be able to tell you about it sometime, if you ever catch up with her. She was the one to kick me off-station. Well, her and some white-suited spook I've not seen before. I've still got my comm codes and transponders though, even if I can't dock, so that's something. Otherwise though, I'm even more locked out of the loop than you are right now.
I still consider myself part of the Widerstand, it's just that no-one else really does.
No-one really blamed you, not at the time I left. I mean, there were a few that thought you'd intentionally left, and they were pretty bitter about the whole thing, but most of us assumed you'd finally run into the law, and chalked you up as a combat loss. Er. No offense. There were still a few Widerstand die-hards campaigning against the reforms - I think Cameron got in on it at one point, but I was really too caught-up with keeping our ships flying and Zwickau and everything to pay much attention to the political side of it, sorry. Speaking of which, Zwickau's more-or-less fully operational again. It probably won't be back at full industrial capacity for a while again, but it's a reasonably safe place to live again for now.
I might not officially be in the Widerstand any more, but I've still got some contacts I can call up on your behalf, if you want. Axel might be able to give us a bit of an idea of the current climate. I mean, I think he hates me, but he hates everyone, so that's not really a bad thing. Let me know what I can do.
And it's okay. You wouldn't be human if you didn't have regrets. I'm just glad to see you're still among the living.
Your friend,
Sparks
End Message
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.
