[font=Century Gothic]Chapter 1: The seeds of revenge
801 AS, Honshu system
The Honshu star's blue light shone upon the silver edges of an armada composed by refugee transports, gathering in the high-orbit of the system's only inhabited planet. The eerie reflection made by these two colors meeting was chiefly obstructed by a true flying wonder, a poetically intimidating Sekigahara-class battleship, finest example of the artisan Kusari engineering. On the side of the vessel were three Hiragana runes, which read "Moriyama".
The Moriyama was the flagship of the Honshu defence fleet, with two more destroyers and several gunboats serving under the battleship's command. As it would later turn out, the vessel only had a few more hours to enjoy its role as a command ship, or as a wonderful piece of artwork itself. Shōshō Yamada, the commander of both the Moriyama and the defence fleet just holstered his ceremonial katana on the bridge of his battleship, fixing his eyes topped by his unnaturally thick eyebrows on an approaching communications officer.
"Shōshō Yamada! Shōshō Yamada!" the approaching soldier shouted.
The comms officer's troubled tone betrayed that he was bringing no good news. Yamada stoked his beard, then signalled the soldier that he could begin his speech with a slight nod at his direction.
"Shōshō Yamada! We have lost contact with recon wing Wasapu 3. Chūi Tanaka's communicator went silent a minute after they reported making contact with a squad of Rheinland heavy fighters."
Yamada didn't respond first. He gazed through the window of his command deck, taking a brief look at the silvery reflections of the refugee transports in Planet Honshu's orbit. A role model officer Yamada might have been, but he never would have expected a situation of this magnitude to erupt. He simply couldn't believe Rheinland was on their doorstep, with seemingly no more motives than to eradicate the House of Kusari from memory. How could one man, even if such a high ranking officer as himself, stop a galactic blitzkrieg, while having to arrange the safe extraction of millions of innocents before taking action? Despite all the odds, his cool, modest nature triumphed.
"Understood. Report back to your position," Yamada replied.
"Hai, Shōshō Yamada."
The communications officer bowed and ran back to his post. Yamada stepped to a black desk full of monitors and buttons, in front of which another two officers stood. He dismissed them both, then pressed a triangluar, green button and began to talk.
"Get me the destroyer Inukami in line."
A "hai" echoed from the other side of the radio, then following some static, a deep Kusarian voice joined the comms channel.
"Daisa Sasaki reporting from the IKN Inukami. Standing by for your orders at full green status, Shōshō Yamada."
"Daisa Sasaki, I will signal the go code for the refugees in two minutes. Move the Inukami from Osaka back to Akita, then to Honshu and prepare for the last stand. Leave your fighter wings behind to cover the extraction of the valuables and the personnel from the storage facility."
"Hai, Shōshō Yamada," replied the deep voice without the slightest note of doubt, even though the selected path was probably swarming with hostile bomber wings.
The same surprising level of calmness was to be found near Osaka Storage Facility, even though a Rheinland attack was imminent. Two tanker transports designed for the transportation of H-Fuel were the centers of attention, surrounded by wings of Kusari heavy fighters and a gunboat. The station's crew has already been evacuated, but their cargo was not yet loaded up. Torwards the sun, a green contrast left by Rheinland ships was to be seen.
"Ushi 1, this is Suneku 1. Our long range sensors indicate unidentified ships on an approach vector. All signs indicate they are the vanguards of the Rheinland invasion fleet. How much time do we need for your tanks to be filled?"
"Suneku, this is Ushi 1. We need an estimated time of 5 more minutes to complete the loading process."
"Any means of speeding that up, Ushi 1? I'm afraid that's an amount of time we don't have."
"Negative, Suneku. We have clear orders from the high-ups not to let one drop of gas stay on the station."
Shōi Kobayashi, a young pilot who signed up only a week ago now sat uneasily in his fighter's cockpit, thinking that the corporates would indeed mean the doom of Kusari. He was filled with mixed emotions, anxious to fight the Rheinlanders and thus trigger-happy, but he also felt strong fear. Not because he was afraid of losing the encounter, being injured or killed, but because his whole family was on one of those refugee transports in Honshu orbit, bound for New Tokyo. The distance between him and his loved ones seemed to be larger than ever before. He only wished to be done with supervising the evacuation of the gas tanks and head out to take part in the defense of the Honshu refugees.
"All wings, this is the gunboat Toyosato. Be advised, two wings of Rheinland fighters have entered our close-range sensors. Lock in targets, power up weapons and prepare to defend the Ushi tankers."
"Suneku 1, we are locked and loaded."
"Tatsu leader, reporting wing is ready for combat."
"Karasu 1, standing by for orders of engagement."
"Taka wing, ready to fight."
Shōi Kobayashi, who himself was a part of Suneku wing, switched his guns off safety, one by one and locked a missile on the fighter leading the first Rheinland wing.
"Approaching Rheinwehr vessels, this is Chūsa Inoude on board the IKN Toyosato. You are in violation of sovereign Kusari space. Turn around and leave immediately or you will be fired upon."
None of the Rheinland wing responded. They maintained comms silence during their approach. A brief notion of chill ran through the spine of Shōi Kobayashi as he watched the Rheinlanders get closer and closer on his sensors. 8 clicks... 6 clicks... 5 clicks...
"All fighter wings, OPEN FIRE!" came the order from the Toyosato.
The pilots yelled syllables ranging from swear words to prayers into their communicators as they commenced the suppressing fire at the direction of the incoming hostiles. The battle started.
The first wave of Rheinland ships stood no chance against the numeric superiority of the Kusarian fighter wings, but they were not alone. More and more hostiles from all directions flashed up on sensors, moving in to attack without saying a word. They lost a few fighters at first, but that didn't keep the Rheinlanders from attacking head-on. They were not driven back by casualties of any sort. The peaceful, bluish sight of Osaka and its surroundings soon turned into a terrible mixture of a green and yellow rainbow, occasionally lit up by explosions of mines, missiles and downing fighters.
"Help, there's two of them on me, I can't shake 'em!"
"Hold on, Karasu 3. I'm coming in to pick them off you."
"My shields are down, taking hits!"
"Hostile down, kill confirmed!"
"For the Emperor!"
Shōi Kobayashi found himself pursuing a Rheinland fighter, which was on the tail of a wingmate of his. He kept squeezing the trigger of his Disinfectors, which took the shields off his target after a few successful hits. He shot a missile at the Rheinlander, but missed due to him dispensing countermeasures. Kobayashi felt sweat covering his forehead. Without thinking, he launched another rocket, this time successfully hitting the enemy vessel's left-side engine.
"Nice shot, Suneku 4."
The Rheinlander was obviously startled by the realisation that his engine was on fire. He tried breaking off and going for evasion, but due to a decent level of maneuverability he lost, he wasn't successful.
"Keep him steady, I'm going in for the kill!"
A Naval Forces fighter flew in from the front, ripping the Rheinwehr vessel to shreds with his Neutron cannons.
"Take that!"
Kobayashi felt as if the day was won already. He congratulated his wingman for the maneuver he performed, then started looking for another target.
"All wings, this is the Toyosato. We have detected two Rheinwehr gunboats appearing from nowhere. Switch your targets and take them down before they hit one of the Ushi transports."
The Kusarians broke off and headed for the approaching two gunboats, with a good number of Rheinlanders on their six. Shōi Kobayashi could feel the hits his shield took, loosing energy as it tried saving the hull.
"This is Tatsu 1, our wing will keep the hostiles distracted while you deal with the gunboats."
"Hai, Tatsu 1. Much appreciated."
The tactic worked. While the Rheinland fighters kept attacking Tatsu wing, the others swarmed the gunboats, dealing heavy damage to both. The first one had all its crew sucked to space by a hull breach, the frozen expressions of the helpless people floating in space was a sight the Samura workers who collected the debris and bodies would remember throughout their lives. The second gunboat was blown to pieces by a reactor core leak.
Realizing the loss of the gunboats, the remnants of the Rheinland assault team began to retreat. The samurais were not to pursue. Everyone was cheering on the comms, due to the victory they thought to be impossible to achieve. Shōi Kobayashi himself was shouting driven by euphoria, without even suspecting that everything he fought for no longer existed.
Kobayashi and the surviving Naval Forces pilots sat down on New Tokyo, along with the tanker ships they were to protect. They were all cheerful to a childish extent, without knowing of or caring about the outside world at all, not even the loss of several wingmates seemed to interest them. Their euphoric conversations even made them ignore a high-ranking officer in full battle gear walking torwards them.
"ATTEN-TION!" he screamed.
That made the pilots regain a part of their consciousness. They stood fast in a line and saluted the officer.
"At ease, samurais," he began his speech, with walking left and right in front of them, "the blow you struck at the invaders was a major one, you made them realise we are not that much of an easy prey afterall. Outstanding, outstanding performance. Kusari is proud to have warriors like you protecting it."
The officer now paused, and looked to the ground.
"However..."
He seemed to be looking for the proper words.
"Your success is the only one we achieved today. Osaka didn't stay in our hands, as the wings relieving you got to the scene. The Toyosato was forced to retreat with heavy damage, while the majority of the fighters was destroyed. But the storage depot is not the only thing we lost..."
The aging officer looked at the pilots again, who lost their cheery expressions.
"The defence fleet of Honshu was entirely wiped out. The Inukami was shot by a Rheinwehr bomber wing near Akita, before it even made it back to the planet. The Moriyama, flagship of the Honshu fleet, as well as the Fukuoka destroyer and all but two gunboats serving in the fleet fell in the defence of the planet. I am also most disappointed to read the report of the refugee convoy loosing 62 out of the altogether 80 ships, as well as 18 of the 25 vessels protecting their extraction. Civilian casualties are in the skies and the enemy fleet is still on advance. They will pay for the unprovoked slaughter they brought to our peaceful Kusari. It is your task to see that they do. Do not leave one alive!"
A tear dropped from the eye of Shōi Kobayashi. The officer's words kept echoing in his head.
"They will pay..." "It is your task to see that they do..." "Do not leave one alive...."
[font=Century Gothic]Chapter 2: The serpent's venom
817 AS, Frankfurt system
The bridge of the RNC Hansa was as empty as it could ever be, the whole ship was filled with the minimal crew, spread accross the ship's six decks. Major Thomas Meyer, the man in command of the gunboat sat comfortably in his leather chair, placing his legs on a green console decorated by Rheinland flags. The Major was a man in his fifties, but he looked much older due to his whole face being covered in grizzled beard and wrinkles. The stress he had to bear during his years with the Military and the heavy smoking he continued had their effect already. Even now, he had a relatively oversized cigar in his mouth, which he smoked while he was looking through the plexiglass window of his command deck.
The RNC Hansa, currently assigned to the Frankfurt border guard fleet, the Grenzposten 3, was positioned near the Sigma-13 gate, to assist Border Station Fulda in the supervision of the traffic coming from and going into the distant nebula. Most ships passing through were Kusarian corporate convoys, mainly Kishiro and Samura ones, at that point shipping through the Sigmas was still risky for Rheinlanders due to the tensions between Rheinland and the Gas Miners Guild. Regardless of that, the Hansa was actually stationed near the jump gate to look for smugglers, that would have used the conflict between the two authorities to their advantage.
Now, a gigantic Kusarian transport jumped in from Sigma-13, along with it two smaller ones and a wing of escort fighters. The largest ship, a "Big Dragon" class transport was in charge of the convoy, on its nose and on the two tanks, the logo of Kishiro technologies was to be seen.
"Approaching Kusari heavy transport convoy, this is Border Station Fulda. You have entered sovereign Rheinland space, please state your identification and destination."
"This is the KTT Meiji to Border Station Fulda," came the reply from the gigantic Kusarian transport, "we are leading a convoy of researchers to Planet Holstein, in order to study the biosphere of the planet. We have approval from both Daumann and the Kanzleramt."
"Recieved and understood, KTT Meiji. Please stand by for a moment while we do the necessary paperwork. RNC Hansa, run a scan on the vessels' cargo hold."
Major Meyer, in commander of the Hansa, took his legs off the console, leaned forward and pressed a button that patched him through to the Radar officer, Feldwebel Gruenwald.
"Gruenwald, the usual orders. Run a scan through the cargo bays of the Kusarians then report your findings," the Major said.
"Jawohl," replied a calm, female voice.
The console, which monitored the Hansa's energy output aswell, now indicated the scanner coming online with full efficency. It took merely a few moments for it to start up, do the scans and shut down again. A professional device it was, directly with the purpose of monitoring traffic and it only got installed a few weeks ago.
"Herr Major, the cargo bays hold nothing but water, food, clothing, oxygen tanks and robotic components. Everything seems to be authorised, but I'll note that the large transport has tanks installed that I have never seen before."
"Gute arbeit, Gruenwald. Stay on the comms for orders update."
Following that, Meyer pushed another button, now a blue one with the word "Komms" written on it. A young, teenage voice started speaking.
"Feldwebel, inform Fulda on our findings. Tell them they have nothing unauthorised on-board."
"Zu befehl."
The Major, with his job done placed his legs on the console again, lighting another cigar.
"KTT Meiji, this is Border Station Fulda. Your papers and cargo are in order, patrol wing Gelb-7 confirmed to be awaiting your arrival, you are clear to pass. Viel glueck."
"Arigato, Fulda. Initiating trade lane sequence."
The enormous Kusarian vessel and its company pressed themselves into the trade lane rings leading to Mainz. It took some time for the transports to position themselves adequately, then they all went out of eyesight under the duration of a brief glimpse.
The Hansa's communications officer, young Feldwebel Schroedinger was unpacking clothes from his locker in the Marines' quarters. The Hansa has been designed to house such space troopers aswell, although they were rarely needed on deck, as the corvette was hardly used for storming installations. The two rooms reserved for the assault personnel were cheifly used by the Hansa's main crew, who used them as storages of things that had no designated place. Thus did Feldwebel Schroedinger's clothes locker get thrown between two unused bunk beds.
The comms officer was getting ready to change his green, Rheinwehr uniform to a civilian outfit of some sort, since the Hansa and her crew were about to go into drydock for the night. The vessel and her crew were done with their daily shift, only a few more minutes were left until they would go off-duty.
Schroedinger however, couldn't even start changing, as he was interrupted by the beeping of his portable comms device, which warned him if the ship has incoming comms to receive. He made the warnings stop with the press of a button, then rushed out of the room, into the ship's green-lit main corridor. He ran through the Habitat section, then took a quick elevator to the Bridge, which was located right below Major Meyer's command section.
The Feldwebel saluted as he entered the Bridge, where first officer Koehler, navigation officer Krieger, weapons officer Landa, and radar officer Gruenwald were waiting for him.
"Schroedinger, where have you been?" asked Koehler.
"Entschuldigung, mein Herr. I was getting changed," he replied.
"You really should stop doing so before the shift ends, Schroedinger," Koehler roared back at him, "such a level of lazyness and neglection of duties will make you find yourself outside the airlock."
Schroedinger was nervous, he never realised Koehler was simply teasing him. He nervously sat down to his place, in front of one of the many consoles to be found in the Bridge section, pressing a few keys, then taking a pair of headphones onto his head.
He paused for a moment as soon as he heard what seemed to be a transmission. He couldn't identify a word but faint mumbling covered in heavy static. He could however, identify the source and the tone of the sender, which sounded like he was in trouble.
"Oberleutnant Koehler, we have a faint transmission incoming from sector D4. I can't make out a single word, but they sound like they are in trouble."
"Inform the Major and patch me through to Fulda."
"Jawohl."
The ship's interior went busy again. Koehler shouted orders to the crew, they all sat to their assigned posts, while Major Meyer came down from the above deck to assume direct control of the ship. The crew saluted, then he took charge and re-issued orders. In about two minutes, the Hansa was ready to go. Fulda Border Station sent out a wing consisting of two heavy fighters, Grau Einz and Zwei and ordered the Hansa to investigate the source of the signal.
So did the corvette's huge main engine light up, burning up immeasurable amounts of H-Fuel on its way to the trade lane. Krieger engaged the lane sequence and off the Hansa went.
"Mainz station, this is the RNC Hansa. We're requesting passage through your airspace, we're on an urgent rescue mission with another two fighters."
"Border Station Fulda has already signed ahead, meine Herren. Permission to enter granted, make sure you get there in time."
"Verstanden, thank you for your approval."
Krieger, the navigation officer of the gunboat switched to cruise as soon as the gunboat left the lane. Schroedinger in the meantime tried tracking the source, but the signal was no longer being broadcasted. The civilian vessels were all steered away from the Storage Facility, the Hansa could move through the area without having to watch out not to impale any of the innocent traffic in its hurry. Despite that, it was quite possible that whatever happened, the rescue team was already too late.
As the Hansa and Grau wing consisting of two fighters left the Mainz airspace, torwards the Westerwald nebula, shots could clearly be seen being fired. It was more than obvious that whoever sent the signal was under fire, but still alive. Krieger set full power to the cruise engines and the shooting came closer and more apparent, as well as the nebula closing in.
"Contact!" said Gruenwald, who was handling the radars with her usual state of calmness.
Indeed. Six hostile ships have flashed up on the Hansa's scanners, along with three others, displaying with neutral IFFs.
"Krieger, switch engines to impulse. Gruenwald, get me scan data on what we're facing. Landa, activate weapon systems and lock in targets. Schroedinger, get me a comm link on a broad frequency," came the orders from Major Meyer.
As the ship embraced the proximity of the nebula, the scenario became apparent. The same convoy of Kusarian ships that were let in a few hours earlier, were now under attack by pirates. Both the Kusarian and the assigned Military escort wing was already wiped out. The escaping flames and oxygen into space from one of the smaller transports and the flashing sheilds of the main ship indicated that they were under heavy fire.
"Unidentified pirate vessels, this is the Rheinland Military Corvette Hansa. You are assaulting civilian vessels of Kusari origin. Stand down at once or we will open fire."
One of the pirates, flying a Sabre-class fighter disengaged and flew torwards the Gunboat.
"Pirate? We are here to protect the Vaterland! These Kusarians arrived to bring doom upon the Rheinland Volk!"
"You are firing at civilian vessels, break off at once. This is an act of terrorism and will not be tolerated."
"You ignorant Kanzler-lapdog! Why do you fail to understand? The mission of these Kusarians is to destroy Rheinland! The whole of it!"
"Mein Herr, the war with Kusari ended almost 20 years ago," Meyer sighed, then he turned to Landa, the weapons officer, "that terrorist is just trying to buy time for his assault wing. Lock in a missile and open fire."
"Jawohl," replied the weapons officer.
The ship's guns were already charged, a missile was in the tube. Landa removed the covers from three red switches, switched them all on, then pressed a triangluar button.
The ion-powered missile was released from the launcher's tube, targetting the Sabre-class Very Heavy fighter. The rebel pilot didn't have time to notice, so he was hit by the rocket straight away, loosing the whole of his shield. He now found himself facing a Rheinland corvette and two of his escort fighters, with a key portion of his defence down.
"You ignorant slave! Your aggression will doom Rheinland!"
The rebel ship fired its engines up, in order to get cover by the other members of the raiding party. Major Meyer didn't have time to warn them again, he had to act.
"Grau Einz and Zwei, lock in targets and engage. Landa, lay suppressing fire with the plasma turrets and cover their advance."
"Grau wing, carrying out orders."
The two heavy fighters left the escort pattern of the Hansa and broke off to attack. Under the suppressing fire of the gunboat's rapid-fire turrets, they shredded the rebels' vessels to pieces. The opposing force consisting of militiamen wasn't particularly trained and most of their fighters were already damaged while battling the convoy's previous escort, as well as disabling the transport turrets themselves. The only tougher opposition was their leader, the one flying a Sabre-class very heavy fighter.
"FUER RHEINLAND!" he shouted as his ship's reactor core exploded.
Major Meyer, who usually faced such opposition without the slightest regret, was now filled with doubts. There was a green substance of some sort, leaking into space from one of the Kusarian main transport's tanks. He had a sudden chill running through his spine, he realised that the rebels they shot down were trying to tell something. It was too late though, Meyer always preferred dealing with such unconvincable militiamen with weapons.
"Grau Einz reporting all targets destroyed."
"Jawohl, Grau wing. Gute Arbeit, Piloten. Return to escort pattern."
The Rheinwehr fighters flew back to the Hansa, both unharmed. Major Meyer now began addressing the transports.
"Kishiro convoy, this is the RNC Hansa from Grenzposten 3. Report your status, over."
The comms remained silent. No response came from the ships, even though they were all intact.
"Kishiro convoy, this is the RNC Hansa. Please report your status, over."
The lack of response that followed, made Meyer nervous.
"Schroedinger, are their comms down?"
"Nein, Herr Major. Their transmitters seem to be damaged, but able to broadcast. I am getting a line with them."
The comms now switched to ear-tearing static, then finally someone responded.
"This is Kishiro transport KTT Meiji. We read you loud and clear, RNC Hansa. Thank you for the assistance, we will now be returning to our mission."
The response shocked Major Meyer. It was apparent that the transports have taken heavy damage, also suffering hull breaches and cargo leaks, but the Kusarian transport captain seemed to be utterly calm, not even being aware of his cargo hold leaking into space. Above all, the green liquid-like substance flowing into space bothered Meyer the most. It could have easily been some sort of harmful substance.
"KTT Meiji, this is Major Meyer from the RNC Hansa. You seem to have a cargo leak. What is the material you are carrying?"
"Cargo leak? Cargo leak. Oh, yes," the Kusarian paused.
"Mein Herr, please respond. What is the content of your cargo hold?"
"The content? Well. The content of our cargo is simply H-Fuel."
Meyer facepalmed as a response to the level of how obvious the lie was. H-Fuel was not even remotely similar to the thick, green liquid floating into space. As soon as he was opening his mouth to respond, Gruenwald, the Hansa's radar officer interrupted him.
"Major! We have a wing of incoming fighters on sensors."
"More raiders?" Meyer asked.
"Not at all. They seem to be Kusarian fighters."
Meyer lowered his eyebrows. The whole situation was getting dire and difficult to understand. Before he could react, he was interrupted again, but by the approaching ships this time.
"Rheinland gunboat RNC Hansa, this is Dairigyousha Shimizu of the Kusari Kempeitai. These ships are under our command, we are now assuming control of this operation in the name of the Emperor."
The Major was stunned.
"We just rescued this Kusarian convoy from pirates, mein Herr. This is Rheinland and as long as you are enjoying our hospitality, we are in charge here."
"I'm afraid not, *mein Herr.* Our operation has been authorised and classified as top secret by several of your commanders. Please move along."
"I demand evidence!" the outraged Major replied.
A red light lit up on the comms console, moderated by Feldwebel Schroedinger. It indicated incoming communications, originating from a long range.
Schroedinger looked at Meyer, waiting for a command. They were both shocked, Meyer was even sweating, although it could hardly be seen under his visor cap.
"Accept it."
Without any comments or responses, the communications officer approved the incoming transmission. A rusty, deep, yet somewhat familiar voice started speaking. Meyer recognised the voice of a man whom he haven't met in a long while, as he had been stationed at the Altenburg about three years ago, which was already in Dresden at that time. The man was Kapitaen Spielman, a man reputed for his cool, merciless manners. Meyer had no idea how he got to Frankfurt or became his superior.
"Major Meyer, this is Kapitaen Spielman. You are making a huge mistake with not obeying the Kanzleramt's commands. Return to Fulda at once and leave the Kishiro agents alone."
"Kishiro? There are Kempeitai here!" replied Meyer without trying to control his rage.
"Are you questioning my orders, Major? Return to base at once or you will face charges of disobedience."
"Ver... verstanden."
The red light turned dark again, the screen monitoring comms traffic was blank. Meyer took his cap off and stepped to the plexiglass window looking into deep space.
The green liquid was entirely emptied from the Kusarian ship's tank, floating in space it looked like a wounded beast of some sort. One of the two smaller transports was still burning, it was obviously beyond the point of repair. The convoy was being embraced by the arriving Kusari Naval Forces heavy fighters, whose presence troubled Meyer more than the rebels the Hansa had to take out beforehand. Something was most definitely not right here.
The orders were clear though. The aging Major sighed and spoke up.
"Lock in waypoint 9027-D2, Alt. 21. Charge cruise engines, set speed to 300."
First officer Koehler repeated his orders, nav officer Krieger accomplished them. The Hansa and her two escort fighters retreated like an ancient warlord, having to surrender the claims he fought for with fang and claw, to a handful of men, simply because the king told him to do so.