The alarm by Hermann's bed rang, a loud, shrill clock that was passed down from his grandfather Leopold. However, passing down a clock just meant you were part of the family.
And Hermann's family wasn't necessarily respected. Having a long history of dealing in Black Market Munitions (and getting caught a number of times), they were too troublesome even for some of the Junkers. While Hermann himself opted for a change, he eventually found out just how hard it was to keep his nose out of said business, considering the profits that he could rake in.
So here he was now, in his small, cramped cabin, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying to comb his dark brown hair. He really hadn't slept well at all, considering the fact that he just barely managed to clear a blockade of the Gallic Royal Navy, who was scanning anyone that passed by their checkpoints.
He still remembered the shrill words of the officer that scanned his ship: "Stop! Halt your vessel immediately!" while it was not necessarily a working phrase anymore, he knew that it would bring a few dozens of ships upon him in an attempt to stop his now cruising Shire which was plowing it's way through an especially unlucky EFL Vache.
He guessed that the next time he passed that checkpoint, he wouldn't be so lucky.
The hum of the Shire's engines was the only thing breaking the silence as the ship cruised through the Galloway Asteroid Field with a hold full of scrap. However, unlike the last time he had been cruising through these fields, he was scared.
He was terrified.
"He's not gone, he's not gone..." he nervously said to himself as he steered the ship through the dense field. "He's not gone..."
It was probably a mere coincidence, but after the run-in with the Gauls, he got word that his brother, Dieter, had gone missing. No one knew what had happened, as there were no signs of a fight when they searched his house, no blood, no gun.
So obviously, he hadn't been murdered, or had committed a murder.
But when they extended their search, he found that his ship was still moored, silent amongst the debris fields.
Searching the ship also revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Which definitely meant he had not killed anyone.
So what had happened?
His stream of thoughts were interrupted when a voice called out through his mic. "Ah, look who I found! One of those dirty Junkers!"
Hermann looked through the cabin window to see an Akegata, an Eagle VHF and 2 bombers. Upon further investigation, they were revealed to be working for Samura.
"Damn," he muttered to himself as he prepared to negotiate with the small, rather heavily defended convoy. "This is the Junker vessel running under me, Hermann Schultze," he said. "What might you want?"
"Oh, what do we want?" the voice said. "Your immediate destruction."
Hermann wasted no time in opening fire. He knew that if he were to get out of this situation, he had to take the first shot.
He pointed the turrets at one of the bombers, a CTE series Roc. It caught it completely off guard, sending it's prepared anti-matter shot harmlessly wide. The pilot attempted to perform a series of evasive maneuvers, but he did not pay attention to his surroundings and collided into an asteroid, his ship exploding with a resonating BOOM.
Hermann wrenched the control stick, and the ship jolted forward, just enough to avoid a chain of Charon turrets which streamed past him, just behind the rear engine. He shouted to one of his crew members to adjust full power to the guns. He swung the guns around, then slammed down on the fire button.
Instead of a rapid chain of Bretonia's basic transport turrets, he heard the weapons overcharge, then release a devastatingly rapid stream of fire. The shots made mini explosions as they hit the hull of the Akegata, and he watched as the Akegata's hull went from 90% to 0% in 5 seconds.
The hull of the now charred transport became a bright fireball as a deafening explosion rocked the Shire and burning embers flew out.
Hermann then realized his hull wasn't being impacted. He looked around to find the fighter and the remaining bomber cruising away.
"You may have won this time, you filthy Junker, but we'll be back!" a shrill voice shouted through his comms.
Hermann simply smiled and replied, "I'll make sure it'll just turn out the same as today."
//I know my story is quite lame, but it'll get better. I hope.
This couldn't be true.
Hermann couldn't accept this as an answer. He just couldn't.
Hermann had refused to believe that his brother Dieter was dead when he had first gotten the news. However, the reason of his death was too real, too impossible to deny.
Dieter had been working outside, on his ship, when a CSV had collided into him at 50 m/s. It had been a tragic accident, and Dieter had been killed on impact. However, the Junkers, being shady people, tried to keep the situation under wraps and didn't even tell Hermann's family. Hermann had only found out when he had gone to Rochester Base for a drink, and was greeted by a half-drunk man who asked if he was the brother of Dieter Schultze.
When Hermann said yes, the man simply sighed and said, "Your brother's dead. Got run into by a CSV when it tried to get into its docking position. I feel bad for you, son."
Now, Hermann was devastated. His only living family member, was now dead.
He still couldn't believe it.
Hermann had been been a Junker for most of his life, but his first days were spent flying as a Zoner.
Hermann hadn't really been accepted by the Junkers early in his life, and had been an outcast for most of his life. He had chosen to fly with the Zoners early on due to the fact that a wide range of people were accepted as a Zoner, including him.
Sitting in his small command seat, Hermann looked back on his early life, the most of his thoughts revolving around the old ZBT-1002 Whale he used to pilot.
"Where had it gone?" he asked himself as he steered the Shire around an asteroid and back on course to the Tau-31 jumphole. He decided that when he got to Freeport 6, he'd start his search for his old ship.