Return of Alexander Fuchs
It had been several months since Alex had decided to disappear. Somehow he had been placed at the top of the Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee with Erich Klugmann being missing, and he simply couldn't handle the transition. He had left Bruchsal in his Wraith, and headed for Freeport 2 in the Bering System. There he stayed until the Zoners there grew tired of his constant presence, and he was forced to return.
Whether he would be let back in, of course, was another story.
Bundschuh Gamma-7, your request to dock is granted, please proceed to dock 3.
Alex sighed with relief, the docking codes were still valid, and he was cleared for docking. He climbed out of his Wraith, and headed downt the familiar corridors of Bruchsal, hoping that if he looked confident and just acted normally, then nobody would suspect a thing. Unfortunately for him, he ran into the one person he really didn't want to meet.
Freya, what a nice surprise! Uh... guten tag!
Alex waited for his impending doom. The Witch of Frankfurt was not in a good mood, and Alex came in at exactly the wrong time
Freya Eistochter
"Guten Tag? GUTEN TAG?!" The loud voice fired like a broadside at Alex. One could say that this of course leads to the logical conclusion that Alex's life is right back to normal and his disappearance didn't make any difference. Alex probably didn't care about any of this logic however. He was most likely fully focussing on survival by now.
"You disappear without a word and leave this whole organisation for me to deal with on my own and all you have to say is Guten Tag? Like you just went on vacation or something. Life in the Bundschuh is one of life and death, Fuchs. You can't just come and go as you please without informing anyone." She steps closer to Alex leaving little space between them. She looks down upon him.
"And thanks to you Klugmann could just take over the Widerstand again when that bastard returned from his own disappearance. And he's gone mad, he wants to cut ties with the Hessen. He'll probably get me out of office soon and then we're all done for, because that drunk pacifist doesn't realize that without allies, supplies and forces we won't be glorious white knights, we'll just be rabble ready to get slaughtered by the Military. It'll be your fault for giving him the opportunity!"
She takes a step back again. "So tell me? Got any excuses to even allow you to walk around on this station after leaving me here in this mess. I trusted you, Gottverdammt."
Freya was a lot more intimidating than what Alex remembered, her figure towering over him. Well, most people in the VWA did that, but it was especially intimidating when the dreaded Witch of Frankfurt had you on her bad list. Alex was definitely on this bad list.
His first attempt at saying something came out as a sort of incoherent babble, a bad habit he had picked up when he got nervous. He took a moment to come up with a really great excuse so that he wouldn't be left to fend for himself outside of Bruchsal.
Er.. well I guess you will still be needing a Kommandant somewhere, Ja? I mean you could get Sparks or Steve to do that, but neither of them seem to have the focus necessary to actually get anything done.
Nice going Alex. You've gotten yourself into too much trouble this time
He put on his best diplomatic face (which probably just looked like a very frightened Alex), and hoped for the best.
Freya chuckled. "You are really bad at this aren't you? I don't know where the hell you have been, but apparently you didn't have the focus there to do your duty."
She smirked. "For example with a little bit of focus you would have noticed that your 'Sparks' McFarlen is no longer here. Wanna know why? The girl broke the rules once again. One time too often, brining in some stranger who liked threatening with blowing us all up. You would have known of course if you were doing your job."
She pauses and turns her eyes away from Alex for the first time in the conversation, staring at a wall on the side.
"But you didn't. I bet the Oberst would love you as Kommandant though. Make a little club of part-time revolutionaries or something. Maybe you're allowed to organise such fun group activities as 'a politically correct day at the people's beach of Curacao.'"
Alex takes a look around the room, and processes what's just been said to him. He did really abandon his post when he should've been stepping up to the plate. He does notice, however, that there is less activity in this docking bay than before he left. While he knew Freya was right, he didn't like her way of going about it. And no Sparks? Who is he going to get to fix his ship now?
Well, I suppose we're going to be down one of our best mechanics, and considering the maintenance here was shoddy beforehand, we'll be lucky if we can get any of our ships out of the docking bay without them falling apart! As for focus, I'd question what you've been doing while I've been gone. I'm noticing a lot less fighter craft here than before. Part of me screams Klugmann, but I'm wondering if your stellar social skills scared them off. I'm going to have to end up rostering myself on more patrols than I did before.
You could try that too, but we all know how good you are in a fighter.
He felt a surge of adrenaline fill him, but at the same time was slightly worried that he may have gone too far.
Freya was furious. She grabbed him by his collar.
"You got an awfully big mouth for someone who walked away from his responsibilities. You were in command of the Bundschuh's main armed forces. If you would have done just a bad job, you could've been forgiven due to a lack of experience or it might have been simply a bad choice to appoint you. But you didn't fail. You never really tried. You deserted." She releases him.
"Ja, things aren't going as they should." She seems slightly less angry now and instead seems to be moving into the direction of sadness, yet still retains its viciousness. "But I at least try. I was elected to lead us before and ja, I failed perhaps. I wasn't very experienced either back then. But I tried and I am still trying to this day. And if the fighter bays are emptier than before, then maybe that could have a bit to do with people deserting us or with the fact that the Widerstand didn't have an Oberst to them. Maybe I would be a better fighter pilot if I could ever get out there and fly. But I rarely do. Because I have other duties. Like leading the entire god damn party, keeping it from getting wiped out, managing everything and sometimes, sometimes I have to do such things like judging talented Aktivisten that continuously ignore security and safety protocols."
The inhuman anger of Freya had by now transformed in a blunt honesty that might hit even harder. Heartfelt emotions give power to simple words. "If you just wanted to fly around a bit you should've gotten a normal office job and then you could fly around a bit in your spare time in the atmosphere of Neu Berlin. If you want to make a change in this world however, you should start with actually trying that and taking your responsibility."