03-24-2017, 06:49 PM
![[Image: H5GgNfh.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/H5GgNfh.jpg)
From: Richard Riedler
Subject: Biography
Title: How a Unioner comes to be
I'd never thought things to turn out like this.
Most of my life would be occupied with Arbeit, earning barely enough money to provide for my family. The work was crushingly exhausting, superiors demotivating and harsh, extended breaks were strictly bestraft and the pay would've even been lachhaft for a Corsair, due to Rheinland's worsening financial situation being more than just depressing. Needless to say, it wasn't enough, and my family withered away over the years I broke my back for the military on their shipyard. Walking in on the lifeless husks of my wife and daughter in our lousy cabin broke me. Of course, my pay did not better from that. And even after it was only me to feed, überleben was difficult. And since I didn't want to end like my family, I had to take action. It was my only chance to last in this world of egotism, greed and exploitation. So I started stealing. Stealing tools from work, scrapped hull plates from damaged ships and even whole engine components. I just needed enough to leave, piecing together my own Schiff after my shifts. I knew how to do it.
But I didn't just leave when I was done. I was caught.
Thankfully not by anyone of the military. I still don't know how she – the head of the Union – managed to slip onto the shipyard unnoticed, aber she did. She noticed what I did and she observed. She made sure I wasn't just some rat that took what he could get, just some thief.
She waited until she knew my reasons, and followed me to my patchwork Schiff to talk, to give me a chance. A choice, something I had not known since my Mutter asked me what I wanted for dessert, when I was a Kind.
I will never forget our conversation. It burned into my mind, like a branding iron, pushed against my head.
„So you take what you can and want to leave? Doesn't your family need you?“ she said, pointing at a Bild of my family and me together, that I kept in the makeshift cockpit of the ship.
„What's it to you? You seem to know of my actions, so why are you here, without Military ready to lock me up?“ I asked, having already accepted my fate at that moment.
„Because I see potential. I see someone whose family starved, who would be willing to change Rheinland as it is now, if he had the chance. Someone with skills, gathered and honed for years, waiting to be put to use.“
She said this so ruhig, tracing around my ship's frame, inspecting it
„We both know how it feels to get exploited. The open trade has disabled the worker populace by so much. Feldwirtschaft has been substituted by foreign companies like Synth, the Rheinland corporations are employing foreigners, letting their own people starve or cripple themselves for Mindestlohn.“
„What are you on about? I'm a shipyard worker, not a politician.“ I yelled at her.
„Oh, you are much more than just a shipyard worker.“ she replied, stepping closer towards me, face to face, mustering me and looking straight into my mind, it felt like.
„Strong jawline, a determined look in the eyes, muscular but not too defined, oil and rust on hands and face.“
„Is this a Schöhnheitswettbewerb now?“ I got agitated
„Tell me what you want or call the authorities. There's no way out of this for me anyways.“
„I wouldn't say that, Herr Riedler...“
She already knew who I was. And much more I didn't know myself.
„There is a way to not only live your own life, but help the lives of all the other workers in Rheinland. My name is Gunda Riehl. I am a squad leader of the Unioners, currently incognito on this shipyard, looking for recruits. And I have a place and tasks for you. Give me your word, and I'll give you a ship and a purpose, the Unioners a face to admire...“
Her grin at that moment was chilling, but I still know I was smiling back like a Drecksdepp.
„And Rheinland another man for its own good. Like you always wanted it to be.“ she almost whispered, reaching her hand out to me.
There was nothing to ask, nothing more to say. She was offering me all the things I never had. A place, a task, motivation, people to work WITH instead of FOR.
I just...quietly took her hand, and thus became part of the Union. I now have my own ships, my own friends, and a collective purpose. I look up to her. She saved me from a long and painful death.
And look at me now. I'm sitting here, in the bar on Speyer, drinking Rheinbier until we throw it up again and telling my lifestory to all of my friends! So let's celebrate Gunda, let's celebrate us.
Let us celebrate the Union!
Richard Riedler.
Gefreiter, Pacifica Base.