Rubicon: Chapter I - Printable Version

Location: Planet Wiesbaden, Omega-54
Date:7 September, 824 A.S

Sleep wasn't coming along well for Anna, who was tossing and turning in bed. Sweating out her guilt, her hair was drenched in her own sweat, untied. A few seconds passed and things only got more vile, Anna was clenching on to one of her pillows, kicking the sheets off the bed as she started sweating even more. Anna was having a nightmare, one she had never had before. Anna found herself on Planet Tangier, in her younger body as a Hauptmann. The scene was familiar, she was in uniform, without any combat equipment past her sidearm, standing atop a hill leading down to a large river of lava. Anna looked around, her gun in hand, the dark clouds and vile amounts of ash in the air made it difficult to breath. Anna looked around, weary, as she walked along the top of the hill she could see a man screaming out beneath her. Anna turned, as she began to move a bit faster she felt a burning pain in her left arm, she turned her head to find the entire left coat of her uniform was burnt off. With it, her arm was bleeding all about, she began to feel the pain settle in as she starred at cooked arm. The scream of the man falling caused her to snap her attention away from her arm, it was Dennis. She walked close enough just to see his face, as she approached, she pointed her sidearm at Dennis and pulled the trigger.

*Bang*

In that instant she snapped awake, the deep blue glow of her Iris was all she could see in the mirror in front of her bed. The light was off, but Anna could tell everything was probably scattered all over the floor. The glow in her Iris brightened as she pressed her palm against her head. Anna opened a single drawer attached to a desk next to her bed, in it were a few things, her brass knuckles, remote control to her ship, different files. Finally, there was a ring, a ring with a very tiny blood diamond. Anna starred at it for a moment, the ring was a reminder, a way for her to remember her life before the military, a way to remind herself why she was who she was, a means of self justification. After her pulse, and breathing settled, after her Iris darkened back into their natural state, Anna shut the drawer.

After turning the lights on Anna got up and out of bed, wrapping a bedsheet around her as she walked over towards her coat. She took out the data stick inside, for over a week she had thought to herself over and over again if she really wanted to re-meet people from her past. After Florian, Nivaldo, and her son, she attached herself to the assumption that everyone close to her was only for rent.

Anna kept one hand pressed against her rib, holding the sheet in place, she reached into to pocket of her coat with the other. She pulled out the data stick, and without any second thoughts, walked over and plugged it into her own personal computer.

Plugged in, the data stick showed a small, red light indicating that it was running. Quickly afterwards, the screen flickered, to make way for a symbol on black ground. A fist, clenched around a dripping feather. The logo faded, and was replaced by a barely visible picture of a room. It looks as if the person living in it hadn't tidied up in at least a month. Clothes lay scattered on the ground, as well as on the bed that was just barely visible on the corner of the camera's field of view. The dim lighting provided a claustrophobic, uncomfortable atmosphere.
The face in the center of the screen was just as worn as the room. The bags under the cybernetic eyes would be enough to rival a panda, although the lighting likely wasn't doing the woman in front of the camera any favors in that regard.
She looked older than in Anna's memory. And... Worn. Almost as if some of the energy that had often sparkled in her eyes had left them. The facial expression was all too familiar to the General, although she couldn't pinpoint it on where she saw it as often.
Anna.
The voice she spoke in was quiet, raspy. Either she hadn't been using it much, or she screamed a lot.
We need to meet. I'll send you coordinates with this message. I trust you will note them down as soon as they appear on screen, because the message is set to delete itself once you've watched it.
She looked up, presumably to find eye contact with the watching woman. A pleading expression showed on her face, one that not many people ever got to see
I need your help, Anna. You're the only person I have left to turn to. I hope you come. Alone.
After another pleading look, the video was replaced by another iteration of the fist-logo from earlier. A set of digits flashed on the screen for about ten seconds, just enough for the General to note them down, before the screen once again faded to black.

Did you get the coordinates? Anna spoke up.

Yes Generalmajor. A voice replied, the voice being VI in her computer.

Plug them into my vessel, and begin refueling.

At once Generalmajor.

It was undoubtedly Annika, who's fate was once again resting in Anna's hands. The two had a very long history, ever since they met in the infirmary on Vogtland Annika grew on her like a sister, and like any sister, she was a responsibility. One that tested Anna's patience time and time again, forcing her to dig into her frostbitten soul to find a small amount of integrity that would - in every instance - lead to Annika's salvation.

Anna got up and walked over to her cabinet full of clothes, she was quite obviously drowsy, in need of exercise, and food.

RE: Rubicon: Chapter I - Char Aznable - 10-01-2017

CO's quarters, Deck 2, WGS Ostara, somewhere in the Sigma Cluster
08/09/824 AS, 04:29 AM

Nika woke up on the floor of her quarters, presumably from the rumble that had just been going through the ship. Her first attempt to stand up was foiled by the shaky legs, and the bruise on her right leg. After she noticed the pain in the offending limb, she cursed herself once again. "You should know better than to fall asleep at your desk by now, idiot.", was her sole comment, before she took another go at standing up. Despite her drowsy state, her mechanical arm quickly and safely found it's way to the pillbox on the desk. Two for the morning. No, three. Culled the pain.

Minutes later, when the medication finally began doing it's job, the woman let out a deep, frustrated sigh. Still no word from Anna. Probably the message hadn't arrived. Or maybe, she had actually received the data stick, but decided that Nika was nothing more than another ghost from the past, one that reviving again would probably not do Anna very good. Nika gave her reflection in the mirror a humorless smile. Her oldest friend remaining would probably not even be wrong about that. Certainly if the reports she'd received just before everything went to the gutter - again - were anything to go by.

Thoughts ran through her head while she got dressed. Scenarios, plans. Her mind, finally freed of the pain for another few hours, had begun working again. The problem was that even with a brain as smart as hers, the situation was hopeless if she didn't have any support or help. And it didn't help that the few personal friends she'd made over the past few years were dead or hated her guts. Freya had turned her down, Klugmann not even responded. While she could understand the first one - resentment for being 'betrayed' was very in character for Freya - the latter had actually caught her off-guard. Her former mentor had certainly not been one to hold grudges. Or maybe, she had failed at judging his personality. That of course provided that he was still alive in the first place.
However she looked at it, she just could not find any way out of this without relying on someone's help. And since the voluntary option seemed to not be working, she would need to turn to more desperate matters. And that meant to sink even lower in her own self-esteem. Not that it mattered.

Fully dressed, she took another deep breath and banned the worry from her face. What replaced it was the steely, calm expression that people in both the Bundschuh and the rest of the house had begun to both respect and fear. Her fears, worries and insecurities got banned in a shell deep within her, again. "Thank you, Freya", she mumbled to herself, and then opened her door to pass into the corridor.

Ten minutes of stale air, people trying to make way for her, be it out of respect or fear, and one suspiciously quiet ride in a lift - she was dead certain that the people in it had been joking around before she'd entered. She made a mental note to try doing something about the morale - if the crew stopped being optimistic about their mission, it was doomed to fail. Pessimism was a luxury for leaders.
Nika didn't pause after those ten minutes. She leaned against the wall, one foot against it, the mechanical one on the floor holding the balance. The woman in the room she was in now with her looked at her, puzzled.
"Something the matter, ma'am?", the Leutnant asked, clearly worried. The appearance of the commanding officer in stellar cartography was a rare occurrence, usually reserved for her tactical discussions with Wolf and the Oberst. Nika shook her head. "Get me a data cable, Leutnant. Then leave."
The cable plugged in safely in the jack hidden under her hair, she turned to the projection of the Sigma cluster that only she could see, for it was data now being directly projected into her head. She added dots, scattered everywhere around the cluster. Then she colored them. Grey, yellow, orange. Ponderous thinking, and after all, a conclusion.
Without Anna, she would have to draw on resources long dormant. Resources that could wake a bear she would prefer not to poke, but choices were rare these days.
"You've got two more days, Anna."

RE: Rubicon: Chapter I - Wesker - 10-12-2017

Location: Planet Wiesbaden, Omega-54
Date:9 September, 824 A.S

"Hng" Anna groaned, pulling herself up for the 8th time, her long arms spread out hanging onto the pullup bar in the small gym at her quarters. Anna owned a fortress, and her own personal sanctuary had everything built in to accustom the person in charge of both the Army and the Hessian people. It felt strange, going from being a poor nurses angelic child, to being known as the Satanic Queen of the most wretched area in Sirius, the Omegas. Living in her throne, having an entire Army, an entire population, sitting at her beck and call out of motivation as much as fear. To an ordinary person, deviating so far from what any parent raised their child to be would seem far too "taxing" on their conscience.

Unfortunately that was something Anna lost more of every day since her mother died. It was far worse than when she was a conflicted Hauptmann, being forgiving -allowing herself to have friends-. Now, it had nearly driven her into letting Annika rot, initially paying no mind when she "died" a second time.

Boom

The sound of the weight plate hitting the ground was followed with Anna exhaling and groaning at the same time. The people of the Omegas and surrounding regions associated her the name "Devil". Which physically, applied to her in several ways, topping off at slightly over 6 feet in height, she was abnormally tall and strong when compared to the average woman. With 170 pounds of muscle to cover her massive height and wingspan, she found herself needing to mix in weights with standard exercise movements to keep her body structure as intimidating as her genes. All this mixed with her vicious piloting abilities makes her out to be as much, if not more than what the local inhabitants refer to her as.

Is everything ready? She said as walked over to the next room, wiping the sweat from her face with a cloth. Yes Generalmajor, the coordinates are set, engines and weapon systems will be powered on your command. The VI replied over a local intercomm in the room she was in. The ceiling was filled with several stereos, allowing the VI's voice to follow Anna's exact location in every room. Ready them now, have my guards inform the Brigadegenerals of my temporary absence. Faust will oversee events here along with my guards until I return. She replied as she walked back to the table where she picked up her cloth. A blender sat next to the sink, filled with a number of random compounds. She grabbed the glass, chugging down whatever mixture she had made in seconds. As she put the glass back down and walked over towards the exit to the hangar bay, she started assessing every outcome she could think of. The sigmas may not have presented the same number of dangers the Omegas did, but it still was certainly far from safe. The Gas pockets, along with lurking Corsair patrols, made entry and a relaxed flight very unlikely.

A reinforced EVA suit would be mandatory, but she would also need body armor for any potential hostilities in person. Next to the exit to the hangar bay stood a steel door, larger than the exit doorway. It required a retinal scan, verbal, and numerical code to open. Anna stood as the laser combed her Iris, the genetic abnormality made replicating and breaking in ten times more difficult. Isaak She spoke up after, her son's name and the verbal code. All that remained was the numerical code. Nine, Seven, Nine, Three. The door opened, inside was an arsenal of weapons, her personal EVA suit, and flexible light body armor that fit on like a skin-tight wetsuit. Nothing extremely remarkable, sidearm hard projectiles and laser rounds would still hurt, but the armor would at minimum, keep her limbs in place.

Anna stood for a moment, starring at the EVA suit. Even if Annika wasn't who she was to Anna anymore, she needed to know if she was still alive. That much was enough a reason to escape finding her to fulfill any sort of moral compass.

Clear the airspace, send my route to Faust, Viking, and Dáinsleif. Anna spoke up, it was time to find out if Annika really was alive.

RE: Rubicon: Chapter I - Char Aznable - 10-12-2017

CIC, Deck 5, WGS Ostara, somewhere in the Sigma Cluster
09/09/824 AS, 10:56 PM

The silence in the room was almost palpable. This was the first operation that the ship was doing for about two weeks, and one that she had been decidedly quiet about to the crew. Only her most senior officers knew about the goal of this sortie, and this was for the better.
Because this operation was not exactly what she had imagined the ship to be used for. In fact, it wasn't exactly what she had imagined anything to be about. It was the kind of backstabbing, sneakily planned operation driven by desperation that she had always hated Freya's methods for. But there wasn't much choice.

Ostara's CIC was covered in deep blue light. The concentric circles that were the base layout of the room made it easy for her to overlook the entirety of the room, and whenever she had to give an order, it was just a matter of moments for her to turn the chair and be able to look the soldier she was ordering around directly in the eye. She had to admit that this was a pretty effective layout, and it was one of the reasons why she preferred the CIC over the observation bridge. It surrounded her with an aura of authority, while simultaneously shrouding her in mystery - after a new policy instated by her right hand man nobody had access to the room that wasn't required to be there.
Her eyes, used to the intentional dim lighting that had been their only company for hours, were currently fixed on a monitor on the farther end of the room. She was using the zoom function in her cybernetic eyes, making sure that she could read everything the Leutnant she was observing read too. Another tool up her sleeve. Whenever Nika was using this room, she made sure she was aware of everything that happened within it. Sure, it was a magician's trick, but it worked. Everyone here was reporting directly to her, if he wanted to or not - and they were aware of that.
She had to admit that she enjoyed the eerie quiet within the area. It gave her time to concentrate, and the dim lighting was doing wonders for her headache. The readouts on the display weren't very promising. The field report from one of the further out scout vessels. Nothing had changed on its post. But they had time, after all.
The cruiser was deployed in the center of a formation of smaller ships, with the three freighters they had brought with them sitting on the edge of the cloud they were in. Nika had learned this trick years ago, and when she had described it to her right and left hand men, they had been stunned. Seemed like the training by the Order had left a few marks on her tactical skills.
She called it the spiderweb. Each of the freighters' positions were known to the fifteen heavy fighters deployed along the edges of the patrolled area, and their respective positions were known by the light fighters, hidden in debris and along the tradelanes. It relied on absolute radio- and transponder silence. The way it worked was that a light fighter would pick up a contact, but did not engage it. Instead, it relayed the course, trajectory and ship types to the assigned heavy fighter via a directed laser beam, who then collected information from all of the scouts assigned to him - and then continued relaying the information down the line, until the lead ship - Ostara, in this case - had three separate courses.
It relied on perfect knowledge of the nebulae and efficiency - and frankly, she wasn't sure if her group was trained well enough to pull it off yet. If one of the lasers was set to a color just a little off, the message would be swallowed by the nebula, and nothing would arrive at all. But if it wasn't...

She noticed a dot on a different Leutnant's screen, and turned her attention to it. He was still analyzing, but from her position, she could use all incoming information at once. And it was unsettling, to say the least. A ship, on direct course towards them. Single, without escort, and very, very fast - but it could mean that their cover was blown.
She didn't expect her friend to show up anymore. Sure, she was aware that Anna had likely received the message, but her lack of a response had been enough to convince Nika that she was alone. Still, there was this lingering doubt in her mind... And it drove her to decide on something that would possibly be fatal to her, if the ship was not who she hoped it was.

"Firing solution for tube one", she mumbled, only to notice the gunnery officer hasten to put down his pen and begin typing in on his console "Bearing 340, mark 447", her voice continued, monotone and raspy. She did indeed not use it much anymore by this point. "Set it to detonate a second before reaching destination. Open tube one." Her mind was racing. If her - and the computer's - calculations were off by just one mil, chances were the ship would never even notice that it was being fired upon. But she was pretty damn sure at this point. "Fire Tube one." A statement, rather than an order. It was a decision over life and death. She had decided if this unsuspecting dot would continue to be there or not. One single beep was heard from the console of the gunnery officer, and he nodded in her direction. The weapon was on course. Now the only thing there was left was to wait.

RE: Rubicon: Chapter I - Wesker - 10-17-2017

Location: Crow Nebula, Sigma-13
Date:9 September, 824 A.S

Within a few hours the ship had successfully traversed through the Frankfurt system with no interference. The Army callsign had become much more intimidating since Anna's rise to power, having gone from minor operations and less organization to a very well organized and aggressive group. As the ship traversed below the Tradelanes Anna gazed off into space, almost relaxing for a few moments, there wasn't much for her to think about beyond her son. But at this point that just put more stress on her, Isaak was something worth living for, but also a responsibility, and with the indecisiveness of the Zoner populations Isaak could end up in more danger on that Planet than Anna could on Crete.

Sigma-13 Anomaly detected, the Jumphole is phase-aligned Generalmajor.

Anna snapped out of her brief daydream, the area was clear, surprisingly no Bundschuh patrols were nearby, nor Imperials. Anna activated the jump systems, the ship shocked through at jump speed, tearing through space as it exited through the other side. Upon jumping in, the dark blue Nebula quickly became the only thing visible, mixed with some unpleasant chatter over the local comm channel. The hell is that? Fire! Anna's attention snapped onto the radar screen, a wing of Imperial fighters was closing in fast. They must've been anticipating Bundschuh, and were in for an unfortunate surprise. The fighters on either end are equipped with EMP missiles General. Give the controls, now. Weapon systems are fully operational, General. Right side propulsion, followed by countermeasures on my mark! She was waiting for the titan on the far end to fire a missile, within a split second, the green aurora around the missile appeared detaching from the Titan's wing. Now! The ship veered to the left while deploying countermeasures, throwing off the aim of the fighters and the missiles tracking. Upon passing the vessels, Anna reduced to impulse speed and made a sharp turn to flank the vessels briefly. As soon as they were within sight she began taking aim. Two of them split off to the left while the others drew her attention, the ships engines closed the distance between her and the two ahead. She quickly let off several shots, de-shielding one of the vessels in front of her. Razor She said, the weapon selection changed to the razor alone, the ship made a sharp right turn, Anna let off the razor shot. The recoil from the cannon caused the ship to vibrate briefly, the razor impacted, taking half the ship with it. As she shifted directions to follow the other ship the other two vessels turned to follow her, one was firing mindlessly, the other let off its missile. Incoming missile, 900 meters and closing. Deploy countermeasures! The flares let off, however the radius of the explosion still wore down the shields. Shield integrity at 50%. Fuck. Anna's patience wore out. Anna swapped back to the main weapons group, a series of high stopping power reaper "Scythes" mixed with standard debilitators. Anna let off two shots, de-shielding the Titan as it made a desperate attempt to maneuver back around to the other pilots. It killed it's impulse, drifting to make a sharp turn back towards Anna. Rather than finishing him off there, Anna waited for him to impulse back. As soon as he re-fired his impulse engines and moved back straight towards Anna, she opened up the mine dropper, dropping one mine before making a sharp pitch down. The mine impacted with the Titan, obliterating it to shreds while the radius de-shielded both Anna's ship and the two vessels behind her. The concussive force from the explosion jerked Anna's body forward, nearly into the controls. Shields failed. Fucking imbecile, surrounding area report? Danger, explosive Oxygen gas pockets ahead. Use what batteries are necessary and raise shields on my mark. Anna waited until the last possible second, just before entering the field of Gas pockets, the two Titans followed closely in pursuit, both actually taking the time to aim. Now! The ships shields raised quickly, the Oxygen field ripped apart one of the Titans, the other was smart enough to raise it's shields before entering.

Without putting any second thought, Anna killed the ships engines and activated the right-side propulsion systems as she sharply turned the ship 180 degrees. The titan started to fire upon seeing the gap close between vessels but missed as the ship shifted and realigned. In that small frame of time Anna's instincts kicked in, she took aim at his anticipated flight path and let 3 salvos of the heavy weaponry mixed with the repeated fire from the debilitators. Two of the salvos hit along with several debilitators, de-shielding the ship and taking off its left wing. As the ship passed by, she could see the mine dropper arming itself. FUCK! Anna gunned forward while the propulsion systems shifted the vessel away. As she broke distance, the ship ignited along with several explosive pockets, the ship was torn apart. The escape pod ejected, only to ripped in half by another gas pocket. Additional hostiles closing. Stealth systems now. The ship lacked a cloak, however the reapers vessel design was built with planetary stealth systems, while they lacked any use in open space, the radar and visual interference from the nebula made them useful. The ships lights were shut off, the armor was flattened like a stealth ship to slip in and out of radar. Cruise engines, take the controls and set us on course for the coordinates.

Anna sat back as the ship gunned away from the approaching Imperial relief party. The heavy breathing and sweat fogged up the EVA suit's visor. Anna could feel her hair drenched, as if she had just showered. After 30 minutes of silent flying the computer drew back Anna's attention. We've cleared the Sigma-13 system. Anna leaned forward, there was some sort of light growing larger, a sun? No, it was too close and all the stars in the Sigma Cluster were charted. What the- *Bam* Cruise engines offline. Anna was sent back into her chair forcefully, the head impact made her vision go fuzzy for a moment. The ship is being tractored, we can re-fire the cruise engines and break free but it may compromise us to whatever fired that blast. Let it pull us in, if they wanted us dead they'd have taken lethal action. Be ready to send a distress call and fire up the engines on a second's notice. Understood Generalmajor. Anna re-adjusted her EVA suit, loading and holstering her sidearm incase she needed it upon closing in on the vessel. It was time to find out what was sitting out in space further than the GMG would ever dare venturing.