All Universe's angels come to us disguised.

Natalie Claesen, was born in 05.05.797 AS on Planet Stuttgart. She grew up in an almost exemplary Rheinland family. Her father, Simon Claesen, being a well-respected manager at Republican Shipping, her mother, Lena Claesen, primarily engaged in housework and family care at home and at last her little sister, Marie Claesen, who experiences all those problems typical of adolescence on her way of becoming just like her big sister.

Although Natalie enjoyed the generous education at the very best schools in Stuttgart’s capital city, she always got told by her parents, that one time she'll have her own children, cooking, cleaning and caring for them, while her future husband is going to pursue a successful career and bringing the credits home. But somehow, Natalie had a different image of the modern women. Strength, autonomy and power. It's not clear, if it was just a result of an intense phase of puberty or if she really meant it like that.

In 819 AS, she secretly applied for an apprenticeship at the Rheinland Miltary on Battleship Karlsruhe, whereas she told her family, that she's going to have a practical course at Orbital Spa and Cruise on Planet Baden Baden. Everything went well until one day in late 819, when her mother was checking the mailing, she came across a letter of congratulations from the Rheinwehr, that their daughter got promoted to the rank of a Gefreite, and how proud her family shall be about those glorious news. Unfortunately they weren't happy at all. Quite the contrary. Driven by frustration and anger, they cut off the contact with Natalie and ignored her frequent messages.

Together with her promotion, she got assigned by her supervisor, Feldwebel Sarah Braun to join her on a routine patrol at Rheinland borders in Omega-7.

Dear diary,

today has been an exhausting day. Not just for me, but also for Sarah, my supervisor. Nun, to be honest, she's even more than that. A close friend, like the big sister I've never had. This morning in Karlsruhe's mess hall, she told me about some 'classified information'. Aber ja, there's nothing bad about two women babbling about secrets, nein? Anyhow, she entrusted me with a newsworthy story about another Rheinwehr patrol group which disappeared in Dresden this night. Five brave women and men, two of them were even younger than I - how horrible. It may sound harsh, but I'm glad that I didn't knew any of them personally. Ja, I know how that feels. Such situation weren't that unique: Just two weeks ago we've lost a four people large recon squad in the thick nebulae of Omega-7.

Frau Braun explained me, that she considered registering her ship for that mission, but instead decided to have some training lessons with me, thanks to my verbal manipulation and childish begging. "Natalie, you saved my life. You must be an angel." She said after she heard of the tragic news. It took me a few weeks to digest the losses, as I knew two of them from my training period. If there's a lesson, which I remember best, is that "Life isn't always a bowl of cherries." as Sarah often says. It was my own choice, and I'll have to get used to such conflicts.

Aber hey, life in the Miltary has many beautiful shades as well. On the one hand, there are all those cute muscular men. And how they always salute smartly, and... nein. Actually I'm not quite interested in a relationship, especially not on a battleship, where it's strictly forbidden to have sexual contact with 'the other gender'. When I first heard of that rule, I wondered if that includes lesbian love attachments... Oh, what am I writing. Anyways, today I had quite some fun at another training simulation with my fellows. We've been practicing our dodging in the Wraith. "If you're not with the sun - RUN!" Sarah told me once. It's important to control the situation if it comes to a fight. The number of hostile contacts, compared with your group numbers decides about everybody’s destiny.

Even in an organised force, such as the Rheinwehr, it can happen, that you might encounter a stronger enemy which overwhelms your side. People always say, "never leave anyone behind", but in reality, you won't put your life into danger, if there's no more hope. The whole universe's pride is not worth it, to die on the field. That's human. "We're no machines." Naja, this evening Sarah revealed, that I'm going to receive my promotion to Gefreite within next month. If that's true, they might appoint me to serious missions into enemy territory. How exciting!

SHIP ID: [RM]Fw.Sarah.Braun
LOCATION: Stuttgart, Battleship Karlsruhe
FROM: Sarah Simone Braun
SUBJECT: Patrol Report #15c

Patrol Report Description:

Tuesday, the 30.10.819

Guten Tag,

I am dismayed at the total failure of mission "Hoffnungsschimmer", which I had to cancel after a length of 9 hours. It happened again.

The first five hours went quite good. We split the group into three squads, each existing of two Wraiths and one Bergelmir, lead by a Feldwebel. We had continuous voice contact for five hours while scanning the sectors, until suddenly the connection to squad #2 broke off. Instantly, I calculated the their current location, via checking their last sent transponder signal. When my group arrived six minutes later at the destination, we saw five unknown contacts disappearing into the Walker Cloud, while we came closer to an obvious battleground. First we found the wreck of the groups Feldwebel, together with his dead body. It seemed like he had no time to activate his escape pod. A few clicks away, we found a Gefreiters Bergelmir, which broke into exactly two pieces, though no trace of his rescue capsule or body. And no sight of the third squad member. When I checked the group lists, I noticed, that the missing ship was flown by Gefreite Natalie Claesen.

We spent almost three hours with the search for the two missing pilots, but we found nothing. Nor did we receive any emergency call. How was that even possible? Why haven't they called for reinforcements? What happened there? All questions I'm not able to answer. Hopefully, Gefreite Claesen managed to tractor the pilot of the bomber and got away unharmed.

Tomorrow I'm going to group up with a rescue team, and find them. I promise. They must be alive, I can feel it. No bodies, no dead persons. And their rescue capsule, or Claesen's Wraith could support them with oxygen for at least 72 hours. There's hope I think.

And to get back to the unknown vessels. Later we found out, that those targets were using old unregistered Rheinland Military transponders of pilots who either died in action or were missed. Our research results even identified one pilot's vessel who was thought to be dead for just two weeks. It was one of the few who vanished in Omega-7. Why were they running? And who was responsible for that ambush?

I swear, I'm going to find that out, and make them pay for it!

Additional Info:

Patrol lenght: 9 hours
Participants: 3 Feldwebel, 6 Gefreite
Scanned area: A1 to D5
Hostile sightings: 5 unknown vessels
Killed hostiles: 0
Losses: 1 + 2 Ships MIA

Braun over.

Viele Grüße,

Sarah Braun

Seid gegrüßt Oberkommando of the Rheinland Military,

this might sound odd now, but we're being serious by telling you that we've found one of your lost Wraith pilots in Omega-7 during mining works. She's currently not conscious, but she looks like being uninjured, as well as her Wraith, which was low on Oxygen when we found it, cleanly placed upon a large silver asteroid, but without any scratch. It looked like someone wanted us to find her at that place, right next to the doorstep of Elbich, where you can pick her up as soon as possible. Nun, I'd call it luck, that she was that close to our mining operation. As if it was the gods plan for her to be found. So, that'd be all I think. I'm glad that we were able to help.

Hochachtungsvoll,

Manfred Eckold

Liebe Eltern,

I know that you're still reading my letters, but have you ever thought about how hard it must be for a daugther to be ignored by her own family? You can't imagine how complicated the last time here was. Ja ja, you'd just repeat what you've always said about my decision; "This is too dangerous. What child would like to watch her mother getting killed in open space?" But it was my destiny, I wouldn't be happy with any other work. I'm not like Mama or Großmutter, I'm different. When will you accept that already? You're behaving like I'm still a baby, being incapable of finding my own way. But I did! And I don't regret it, verstanden? I'm doing fine without you... no I don't to be honest. I fell ill. There was this recon mission, and I can't really remember what happened there.

People told me afterwards, that I got lost, that there were unknown aggressors, and that I got found being unconscious days later! I don't know - can't explain, my brain feels like there's some pieces missing, as if something got exchanged. The army doctor found nothing. In his opinion, I'm just having a mild concussion. But I could swear that it's much more than that. Sometimes it feels like being under the influence of drugs, and the other hour, I'd like to cut off my head. And this night I also had stomach problems and I've puked all over my cabin. I hope that this'll have an end soon. But for now I recieved paid holidays for two weeks. Finally some time for myself. Bitte sent me a reply. I'd even consider to give you a visit, now that I've got more freetime. But if you prefer to hurt my feelings even more, go on with your "ignore your daughter"-game. By the way, give Marie my regards. I miss you so much.
In Liebe,

Eure Natalie

Dear diary,

my sickness has worsen. I'm still having that insane headache. Yesterday I've quit taking my pharmaceuticals, since I had the feeling that they aggravate my physical condition. There has also been some changes with my rhythm of sleep and I experience metabolic disturbances. The last days I needed over twelve hours sleep and when I finally managed to wake up, my body circulation seemed as bad as of an ninety years-old Opa. Furthermore I'm currently eating the doubled ration as usual. That's a really weird infection. Sometimes I got the feeling that the doctors are keeping my true state of health secret. Or is it paranoia? However, I'm not being honest with them as well. Lately strange things happened with me.

Yesterday, from one moment to the other, I had an outburst of fury and trashed my bathroom. Triggered by terrifying voices in my head. And this morning at the breakfast, when Michael, who's actually a nice guy, asked to have a seat at my table, I screamed at him: "Can't you see that I'm busy?" and knocked his food tray out of his hands to the ground. Afterwards I felt so sorry for him. I can't explain what's happening with me. Most of my time, I'm spending either with eating or daydreaming in the common room. And every time when someone disturbs my trance state I react highly aggressive, almost violent. People don't recognize me anymore. That's not me.

Although she's quite busy, Sarah visited me daily. Every time I see her, I notice that sorrowful view in her brown eyes. She told me, that there are rumours circulating, that I am becoming schizophrenic. "What do you say? Am I sane?" I asked her once. Whereupon she slowly shook her head, which felt like a stab in my heart. It made me cry for the first time since I left my parents' house. I feel broken. Like an angel who has lost its wings.

Today in the afternoon there was a chaotic situation aboard the Karlsruhe. It got told, that a stranger has hacked the security system and got unnoticed access to the Battleship's armory deck. Recounts showed, that a pack of C4 bombs were missing. A disaster. The high command has even considered to evacuate the Karlsruhe at once. But instead they decided to comb through all the decks, which can't be done in less than a week. I wonder who the thief is.

The Rheinland Military has confirmed the information, that this morning at 7:55 am, seven C4 type bombs exploded aboard the Battleship Karlsruhe, which caused the death of 85 people. Among the victims were high-ranked officers, pilots and soldiers. A spokesperson of the Rheinwehr denies the rumors, that said bombs were stolen from the Battleship's armory just three days ago. The aggressor and the cause for that dreadful assassination. Experts are the opinion, that it was a planed assault by the Red Hessian Army, who infiltrated the Karlsruhe with 'moles'. Fact is, that this was one of the most startling incident that Rheinland has suffered the last months. Kanzler Reinhardt has expressed his condolences to the victims families. The authorities are currently conducting investigations.

Dear World,

I wish everyone could know the pain I lived with during the last weeks. Something was wrong with me, and I found out what it was. I wished I never did. It all started with that mission in the Omegas, where I got lost for a few days. I had no clue, what happened in that time. I somehow lost my memories. And now, first nebulous and incomplete, I recovered the whole incident. And I think you deserve the truth.

Omega-7. Mission Hoffnungsschimmer. Our group was ambushed by the unknown force, where they destroyed the Feldwebel's vessel before he knew what was happening. Whereupon Gefreiter Tom instinctively engaged the five hostile targets. But it was hopeless. His Bergelmir got hit by an organic vessel, which seemed to be driverless. His escape pod got tractored by them right after. Being in a state of shock I weren't able to attempt to run. But they didn't harmed me at all. Instead, something was telepathically talking with me. Its words were filled with warmth and joy, and didn't noticed when I followed their group, as if a Higher Power controlled me. Being in a trance state, they brought us to a space station, which appeared to be built by humans and aliens at the same time. I can remember a large yellow sphere, which threw pulsating lights at us when we came closer. Aboard the station I fell into a comatose state and thought to be dreaming. In my dream I saw how human-looking people in Rheinwehr uniforms were putting a blue organic mass on Tom's naked body.

He was bleeding heavily out of a few wounds, he has suffered when his vessel explode. It was disgusting. Tom was conscious and he was trying to keep the creatures from getting him in contact with that small blue transparent thing which was trying to get its dark tentacles into Tom's closed mouth. He died a few minutes later due an exsanguination. Then, when one of those stranger suddendly turned around towards me, I noticed a purple glowing where their eyes should have been. He pointed at me whereon they took that alien-like thing from Tom's dead body and put it on my face. I felt a nice, warm tingling go through my body, and I just stood there, doing nothing. I tried to relax, while that alien slipped over my lips into my mouth, down my throat like liquid ice. This was the last thing I can remember. In the next moment, I found myself on the Elbich Mining Facility. And I knew nothing. My behaviour, the illness. It all must have been results of that 'procedure'. Now I know: I had an alien host inside me.

But it was too late. The bomb explosions on Karlsruhe, it was me. Better said, it was my body, controlled by an alien. Were the doctors aware of that? Was I just an experimental object for them? All I knew was that I won't survive this. I have to end this. I really have to. To save humanity. I don't know when it'll be too late, and I'll loose complete control of myself. Time does not stand still, and won't without me. When you read this letter, I won't be anymore. The sun will stop my suffering. Don't search for my Wraith, there's nothing you can do.

I'm an angel on its way home.

Natalie

P.S. Reassure my loved family that my suicide wasn't their fault.

Rockhome. After two days of travel, I finally reached the promising place. A system, mostly uncharted and being the most dangerous place in the Omegas, as the few pilots who survived the recent raids use to say. But it's a matter of the point of view. But who am I to judge that? I haven't even wasted many thoughts on how my family could have reacted on my false farewell letter, which was one of the necessary means to justify my final disappearance - death even. Everything went as planned. The last days have opened my eyes and it felt like I've just got reborn. I've never really been alive, but dreaming. Everything got so clear and the memories of my earlier life seem to slowly drift away.

It all has changed, as if my whole body got replaced, except for my soul. Now that all the puzzle pieces got put together, I got rid of all those doubts and fears, being able to realize the plan as a whole, behind the scenes. Life as I used to know was an illusion to protect us from the truth. Being tools of our own, we fought the enemies of ourselfes. Unsuspecting humans we were. This universe isn't ours. Sirius is theirs. We're intruders, and we shall not stay here. We've disturbed their peaceful sleep and the humanity will receive its punishment soon enough. For that they'll never forget what they've done. We're their sword of justice.

Today, I've been trying to figure out, how I actually got to this place. It appeared like my memories faded away completely. When I took a quick look into my diary, I didn't recognized my own handwriting anymore and the letters seemed to be choosen by a stranger. My feeling tells me wrong, that I've never been at any other place but this. Everytime when I'm trying to remember the time before, I'm getting unbelieveable headache, as if something is blocking my neuromuscular end-plates of transfering transmitter substances within my brain. But while I'm forgetting things like the smell of fresh air or the taste of sweet strawberries, I'm almost automatically learning new stuff in no time at all. I got told, that it's because of the 'Incubus' learning the functions of my body and even improving them to supernatural skills, such as telekinesis and telepathy.

Every time again, I'm suprised by the authenticity of the other Infectees. If I wouldn't know it better, I'd believe them to be human. But maybe it's the humanity's purpose to provide us their organic cover. Myself, or at least what remained, is rather a a tool with a new owner. But the weird part is, that although I'm aware of the happenings, my actions stay voluntary and manageable. I somehow designed an understanding with the parasite, by what the 'Incubus' spares my consciousness of self and soul, the alien control. But it came at a high price. There's no return. It's time to step forward.

This late evening I had my maiden flight together with Hans Eckhard. We left the Omegas behind us and went deep into Bretonia core systems. It was wonderful. My eyes saw things which they never were able to see before. I felt the open space being a part of me. Surrounded by the universe's pulsating heartbeat, which sends my evil thoughts to those who are privileged to hear them. And it always answers with the same penetrating force as always. We are one entity. On our search for contacts, which could be of use for us, we came across a few manned trading vessels. I could almost smell their fear. Rightly. There is no hope for a live, which decides to do nothing for its survival.

This race is embarrassing. Weak and fearful. Too young to understand the higher plans. The goals of ours. Though, when we finally in Cambridge found a pair of humans, we found one which had a stronger will to survive. One man's death was another man's viability. They're easy to understand. It's true, that one man's pain is another man's pleasure. They enjoy in killing. Be it even their own race. The survival of the strongest. Ironical life. In the end, there can only be one. And the future is not alterable. Yet they're ignorant, but soon they'll accept their destiny. Their knowledge is our fear. It's the only danger for our goals. The destruction of the humans knowledge is inevitable. We will not tolerate their expansion. Not territorial nor spiritual.

This morning on a random patrol near Rockhome, I ran into two unknown contacts which showed up on my scanners like disgusting flies on my cockpits window. First I’ve tried to stay friendly towards those two lost explorers, in hope to get some information out of their pathetic brains. But they chillingly ignored my orders and questions. Although they weren’t in range first, I managed to catch one of them who was, driven by immense fear, trying to run for safety. I had to follow him one system, where he finally faced me and died in less than a minute.

Afterwards, I went back, and tried to get in contact with the other explorer. I told him, that his friend got killed by a Red Hessian who passed, and I weren’t able to save him. No matter how hard I tried, I didn’t got the other one to trust me, and saying his location. So I called for support and Konrad Hammerschmidt brought the Kelheim in hope to find the intruder. But he has been hiding like a human, having mortal fear, would do. However, we found someone else - an agent of the Buro der Marineintelligenz. Heinrich Schmid was his name. Not the first time that he tried to destroy our plans.

When the exploring invader finally got out of sight, and wasn’t located by our longe range scanners anymore, we got into a talk with the agent. It seemed like he was aware of Hammerschmidt’s past. It was clear that we had to eliminate him. I’ve tried to trap the agent by giving him my ship for arresting the Kelheim. It worked. Once the ships shields went offline, I pointed my guns towards the agent, and fired. Certainly he wasn’t an unexperienced pilot, and he somehow made it out of the system alive. On our chase another Marinenachrichtendienst pilot crossed our way and tried to hinder us. It didn’t took long until the Kelheims defense turrets brake his ship into pieces. Unfortunately we didn’t catched the other agent in the end. But everything went as planned. We made sure that he won’t remember anything.

Darkness and hope is all what remains. The left over minds are filled with dark clouds which leave no trace of what was before. Recreation. They used to be strong, overwhelming and dominant. The Universe's children were weakened, but they have recovered. There will be no more defeat. This is our time now. Their call reached us like a pregnant headache. Their voices are filled with anger and eternal pain. We are not just their tools - we are a part of them. We know everything, more than any human could know. The truth is calling like an impatient child. It has to be done.

Patrollers, Hunters, Civils and Militants, everyone plays its part in the plan. They interact as a whole. One entity. We use the human ignorance as our advantage. The humanity's quality is miserable, though their quantity is a danger which should not be ignored. But we are well prepared, nothing can go wrong. We are the deadly unseen. We strike when nobody expects us - like a shadow in the night. We are among them. We are them. But they cannot know. And never will. Once we've found it, the artifact of endless power, Sirius will be ours again. To each his own. At the end everyone gets what they deserve.

Wisdom for those who deserve it, ignorance for those who will never learn. The Omegas is a place filled with hate, war and destruction. Corsairs, Hessians and Communists, they've different aims and attitudes. But in the end, they're all the same. Weak and stupid. I bet they haven't expected us to interrupt their small skirmish in Omega-5. They never see us coming, while we know them already being dead. None of them who fought their fear and faced us survived. And those who were less brave and ran away, won't rely on what their eyes believed to see. Whilst they're all mostly the same, they don't differ from each other. Be it a brutal Corsair or a strict Rheinland officer, they share the same destiny.

There are only a few exceptional cases, who don't mean any danger by harming our plans. However, we're strong, but not many in numbers, and although we're getting classified intel datas from other infiltrators, there may be failures. Especially when being on your own. For that reason, the possession of a light fighter for recon and exploration tasks is essential. Though I was not given the chance to obtain one within our safe borders. But I had a plan. And so, being incognito, I visited Planet Holstein in Frankfurt with a public transport and got my hands on a cheap civilian spacecraft. And if it couldn't have been easier than that, I left the planet's orbit unoffended with a brand-new X4TS class Tiger Shark. With that fast vessel it wasn't much of a challenge to return safe to Rockhome.

Our informant on Freistadt Base told us about a close mining operation of the Independent Miners Guild. Everything was clear. We had to plan an ambush. We gave them far too much to recover from the last raids already. Pressure is what they need. A human being, who is constantly living in fear of death, is a weak enemy. So Hans Eckard and I left Rockhome and entered Omega-7, flying undercover ships, which shouldn't be recognized by the miners and their possible guards. Our recon flights were successful, and they thought us to be a common Military patrol. We had to be fast. We took advantage of the confusion and picked one of their heavy armored Shire transport. The fact, that they outnumbered us by far gave it a suicidal feeling. But it had to be done.

Once we opened fire, the confusion was perfect. Though we didn't expected to lose our coverage that fast. And so we found ourselfes attacked by at least four defenders. And if couldn't have get worse, the Rheinland Military arrived with support. How lucky, that they were just a few clicks away. It almost made me believe, that they knew about our plans. However, the situation was hopeless. We managed to damage the transport heavily, but the constant fire of almost ten vessels made it impossible to finish it. Plan B had to be initiated. Escape through Omega-5. To our disadvantage the chasers seemed to knew all our plans.

I almost got nervous when they followed us into our home. I can't remember them being that tenacious in the past. But it wasn't over yet. I even noticed a Reaper amongst the many followers. How irritating. I got told that they supported us once, and even requested permission to use our bases for their operations. No matter if that was true, they had made a fatal mistake. Their change in belief will mean their death. And I'll promise to arrange it as painful as possible. For that they'll never forget who they are dealing with. No human fleet could stop us. They didn't even managed to destroy our both ships in the end. We succeed. Always.

The call came in deep in the night. The voices spoke to me in a hurry, marked by an obvious rage. This time it was Omega-5 and so we formed a small patrol and left Rockhome through the wormhole. And they were right. We noticed a large battle inside the thick asteroid field. Lasers filled the darkness with light and at times a nuke's explosion sent shock waves in our direction. Once they appeared in scanner range, our plans for them were already made. Corsairs and Miners - fighting each other. It couldn't have come any better for us. So we picked out our targets and ambushed them both.

Fast and lethal. As always, the confusion was to their disadvantage. Even though a few of them managed to escape, many of them had their very last flight. One of them died to my ice-cold hands. The enemies were defeated and pushed back to their metallic hideouts. Hopefully the humanity will stay naive like they are. In reality the humans in total did outnumbered us by far, but still they were blinded by the presence of their human enemies. How innocent can a race be and fight their own siblings and parents. It seems, they're making it easy for us it.