A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.
[color=#00FF00]~German Proverb~
[color=#00FF00]PREAMBLE:
To keep the etiqutte, I want to introduce myself at first.
My name is Malexa Malte and I am a Rheinwehr soldier and pilot.
An Admiral in position of supreme command of the Rheinland forces, to be more precise.
I am writing this Journal for the posterity and in the feeling every soldier obtaining such a responsible rank,
needs to write down his decisions and thoughts.
Whoever finds this journal in my dead hands, be it in battle or in my advanced years,
I hope you and especialy Rheinland can understand the cause of my act.
[color=#00FF00]07-06-817-Hamburg System.
A neat bread shop on Planet Hamburg.
"My hands don't shake before going to battle my dear. The only fear I ever have, is surviving a whole war. That would give me time to overthink my decisions I made.
Giving me time to think of the souls I sent to death. You will know what I mean Malexa, soon enough." [color=#00FF00]-Admiral Hans Krieger
[font=Century Gothic]My old mentor was right. Today it should get understandable for me. Not against Libertonians, but Rheinlandsers. What an irony.
I was on my way to inspect my forces at the trade blockade in the Hamburg system.
Three of my pilots were enforcing the embargo at the Libertonian borders.
Major Austing Engels, Gefreiter Jonas Alsburg and Hauptgefreiter August von Speer were currently on duty.
The Battleship NW-Niedersachsen, a pride of her class, was also stationed in the orbit.
Another Military unit was running patrols near the lanes during this time of day.
The dull daily grind. But I was happy. As long as I could escape my office desk. A fatal error to believe this inspection would be better than that.
Strange signals came in over the Radio. Encrypted communications. A bad sign. And I was right. I hate myself for beeing right. Especialy today.
Altona Station went on red alert and the RW-Niedersachsen followed shortly.
A high scale Red Hessian attackforce was suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The perfect time to strike.
A Rheinland Battleship, a Rheinland Admiral and Altona Station, what a bunch of perfect targets. Oh dear, what a self-aggrandisement.
The Niedersachsen scanned the incoming Hessian forces and reported that they consist of multiple bomber wings and two cruiser class vessels.
What a mess. Bloody cruisers. A whole fleet. I was nearly not having enough time to scramble the present forces.
Different present units, make it difficult to form a well flown defensive line.
I had to learn it again. The hard way.
The first Hessian shells made their impact on the Niedersachsen and the Bombersquads followed soon. Their first dive.
It was a giant firework. A strange feeling came up. A well known one.
Beeing amazed by the beauty of this scene mixed with fear was indeed strange. The whole plan looked like a suicide mission, but I had to give the order.
I told my boys to clip on the Bombers tails to avoid a good shooting condition for the Hessian pilots.
The Niedersachsen got the order to shield Altona Station from the Cruiser shells and that the Starboardguns should focus their fire on one of the Hessian Cruisers.
The huge ship slowly moved into place and answered properly.
Every smaller vessel, which would get caught between the Battleship and the two Cruisers, would get vaporized in seconds.
Not a good place to be.
There was no place in this battle where anyone would like to be either. Baden Baden is good at this time of year, at least Hans Krieger told me so by sending a postcard. That was what I thought when giving the orders.
My pilots managed to down two Hessian Bombers when suddenly the first Cruiser lit up in a huge fireball, leaving a large debris field behind.
That must have been a direct hit into the ammunitions chamber.
Statusreports of the Niedersachsen reported several fires on the lower decks and massive damage to the Hangar section.
The Commander of the Battleship asked for permission to retreat, but I had to be tough.
Ordering to take down the second Cruiser was right, or Altona Station would be unshielded against its fire. This decision was at high human costs. My poor brave soldiers.
The Hessian Ace Bomber Pilots managed to be cool as usual during their attacks, even when loosing two of their wingmen. That is routine.
They continued their attack on the Niedersachsen when suddenly the last Hessian Cruiser ceased fire.
A shell was piercing the hull and must have hit the reactor itself. Massive blackouts on the ship. It was only a matter of minutes until the MOX showed its destructive potential. Another hundreds of Rheinlanders dead.
Traitors, but Rheinlanders. It is always hard to pull the trigger,
even for an Admiral. Now I understand what Hans Krieger told me that day.
The Hessians were not the only ones suffering heavy losses.
Battleship Niedersachsen was burning like a torch, dead bodies were floating around the ship. The ugliness of war.
I gave her the command to fall back. Their only chance to keep the ship together and the rest of the men alive.
Beeing heavily outnumbered at first, our forces managed to turn the tide. Pilots were already cheering over the comms when suddenly another Hessian squad arrived.
The bomber hunt turned into a close quarters battle.
Fighter against Fighter. Not beeing sure who is the prey now.
All the excitement of war, the different facets in one Battle.
If you can call war an excitement.
We suffered great fighter losses during this second stage of battle and only managed to take down two of their fighter class ships.
Fighting against the Hessians is like fighting against the own war machinery.
You dont want to be on the recieving end of Rheinland guns, especialy when Rheinland soldiers man them.
The Hessians are Rheinlanders and most of them former soldiers in the Rheinwehr. My Rheinwehr. A thought I cant stand.
Beeing familiar with the tactics, the weapons and the creed, makes them the most fearsome enemy in Sirius.
We succeeded in defending Altona Station, Battleship Niedersachsen and destroying the Hessian Cruiser fleet.
People tend to see the good side of a Battle only.
Tides can turn, even twice in a row.
Thousands dead. A black day for Rheinland and one more in our history.
When will we learn from history?
......
Good lord, this pretzel is wonderfull. I will have to visit this place more often.
It is contributing solace.
[color=#00FF00]07-08-817-New Berlin System.
Military Training Facility on Planet New Berlin.
[font=Century Gothic]Igitt! This pretzel is nearly frozen.
I wont eat a pretzel on Berlin again. Bloody ice-rock.
The recruits are nervous around me. It seems paying them a visit at the training area, is an unusual sight to them.
It is a good place to write, even with gunshots in the background.
Yesterdays patrol was a succuess. It builds me up again.
We lost so many soldiers the day before and suddenly I have not lost a single pilot.
At least under my direct command when beeing in space with my boys.
We payed those hessian everything back, a flawless victory.
3 New Hessian skulls on my Wraths hull, am I really as rusty as I think?
Yes, maybe. Pilot Hermann Voss, Speer and the Major did a great job at my wing.
They were a great aid. As always.
That was not the highlight of this day though.
Feldwebel Edmund Schiffer, finaly came back to active duty again.
The crazy guy was in medical for months and nearly the same ammount of days on recovery vacation.
I was really enjoying the patrol with him.
We even met two Unioners resisting arrest and it was a nice welcome party for Edmund.
Got another two skulls.
I have to pay attention, that I wont overestimate myself because after the good days,
there usually follow a few bad ones.
I hope I was doing the right thing.
Letting down my armor and my rank to be a common pilot again.
Of course only for the patrol with Schiffer. It was a relief of my stress though, so I dont have to worry.
Not beeing the Admiral for an hour was finaly good for something. I feel way better now.
We had a nice chat about nearly everything. Old days, present events and some other unimportant things.
Hell, I just hope I really did the right thing there.
Loosing authority due to this, will force me to be even more tougher to my boys.
The only Kameraden who know me like this, are the old hands I served with.
And the only ones who still see me when letting my hair down, are my Vizeadmiraele.
Johann, Dieter, Walter and Gauss. Well, Willhelm can also be added to that list. The Major is liked by our little round.
Our meetings are always relaxing after duty and the Wine is even more delicious with company.
We should be more often in the officers' mess together.
I sometimes miss the natural manners in the barracks too.
Maybe I catch a few pilots in their free time, getting them two bottles of wine and a card game.
That should not harm anybody.
But I will stay sober, that is for sure.
"Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost." [color=#00FF00]~Samuel Johnson~
[font=Century Gothic]Somehow this line came up my mind.
Well, time for my leave, they seem to be exploited already. Trying to impress me when I even was not watching.
Recruits. The cream of the crop.
[color=#00FF00]07-09-817-New Berlin System.
Battleship Straussberg. Admiral Malte's Quarter.
[font=Century Gothic]A scary day that was.
The Order moved one of their carriers with escorts in. I ordered the Ravensburg to the front to get them the seriousness of this situation across.
It worked. Also the RHA was present, sitting side on side with my boys.
The Auslanders were threatening Rheinland, so we had no reason to turn on eachother. Even if the Rheinland flagship would have been a perfect target for them.
A mindsick Kapitaen that was. Ignored my orders to leave at once and save his crew and especialy the Rheinland diplomatic stance towards the Order.
He choosed to clown around and was even suicidal. Told us to open fire. I wonder how the Order gets such men into command position.
A smart move solved my concerns about shooting it out of the sky. Not wanting to have floating Order debries with Military weaponmarks on them, I choosed to pull my fleet back. A really smart move.
The Hessians dealt with the intruders accordingly.
Ageira choosed to mess with me. A libertonian Ageira shipd emanded some Gate and Lane parts from a Rheinland transport. In front of my ship.
I was stunned facing this opportunity. Bloody libertonians.
Its a thorn in my side, that some Libertonian corporations can roam free inside Rheinland, gaining profit.
I dont make a secret out of my dislike.
It is a pleasure to throw them out if they dont stick to the contracts.
This one was indeed a gift. Comitting a criminal act right in front of my eyes and even beeing disrespectfull to me.
Answering with "Negative" on my orders to leave is a mistake you only make once.
Then even opening fire when leaving to Bering.
This madman must have thought I would not order to follow.
With the Libertonian fleet a system away, he should have known bettern.
Another debriescould of floating Libertonian metal in Bering.
Such opportunities are only given at rare times. I was able to hold on one.
Falling asleep with a smile on my face, will be a pleasure today.
[color=#00FF00]07-23-817-New Berlin System.
Battleship Ravensburg. Bridge.
[font=Century Gothic]14 days.
That was the last time I wrote something on this paper. I was sitting in my warm and quiet office.
What 14 days can change.
I am writing these lines between dust, cables throwing out sparks and blood. Soldiers are running around headless, not knowing what to do next.
At least that is the impression I have. If you study them, you see coordination between all this.
Carrying out the wounded, engineers beginning repairs and here and then the firefighter teams extinguish some cable fires lighting up again.
There it is again. The vast grimace of war, laughing and mocking right into my face.
Fire is still melting Rheinland steel, some of the lower decks are even gone.
Looking out of the window reminds me of my childhood. I loved to watch when they build Rheinland ships.
Working drones, small ships and repair vessels floating around a big colossus, trying to manage to solve a huge puzzle.
10 days. That is how long it will take until our proud flagship can forget her wounds.
At this point I have to add that all the losses, the bloodshed and the melted Rheinland steel was not for nothing though.
Quite the contrary happened. A victory we could not achieve for so long.
The Liberty carrier Aurora was sighted and attacked countless times, but we never managed to get rid of her.
Today that changed. The Carrier LNS Aurora was dispatched for a direct attack at the Battleship Westphalia in Bremen and was currently next to the jumphole when one of our scouts spotted her.
She was not alone in there, the Battleship Concord flanked her position.
A Carrier and a Battleship. Several fighter squadrons have been onboard. A strinke was the only tactical move I could have made.
Otherwise the Westphalia would be a big cold grave by now.
After dispatching two bomber wings, each consisting of two vessels, I ordered the Ravensburg to prepare for close contact.
The bomber wings had a simple mission. Get in, switch the carriers lights off and get out.
Battleship Concord was the keyhole to this mission.
Our mission. Keeping the Coronado busy until the bombers can take out the Carrier.
I cant remember if I shouted the order or was calm like playing a home match.
The Ravensburg jumped endless seconds until the radar showed the two contacts 2 klicks starboard.
Our first barrage hit the Concord out of surprise. They managed to carry the situation fast and countered our heavy barrage.
I had to order total supressive fire uppon the Battleship, or else our bombers would not have lasted long.
Remembering the minute when the first shells hit the Ravensburg is quite hard.
Beeing trained and drilled for this kind of duty gets you focused on your mission only.
My Major shouted the incoming damage reports and was not able to call them all out.
But there was one moment I can remember quite clearly.
The moment when we lost the abaft decks 14 and 15. So bloody close to our reactors.
I was counting the seconds until the bombers finaly succeeded.
Seeing this huge libertonian fireball made everyone cheer on the bridge, but not for long.
The Concord was still holding and even turning the tide.
My order to sacrifice another deck to cover the bombers retreat, was worth the pain.
All squads managed to report home without any losses.
The libertonian fighter wings got caught in the supressive fire during our first attempt to cover the bombers.
I can still hear them. All the voices of our fallen soldiers.
The fight is over and the sound of cheering falls silent.
What stays is the bitter taste of war.
Battlefields always tend to fall into a deep silence afterwards. This is the deads turn to speak.
Intimidating me, haunting me, taking my sleep.
![[Image: image.png]](http://xcomm.de/discosig/malexa/image.png)