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COMM ID: Augustus Howe TARGET ID: Erich Klugmann SUBJECT: History Repeats ENCRYPTION: HIGH PRIORITY: HIGH
xxxMr. Klugmann,
xxxMy name is Augustus Howe. I am the captain and commander of the Battleship Klaxon, formerly of the Liberty Navy's Secondary Fleet and currently of the Liberty Insurgency. I would be surprised if you had ever heard of me, but anyone who has ever paid attention to politics certainly knows you, as one of the most high-profile members of the Bundschuh Party in living memory. Assuming you are still alive, I'm quite certain that you will have an easy time guessing what this message is about. The Insurgency is on its last legs, and standing orders are for those unwilling to die in a pointless last stand to disperse wherever we are able. Myself, my command staff, and most importantly, my crew have all decided that seeking refuge elsewhere so that we may somehow continue the fight is the only option.
I have heard little of you, or of the Bundschuh, in recent years. While the Insurgency has been isolated, we are not so cut off from Sirius as to render us unaware of the broad strokes of wider geopolitics. Rheinland is now formally an imperialist entity; Bretonia continues to collapse and crumble; Manhattan's illegitimate forces have surrounded Erie and are beginning to ramp up what is tantamount to a cultural genocide; all this and more means that the majority of the galaxy is in a major refugee crisis. The Bundschuh have a long and storied reputation of being the refugee's first advocate and defender, dating back to even before the Nuremberg Crisis.
I am sure that there are a great many things you and I disagree on personally, but I doubt that the current state of Liberty being reprehensible and unacceptable is not among them. Whatever has become of you, I am here today to plead for your help in keeping my ship afloat and my crew fed. Even so much as a referral to another party would be appreciated. Liberty's people cry out for liberation, and yet her last revolutionaries are lost, trapped, and alone. I pray that you, one of the most famous of Sirius's armed men, are willing and able to throw us some kind of lifeline now when we need it most.
xxxForever in service to Liberty and her people,
Augustus Howe
Commander, INS Klaxon
Insurgent Naval Forces
Important:This communication remains the property of the Liberty Insurgent Navy and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Martial Law Communications Restrictions Act 829 AS, Section 7. If you have received this message in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the communication.
Sender: Erich Klugmann, Gloaming Flotilla Origin: GFS New Colossus, Dresden Encryption: High
Recipient: Augustus Howe, INS Klaxon, Insurgency Naval Forces Subject: RE: History Repeats
Commander Howe,
I wanted to thank you for having sought to reach out to us, and I wanted to offer my personal apologies for not having been able to reply until now; my compatriots and I have actually only just returned to the Bundschuh this month. Or at least, what's left of it. Pragmatically speaking, defeating it in a brief and abortive Civil War and then offering highly conditional amnesty and nominal "legalization" was one of the wisest things the victorious Imperial regime could have done to the Bundschuh. It's going to take at least several more weeks by my estimate to rally what disillusioned elements of the organization I can to begin actively trying to pry open this regime wherever the opportunity presents itself.
But I digress; at the moment, the Bundschuh can likely provide at least for the material and survival needs of your crew, if not your ship. The latter will depend on how badly damaged or in need of repairs or more than rote maintenance the Klaxon is.
Feeding and otherwise providing for your crew - A few hundred or so at most, I'm assuming? - Shouldn't be too difficult. If anyone is in need of medical aid or examination, most of the Bundschuh's bases should be able to handle basic-to-intermediate care. Freeport 8 of Sigma-15, should you be willing to attempt to risk flying through open space, should be able to handle more specialized medical needs as well as repurpose some of its transport maintenance staff for your ship. At least, I'd hope so.
The Bundschuh still lack anything amounting to a "shipyard", "drydock", or anything more than a simple "moor". If you need a place to "lay low" under our protection for a short time, I would personally recommend the Chiemsee Nebula in Stellar "Southwest" Munich, where Eltmann Moor resides. The Imperials are too busy fending off Corsair incursions from the neighboring Omicron Xi to likely devote much effort to scouring a Bundschuh-territory nebula for one battleship.
Alternatively - And though I am personally loathe to suggest it - The Red Hessians in Dresden have a substantial shipyard rivalling Oder's and Alster's, ringed by a dangerous nebula and a minefield; whether you want to risk engaging in parley with them for more specialized repair is entirely your perogative, unfortunately. Should this be the route you attempt - Or at least, manage to get their permission to reside in Dresden for a time - You'll likely find it even better a hideout than Munich. There's a rumored Corsair battlegroup somewhere in the system, but their attacks and raids are significantly less heavy here than in Munich.
I'm afraid that at the moment I can't offer much more; we're still attempting to regroup and gather what intelligence we can regarding the situation here in Rheinland. And I won't presently be asking for payment for any services we can render save, perhaps, a lengthy explanation regarding what exactly it is the Insurgency and its predecessor or component organizations wants to change in Liberty. You're welcome to extrapolate either here or in person, and if need be, I will personally escort the Klaxon to Bundschuh holdings should you need the advance warning or jump hole directions.
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COMM ID: Augustus Howe TARGET ID: Erich Klugmann SUBJECT: RE: History Repeats ENCRYPTION: HIGH PRIORITY: HIGH
xxxMr. Klugmann,
xxxI'm glad to hear back from you. You need not apologize for the delay, circumstances are dire for men of ideals all across the sector. I appreciate your generous offers, but I'll have to run it all by my crew before we accept; which leads me to the questions you have of me. I hope you'll permit me to give a brief history lesson. Many these days seem to forget the Nomad War of thirty years ago, and do not analyze its ongoing effects; they only look at what is directly in front of them with no care for broader context.
During that dark period in our species' history, thirty years ago, the Klaxon was involved in enforcing martial law at the behest of the alien-subverted regime. As her captain, I am well aware of the evils she has wrought in the past, fending off the Order and other groups that were, contrary to popular understanding, in fact working for mankind's benefit. Over the years, there was much infighting within Liberty's government as to how to deal with the aftershock of these events, and an accurate understanding of them never was universally accepted even within the intelligence community, let alone the government apparatchiks and the so-called "deep state".
Confusion on things as fundamental as this is, of course, only the tip of the iceberg. As I'm sure you have experience with in Rheinland, even different departments of what are nominally the same agency often find themselves in an unnecessary position of competition rather than collaboration. Your house's recent civil war surely highlights this; it's my understanding that even the MND was fractured every which way concerning allegiances during that event. History as told by those veterans of Drake Thastus' campaign would have it that the Legion's initial crusade to topple the Manhattanite government was sparked by something like this. Interdepartmental and interdivisional fractures over policy re: experimental technology, the handling of xenobiotic material, and the separation of powers within various agencies of the Navy led to a civil war that is only now nearing its end.
And then, of course, there's implementation of already nominally-agreed-upon procedure. The fight of the so-called Separatists lead by Rear Admiral Knight was the result of the misapplication of biosafety procedures. At the time, I and the Klaxon's crew believed the Navy's primary fleet to have been infected by the aliens once again. We turned our guns against them in defense of Rear Admiral Knight, out of fear of history potentially repeating itself. The Primary, for their part, accused Knight of the same thing. I do not know the truth of the matter, and I think it likely that no one does.
The combined forces of the Insurgency, as a result, hold little in common aside from a deep grudge against the Navy and Manhattan's civilian government. Some of us fight for freedom from corporatocratic tyranny, others out of a belief that the military and administrative careerists have been subverted by xenobiologics, some out of a lust for power, and others simply because no other group of fighting men and women would take them in. Myself, all I see in Liberty is a betrayal of the ancient values; freedom, democracy, and opportunity are the raison d'être of any man who deserves to call himself such, and yet my homeland is one of bureaucrats and their slaves.
As such, we refuse to die in a pointless battle so that the illegitimate government can salvage our corpses. The Klaxon operates under a form of military democracy, wherein every crewmate has their say when it comes to charting our greater course. This is why I reached out to you, Mister Klugmann. I know of no man who has so thoroughly given his life to the noblest of causes save yourself. At this point, it is my sincerest wish that my crew sees things the way that I do, and that they vote to rendezvous with you and your men.
If they do so, I would request your permission to charter a third party—the independent researchers known as the Starfliers—to obtain hyperspace jump coordinates for us to make our way to Rheinland, rather than attempting to exfiltrate Vespucci through conventional means. I believe it would be far safer, and critically, somewhat more cost-efficient in terms of fuel. After all, my initial desperation was not merely due to strategic concerns. We are nearly out of funds between the hundred-thirty-some of us which remain.
I will call my crew to the vote and await your response.
xxxForever in service to Liberty and her people,
Augustus Howe
Commander, INS Klaxon
Insurgent Naval Forces
Important:This communication remains the property of the Liberty Insurgent Navy and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Martial Law Communications Restrictions Act 829 AS, Section 7. If you have received this message in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the communication.
Posts: 3,106
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COMM ID: Augustus Howe TARGET ID: Erich Klugmann SUBJECT: RE: History Repeats ENCRYPTION: HIGH PRIORITY: HIGH
xxxMr. Klugmann,
xxxThings have been... complicated for us. I apologize for the delay.
Assuming your offer still stands, the Klaxon will be jumping out of Vespucci shortly. Please give us a vector near Eltmann, and we will contact an outside party to procure hyperspace coordinates within Munich for us to warp to. Once we've arrived, I will contact you, and we can speak in person at your installation, on topics such as what the Klaxon's next moves might be and what services we may be able to provide you as thanks for your generosity.
xxxForever in service to Liberty and her people,
Augustus Howe
Commander, INS Klaxon
Insurgent Naval Forces
Important:This communication remains the property of the Liberty Insurgent Navy and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Martial Law Communications Restrictions Act 829 AS, Section 7. If you have received this message in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the communication.
Posts: 3,106
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Joined: Dec 2009
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****INCOMING TRANSMISSION****
COMM ID: Augustus Howe TARGET ID: Erich Klugmann SUBJECT: RE: History Repeats ENCRYPTION: HIGH PRIORITY: HIGH
xxxMr. Klugmann,
xxxWe met up with your man "Civil Servant" in Munich, a few days ago.
He informed me that Munich's destruction due to the incoming dark matter storm is imminent, and he led the Klaxon to safety at Bielefeld. Our quartermaster has already liaised with Bielefeld's own, and our supplies of food, water, and oxygen have been fully replenished. For this, you and all your people have the eternal thanks of myself and the Klaxon's crew. For the time being, the Klaxon will remain moored at your base here in Lüneburg, activating our ship's cloaking device whenever the situation demands it. At present our sensors are heavily damaged, with a range just under twenty klicks, but full repairs of them would require a large amount of technical materials, such that I wouldn't dream to impose. Still, any interesting signals we pick up will of course be forwarded to your people.
I'm quite unsure where to go from here, but so long as we're a drain on your supplies, we'll do what we can to help out around the base. Some of our ensigns have volunteered to take over custodial duties onboard Bielefeld, for example, and hopefully this frees up more of your men to assist the refugees currently on-site. I will inform you when the situation changes, and whenever my crew comes to a consensus regarding where we will head next.
xxxForever in service to Liberty and her people,
Augustus Howe
Commander, INS Klaxon
Insurgent Naval Forces
Important:This communication remains the property of the Liberty Insurgent Navy and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Martial Law Communications Restrictions Act 829 AS, Section 7. If you have received this message in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the communication.
Sender: Erich Klugmann, The Platform Origin: Bruchsal Base, Frankfurt Encryption: High
Recipient: Augustus Howe, INS Klaxon, Insurgency Naval Forces Subject: RE: History Repeats
Commander Howe,
Please allow me to express my fullest apologies, for not having been able to give your transmissions from several years ago the replies they deserved.
If the Klaxon still lingers around Rheinland or its Bundschuh-held regions, I'd be interested in conversing again regarding whether we might be of Mutual Aid to one another, and ensuring we both understand what's elapsed since your arrival.
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