All clear. No trackers or Bretonian Intelligence vessels.
Took me a few days to get my ship cleared. Freeport Six wasn’t too pleased about the possibility of a tracker, but what can you do when you meet someone whose clearly interested in whats going on around you? At least theres nothing following me. Though… that strange musics disturbing. Where is it coming from? Its been in the back of my mind since I left Coronado, unwavering in intensity. Not so much that I can’t drown it out… but enough to distract in times of meditation.
I received an echo protocol ping from mine and Crowleys private line. Encoded, as expected. No words, just a location. It lines up pretty close to where we met, not far from Honshu. Now i know where he wants to meet, I’ll head over there. If memory serves, theres an abandoned base that sounds like an ideal location to lay low. Worst case scenario i get a break from all the commotion this side of Sirius.
No Crowley, though theres a whole new mystery to unravel…
Waited several weeks, nothing so far on the Bretonian intel guy or anyone else. Crowley seems to have gone dark, our private link is as quiet as both Cat and Daros.
Took awhile to decide what to do, but I set out to the coordinates Crowley sent in the last message. Before long, anomalous energy signals, gravitational fluctuations, and a feminine voice. Of course someone would be here, especially considering I left it a good while before coming out this far. And why would it not be anything less than the generic “I’m asking the questions.”?
Several moments of conversation passed with her hidden, likely a cloaking device much like one I have mounted on the Eternal Journey. Every truth that hides the bigger picture is always the best option. After learning I wasn’t the echo sender, she revealed her Gunboat-class vessel. Yeah, some doctor. With a highly armed vessel. At least she wasn’t blasting, the weapons arrays weren’t giving any power signatures. Rose Emery. One thing I will say about her, she doesn’t linger too long, just straight to business. Some guy names Sailas Montgomery. Also a doctor. No, Ms. Rose, the only doctors I know are the ones that patched me up.
She mentioned a “Consortium”. The Starlight Research Consortium. One for the notebook. Explorer slash science guys who push the boundaries. Located in Tau 23. Her father was the director of it, who is missing. Something about in hiding. Sounds like he don’t wanna be found huh? Well maybe I keep an eye out. Sailas. Yeah, I am looking for people too. She changed the subject. Asking about how I heard of this anomaly and “From where?” The Freeport, Rose. Where else would someone get information? Gas miners wont share their last food ration if you were dying of starvation. Of course, she don’t know that ain’t true but. Well, it wont make a difference.
“Grandpa Crowley”. Okay well this is interesting. And Alberta? Weren’t that connection de-stabilised? “Oh, it is. Not for malfunctioning hyperdrives apparently.” I’m sorry, what? Theres a variation of Jump Gate tech compacted enough to fit on ships, and generate an anomaly at any time? Prototypes or not, thats quite an immense invention. Bet its something Kishiro have managed to pull off. Theres been rumours here ‘n’ there about them developing something monumental for the Kusari people. How did Zoners get their hands on some? For science, I suppose? Of course, for science.
Another name, Brad, and a little more sharing on Cat and Daros’ strange disappearance, last seen at Freeport Eleven in Delta. And well. She cursed. Quite unladylike if you ask me but who am I to judge? Not like I maintain a clean vocabulary all the time. “Always, its in the centre of this kind of shit.” She said that too. Lotta fire in that one. But no, maybe it depends more on if he is the kinda person to go out there and expand the knowledge of that sector. Well, until she described him. Yeah, definitely would be likely to go out there. More names, Liam, Crowley, Dante. Yeah… I do know a Crowley, but you don’t need to know that. He probably knows you’re onto him, girl. O’sullivan. No. But you know theres something up. I’ve gotta tread carefully. These are dangerous times.
She advised words of caution about the anomaly. Not exactly my first time being around one actually. She told me it links through to near Liberty. So its an alternate path between Rheinland or Kusari to Liberty. Could come in useful, once the hazards are bypassed. We parted ways shortly after, but not before I gave her the names of my friends. Seems two pairs of eyes on two lots of missing people would be better for us both, peace of mind. A memory clawed its way back into my mind, something Cat used to say.. Stars keep you. I mumbled it as the Infinitum departed.
I asked myself why I didn’t tell her I knew a Crowley. The answer is simple. If he wants to be found, he will be found. Not exactly the first time he went to ground with little answer. In any case, the anomaly wont explore itself. Jumped through and headed towards what seemed to be a reading between two planets. Reached the edge of the nebula and my sensors just lit up with dangers and radiation hazards. Yeah, probably not a great idea to cook yourself, Jack. Get some sleep first. Freeport has room still. There I can see what dots of these names she gave me connect to who, or where, or what in this growing spiderweb of missing people…
Something at last from Crowley, though he himself likely doesn't realise I haven't received it till now.
I took several trips into the Copernicus system, seeing as there was little information anywhere about the contents. So far mostly what I’ve found is wrecks, deadly gas pockets and ultra high radiation. On my last foray, within one of the nebulae, there was a beacon. The signal was faint and the radiation was pretty harsh on the ships systems, but she pulled through well enough at first. A location, almost. Two Co-ordinates. Looked to be quite a ways off the normal travel for vessels. "Engine 1, Malfunction. Maintenance Required." Great. Navigation controls were still functioning, but they were barely hanging on. One of my two engines were fried and thrusters kept cutting out. I needed repairs, and there's no way I was gonna push my luck. Back to Sigma 13, to the Freeport.
I anticipated the repairs to take awhile, but what I didn't expect was for it to take three months. Three bloody months of being station-bound and unable to leave. There might have even been one engineer who even knew what they were doing, too! Woulda done it myself had I got the know-how to rebuild the entire ship from scratch, y'know? Its been quite some time since I've brushed up on the kinda heavy duty ship maintenance that was needed. No matter, what's done is done. Not like re-learnin' now is gonna get back that time I spent waiting for these guys to do it.
Another Echo relay logged along our private line. More coordinates, this time in Omega 5. And a message with the ending "...hic sunt dracones." First opportunity I get to go out there, I'm taking it. There ain't no way I'm waiting on this hunk of metal any longer. You just can't solve anything where everyone is about as braindead as the nebula that houses it! Breathe, don't let it get to you. It's almost time to get back to the stars. Just some more medical checks, a few flight tests and then that's as little a green light as they'll give for me to go my own way. Shouldn't take more than a week or so to do so. Well, that depends on these "Highly Competent" engineers, don't it? I have about as much confidence that a pirate I meet won't cut my throat if he could make an extra credit as I have in these guys to do a job that wont need fixing in two weeks time.....
Omega Five. Hasn't changed in all the years I've flown through here.
The good news. Ship remained stable after them workers finished on it. How, I have no idea. Spose it took 'em all long enough that they might have actually done enough. Lesson learned in future, chance the trip to somewhere timely and reliable. Took them ten extra days for the final touches. Ten days! Eh, I should stop complaining about it and move on. She flies. That’s all I need.
Now the not-so-good news. The private line echo that bounced its way over from Crowley: Two months ago. By now he probably would be long gone and gave up on me arriving. Though I s’pose he did turn up on barrier gate after a month or so…
The flight over was quite uneventful. Nothing more than the occasional passing freighter hauling some needed resource to a remote hole. No authorities, no pirates, just the odd civilian. Gotta admit, there’s nothing more relieving than cruising without distractions. Even got to find out my coffee machine still works! At least they didn’t need to fix that.
The co-ordinates are oddly specific, I’ll have a poke around tomorrow around them, now that I’m here. See if I can’t figure out what these pebbles are. And if Crowley will even be there when I decode his little riddle..
After a couple days rest, it was time to see if Crowley would be waiting. I wouldnt put it past him to not be, its definitely been long enough. Co-ordinates plotted, waypoint set. Now to find out what he meant by pebbles.
They seemed to be off the usual paths, these coordinates. A little odd, for sure. But then again, its Crowley. Last meetup was sposed to be at an odd little anomaly in Sigma 13. Maybe he wanted me to meet his daughter? Maybe he just decided to bail entirely? Not sure I’ll ever find out that answer. Though the first answer I did get, was what the pebbles meant, or rather, were.
A strange asteroid, far larger than the others around it. Sensors detected another one, then another. Seemed like a trail of strange rocks to follow. Three or four of them later, a nebula that just seemed to appear. A few more and a gravitational disturbance made its presence apparent. And a ship. Zoner origin. Cruiser class. Up here? Another impromptu meeting with someone of Crowleys friends looking for him? No.
“Ah, Jack. You got my message.” To say I was surprised was quite clearly an understatement. The voice. It felt like I knew what he was about to tell me, even if I didn’t truly know. Crowley, unmasked, so-to-speak. He spoke again, and i started to recognise the accent. Not unlike mine, just his seemed to be more… Molly than my own. “I was Dr. Sailas Montgomery Director of the Starlight Research Consortium.”
He spoke of the Consortium’s current leader, Dr. Brandon Wright. He also spoke of being chased by some kinda being that had it out for him, controlling and manipulating him. If anything, what he said held little surprise. Well, the part about being chased was, but the names and people just reinforced the Sigma 13 conversation. I brought it up, there was no harm. He revealed all of what she told me, and more besides, some subtle details about her progress along the same path he took but also of her departure. “Anyway, the Pathfinders are my creation. I founded them before my departure. They are my eyes into SLRC.” Some explorer branch, less scientists, more “go out and discover the sector’s secrets”. Anomalies, a buncha explorers keeping tabs on them, and aliens. Oh, and Kepler.
Kepler is where this thing lurks? A place submerged almost entirely in a dark matter storm? Well thats now on my agenda to never visit, at least until the storms are gone. “I am keeping an eye out for your friends, Kat and Davros, I believe their names were.” Cat and Daros, but you’re close enough. I know there are dangers. Thats part of space travel, Crowley. Or is it Sailas now? His video output flickered on, revealing himself. It was fairly easy to make out the resemblance between him and his daughter. It also struck me how accurately she had described him. The suit I had seen him wear before, was nowhere nearby. “It’s now in an isolation field”. Great, but surely it'd be better off in the nearest star? Something so dangerous and controlling, theres a risk it gets found and becomes a threat to someone else more easily manipulated?
Then of course the “Science guy” side appears in him. The desire to learn about it, figure it out. And these anomalies. Some are possibly portals, some just tear ships apart. Some have evil alien masterminds manipulating people through them. Well, in theory. He commented that, and the frustration was pretty clear. “Theory is better than ‘no idea’”. Proof. The bane of every scientist’s mind. One of the things that immediately puts me off. I do like the sound of the Pathfinders. Nothing complex, just exploring and surveying strange new things. Though if theres bloody paperwork involved…. Maybe another time.
Never more than in that moment did I wonder if it was all connected. These anomalies and my friends’ disappearances. There was evidence to suggest it was… plausible. Nothing solid, though. That required more evidence. Alot more. I should probably get onto looking into this, fresh evidence, better data. He cautioned me. “Is it better to live in ignorance, or die knowing?” Yeah, I need to get out there and start looking. Omicrons, Taus, maybe even hints in the Omegas. I mean, we were in one right now, in a nebula you can’t detect surrounding an anomaly of unknown origin. Theres gotta be some kinda answer out there.
“Need a lift?” A lift? What? Systems warning: rift opening forming. Point of origin: Crowley’s vessel. Uhhh…. Okay. It cant be the “jump drive” tech I’ve heard about, can it? Well apparently, it can. And is. The channel spat me out behind Pygar, in Theta. From Omega 5. Apparently they’re had these for years. “Well, not years. Stable ones for a few months.” Yeah, and I suppose only a few really know. I’ll keep this under wraps. He headed to 48, while I made my way to Freeport in Delta. Been quite some time since I laid eyes on what I considered home. Now it just feels… hollow. The comms line grew fragile, then cut out completely. Hopefully he got the goodbye. I expect it’ll take some time to settle back in again. Maybe its time to go over the notes I have on everything so far, refresh my memory. At the very least, a coffee is in order. Wonder if they have any…
Settled down in Delta, nothing unusual to class as note worthy. Didn't seem like anything had really happened in my absence but by the look in some of the crew's eyes, there had been issues. Corsairs up to no good maybe, or the Aliens wreaking havoc across Omicrons. Returned to my ship to see a relayed message. Almost managed to get myself a coffee poured out before I saw the sender location and the topic. Cruiser Griefswald calling for any and all available assistance, imminent danger to the farmers movement and betrayal of their Kusari counterparts. I knew where I needed to be. There wasn't time for goodbyes, only time for action.
The Farmers' Alliance and LWB movement merge had been harder on one more than the other, and made them increasingly tense towards one another. By the inbound call for immediate aid, I didn't doubt that the point of the "friendship" breaking was upon them. I know the LWB will explain more when the time comes, when action is needed. For now I have myself in Stuttgart, keeping tabs on the chatter around the bars. They know I'm in the area, and that I’ll be by their side when the bloodshed begins. This is one fight I cannot sit by and watch.
Everyone is on edge. There’s a mix of anger, desperation and a hint of fear. Griefswald isn’t the happiest of places to be, but theres a determination here that they will give the Kusari Farmers a fight to remember. I don’t blame ‘em. The LWB are like family, and they’ve suffered more than one betrayal. It’s about time they got their independence back. They informed me that one of their own finally snapped, and now the Farmers Alliance were going to make an example of them. A Convoy was due to depart from Darmstadt Depot soon, their route predicted but not with certainty.
The LWB told me they needed firepower to take out the transport, and they needed an extra Bomber on site to ensure the vessel didn’t make it out to Kusari space. A position to strike back at those who wronged a worthy cause. I shall have to name her sometime, but its safe to say the Sense model does pack more of a punch than her smaller sibling. The condition of keeping her: deliver a reckoning to their treacherous partners. One I will exact upon the Farmers Alliance.
Inbound transmission. Relocate to Cruiser Schwarzwald, in Cologne. Estimated convoy departure within the next half hour or so. Not a lot of room to Rendezvous with the attack group, but its enough to move through Rheinland. A fight for Independence. I left the Eternal Journey in capable hands, in New Berlin. Today, I am merely Jack. Just one man among many others who fight for what they believe in. Today, we fight for Freedom.
Chatter through the comms of the Sense was frantic: The convoy had been spotted, and it was moving. There wasn't any more time to prepare for what was to come. Many of us were gathered outside the Cruiser Schwarzwald, performing final checks before the blockade was to be setup. Fighters were instructed to distract the escorts while bombers offloaded their payloads into the prison ship. Instructions were clear: Do not let it reach Kusari space, under any circumstances. That far out, they would likely have their own traps and ambushes set up to interfere. We knew it had to come through Cologne if it wanted to escape the attention of the Law. And so, we waited. Moments turned into minutes and those minutes slowly but surely multiplied. A sigh, one final glance over the ship's systems. She seemed as ready for the fight as I was.
Contact. Farmers Alliance vessel, right from the Jump Hole. Every second felt like an eternity in that one moment. The intake of breath right before the first shots were fired. More ships began to flood in, three, seven, twelve contacts. In among them, the target. The vessel wore its name with pride, the fresh paint spelling out "Kiritsu", but all we saw was the betrayal. Safeties off, Torpedoes armed and locked in. Fire. In those brief seconds there was the tell-tale whoosh of the torpedoes rushing out from their launchers. The warheads seemed as angry as the Farmers that were launching them. It seemed like forever before they impacted on their intended target, but the first explosions hit their mark. Each one ravaged the paintwork and the reinforced hull of the transport vessel, but it still held firm. Second wave of torpedoes and explosive munitions didn't seem to have much effect either. Fighters were being disabled or shot down one by one. Ours or theirs, I couldn't tell. A radio call to maintain focus on the target. Then, a jolt as weapons fire shredded away my shields. One of the hostiles had broken away and had my engines in lock. A fighter craft not well suited to sustained combat against the munitions I carried. I peeled off, returned fire. No success in vaporising them, but at least it disengaged.
Now, out of position and able to see more of the warzone, the fighting was quite grim. A gunboat had made its move onto some of our fighters, missiles flew from its launchers. Several hit their targets. "Ignore the gunboat, focus the prison ship!" came over on the comms line, but I didn't hear it. The exposed underbelly of that machine was ripe for targeting. Torpedoes were already armed. For a moment my hand hovered over the launch controls. This would be ammunition that could cost us the effort of rescuing Schroder. At the same time... it might save wingmen from being shot down. It didn't register until the munitions were already hurtling towards the gunboat that I had pulled the trigger. Direct hit. It peeled away, Escape pods ejected from the sides of the battered hull, and the reactor detonated moments after.
I had about three seconds to myself, before an angry voice yelled out to focus the frigate once more. The name along its side was no longer discernible from the burns and explosive rounds that had been launched at it. The hull integrity seemed to remain intact, but there were signs the perpetual discharging into the vessel was taking its toll. More shots rocked the hull of my vessel, this time several ships had me locked in. Evasive manoeuvres, exchange in weapons fire, mine discharges. Nothing shook them. Before long, there was a loud bang. With my ears ringing, all I could make out was that engine 1 had been taken out. I looked to my right to see the wing had been blown clean off. Very close to the armed Torpedo tube. She spun out of control, several moments of spinning and lack of response told me the ships systems needed a reboot. I needed twenty seconds for a successful restart. I had pretty much exactly that before I'd be caught in the gravity well of Planet Steinfurt. I thought before that time seemed to slow to a virtual stop. Awaiting the steady reboot to complete while drifting towards my death... Leaving my life in the hands of a coin toss... That is when you seem to have the most time to think.
Mentally, I said my goodbyes, asked for forgiveness of the cause, wished only for its success in the wake of my death. Physically, I was never more ready to snap into action. Poised on the controls, ticking down the seconds, waiting for the moment that the ship came back to life. "Ship Systems, Online." Never before had I reacted so fast than in that moment, and immediately burned in the direction of Schwarzwald. Had I hesitated, I would have no doubt that would have spelt my demise. Both engines died on me after the burst, but at least it was in a safer direction this time. It seemed the fighters had taken my ship to be damaged beyond operational use and no longer a threat because they broke away and hounded another instead. Well, it wasn't in any condition to fight again, at least not without a complete rebuild. I was stranded, adrift until a rescue wing aided what was left of her to crawl back to the repair bays of the cruiser.
A frenzy of flashing lights, searing heat and clattering of hull plating as the repair crews got to work on the battered shell. I waited, dreading the apologies and the retiring of the Sense, but she held strong while they worked. Many engineers and technicians poured over her, patching holes, re-attaching the systems back together, restocking the ammunition reserves for a second sortie. It would do them little justice to say I was surprised at both their ability to repair the damage, and the speed at which the crews worked. It seemed the betrayal of the Alliance had driven them to quite inhumane levels of resourcefulness and efficiency. Eight minutes was all it took to get me back into the cockpit. Cleared for launch and en-route to re-join the battle.
I wanted nothing more than to see to the destruction of the Kusari Farmers one by one but there wasn't any way that we were letting that get in the way of our primary objective. The prison ship had to fall. From Cologne to Hamburg, frantic words started to come through. A war cry, a call to arms to strike hard and fast at the frigate. Renewed energy seemed to spark inside, there was still an opportunity to finish what we started. The prison ship showed heavy damage on long range sensors, right before it slipped through to New Berlin. It couldn't take much more of a beating, but neither were we able to just destroy the reactor. We had to rescue Schroder. They wouldn't provide her with an escape pod, no matter what code of honour they claimed to fight with. We needed to tear the ship open, and scoop up the containment cell that she was kept in. Jubilant calls of the Kiritsu's engines being disabled, and focused weapons discharge separated the cell from the prison ship.
Reaper-One exclaimed the successful extraction over the system-wide band. The foolishness of this move was completely ignored, each and every one of us cheered in our victory. Now, to buy them time to escape by holding up the remaining Alliance fighter craft. The system-wide declaration would likely attract the Authorities too. We likely didn't have long to hold anyone back before we would be met with superior force of the Law. I held in the engagement for several minutes, exchanging "pleasantries" with an Alliance Bomber for as long as it took Schroders rescuer to get through to Cologne. When it was clear they were safe, I disengaged. No need to risk the ship now, the mission had been successful. We had accomplished something momentous in our struggle.
I returned to Cologne, to the cruiser where we originally banded together. There were many missing faces from our ranks, many lost to the bloodshed. A day of glory today, to become one of mourning tomorrow. The movement must stand strong, to not falter again. I shall remain around to search for survivors when the chaos calms, aid in stocking supplies for future skirmishes and to attend the memorial for those that gave up their lives for what they believe in. What comes after that, only the future knows. With the newfound independence of the LWB, so too comes a name for the vessel that carried me through the heat of battle. Rescinding Subjugation, a token to the termination of the oppressive alliance that had formed in desperate times. It may not be glamorous or special as far as names go, but it represents well the bringing of a brighter future for the LWB, one without betrayers within their midst, one that the Sense I now fly contributed towards. Sometimes one wonders about wars, and whether they are worth the losses. Even now, I still cannot find the answer as to whether those that fought and died alongside us was a worthwhile trade for independence. Most here seem to think it was, and I have no doubt that the breath of freedom they now have feels far better than what they had before. But... No. I shouldn't cast shadows on the sacrifices that were made. I don't think they'd have it any other way, even if it does mean their numbers have dwindled somewhat. This ending was best for everyone. This ending that has opened a new chapter in the lives of the farmers movement, in the heart of the Landwirtrechtbewegung. This ending has brought a new beginning.
