Larissa Schmitt, a 19 years old member of the Liberty Navy who originated from Rheinland, was sitting in the cafeteria of Battleship Mississippi. She was having lunch and a cup of coffee before she would leave for her next assignment. After she finished her lunch she took a sip from her coffee and started to read the mission details. She skipped most of the document as it mostly contained useless information, the real assignment was somewhere near the end of the document.
'So, let's see what they want me to do now...'
She carefully read the relevant lines, she expected the usual stuff, some patrols of the core systems of Liberty, but this time they wanted her to patrol the Bering system, a place of which she still had bad memories. It was months ago when Larissa decided it was time for her to leave Rheinland, she didn't consider it to be a home, it felt like a prison for her. One of the things she always wanted in her life was freedom, which was not able for her to have in Rheinland, at least that was her opinion. She was surrounded by mindless puppets of the Kanzler, even her parents and one of her sisters could be considered to be the same. That and many other things made Larissa angry and frustrated, the hatred towards her home grew bigger the longer she stayed there.
The way she took to leave Rheinland was dangerous, it happened some months ago when her sister, at that time a member of the Rheinland Military, visited her family's home at Planet Baden Baden. During the night Larissa stole her ship and took the fastest way to freedom, the place she always dreamt about...Liberty. She didn't expect the travel to be that dangerous, the stolen ship was suspicious and soon she had a Military patrol chasing her through Rheinland. It was in Bering when it was almost done for Larissa, as in her dying to the patrol, however she had luck that day and managed to get into Texas. Her name became known and she was considered a deserter from now on, however, she didn't plan to return to Rheinland in the nearest future. Life continued and after some time she got used to her new home in Liberty, her hate for Rheinland stayed the same though, and one day she decided to join the Navy in order to protect her new home. And there she was now with her assignment into the system where she almost lost her life.
She wasn't feeling well about that assignment, there was, however, no way to show weakness. She finished her coffee with a sigh and proceeded to the docking bay to prepare herself. It would be the last time for her to fly for the Liberty Navy and she would soon realize that. Her Guardian entered the trade lane to the Bering Jumpgate where it used the gate to reach its target...
Gunther's mind drifted far from current awareness, his ship drifting through Bering, somewhere between the Freeport and the gate to Texas. He had the usual things on his mind; where Evangeline was, how the baby was doing, if he should really be in the military, why he wasn't still in Kusari. So many questions, none with an answer, and none wanting to be forgotten until he finally answered them. As his ship drifted for a few more hours, he finally noticed the gate was coming into view, bringing his ship to a full stop, a few lanes away. It wasn't his first choice, but it got his mind on something different, as he thought about what lay beyond the gate, war.
Over the coming years Gunther had come to become disgusted with squabbling amongst people, especially over ideals and government decisions. The same group of people; regardless of what house they were in, always plotting a way to extend the length of their reign, and expand their influence there was rarely anymore to it than that when it came to governing officials as far as he had experienced. He sighed quietly, thinking of the "golden" days the older citizens of Rheinland spoke of, as well as some of the older officers. Their pride always made him sick to his stomach. He saw no reason in glorifying the past so much, especially when Rheinland itself was in such turmoil, fueling the mindset that some had involving Rheinland being the "power" it used to be would be nothing more than a setback.
He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking he may go to Texas, he was alone and there was no one to contradict him or get him into any trouble. He always wondered what Liberty would be like if he could travel freely without the hostility, it was something to explore, maybe in the future. He continued to keep place near the gate, his mind wandering off into what could be in the future, a familiar voice popping up in his head.
'Gunther, you have to understand, the squabbles are part of human nature. As long as there is some kind of hierarchy, we will continue to feel superior or inferior to one another. These feelings give us the motives to protect or attempt to take what we believe to be ours and cannot bear to share with anyone else. It's nothing more than an impossibility for every individual to be able to govern themselves, and that's the only answer I know of.'
'I'd be satisfied if we stopped fighting ourselves, then I'll worry about everything else.' Rall replied in a defeated tone.
His mind drifted to the events that befell Felicia and Henrik Drum, through the fault of the Rheinwehr, his own meeting with Major Harkonnen. He thought of those that had faced similar circumstances before himself and the Drums, and those who would undoubtedly come after. In a place where the past devoured its future to preserve itself; a past that had proven it could no longer be effective as it once was, Gunther wondered how long Rheinland could continue to last. His thoughts were interrupted before he could pursue the thought any further, a voice hailing him on comms, dragging him back to reality.
Larissa spent five minutes hailing the Eagle pilot over the comms, at the beginning she thought the pilot was asleep or dead. She was actually happy to receive an answer, however, she could hear the pilot to be from Rheinland. She took a look at her scanners, the area was empty, a rarely situation, there was only this lone Eagle sitting still a couple of trade lanes away from the Texas gate.
'Mein Herr, you have to know, it is quite dangerous to not pay attention out here in Bering. Many uncautious civilians already died because they were not paying attention to the area and got between fights of the Rheinland Military and the Liberty Navy.'
She had no idea that the person she was talking to was an admiral of the Rheinland Military, he was out of scanner range so she was not able to scan the Military equipment on the Eagle. She leaned back and waited for a response.
'Great, just great,'he thought to himself, noticing the hostile ship on scanners.
It took a second for what the pilot said to sink in, but it wasn't the content that caught his attention, more so how it was delivered. He wasn't aware of any Rheinlanders being in the Liberty's Navy, it also wasn't a voice he recognized. He wondered about the best way to slip away without seeming suspicious, for now talking and staying out of scanner range were the best bet.
'Ah, my apologies officer, we all make mistakes I guess. Luckily for me consequences are not always immediate. May I ask your name?' He tried not to sound too curious, but it was probably obvious to anyone he was.
Gunther thought to himself for a moment where he might know such a name. Vivien's younger sister would be the only thing that would make sense. She had made her way into Liberty some months, though he was still foggy on the details. Not only that, even if she had managed to make it into the navy, it seemed odd to have someone so fresh alone in Bering.
'Gunther,' he said suddenly breaking his own train of thought, hoping the delay didn't arise any suspicion. He purposely neglected to give his full name.
He soon began to wonder if she was alone and if he should chance a quick run back to Rheinland to avoid making a scene.
Larissa tried to remember herself about any persons who were named Gunther, there was somebody important in Rheinland but the memories were blurry. She remembered her sister mentioning something about a certain Gunther, but she had no idea what he did or what his lastname was. She scratched her head and couldn't stop thinking.
Gunther slowly started to wake her interest, he seemed to be a shy person, however it looked like he was hiding something. She pressed some buttons and her ship slowly moved towards Gunther's ship.
Gunther instantly regretted not lying, not that he had ever been any good at it anyway. He noticed the ship easing closer to his own. He quickly weighed his options; Tell his name and get shot, or run and potentially get shot. He let his ship slide away in reverse for a little while, noticing the ship was still getting closer.
Without a second thought he turned his ship 180 degrees, the tail of his ship facing Larissa's, before he attempted to fire up his cruise engines. He'd scare her off he had to, but it was best to get away from the Freeport or anywhere else that might produce immediate and unexpected third parties.
Larissa just entered the scanner range and had few seconds to take a look at the Eagle's equipment before it turned around and attempted to cruise away. It was carrying weapons of the Rheinland Military, it was surprising for Larissa to see such weapons on a civilian ship, however there was not the time to think about it. She fired some cruise disruptors to stop it from getting away. They directly hit the engines and slowed the ship down and the pilot started to use the thrusters instead. Larissa began the chase and followed the Eagle deeper into the asteroid belt.
Her previous question became redundant, it was sure she was chasing a member of the Rheinland Military, even though the pilot was flying an Eagle. She opened fire once she came into fire range, her target focused on evasive maneuvers. Larissa was not able to deal damage to her enemy, it seemed she had found somebody skilled from the Military. What she didn't notice was that she was already far away from the trade lanes...
Making his way in between the asteroids Gunther was sure she was still pretty fresh. It wasn't so much that he didn't have a hard time dodging the incoming fire, it was more that Larissa was following him alone, with no idea who she was chasing, where they were going, and obviously without considering who could be with him. He knew he could probably win if he fought back, but he wanted to save it as a last resort.
Reluctantly, he swung his ship around, flying past the Guardian, its guns blazing, a hail of lasers flying past his ship. He continued to turn back and forth, abusing the ship's superior agility, as he hailed his assailant over comms. 'Care to check your fire? Vivien wouldn't like it if you ran off and got yourself killed, now would she?' The question was flat and direct, more like a statement made during a lecture.
