An Unlucky Soul

[Connor]

Franziska Kuhn, a formidable, loyal and clever girl. She fought valiantly against her foes no matter who it was. The Corsairs, Liberty Navy and Hessians all tried to fill her with fear though to no avail. She was a highly respected member of the Rheinland Military reaching ranks that people would only dream of. Franziska lived a prosperous life until one frightful day changed her life forever.

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[Connor]

Biography

Name: Franziska Kuhn
Rank: Captain
Age: 28
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Blonde
Birth Place: Planet Stuttgart, Stuttgart
Status: MiA

My name is Franziska Kuhn. I was born in a small and peaceful town named Gescher. Gescher wasn’t much to outsiders, but to me it was my home. My little town was the only place I knew. I didn’t travel much when I was young because traveling wasn’t really my forte. My parents loved to, however Gescher was a quiet and safe place so that suited me well. There was a military base not too far away from my town and often troops would travel through Gescher to get to work. A lot of personnel lived in my town which was probably the main reason as to why it was so safe. They inspired me. A massive urge raced through me every time I saw them pass through town. I wanted to join. I wanted honor, I wanted glory. I wanted to serve Rheinland.

Years flew by and I finally turned 18. The only thing I had on my mind that day was the recruitment center. I could drink alcohol, I didn’t care. I could drive, I didn’t care. I could do all sorts of fantastic things but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was to enlist. My parents weren't happy though being the stubborn teanager I was I didn’t care. 3 months later I took my first flying lessons.

My career as a pilot was the best decision I had ever made, so I thought anyway. My mind was young, I learnt so much. I challenged my superious in combat simulations, broke records and superseded all of my classmates in becoming the best. I was frisky, seeking thrills and yet rather cocky. This mix of thrill seeking, cockyness and my lust for exploring would eventually lead me to wonderful things. It would lead me to where I am today. I would not change it for the world. Me and It, we’ll change the world for the better. For those that are being oppressed and are in need.

So sit back and relax. I’m am about to tell you something wonderful. This is my story and I want you to hear it.

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[Connor]

Day One

My story starts just like any normal day in the military would. At 08:00 hours I would be briefed by my commanding officer about a multitude of items then at 08:30 hours I would brief my own team about said items. I commanded a quick reaction team of 8 consisting of my 2nd, a radio specialist and 6 others with an array of abilities and specialisations. We were a good team, in fact we were an amazing team. There was nothing we couldn’t handle, so we thought. Today would change that. It all started with an announcement over the tannoy.

“Scramble, scramble, scramble. QRF Team 2 report to briefing room 3. This is not a drill.”

Franziska jumped to her feet after being rudely woken by the tannoy blasting and the alarm sounding in her room. Rubbing her eyes she slowly raised herself out of her bed and hastily rushed to the sink where she splashed her face with water to try and wake her up more. A loud thud came from the door as her 2nd in command was bashing on her door to try and wake her up.

“Fräulein Kuhn, let's go we’re up now” bellowed her 2nd.

She grunted loudly and rushed out the door whilst still trying to put her trousers on as they were still halfway down her legs. The tannoy blasted the same message another 3 times eventually coming to a close as Franziska approached the room. A swift left turn and she was in the briefing room where her CO and her team was waiting

“Captain” The CO nods. “We don’t have much time to waste so most of your brief will be done en-route to the objective. We have encountered…”

The briefing was short and snappy to everyone’s relief but that was far from their worries. Franziska’s whole team was being completely assembled which was completely unusual. This had to mean that it was something serious. Pre-launch checks had already been completed by technicians whilst the briefing was going on so all 8 Wraiths were ready to go and launch as soon as her team got there. The vessels had priority launch clearance so their orders were to take off as soon as they sat in. The airways were completely cleared.

The QRF team were cleared for planetary full cruise as they exited New Berlin’s atmosphere. This had never been cleared for use in a planet atmosphere before which caused the team to worry a bit. Their rendezvous point was in the Dresden System right outside Battleship Altenburg where they’d receive the full briefing en-route. The briefing was finished though the communications were quiet. The team was nervous but no one wanted to show it. Their objective was to find illegal artifacts that were being smuggled in from the Omega systems however this wasn’t any ordinary illegal shipment. The police would normally deal with those.

The team's first search area was the Schwefelnebel Nebula. This was a popular area to try and smuggle artifacts because the nebula inhibited communication relays whilst impairing all sensors and visuals. An order was given by Franziska’s 2nd to split off into pairs of two. If they found anything then they were to use the emergency channels. This channel was specific to the QRF fighters and the arrays used for communications were far more advanced than conventional arrays used by the rest of the military making them perfect for penetrating the nebular.

Half an hour went by and the call was given to move on. They found nothing to report on. The next target was the Kruger Lava Fields. The team had little hopes of finding anything there due to its popularity with Kruger and mining. The place had regular patrols from the Police and Kruger vessels protecting their convoys. Usually this place was a communications mess. Often there were tens to hundreds of ships in this area but unusually the communications were quiet.

“I don’t like this one single bit. Where is everyone?” Came a nervous voice. No one replied back to it and the eerie sound of the Wraith’s engines were the only things to be heard. No one wanted to talk, no one wanted to break the silence. However it was quickly broken when one of the ensigns picked up a Corsair transport with an escort of 6 fighters in full cruise. A scan of the shipment confirmed that the convoy was what they were looking for. A disruptor was fired and hurtled its way towards the convoy where it broke their cruise engines and they came to a quick stop.

“Corsair vessels. This is Rheinland Military QRF 2. You are in direct violation of Rheinland’s Artifact Code. Cut your engines, power down your weapons and shields and you will be escorted back to a Military base for further processing. Failure to comply will result in leath force and termination of your vessels” spoke Franziska with an authoritative tone. A minute went by without a single work. She was about to open up her communication channel once more for a final warning when out of nowhere two Corsair vessels jumped the squadron of Rheinland officers. This caught the QRF team completely off guard and they radioed for immediate assistance.

A large fight broke out. The battle was long and grueling however the Corsair pilots were not trained properly in fighting and had little to no tactics. The fight lasted roughly 15 minutes where the the Corsairs were taken out and the transport engines were damage beyond usage. Two of the Rheinland Wraiths were heavily damage and ventured back to the nearest station escorted by two other pilots.

“Where was our backup?” The 2nd said bursting out with anger. “We could have been killed!”

Conveniently 3 Rheinland vessels appeared from nowhere just after the 2nd finished his sentence. A purple aura coated the ships and the vessels came to vision. Something was strange. Something wasn’t quite right with these ships. Their identification plates were searched through the system, as per protocol, and they brought back ships that were either destroyed in combat or were missing in action.

“Shields up” Came over the comms by Franziska. “Something isn’t quite right here. Unidentified Rheinland Vessels, this is Captain Kuhn of the Rheinland Military QRF. State your name and authorisation codes.”

“These artifacts are not for your taking. They do not belong to the government. They belong to the enlightened ones.” Came from one of the mysterious ships. Without warning and without a chance to react the 3 ships open fired on Franziska ship quickly destroying it. She pulled her cord and ejected from her ship leaving her helpless as she watched the rest of her team fall one by one to these mysterious pilots. She had never seen pilots with such skill or the ability to cope with turns and g-forces they must have been encountering. They were clearly outgunned and outmatched. One by one, her pilots ejected. Their pods slowly drifted in space only to be executed by the mysterious Rheinland pilot. The last of her team was gone and only she was left.

Her life had been spared though at this point she’d rather they had shot her and taken her life too. One of the ships carefully moved into position over her ship and used its tractor beam to recover the pod and place it in the cargo hold. At least she was out of space but the worst was yet to come. She was a prisoner now. A prisoner to an unknown affiliate.

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[Connor]

Day Two

The cargo hold of the Wraith wasn’t exactly a human fit environment. The low oxygen levels caused Franziska to drift in and out of conscious until she finally passed out. She slowly came to, believing the she was having a nightmare. The unexpected Rheinland fighters? The Corsairs? That surely couldn’t have come true. Her team had prepared for unexpected encounters. As she regained more and more of her consciousness she came to realise that the nightmare she believed she was having was more of a reality.

She glanced around to gage her surroundings and to figure out where she was as her training taught her. Realising she was in an empty room whilst being tied to a chair she shook her head violently and squirmed to try and get out of the chair yet this was to no avail.

A door slowly creaked open and with that a man slowly walked in. To Franziska surprise he came in looking very smart. He wore a clean and pressed shirt tucked into his trousers that were black and pressed as well. He wore shades to cover his eyes but one thing stood out amongst the rest. Behind those shades was what looked to be a light bouncing onto his face. It was an oddly purple light which brought much confusion to the young Captain until the strange mysterious person took them off. It became very clear and evident as to what this person was.

Panic levels shot through the roof. Her heart rate almost doubled as fear set in though she tried to remember her training. Her breathing became very heavy and very fast. It was almost like panting from a dog that had been out on a huge run. She tried everything she could to try and calm herself down. The best tactic was always to stair at one spot on the wall and focus on it. That didn’t work.

“Fräulein Kuhn” The voice spoke softly. “You are certainly one hard person to catch hold off.” No response came from the Captain as she desperately tried to remember her training though it was becoming very hard. “You seem anxious. What is up my dear?” A small chuckle came from the mysterious man.

Franziska couldn’t help it. She had to respond. “Get away from me you monster” She screamed. “I know what you are! You are evil. You are the devil.” At this point she couldn’t control herself. She lashed out to try and get free but once again this did not work.

“That won’t work my young one. Many have tried, many have failed.” The door suddenly opened again. Franziska’s heavy breathing stopped. He seemed to have stopped but what she saw come through the door was far from safe. As soon as she clocked onto what it was she became worse, thrashing about. The heavy breathing came back but much worse.

“You see Fräulein Kuhn. We need you. Your skills as both a leader and a fighter are phenomenal. You are a fantastic specimen and we want to make use of it. Not only that but you have very important knowledge that we need. You don’t have a choice in this. I wish there was a different way but I know you won’t cooperate.” The tone the man spoke in was cynical. He sounded as though he took pleasure in what he was about to do.

“This” he points to the jar on the table “This is what we call a new beginning. A new life but to you, you call this an Incubi.” The table was brought over so that it is closer to Franziska. Her chair was lowered so that she was facing the ceiling. The man pulls the creature out from the jar and places it on her chest where it slowly makes its way to her mouth. This creature was small but It looked like something from a nightmare. It looked like something from a nightmare. A supersized slug that had been crossbred with a snake. It’s body was covered in a thick slime that coated the entire monster and Its head looked as though it was split into 4 with a mouth in the center. It was a dull brown with colours that faded from green to black dotted all across its body making it physically disgusting to look at.

Franziska head was held in place as she screamed in discomfort and pain. “Franziska Kuhn. Captain. 5486614. Rheinland Military" she kept repeating as a last ditch effort to calm herself down and focus on what was happening but it was too late. The monster made its way into her mouth and down her throat. That was it, there was nothing she could do.

“Your new life starts now my dear.” Was all that was said. The pain was unbearable for the Captain. She screamed in pain, thrashed out in anger but it only made it worse. The pain became unbearable as the monster made its way into her body. She quickly passed out. The worst was yet to come.

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[Connor]

Day Five

Several days passed by. The young Captain was found where the fight first occurred by a passing Kruger mining vessel. She was the only one that was found and was immediately taken to the nearest military hospital.

To her mother and father these were the longest days they’ve ever had to live through, worried sick about their little girl. Questions raced through their head. Is she okay? What happened? Will she wake up? To Franziska it felt like minutes. She had been unconscious ever since the mysterious man forced this creature into her yet strangely there were no abnormal signs being shown through any device or procedure the hospital had to offer.

Occasionally she would toss and turn wildly in her unconscious state frightening her family that would wait with her. It was very clear that she was fighting for something but no one knew what for. They would only assume that it was for the worst.

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[Connor]

Day Ten

10 days had passed since Franziska set out on what should have been a fairly routine and simple mission. She was still in hospital recovering from her traumatic experience however the frequent tossing in bed had subsided and her vital signs were improving faster than the doctors expected. By now her family had returned home. It’d been 5 days since she was admitted to hospital so everyone had to carry on with their own lives as they saw Franziska was making a good recovery. Little did everyone know that she was slowly being taken over. The fun loving and exciting Captain that everyone know had essentially been killed. She was a new person, a new identity and she had a new mission.

Her eyes rolled in quick succession from left to right as though she was having a nightmare. They stopped and her eyelids slowly peeled back showing her new eyes to the world. They bared a purple aura that were very distinct. She slowly sat up and took a good long look at her surroundings. Realising she wasn’t where she wasn’t supposed to be she climbed out of her bed, opened the door and walked down the hallway.

“Mrs Kuhn you need to rest” a passing by doctor spoke in a soft and welcoming voice. Franziska stopped, turned to look at the doctor and she just stared. “Are you okay?” the doctor spoke again, this time with a worrisome tone. Without warning Franziska grabbed the doctor by the throat and started to choke him against the wall. She spoke not a single word. She just stared him in the eye as he slowly died. The doctor gasped for air one last time then he became limp. He was dead. She dropped him to the floor and continued to walk out the door.

In the distance she saw a vessel being made flight ready. She needed a way out of this place so she proceeded to walk up to the vessel. The loading ramp was still open. Franziska saw this as her opportunity to board the ship. With haste she ran over to the vessel and started to loot the place for anything she could use as self defense. To her surprise she found a loaded pistol hidden away in one of the compartments. She took it and made her way to the cockpit where the pilot was conducting his preflight checks. Without hesitation Franziska aimed the pistol at his head. She slowly pulled the trigger and dispatched the pilot. The ship took of moments later.

A few days had passed and Franziska Kuhn was officially declared both M.I.A and a wanted criminal by the Rheinland Govenment for the muder of the doctor. Nobody knew or found out what happened to her. But you know the true story now. You know my story.

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