"I am sure you are aware of the dire straits our homeland is in. The war with Liberty lost though touted by those old men and women in the Bundstag as a 'White Peace', crime is rampant in our home with no end in sight and on top of that territories lost by both the Empire and the Federal Republic remain outside the Fatherland's grasp. We as a people are demoralized, everywhere I go I see former soldiers like myself unsure what to do with themselves with the sudden stop to the war, a war that could have been won if not for Libertonian puppets lobbying and crying about 'lost profit'.
What good does profit do our people if we are being crushed under the heel of the Libertonian, what good does profit do us when the Gas Miner's Guild continues to strangle our fuel supplies at a premium and call it 'good business'?
Many among me feel the same, they believe that the Federal Republic, the ones who are sworn to protect the interests of our people, have betrayed both the civilians of our great nation and it's military which strove to protect and expand it's interests. Now we are expected to fight and kill our fellow countryman for 'political convenience'. This leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
That is why I come to you, the Unioners while reknown for being a piracy group isn't influenced by outside 'Socialist' ideals as seen in The Red Hessians or Bundschuh Partie. From what I have been hearing you are some of the few who fight against those who seek to subjugate our people and force upon them 'outsider views' in order to infiltrate our culture and twist it to suit their own ends. You fight for Rheinlandic Ideals, for the common man who has suffered due to outside interference and have been 'edged out' by 'competition' from other Houses.
The Prinz Eugen is willing to join your cause, however we will need the Unioner's aid in order to successfully cut the leash that binds us to the Federal Republic. Several officers onboard will also need to be 'disposed of' being Corporate puppets and spies, once we begin however that is when the enemy will come seeking our ship out in order to find out why their dogs have gone silent. Will the Unioners take in the betrayed men and women who fought for Rheinland?
To: Kapitan Ludwig Hoch From: Arbeitsdirektor Hans von Boyle Subject: Your offer
Herr Hoch,
I'm Hans von Boyle, Arbeitsdirektor of the Union.
While your nationalism is commendable , I must tell you that your transmission left me perplexed. What made you open your eyes and see the deplorable situation Rheinland is in?
I am,like you, a solider; a sword of Rheinland, who fights for the Empire my ancestors have built, an Empire that is now profaned by foreigners, who do nothing but plunder.
They now consider Kusarians allies, forgetting the fact that they are the ones who helped Gas Miner Guild win the Eighty Years War.
Loosing the war was the first domino piece to fall, the most important one, the one that ended the lives of hundreds of people .
Soon enough, the second piece has fallen when the Popular Revolution kicked in, when Daumann miners embracing the socialist ideals formed the Hessians, and the academics betrayed us in the formation of the Bundschuh, claiming that the imperial era has fallen.
The domino effect its being felt even today, the unemployment rate is still high, the average rheinlander is paid low, thus they seek employment in other houses. Three hundred years of brain drain have destituted us. Once we were the most powerful house in the sector. Now we are a shadow of ourselves.
While Bundschuh and Hessians parties spread nonsense; socialist propaganda, avoiding engaging in piracy acts against IMG and GMG who are drying our mineral deposits, we are the ones who remain loyal to our Empire.
We are the ones helping Kruger, another old and Imperial organisation, claim back their fields, we are helping them to fight off the foreign threats, whilst the federals close their eyes, leaving the foreigners free to maraud through Rheinland, snatching whatever they get their hands on.
We will not turn our backs on you. I'll send my most trusted men to aid you in cutting the leash that is keeping you tied to the Federal Republic.
When I took the lead I myself had to purge old chains; the Union movement was nothing but a group of thieves and killers, fighting without a noble scope.
Now, we are a compacter, stronger movement that will bring back Rheinland's prosperity and glory. We will help you clean your vessel of spies and corporate lackeys that will only slow us down, however, my merciful side and my nationalist beliefs does not allow me to kill my own kind, thus they will be thrown in the cold space, let fate decide whether they should live or die.
After the purge is complete, you will be lead to one of our hidden bases , where your vessel will be painted with our colors , repaired and improved if needed.
"What opened my eyes is a story that shows just how deep our 'Government' is in bed with those who are in the pockets of Liberty. During the war I served as an XO on an 'Oder' Class Gunboat, we were on the offensive in Bering alongside elements of the 2nd storm Battalion, we were even managing to push the Libertonians back from the Jump Gate into Hamburg when the fleet received an order directly from the High Command.
The order is one that haunts my nights even today...Just as we were about to break the back of the hostile fleet we were ordered to pull back into Hamburg itself, to step off the battlefield and let Liberty have Bering. naturally the order was followed, however many among us were confused and yes I admit angry. When the last of our ships got through the gate we found ourselves back in Hamburg with what looked like ships from the Engineering Corp, apparently they were about to damage the software on the Gate itself to render it in-operable. I was in complete shock, we had been winning the fight, pushing the enemy back to their hell-hole in Texas and yet we were to simply 'give up'?
As you know later Liberty attempted to use the gates with some disastrous results. The ensuing crisis forcing the Government to sue for peace with Liberty because of their blundering with the War Effort... After the war I was given my own command in 'recognition' of my efforts during the war, however many of us knew that while many among the High Command were all 'smiles and congratulations' the truth was far more bitter and colder. We had lost the War with Liberty gaining much greater control over the fates of Hudson and Bering which was a disaster for our House. However they simply plastered false smiles on their faces and claimed it was a 'White Peace'.
Many of us in the Military know for a fact that if we had been given more time we could have pushed Liberty back and with effort and enough manpower the war could have been won on our terms. Instead we are stuck with....This!
Now many of us are lost, drifting from one posting to the next, fighting those such as the Hessians and the occasional Bundschuh vessel, all the while our beloved Rheinland feels like it is shrinking and changing far too much too quickly. We may not have lost Hamburg, but we lost something far greater. We lost our self-respect as a House and our Pride in ourselves.
Something must be done to change this course, otherwise I fear the Rheinland we love will be lost forever to us.
This decline may have started during the days when our Empire was great, respected and yes even feared by the other Houses. However I fear it may reach rock bottom within OUR life-time. We shall follow your lead as you represent our last hope in saving our home. We will be ready to move out when enough of us are in position on both sides to quickly take the ship and do what must be done.
To: Kapitan Ludwig Hoch From: Arbeitsdirektor Hans von Boyle Subject: Your offer
Guten tag herr Hoch,
you don't know how much it saddens my heart hearing that you had to take orders from misguided superiors.
Everything started with Von Rohe's Day when Daumann requested a new form of government.
Now , Rheinland is ruled by traitors , cowards , bad strategists that helped our vaterland decade even more.
You made the right decision when you decided to fight alongside us , for a noble and unique scope .
My men are ready to help you make the final steps to join our ranks , they are going to meet with you tonight , at 19:00 hours , in Munich.
More about the route you will take to one of our bases , after the purge is complete, will be disclosed privately in space.
I hope you will safely , and purely reach your final destination , with no more chains keeping you bound to the Republic.
To: Ludwig Hoch, Rheinland Military!? From: Gunn. Subject: Grand Theft Anschluss
Crap.
I’m not saying I trust you - I don’t give without trust, I won’t be generous when you're begging, nor will you expect such. We’re not stupid, you and I. But people usually have to be spying real hardcore to risk sacrificing flesh and steel.
Until I’ve got some solid proof out of yours that this isn’t the Rheinland Military exercising their institutional imaginations to get us all dead - I won’t be head-plattered. We’re going to play king’s gambit - shock-and-awe, unsubtle snatch-and-grab. You’ll not know your escort composition - it’s going to be enough to mess you up if you flak us, and discreet enough to rabbit if you’re playing cloak and dagger; thin enough to flee if we you ping for any signal traffic we don’t want.
This is how it’s going to go down. We will arrange a rendezvous over encrypted comms. Our new generation hardware is somewhere between a few months to a year behind the BDM and MND, so comm traffic will be two-way only until we RV - the timing of the RV is a barrel of maggots.
Follow accordingly, start plotting nav data.
Fake a patrol order to the Chiemsee asteroid field, Munich. The rock particulates are dense enough to irritate anybody who comes to find you. Duck around in there until our ships get to you - which they will. That far north, the Walker Nebula becomes our playground. The Eugen’s new-escorts will proceed with you out of the system on a duck trajectory out of Republic core space, ducking through the south through Frankfurt and Dresden, far from the trade lanes and Republic reprisal. Our Zone of control thins the further south we get, handing over to Hessians and Coalition, so it’s unlikely the military will be able to intercept even if our communications have been compromised. Be at ease. Hessians and Coalition are jumpable sharks. Military intelligence is the Kraken.
At the end waypoint, assuming we haven’t killed each other or loyalists have sabotaged the Eugen, operational control will be in the claws of operative Faust, head of our internal directorate. She will be in full control of locking down and securing the the ship. We will only conduct bording ops once we have reached the Union Secure Zone, not before.
Boyle wants me to be nice to you. I see this as a gigantic waste of time for a man we do not know and a gigantic incriminating billboard with shoot-me-for-treason on the side.
Keep a rifle ready, Hoch. We can only determine what occurs outside of the Eugen’s hull, not any damage dealt inside.
For Rheinland,
Gunda Riehl,
Oberstarbeiter, Wedel outpost, Hamburg System.
"Well, we made it. the Eugen is still in one piece for the most part, however as you are aware our weapons array has been knocked out and we have major fire damage on several decks. It will be some time before she's ready to be in active service and even then we are unsure how the power-regulation systems will be after patching her up.
I suspect it may be months before the Eugen is back up to full strength due to the massive amount of damage we received fighting the Battleship Tegetthoff in Munich. Our total casualties are 54 Dead from the fires, 18 during our initial uprising and 29 wounded out of our total 320 Crew Complement which brings our grand total up to 72 Dead. I pray their sacrifices will not be in vain.
In any event we have opened the ship to your people and the crew has stood down from stations, except medical personnel who are continuing to treat the wounded, until they have been screened by your own people for any spies that we may have missed during the uprising.
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