// This Station RP is open to everyone involved in building Bochum Depot or helpling to clean up the hazard area around the Dortmund wreck site.
Bochum Depot, New Berlin - 28. August 828 A.S.
The landing pad was a busy place. Countless people were unloading small cargo crates from the three transport's that just docked at the newly constructed depot.
Hermann was among them, unloading water and food supplies with his crew from the Strassenfeger.
Once the last crate has been brought aboard, Hermann took a moment to take in the view. Finally, after countless meetings, plans and budget discussions the cleanup of Dortmund station was underway.
A few hundred automated construction drones were buzzing around the station's hull, welding more hull panels together to get the other 2 docking bays sealed.
Meanwhile, the 200 station crew members had arrived and began working on the interiors.
Cables were being pulled all over the ground to power the main systems like life support, lights, and machinery using the reactors of the landed construction ship.
It would be a long way until the station could store the toxic waste drifting around the Dortmund wreck but at least they had taken the first step.
Hermann returned to the Strassenfeger to prepare another supply run with water and food.
Hermann stood at the large window in his office, his eyes fixed on the wreckage of Dortmund Station only a few klicks out in the distance. "I still miss my home." He said to himself.
"We all do," Kreuzer whispered as he stepped up to his superior. "But we still got work on our hands here."
Hermann turned to face his chief engineer. "You are right, how is the buildup going?"
"So far so good. We got Reactor 1 and 2 operational at 80% power output. Reactor 3 and 4 will go online as soon as the last safety checks are done."
"Radiation levels are looking good I assume?"
"We got minor radiation in corridor X3 and Delta 4 but should be gone once we are done with the cleanup, most probably leftovers from the MOX transport yesterday. Bioshielding is online and the containment soaks up around 89% of the radiation just as we expected."
"How is the docking bay looking?"
"Well I'm not a station builder myself just a mere freighter mechanic but the drones are working nonstop to seal the last holes in Bay 3. Bay 1 and 2 are operational and storage capacity is at 80%."
"Good we expect some more convoys from {DHC} to arrive in a few hours. We will need every bit of space we can get to unload the cargo. I will go down there and check if everything is alright. How is the Cargo Modul looking?"
Hermann proceeded to head for the elevator. Passing by his desk he quickly grabbed his notepad and a bottle of water.
"Construction started, will be a few weeks until the drones have completed all the welding on the outer structure and we can begin to work on the interior."
"Alright, good job so far. You should get some rest once in a while."
"Will do once we got the reactors all online. I don't like having our defenses offline so close to the Alsterfield. All these Unioners out there got me worried."
"Right, I will contact the bureau on Wichter station and see if they can send some patrols our way. See you in 2 hours in the meeting."
"Later."
The last {DHC} supply convoy had just left the area around Bochum. Hermann was still busy doing all the paperwork as he heard a low knock on his door.
"Come on in"
Kreuzer entered the room quickly, making his way over to Hermann`s desk.
"Preparations are completed just as you asked"
"So the cargo module is online?"
"The DHC guys are running some last-minute checks and a final pressure test on the outer structure but so far it looks good. I think we can start to store goods inside by tomorrow morning."
"Excellent. With all the HazMat Canisters we got from Wichter Station, we should be able to house 60.000 units of Waste easily."
"Last checks showed we might pull 80.000 in total."
"Even better. Well, that certainly increased my mood. I will inform the others. Anything else?"
"The shield generator is online too. We got a shipment of H-Fuel coming in from the Sigmas. Should be here tomorrow as well."
"Good, this should keep those Unioners at bay for the moment."
Kreuzer turned and headed for the door while Hermann prepared to enter another virtual meeting.
An increasingly loud beep noise woke Hermann from his sleep.
Still half asleep his hand rummaged through the belongings on his sideboard, looking for the button to accept the incoming call.
Finally, he found the damn thing and the sickening sound stopped. "Meier, what's going on?"
A shy female voice answered his question. "Sir we got a situation up here that requires your urgent attention."
"I will be right with you."
"Please hurry sir!"
Hermann got up as quickly as he could. Quickly slipping into his shoes he grabbed his jacket on the way to the elevator.
04:03:03 Bridge
Hermann stepped out of the elevator to find his subordinates in turmoil. The young women greeted him and waved him over to the command deck.
More young men were busy checking data on their station panels and whispering with each other.
"So what's going on here?"
Hermann asked as he still rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"We got a Unioner raiding party, inbound sir. They are at 4k and closing."
"4k! How did they get so close without us noticing?"
One of the young men turned away from his panel and answered with a shaking voice. "The Alster radiation must have confused our long-range sensors. We only picked them up at 4,5K."
"Contact the Imperial police to send a patrol our way. Ready the automated defenses and get the shield ..."
"We can`t!" The young woman was shaking "The shield won`t work, we don`t have enough energy."
Hermann needed a moment to realize the situation. "What? Is it broken?"
"No sir. We are out of H-Fuel to power it."
04:05:00
"Sir they are at 3k now. Still closing in."
"How many of them?"
"4 contacts in the lead. Probably light fighters. Two follow behind, must be their heavy hitters."
"Let`s pray they don`t bring in bombers. An answer from the Police yet?"
"Patrol has been redirected but eta is unknown."
"Message the Kolleda. We need help asap."
"Essen relayed our distress call to them. They sort a wing to assist us, ETA 15 minutes."
"Scheiße! Give me engineering. Let us see what Kreuzer can do."
The young women quickly patched the call to the engineering department.
"Kreuzer? I need this shield active. As in now!"
"I may be good, but that is insane. We barely got enough fuel left for lights, electronics, and the damn turrets!"
"See what you can do about it."
04:07:30
"Sir they are at 2k now. Orders?"
"Set perimeter defense to 900m, ready warhead interception missiles. Evacuation protocol red. Get all workers to the safety zones"
"Yes sir."
A few button clicks later an alarm sound was heard throughout the entire station. Personel stopped dead in its tracks and turned to run towards the nearest safety zone.
04:08:00
"1,5k, sir."
"Any news from the Kolleda?"
"Still 13 Minutes till help arrives."
"Verdammt!"
The first band of bogeys appeared in front of the bridge window. 4 Tigershark class fighters, rapidly cruising towards the station.
They split up into 2 groups and prepared for their attack run.
04:10:45
At 900m the automated turrets started the fireworks. One group broke their attack and turned to evade.
The other kept closing towards the depot.
They unleashed their protector guns in return and fired on Docking bay 1 of the depot. One barrage after another hit the armored depot.
The bridge began to shake a little, some minor electric circuits were overloaded. Some lights went out and a control panel stopped working.
04:13:01
The second group now began their run as the turrets focused their fire on the slower of the 2 fighters.
The first hits made his shield light up.
Quickly he tried to evade the fire but was caught another time.
Damaged he fled the scene towards the Alster field.
The other fighter fired his guns at the depot, quickly passing over the bridge section. The automated turrets turning to fire at him.
04:14:05
With the turrets focused on the smaller targets. The two heavy Arbeiter fighters moved in.
Suddenly another alarm sound was heard on the bridge.
"Warheads incoming! Prepare for impact!"
Everyone tried to hold on to either their seat or something in front of them.
The anti-warhead missiles launched from the depot were able to intercept 2 cannonballs. The other two kept closing in.
"Switch targets to these fighters! Quickly!"
It wasn't long before the cannonball missiles impacted the small depot. Shaking it in the wake of the explosion.
04:15:10
"Sir I got 3 more contacts inbound!"
"Where from?"
"Direction Essen station."
04:15:35
The silence was broken by a friendly Rheinland voice on the comms.
"Bochum come in. This is Kruger Convoy Delta 12, we heard you got some trouble out here. What is your status? Over!"
"Kruger? How did you know? We got Unioner fighters bombarding the station with missiles and gunfire. Help would be much appreciated. Station shield is offline and our automated defense is no match for that many fighters."
"Understood Bochum. We will take care of them. You can thank Essen. They relayed your message over comms to us while we were passing by. We quickly changed course to see what we can do."
"You are heaven-sent Delta 12."
"Ok boys. Let us mop up these Unioners. Break formation and engage, weapons free!"
04:15:52
The flight of falcon class fighters quickly diverted and rushed in to meet the Unioners head-on. Suprised the first Arbeiter fighter was destroyed in a volley of missiles and gunfire.
The light fighters scattered, trying to get behind the Kruger fighter. Meanwhile, the automated turrets tried to get a clear lock on the Unioners.
All Hermann could do was wait. How he hated to be doomed to do nothing in this kind of situation.
04:16:03
"Klaus, break! break! break! You got one on your 6!" "I see him, gonna go in now!" "Missile incoming, evade! Evade!" "Got him in my sights. Missile away!"
04:18:15
The last Unioner Arbeiter fighter was hit and quickly exploded in a fireball. Two of the remaining Tigersharks tried to flee back into the Alster field, followed by the Kruger fighters.
One however turned and cruised towards the depot.
Automated turrets hitting him hard and the fighter was covered in flames. However, he kept his vector and velocity.
"Prepare for impact, he is gonna hit us!"
The ship crashed into docking bay 3. A large explosion was followed by the sound of metal bending and cracking.
"Structural integrity compromised. The hangar section is leaking air. Fires inside the docking bay!"
"Activate escape protocols for Section 3. Then open the emergency valves for the fire extinguishers."
"Escape pods are launching. Fire Extinguishers do not respond sir!"
"Close Gates 5 and 6. Prepare to depressurize the entire section!"
"Sir we gonna lose 1/3 of our station."
"I rather lose one docking bay than the entire station. If the fire spreads to the next section we are in more trouble. Now do it!"
The large hangar doors of the docking bay opened and the vacuum of space sucked out everything that was not welded into the station, crates, and carts as well as the fire itself.
04:19:52
"Bochum this is Delta 12 leader. We chased off the last Unioners. What is your status over?"
"Damaged but still in one piece thanks to you guys. I own you one."
"Keep that in mind, I'm sure we will meet again. Anything else we can do?"
"Not much but Im curios. Where is the rest of your convoy?"
"Sitting tight at Essen station. We heard you are in trouble and our captain ordered us to assist while waiting off with the transports near Essen station."
"Please give your Captain my warmest thanks and my regards then. Godspeed!"
A few moments later the military fighter wing arrived to secure the area alongside a hastily launched repair ship from Essen station.
While s&r was picking up the escape pods from section 3, Hermann turned to focus on the tasks ahead. He had to get the station back into shape but right now he was still shaking from that experience.
*****EMERGENCY CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS TO BOCHUM, NEW BERLIN********
COME IN, BOCHUM, COME IN! IS ANY ONE THERE?
SCANNERS INDICATE YOUR CREW HAS ABANDONED THE STATION AND HULL INTEGRETY DOWN TO NEARLY 50 PERCENT...
DO YOU REQUIRE AID?
Captain Simpson looked concerned - he had wanted to open dialogue with this particular station after the recent setup with Rheinland Government regarding opening operations in the area.... they mentioned the ALG station Bochum and their operations with the Toxic Waste clean-up nearby around the wreck at Essen... he was hoping to earn his keep helping out.
But so far it appeared they needed a bit more than just aid with operations - here was a station in distress. Damage from attack was evident everywhere and the cargo hold appeared to be almost empty, implying possibly lack of operation in some time. Even the cash reserves for dock operations were almost at negative values.
COME IN, BOCHUM, IS ANYONE THERE? PLEASE ADVISE IF WE CAN BE OF ASSISTANCE!
THIS IS JEFF SIMPSON, PRESIDENT OF ALL WORLDS ENTERPRISES... PLEASE RESPOND IF ABLE.
PLEASE LET US KNOW IF WE CAN ASSIST YOUR STATION AND HELP GET IT BACK TO OPERATIONAL STATUS!
He turned to his crew, then eyes down.
RESUME COURSE... MAYBE THIS MESSAGE WILL REACH SOMEONE BY RELAY OR IS BEING RECORDED FOR LATER RETRIEVAL.. WHATEVER THE CASE... THERE'S NOTHING FOR US TO DO HERE UNTIL WE ARE CONTACTED...
His Serenity Civil transport turned away and initiated cruise engines towards their destination of Handlesdepot nearby and then McBoyles Scrottplatz in Frankfurt... obligations to new colleagues required his attention...
Bochum Depot, New Berlin - change of administration
***************
In the days following their encounter with the strangely deserted outpost, their communication was returned. The base was abandoned by former ALG staff due to more urgent commitments elsewhere, and no longer required, despite the need for its services near the Dortmund wreak site.
Seeing an opportunity for business, a deal was struck so that operational control of the abandoned base could be taken over by Jeff Simpson's Freelancer corporation, but retain ALG affiliation so employees of ALG can continue their work on the wreck site.
****************
Bochum Depot will remain an ALG outpost, and handle Toxic Waste from the wreck in addition to providing HazMat materials to those clients wishing to acquire them. Access will be restricted to law enforcement, Rheinland corporations, ALG ships and All Worlds Enterprises ships assisting with the repairs and new administration. On-request clients will need to contact administration to apply for docking access.
In exchange for these base operations duties, AWE will also be using a share of the base for its trading activities in Rheinland and throughout the sector.
Base trading update:
Heat Sinks, High Performance Alloys, Magnetic Superconductors, Plasfoam Conduits, Optronic Arrays, Quantum Arrays
All of these items have been increased to 3000 credits / unit.
Extra units available after base needs are satisfied will be sold off at the base itself so no maximums at this time.
If you still don't have docking access, let me know, it's a quick approval and implementation!
![[Image: uSjQF5S.png]](https://i.imgur.com/uSjQF5S.png)
![[Image: LuJs48x.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/LuJs48x.jpg)