Andrews’s CSF gently landed on Kreuzberg’s busy docking bay. It was just another ordinary day, people of all sorts walking across the bays, docks and launches happening only few seconds apart. One person stood out amongst the crowd. While everyone was running or walking, Karl was standing there, waiting for Andrew, who now jumped out of the cockpit of his ship and headed towards him.
“Job’s done. The stuff is in my hold. Now, about my cut…”
“I already transferred it to your account. Thanks for the help, Andrew.”
“Yeah, yeah. It was nothing special, just traveling inside Rheinland. I’m going to the bar.”- said Andrew, walking towards the bays exit.
“Wait a second. I have another job for you. This one you might find interesting. It’s in Kusari.”
Andrew stopped and turned to Karl
“Kusari , you said?”-Said Andrew, approaching Karl-“Tell me more.”
“Well, I have certain friend of mine inside the Chrysanthemums who is fond of Cardamine of a better quality than usual. This sort is only obtainable right from the source, Malta. This, however, is not your job. I already got the stuff here in Kreuzberg. All I need is someone to take it up north, to Ainu.”
“Karl, you know you already sold me on the job by the word “Kusari”, right?”- He said, staring at Karl who nodded in agreement-“So, take some cardi up to Ainu. Seems simple enough. What’s the pay?"
“Ten million credits.”
These words echoed inside Andrews’ ears over and over again. Ten million credits were a lot of money, even more for such a small job.
“Do I even need to say yes? Dump the stuff in my hold. I’m leaving as soon as possible”
A few minutes later, his ship was loaded, refueled and ready to undock. Andrew put the CSFs engines on full throttle and blasted towards the Sigma 13 jumphole.
The trip until then had been only mildly eventful. After sending a false distress signal to the far side of the New Berlin system, Andrew managed to fly across the system undetected. Sigma 13 was quiet as well. Andrew passed by Yanagi just when a wing of Corsairs was undocking, but they kept their mouths closed and their guns powered down. The turrets on Yanagi would tear them to shreds if they tried anything funny. Unfortunately, now had no more cheap tricks and no more protection from Junker bases.
“Alright, easy now. Try to disguise the ships signature, don’t take the lanes, no more comn chatter.”-Andrew mumbled to himself
Cruising a good 20k above the regular plain is usually enough to stay out of sight. Andrew cruised 30k, just in case. It took a good few hours of mind-numbing boredom, but the ship made it to the New Tokyo jumphole undetected.
New Tokyo’s Chiba Field fortunately scattered the ships signature, even when jumping out of the jumphole. Andrew took a minute to think about his next step.
“It would be too risky to use the Jumpgate, my movements would be tracked. I could have a battle group waiting for me on the other way… However, if I take the Jumpholes, I would have to go right by Kabuchiko Depot and parade myself in front of wings upon wings of Hogosha patrols…”
Andrew did not have the time to hang around. Anyone could jump out of the jumphole behind him at any moment. Starting up his cruise engine, he thought to himself
“Screw it, I’ll take my changes in the jumpgate. If the Naval Forces show up, I’ll run away.”
As Andrew exited the Chiba field, he started getting some strange readings. It looked like someone was talking over the systems communication channel, but it was distorted. Suddenly, the radar blacked out. Within a few seconds, the ship was struck by a gunfire salvo, knocking down most of the tiny CSF shields and knocking the ship off cruise, temporarily crippling the engines.
“What the hell is this!?”-Said Andrew, trying to get the scanners back up.-“There we go , its working now.”
Upon closer inspection, Andrew noticed that the attackers had Hogosha transponders and were flying Black Dragons. They were not the usual patrols, he had been set up.
Warning: Structural Integrity at 57%
“God damn it! I can’t get them off my tail!”
Andrew struggled to avoid fire from the Hogosha. One shot flew right by his cockpit, another hit his left wing and tore it apart, along with one Barrager turret.
“Ok Andrew, relax… Do like in the textbook.”
Suddenly his ship stopped dodging. A couple more salvos tore down yet another wing and destroyed the Countermeasure Launcher. Andrew looked back, the Hogosha were getting confident and they had stopped dodging.
“Alright, NOW!”
He put his ship in an e-kill drift, pulled a hard turn and turned his ship around, making it face the Hogosha. Then he activated his afterburners and dropped a couple of mines. The Hogosha were temporarily confused by this trick and didn’t manage to dodge the mines in time. The whole wing was vaporized in one big chain explosion.
“Those dragons may be fast, but they sure are nimble.”-said Andrew with a grin on his face, which was then wiped out by seeing the status of the ship.
The CSF was barely holding up. The hull was badly damaged, the ship was slowly leaking oxygen. He made a run for the jumpgate and hoped the ship could withstand the jump.
Andrew was very lucky. The ship managed to hold together through the jump and Hokkaido was nearly deserted, save for a couple of people transporting H-fuel from Sapporo Station. As quickly as he could, he tried activating his cruise engines, which were badly damaged. The engines worked for just long enough to reach top speed, at which moment they just stopped working. Thankfully, the ship was already aligned with Ainu, so Andrew just used the impulse to drift until he reached the base.
“Alright, I’m going to turn all non-essential systems. That way people might mistake my ship for just some old wreck that entered the Jumpgate”
Fortunately, he was right. A Kusari Police patrol flew right by him without saying a word. The women at Ainu were kind enough to tow his ship into the base and into the repair bay. Not without extracting their precious Cardamine from the hold.
“The Cardamine is intact. The cargo hold must have been the only thing that was left undamaged in your CSF.”- Said one of the Chrysanthemums’ engineers-“Your ship will be repaired within the next few hours”
“Alright then. Not much I can do here… Now, where is the bar? Is it this way, or that?”- said Andrew, aimlessly flailing his arms pointing at all the exits
“It’s that way”- said the engineer, pointing at one of the exits on the left
Andrew headed through the exit and into the bar, which was almost empty, except for a few GC and one Blood Dragon. Except for that lone dragon, everyone in the bar was female, even the barkeeper. Andrew sat at the counter.
“I doubt you girls would have beer this far out…”- said Andrew, looking up at the bartender who just politely nodded-“Yeah, I will have your best local drink then. “
Andrew stood around inside the bar for quite some time. Then again, there was nothing else to do. Kusari’s neural net channels were slightly different from what he was used to, but entertaining nonetheless. Suddenly, the show cut to a black screen.
We interrupt this program to bring you a special communique.
The dark screen lighted up, showing a Kusari man, wearing a Hogosha uniform sitting in front of the camera. He cleared his throat and started talking:
“Greetings, people of Kusari. Many may already know me. My name is Kiyoteru Fukuda and I am one of Hogoshas ace pilots. Just recently, an entire wing of my men has been wiped out by one meddling Junker, trying to spread his filthy Cardamine across Kusari. They were good men, dedicated to the well being of Kusari and its citizens. I urge the good people of Kusari and everyone with a sense of decency or will to make some good money to kill this man. I want his head served on a silver plate. The person to kill this Junker and get proof of doing so will get 100 million Sirius credits. Get to it, gentlemen.”
We will now return to our scheduled programming
Andrew stood, awestruck staring at the screen. Kusari was no longer safe for him. Nowhere was. He had to get to safer space as quickly as possible and contact Karl. While he stood there, thinking on what to do, a Chrysanthemum approached him.
“Sir, your ship has been fixed”
These words snapped Andrew out of his trance. Quickly he leapt from his seat, thanked the lady and ran towards the exit.
Ainu did not shelter Andrew for long. Even before he could reach the gate to New Tokyo, several wings of bounty hunters and assorted mercenaries launched from Sapporo and chased him. Fortunately, with the help of some loops, mines and thruster tricks, he managed to make it to the jumphole in one piece.
The escape through the rest of Kusari was even worse. New Tokyo seemingly had wings of mercenaries on every single corner of space. It didn’t matter if Andrew took the lanes or not, either way his every step was being tracked. The clouds in Honshu fortunately sheltered the ship from most radars, but a long cruise through open space proved itself to be quite painfull.
With a mix of skill and a great deal of luck, Andrew made it out of Kusari and into the Sigmas. With a carefully chosen trajectory, Andrew took his CSF right through Yanagi, making any leftover pursuers scatter. No bloodlust or money lust could match with getting torn to pieces by the stations turrets.
A few hours later Andrew arrived to Kreuzberg, which was as busy and lively as usual. This was somewhat upsetting to him. Any of those people could be bounty hunters, looking for the perfect opportunity to kill him in a dark corner. 100 million can make people do next to anything.
Karl was hanging out in the bar, as he usually did whenever he wasn’t doing paperwork or handing out assignments to his couriers. Andrew sat at his table with a nervous look at his face.
“Karl, your package was delivered safely. I just have a small prob-“
“I know what happened, Andrew. It was all over the net.”-Said Karl, interrupting him.-“Now, I do not know what you did exactly, nor do I care. I trust you enough to know you wouldn’t go around blasting those damned Hogosha if you didn’t absolutely have to.”
Karl pulled a small briefcase from under the table and signaled Andrew to get closer. Opening it, he revealed that inside was a computer.
“Now, we need to make arrangements. Unfortunately, your name will be showing up in everyone’s bounty board very soon. We need to find you a codename.”
Andrew simply nodded in agreement. Karl then nodded back and started typing in the computer, opening up several windows. Pilots license, birth certificates, everything. Within a few minutes, all traces of Andrew Beast ever existing were wiped clean. He then closed the briefcase and put it back under the table.
“You are now Mr. Unusual. Blow your cover and you won’t get a new one. I am sorry it had to come to this. If you ever manage to get rid of that bounty, talk to me. I can put everything in its due place.”
Mr. Unusual, an unusual name all on itself. On that day, Andrew bowed revenge on he who drove him into hiding. For now, there was nothing he could do. All he could hope was that someday he would get his revenge…
Andrew sat inside his office in Invergordon, dealing with the annoying paperwork.
“Why has no one invented paperwork that can finish itself”- he mumbled
A transmission was patched through the communications terminal. It was one of Andrews contacts inside Kusari, one of whom he hadn't heard in ages. Her name was Rumiko Kochi. She was a double agent, working inside Samura, feeding classified intel to the Golden Chrysanthemums who then sent it to him.
“Mr. Unusual, I have some information you may find useful. It is about Kiyoteru Fukuda”
This immediately caught Andrews attention. If it was something important enough to warrant a call directly to him, this could only mean one of two things. Either he was dead, or he would be sooner than he expected.
“Go on, I am listening…”
“It seems that some high ranking members of the Hogosha, including him are coming to Sigma 13 soon. An important Farmer diplomat that had been in Rheinland negotiating with the LWB is returning to Kusari, and they want to make sure that him and the results of his negotiations return intact. I will send more detailed information within the next couple of hours.”
“This is indeed splendid news… I will wire some credits to your account. Thank you again for your help, Kiyoteru-san. Now if you will excuse me, I need to make an urgent call."
Andrew sat there, staring at the ceiling for some time, absorbing the moment. Was this finally it? After years of hiding behind a codename, was it really all coming to an end? Everything pointed out as so. After spacing out for a couple of seconds, he landed back into reality. Calls were in order, a lot of them. Soon he had Joshua, Ruben and Karl on the line.
“I have some news, very important ones. Kiyoteru Fukuda has finally slipped. I will have a perfect chance to take him down very soon, but I will need your help.”
“So, this moment has finally arrived. I will send you your old data. Maybe now you will be able to put it to good use.”- said Karl
“Do I even need to say yes? But of course! I am tired of having to call you by your stupid codename whenever we go somewhere…”- said Ruben
“You can count me in. Blasting some Hogs is always good, even more when it has such meaning behind it. So, should we head to Vieques?”- said Joshua
“Yes, but I have another favor to ask you. This operation might be too much even for the Ferocity to handle. If we fail here, it's most likely that I will be doomed to keep my identity secret for the rest of my life. Call every skilled fighter pilot you know. We need to crush them before they even notice we were there.”
Andrew did not have much time, this was his only chance. Hopefully , his squadron would be ready by the time he reached Vieques. He grabbed the fastest ship he owned and blasted towards Puerto Rico.
As Andrew entered Puerto Rico , he was stunned. Dozens upon dozens of Colectors and Recyclers flew across the system , unable to find an empty docking port. On top of that a few Salvage Frigates stood on dry docks right next to the Ferocity.
“My … god, I had no idea they would get a fleet this big. We can put a military battlegroup to shame!”
Andrew quickly gathered everyone and called a conference on a room aboard the Ferocity , tailor made for that effect.
“Greetings , gentlemen. I am glad that so many of you managed to make it to Rico on such short notice. Special thanks to my Chiefs, Ruben , Joshua and Karl.”
Andrew pressed a few buttons on a console which brought up a hologram of the Sigma 13 system. Everyone gathered around the big conference table, trying to get a good look at the battle plan.
“So , lets get right to the plan. Our mission is simple: Kill Kiyoteru Fukuda. Our target will come to meet a high ranking Farmer diplomat in the Sigma 13 system”
With a few more button presses , images of the Jumpholes, gates , stations and lanes were highlighted.
“The meeting will occur in sector 4-C. My plan was to block all possible exits and crash their party. Seeing as we are so many , I will divide you in one , bigger main group and other, smaller ones. The main group will be tasked with the assassination , and it will be led by me and my crew aboard the Ferocity. The smaller groups will be composed of one Frigate , two Colectors and one Recycler and will be tasked of blocking the nearby jumphole. The captains of the Frigates will lead each group. Any commentaries or suggestions?”
The entire room near silent, the Junkers simply nodding at each other. Andrew pressed one single button , shutting down the hologram.
“Very well then, the information has been uploaded into your ships. Everyone get suited up. We will leave to Yanagi as soon as everyone is ready.”
After a couple of days , the Ferocity and its group reached the Sigma 13 system. Andrew hadn't visited Yanagi in quite some time, maybe even years. Not since that incident. At last , there he was , in charge of a giant ship, ready to finally get his revenge. Huge amounts of money were spent in distractions and other arrangements for secrecy. Andrew could not fail.
“Alright people , we finally arrived, so lets get some technicalities out of the way. Battlegroups will be as follows: Battlegroup Rochester will take the Sigma 17 jumphole, battlegroup Kreuzberg will take the Sigma 19 hole, battlegroup Trafalgar will take the Honshu hole. All groups will follow the structure we discussed back in Rico. Battlegroup Beaumont will be composed of myself and everyone that is not yet in a battlegroup. All clear? Good , lets move out!”
After a few final preparations , the group launched from Yanagi, just a couple of hours before the scheduled time for the meeting. All groups were in place, no strange activity was detected in the area, all the holes were sealed. There was no escape.
Battlegroup Beaumont cruised towards the meeting point. At about 20k from the site , the Ferocity detected what seemed like an anomaly.
“Andrew , I am picking up several contacts up ahead.”- said Joshua
“That must be Kiyoterus group. We found them!”
“No , this seems way to large to be a simple escort wing. I see several wings of fighters and even a few other , bigger contacts. I have a bad feeling about this... Wait , I am getting something on our communication channel... I think its our guy.”
“Well , patch it through!”
The image of a man , wearing Hogosha pilot gear showed up on the screen.
“Greetings , Andrew Beast. I have been expecting you... It is good to finally meet you in person.”
“Kiyoteru! I haven't seen you in years , yet I can still recognize that ugly mug. How the hell did you know we were coming!?”
“Let's just say that once you put a knife to Rumiko-chans neck , she can be very talkative. Not to worry though , she is already dead.”
“You will pay for this... For what you have done to Rumiko , to the Junkers and to me!”-said Andrew , turning to his crew-”Cut the link , Joshua. Ruben, warm up the guns. As soon as we are within range , fire a cruiser missile. Hit whichever ship the communications request came from.”
As soon as the Ferocity came within 10k , Andrew put the ship on an e-kill drift and shot fired the missile, which flew at great speed , aided by the drift. The target was one , small Black Dragon fighter. With a gracious roll to the left and the smart use of a countermeasure , Kiyoteru managed to dodge the missile , which spun uncontrollably around the CM, getting shot into dead-space as soon as its effect wore out.
Upon closer inspection , Kiyoterus battlegroup was as big as Andrews , if not bigger. Several wings of Black Dragons and Mamorous, aided by Raba ATs and even a couple of Corsair gunboats. The situation looked grim on the Junker side.
“Joshua , recall all groups , tell them to meet at our location ASAP!”
Soon, the fight broke out completely. Bolts of plasma and barrages of photons flew madly across the cloud. The heavy canons on the Ferocity tore apart most of the bigger ships in a matter of seconds, the missiles piercing through the Rabas armor like a warm knife through butter. One by one, the Hogosha fell to the Junkers clever tactics but even more vice versa. Soon , the cloud of debris was big enough to be considered a part of the Yanagi field.
The Hogoshan forces were starting to overpower the Beaumont group. Seven wings of Colectors and three others of Recyclers destroyed, the pods beeing tractored into the Ferocity, whose shields were nearly completely depleted. At this point , several comunications came across the Ferocitys screens.
“Battlegroup Kreuzberg , ready to assist.”
“Battlegroup Rochester, engaging the enemy wings.”
“Battlegroup Trafalgar, I hope we are not too late...”
The other battlegroups had finally arrived. Quickly the Hogosha were taken down , one by one , until only Kiyoteru remained, dodging a storm of gunfire and still managing to destroy the occasional Colector. With one, well aimed shot of a Cerberus canon on the Ferocity , one of the ships wings was torn off and the ship , which started to spin uncontrollably.
“I would rather die than be capture by you! We will not forget this , Junker!”-said Kiyoretu
Kiyoretus Black Dragon would not hold out for much longer. Determined to face death rather than capture , he saw a large explosive gas pocket right below the Ferocity. Without any second thoughts , he plunged his burning ship into it, exploding in a giant ball of fire. The pocket was dangerously close to the Ferocity, which already had its shields downed. The explosion was so massive that it blasted the entire lower portion of the ship, vaporising the armor and exterior hull. Flames ran up through the lower corridors of the cruiser , consuming everything in the cargo hold and burning the life support system to a crisp. If the explosion reached the power reactor , the entire ship would be destroyed..
“Quick , evacuate everyone to the shuttles! The thing is going to blow up!”- said Andrew
Everyone rushed through the ship and into the emergency shuttle launcher. Fortunately , everyone made it to the shuttles in time , even the injured pilots recovered from the fight. Once everyone was inside the shuttles , they were all launched. A mere seconds afterwards , the ship showed the first signs of an explosion. From the windows of his cramped escape shuttle, Andrew saw his beloved Ferocity explode into a thousand little pieces.
The victory was bittersweet. At last , Andrew was free from the shackles of his codename, but it came at a great cost. The Ferocity was torn apart, “irreparable” as the engineers said. The only option was to leave it there to rust , along with the rest of the scrap inside the Yanagi field. An undeserving destiny
“Everything has a trade-off, I suppose.”- said Andrew , sitting in the Yanagis bar.-”Well, no use standing here.”
Andrew got up , payed his bill and exited the bar and into the docking port. Quickly , he bought himself a rusty old CSV and undocked.
Everyone was standing outside, Ruben , Joshua, Karl and everyone they had called. Andrew took a deep breath and opened a communications channel.
“Gentlemen... The mission was success. Many of our brethren were shot down, but there were no casualties. I will personally pay for every expense each and every one of you had. My personal ship, the Ferocity was destroyed... Also, some of you already know this, but... My name is Andrew Beast, and I will hide behind codenames no longer! Now , lets head back home. Drinks are on me!”
And so the group flew back to Puerto Rico. With his name and identity back in place, there was a lot of work to do … After some partying...