Private logs of Yelena Vollkegel.
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Entry 1: 07.02.818
Liebes Tagebuch,
Following the encounter with the Crow nebula's Spirits today, I decided to open a diary.
Hauptfeldwebel Weissman mentioned that I lost my mind earlier. Even as hours went past, I have no idea what happened. He claims that I attempted to kill him while we were on a patrol in Frankfurt and shot at him with my Schmetterling, but I don't remember that at all.
I still feel a strong pain in my head, I must have hit it in my cockpit and lost consciousness. If this happens again, if my memory gets wiped.. if it happens on a long term... I want to know what happened.
I want to know what I have done.
I want to know who I was.
I want to know what made me do it.
That is why I'm writing this diary.
=:=
Today, we met the infamous and dreaded Spirits of the Crow nebula. The blue things that once attempted to bring doom to my Vaterland. Now they were weak. There were only a few of them, supported by a HUGE metal monstrosity.
The spirits have destroyed the Korvette of [color=#FFFF00]Admiral Malte, right in front of my eyes. The metal monster and a rogue Kusarian Gunboat that also attacked us have disappeared, so we had the opportunity to strike back at the nebula spirits.
They took damage, I could hear their sqeeky screams echoing through the nebula. They felt pain, just like we do.
Wonderful, beautiful, magnificent yet... dreadful, frightening things they were.
Another human character I discovered within the nebula's guardians:
They fled.
=:=
I also got to know a rather interesting person, one of the Feldwebels, called Henrik Drum. He didn't behave like most of my NCOs, especially not like most of my Officers do. He had some spirit of difference, rebellion in him. I felt it.
After we cleared the nebula's guardians with Weissman, Henrik and I did a patrol of the nebula, in search of the metal monster that attacked us.
We went rather deep in, way out of the standard patrol routes. I didn't tell anyone that we did...
It was so interesting to go that far out into the nebula. Nothing but the infinite, blue clouds and the wonders it held. The methane pockets, the remnants of long-fought battles, our fallen warriors, the anomalies...
It was a magnificent excursion. He wanted to invite me to a drink afterwards, but I refused.
There was a huge holdup at the Strausberg cafeteria today. I had to wait roughly [size=medium][color=#FF0000]half an hour to get my breakfast!!!
One of the NCOs in front of me said the water dispenser was broken, in the usual hostile, suspicious and chilly manner they use to phrase things. They are worse than the Officers, really. At least those have a reason to behave like they do.
Anyways, the dispenser was repaired by a technician and his droid. I swear I never realised the Rheinwehr employs people as FAT as that tech guy. He almost got stuck into the door as he was leaving the cafeteria. I wish I had a camera with me, I should have made a picture of him messing around with his tools and occasionally bumping into his assistant droid. It was simply a hilarous sight.
I finally got my meal. It consisted of frozen fish, strudels and water. The strudels were to compensate us for all the time we had to spend with waiting. I bet some officers are now missing a key element from their precious meals! I sat down at a table with five Marines already there, ground troops of the Rheinland Military.
One of them, Oberschuetze Kozlovski told me an interesting story about one of the operations they had. A mere month ago, they were loaded with his comrades on the RNC Fenris, one of the three gunboats ordered to capture a Siege cruiser in the Bering system, as its engines were taken offline by a reactor core leak. Its weapon systems were supposed to be offline aswell, but intel was wrong and the assault team ran into a fully-operational cruiser as well as a swarm of fighters.
The Fenris got hit bad, a hull breach sucked Kozlovski's marine squad to space, without their pressure suits on. Miracolously, the gunboat could ram the Siege cruiser and the boarding began, with merely five marines remaining!
Kozlovski told me how he fought through the Libertonian crew members and got to the vessel's bridge. They had a melee with the Libertonian captain, but he got to choke the commander to death. Unfortunately, the ship's self-destruction sequence was activated, and Kozlovski couldn't claim the cruiser for the Vaterland, he had to get to an escape pod and was later picked up by rescue vessel.
Well, the other Marines at the table kept insisting that Kozlovski's story was only a partial truth, but I saw a medal on his chest that indicated otherwise...
It was a huge, green iron cross, with a sword and a marine pulse rifle crossed on it. Behind the weapons, there was a marine helmet, above its visor was an eagle. There was a text on the bottom of the medallion, which said:
[color=#009900]"For the glory of Rheinland"
It was a most charming decoration. I kept staring at it for too long, I think. The marines have obviously noticed me doing so. In my embarrassment, I got up from the table and left.
Such a shame it's a marine decoration. I would willingly take on a cruiser alone to get one aswell.
I met Major Voelkel on the deck of the [color=#FFFF00]Westfalen-I this afternoon. He didn't notice me at first, even though we ran accross in a tight hall. I don't know if it was on purpose, but he was busy with a portable holographic communicator in one of his hands and a bunch of datapads in the other.
As he simply walked past me, I shouted after him. He looked back, only then did he recognise me. He smiled at me, but I somehow doubt he was actually happy to see me. I at first thought he grew tired of having to put up with my annoyance, then I thought he was just busy. Only as he approached me and we both stood under a yellow light did I recognise...
There was blood dripping from his forehead. His face was full of bruises and oil splats.
I was startled. I realised he just came from a battle, and even after such a thing, he dealt with paperwork before actually checking in to the medical quarters.
I asked him if he was alright. He simply replied:
"Ja, there's nothing to worry about."
He didn't even acknowledge my name, as he usually does when starting a conversation. Silence followed. He kept staring down the hall, refusing to look into my eye.
"Listen. I just got a shot at a Libertonian battlegroup, trying to breach our border defences. I need to file some things, then check into medical."
...
"Catch me in the cafeteria, during dinner. I'll fill you in on the situation."
Then he nodded and ran off. I kept staring after him, as he left the hall, almost bumping into a technician who tried using the same door, at the same time.
Alec never kept his promise.
I spent my dinner alone. The cafeteria was almost totally empty, he wasn't the only one who didn't show up for the day's last meal. I was disappointed, even though I knew he was probably doing something for the "greater good."
In my desperation and disappointment, I kept wishing he never got his Major promotion. When he was a Leutnant, he could always find time to chat with me.
I later learned I was a fool to be doing so.
Major Voelkel, as well as several other pilots and officers, fought a Libertonian battlegroup consisting of two Dreadnaughts and two Siege cruisers, with merely a few fighters serving as their protection. It was the hugest Libertonian incursion in two months.
Beating the siege was successful, with the loss of one pilot. Hundreds of Libertonians were killed, on the other hand. During dinner time, Alec and his wingmen were called back to space.
A Liberty Assault Carrier was crippled, boarded and destroyed.
I started reading a book written by one of the sleeper ship passengers. It's rather interesting how he describes the events happening right before the exodus of the Alliance, I never knew that the Coalition went as far as Earth and that most of the Alliance populace were stuffed into these vessels. They had to be HUGE!!!
I only got as far as the first chapter though, as the Strausberg was lit up in a full alert.
=:=
The situation to deal with now, was a full-scale Corsair attack. Their strike force has been noticed only as they left the Ostnebel, and began moving torwards the New Berlin jump gate. The [color=#FFFF00]Karlsruhe deployed two fighter wings, which cut their path near the trade lanes.
The Corsair strike force was for reasons yet unknown crippled, according to the Rheinwehr patrol that first sighted them. Their ships were damaged, pieces of plating were falling off as they moved in cruise. Their shields have long-lost their full charge and efficency. Their woulds however, seemd to be rather fresh, some of the ships were still struggling with oxygen escaping into space, dragging a line of flames behind their ships. It is assumed that they have been damaged by an LWB patrol, on the edge of the Ostnebel.
The Karlsruhe's blockade dealt with most of the approaching vessels, but two bombers managed to slip through. Since command couldn't afford having such vessels roaming freely in Berlin, it was the Strausberg's job to intercept.
=:=
Luck has it, that it was Hauptfeldwebel Weissman that first ran accross the two Corsairs, that slipped through the blockade. They were cornered between the Stuttgart-Strausberg lane, without knowing where to go at all. As Weissman was alone, they thought shooting first would be a good idea.
They were wrong.
It took me rough ten seconds to get to the field of engagement, but one of the bombers was already close to being destroyed. Following Herr Weissman's orders, I too dropped in and we finished both bombers with ridiculous ease.
The situation was handled, but it was not at all the point.
My tractor beam collected Nine pieces of glowing rocks of some sort. Most of them were purple and yellow, but I found a most interesting, red one aswell. Here's a picture I took of it in my barracks quarters:
I didn't tell anyone of what I found, even though I don't know what they are. They don't seem to be simple glowing rocks, they have some kind of... magical charm attached to them.
Tomorrow, I'll try to find out what these stones are meant to represent.
The carvings, the moving lights, the charming glow...
I had to hide it back in my ship. I was afraid of it being noticed by someone from the barracks or an officer on an inspection. So I stashed them under my seat, back in my Schmetterling.
=:=
We had a brawl with some [color=#FF0000]Red Hessians two hours ago.
Me and Hauptfeldwebel Weissman ran into one of their commanders while on a patrol of New Berlin. Whether he was on a transfer or just doing some scouting, is unknown to me.
We made the mistake of attempting to apprehend him alive, his minions soon emerged from a nearby asteroid field. With the arrival of a Marinenachrichtendienst
Agent, a firefight erupted. We were still talking to the Hessian commander when his thugs opened fire.
With the loss of the MND Agent, we drove them to a swift retreat. None but their commander was left, who decided to try his chances with a relatively skilled reserve pilot.
=:=
Hauptfeldwebel Weissman left to repair, but I remained on the spot to supervise the outcome of the fight.
In the meantime, I was approached by a Freelancer, whose name I still don't know, so I'll keep referring to him as KYLE. All I can say is that he was flying a fighter composed of junk. It was just hilarious, but his ship somehow didn't fall apart.
I kept laughing at him for a minute, the he offered his services.
That was even more hilarious. I thought "what could anyone do in that literal pile of scrap?" then I realised, there might actually be a need for him. As I reached into my pocket to look for some chewing gum, I found none!!!
I was terrified, I had to look for a solution, as I didn't have any candy with me either. Then did I realise KYLE could be useful with his flying bunch of rusty iron.
I sent him to fetch me some chewing gum from a New Berlin store, as I couldn't leave with hostiles still being present. He was terrified and surprised at first, but them he realised I had money to offer, so the greedy merc went for the job.
He returned with TEN packs of chewing gum and introduced a bill of FIVE-THOUSANDS CREDITS!!!
I tried masking myself getting a smaller shock, but I think he noticed by the silence that followed. I had no chance, but to pay him. Surprisingly enough, he stayed to chat with me and didn't run off to look for more money.
Despite the first impression I had on him, KYLE turned out to be a rather nice person. I didn't learn any personal details, not even his name though. We had a nice chat about puppies and photon weaponry, then he left off.
=:=
An hour later, I found myself near Stuttgart again. I totally forgot about the reserve pilot dealing with the Hessian commander...
This day was simply terrible! Not only did I find out that I was a complete idiot for keeping those magic stones, but I also messed up in front of the fleet training officer, Major General Rall!!!
I spent my whole afternoon in my barracks quarters, sitting on my bed, drifting in and out of crying, despair and even consciousness. I felt as if the whole world was going to laugh at me for what I have done, then I would die of some terrible radiation-caused disease.
It all happened because of those stones...
=:=
Close to the finish of today's shift, I ran accross [color=#FF6600]KYLE, the unnamed Freelancer in his flying piece of trash again. Hauptfeldwebel Weissman was generous enough to let me talk to him, while he patrolled the last waypoints alone.
=:=
I don't know why I stayed and talked to KYLE. I don't know if it was actually a good or bad thing, but he certainly did save me from a lengthy and painful death.
He somehow spotted the glowing stones in my cargo hold, and voiced his concerns about them. He didn't seem to know what they exactly were, but noted that he had a friend on Baden Baden who works with jewels. I didn't trust him at first. I thought he wanted my jewels, so I would give them to him thinking that he's taking him to his friend, who possibly doesn't even exist and he would run off with them.
I don't know why, but I gave him one of the stones. One of the purple ones. He actually DID take it to Baden Baden and DID have it checked.
The results were rather... shocking.
They were no jewels of any kind, they were in fact, not even Rheinland or Corsair-made. The creators of the artifacts I collected were unknown, possibly possessing some advanced piece of technology. The biggest trouble was that they were actually radioactive. Rather heavily.
I've been keeping RADIOACTIVE things under my pillow, seat and clothes. I was shocked. I couldn't phrase a sane word.
KYLE suggested I destroy the artifacts, so I dumped them and took a shot at them.
While the two of us talked, a Bretonian officer took a comm link with me. He wanted me to catch some kind of renegade, called Goodmen or something like that. I told him I did run accross him, but I had no idea that he was on the run from his commanders. Shamefully, he was long gone.
Major General Rall arrived while both discussions were still in progress, so I couldn't avoid starting a third one. I started filling him in on the situation, just when I ended the conversation with the Bretonian. In my ignorance, I switched off the comm link to Major General Rall and kept the Bretonian on-line!
The Bretonian didn't seem to get my messages, luckily. But I scared Herr Rall by not responding to his calls. By the static my comms produced, he thought I was in some sort of trouble. And he JUST got there when the jewel-thingies were being destroyed.
He thought the Freelancer was a smuggler of some sort. He started going rough on him, ignoring my explenation at first, then as I raised my voice a bit, he realised he was aiding me.
Oh, well.
As KYLE went away, I got the biggest psychoterror from Rall I've ever received during my service as a Gefreiter. He, in his cruel, calm voice described in detail what makes me unfit for Rheinwehr service, even though he never said the point himself.
I'm writing this entry from the Strausberg medical quarters, according to Doctor Mendel, I'll be out by tomorrow evening.
My ship got shot down... it really hurts. I hit my head in the cockpit, broke one of my fingers and have smaller wounds all over myself. Luckily, I've hit the eject before my ship collided with a nuclear mine, head on!
=:=
It all happened so quickly. I was around New Berlin, on a routine patrol. Traffic was unusually high, there were civilians all over the place and comms were filled with random laughter, shouting, insulting and even serious chatter!
The first contact I ran accross was a civilian [color=#FFFF00]Advanced Train, in Berlin orbit. I did a quick scan on it, detecting that it had PEOPLE in its containers! The poor souls were being transported like slaves, of course I had to voice my concerns.
The slaver at first claimed he was shipping refugees for the Sirius Relief Fundation, but it had the word LIE written over it! The SRF would never transport people in mere cargo containers!
When I told him my approach, instead of cooperating, the slaver called me a fool!
He did it again and AGAIN! He kept insulting as if I was some kind of dog, not a Rheinwehr Pilot. The shameless bastard even chose to do so in cover, when I didn't see him...
I'll get him next time...
=:=
Following that encounter, I made so much out from the comms that some circus was performing in Berlin. They said they were at the Stuttgart gate, but they were not.
I've never seen a flying circus before, I was definitely interested in finally meeting one. The clowns did some jokes, quite funny ones, admittedly. They were pretending to be pirates! It was really amusing, but I couldn't find them...
Something also happened about the "Kelt" moving in. Don't ask me what that is. A lot of people started saying "The Kelt is here," "The Kelt is doing this, the Kelt is doing that," but they never actually told me what the "Kelt" was.
=:=
On my way back from the Stuttgart gate, I got a visual on an Outcast vessel, it was designated as "Shilleblargh".
I even have a picture of him!
I see why he's an actual Outcast, noone seems to like him, but I guess I see why. He was as dumb as a brick!
He flew to Bonn, blew up some depots, then randomly attacked a transport. He was talking gibberish while doing so. I gave him several warnings to cut it out, then shot a razor into his rear.
That got his attention. He was really well equipped, his guns were melting my hull like nothing I've seen before.
I delivered some hits with my newly-installed heavy ordnance, but I otherwise didn't manage to kill him.
=:=
Well, here I am. Occupying one of the several beds in the Strausberg medical quarters...
All these shiny, white walls are just plain depressing. I mean, the whole Strausberg is green, but for some reason the medical bay is painted in white. I don't see the logic, maybe it's that they wanted to give the patients a feeling of being treated in an actual hospital.
The most depressing about the whole thing is that I'm still here. [color=#CC33CC]Doctor Mendel had some more serious wounds to deal with, a pair of medical droids kept me in check all day. My wounds are treated, my finger is no longer broken, but I feel damn dizzy because of all the medicine and laser treatment I was given.
Around the evening, Major Voelkel came in to the med bay aswell. I thought it was my imagination, then I thought he was actually coming to visit me.
Neither was the case.
He himself was wounded, still in his flight uniform. Doctor Mendel and two of his android nurses were accompanying him as he went to the neighbouring room. It didn't seem like he was wounded in space, I realised that, he even told me later that day. He noticed me lying in the med bay aswell as he walked in, even though he didn't even take a glimpse in my direction.
It took him two hours to take note of me.
=:=
"What are you reading?"
"A book about the sleeper ships, it was written by a man who was actually one of the passangers."
"Care to show?"
I gave him my PDA. He read into it, then a grin showed up on his face. He still had scars on it. I haven't seen him smiling for a long time by now, but it didn't feel pleasant. It was grotesque, evil and unknown. I don't know what made him do so, but the book obviously didn't contain any humour.
"What happened to your face?"
He lowered his smile, then placed my PDA on the chest of drawers near my bed.
"I had a minor...melee with Feldwebel Drum... although I now have to call him Henrik. A name earned in blood."
He smiled again, and looked at a food dispenser. This one was more honest, more pleasant than the last one. The thought of the melee obviously cheered him up. It was still sad to see that the scent of blood inspired his instincts to reflect joy.
"A melee? In Braunschweig?"
"Nein... we fought in the Strausberg, a few hours ago. In the Marines' training room. He threw me some electric batons, then we beat the scrap out of each other."
I was surprised. I never thought he would go into a physical skirmish with anyone, ever since his basic training was complete. I didn't tell him that, but he could read my expression like... a book.
"Now if you excuse me... I have to go back on patrol."
He got up, smiled at me then left. Most of his wounds were still present, all treatment he got were some mere painkillers, I guess.
=:=
Hopefully, I'll be out of medical by tomorrow, for real. I'm tired of all the whiteness, all the silence, seeing the other wounded soldiers and the clicking of the medical droids. I'm tired of all the waiting while my comrades perish on the frontlines. These two days were like hell for me. I want it to be over.
It's been a while since I made an entry here. Probably because nothing interesting happened me during the past month, running into a Hessian patrol was all I had to deal with. However, this day brought me a definite change.
A Hauptgefreiter walked into my barracks quarters, his name was Leon Fischer. He seemed to have been quite worried, in the usual, stoical manner that is to be found when considering people of his position. I was chosen from all the pilots present to go with him on a search and rescue mission, which later turned out to have been ordered by Admiral Malte herself.
The mission was this:
One of our vessels, piloted by Hauptfeldwebel Drum was lost... again. Two hours ago, he went into Omega-11, hell knows why, but never came back. I have no idea what made him so important that the Schwanstein, the Admiral's cruiser was chosen to spearhead the operation, but me and Hauptgefreiter Fischer went in first.
=:=
Upon our entry to Omega-11, we were subjects to ultimately heavy amounts of radiation. My ship external systems MELTED under my shield. Fortunately, the Daumann-placed nav buoys showed us a path towards Solarius that was relatively low on radiation contamination erupting from the gigantic red sun.
We eventually reached [color=#FFFF00]Solarius station. No sign of Herr Drum, so we kept on, moving inwards to the asteroid field. We came upon three permanent gravitational anomalies, that seemed to be stable enough for the usage of fighter-class vessels.
Admiral Malte gave the orders to check them out. So did we jump.
=:=
Our first and last jump took us to an eerie asteroid field. The scenery of the system reminded me of Dresden at first, but Hauptgefreiter Fischer noted two obvious differences. The first one was that there was a planet in sight, a rough 90 clicks from our position. The second was that space was clearly visible at parts, unlike in Rheinland. We were on the edge of the Walker nebula, probably lightyears away from the closest installation or charted system, for that matter.
The asteroid field and the system in which it was to be found was quiet and undisturbed. It was honestly scary how quiet the whole place was. Not even a message through our radio from the Admiral arrived. We lost connection with the Schwanstein overall, as I came to notice in seconds.
Since our mission was to scout, so we did. The only landmark we could go by was the planet, 90 clicks away. We charged our cruise and went to inspect the stellar body's whereabouts. It was another uncharted, desert world, one of the many to be found in the undiscovered edge worlds.
Undiscovered?
That does not entirely stand. There were two wrecks of fighters actually around the planet, one had a the flag of the Rote Hessen on its side, the other seemed to be simply of a Corsair design. The ships must have been drifting there for years. Any reasoning regarding their presence was not to be found...
We went deeper into the unknown, but the deeper it got, the more scared I was. I felt as if... someone was watching us on our whole journey... as if they knew we were there, but didn't want to come out...
I felt as if we were subjects to some higher power observing our movements...
We eventually made it out without making contact with anything other than asteroids, uncharted planets and wrecks. Sure, it was scary and a break from the boring patrols, but we were not to deal with anything THAT unusual.
Maybe they will name that planet after me!!
As we got out of Omega-11, the Schwanstein greeted us. I was given a free ticket for a Baden Baden anti-rads bath! I will spend my entire day there, enjoying the famous tourist resort. Some free time does not hurt...
It all just happened so quickly... Hauptfeldwebel Henrik Drum's signals again showed up, now a day after we canceled the search and he officially went MIA. Since I was the closest to Omega-11, as I was still in the progress of my decontamination treatment, the Karlsruhe sent me out to investigate and wait for the backup near Solarius.
My new home...
=:=
Before backup arrived however, I noticed [color=#FFCCFF]Herr Drum's vessel, drifting 14 clicks away from Solarius, so I approached his position.
He was very well alive, even busy with some communications. As he saw me however, he told me to back off and run away to a safe location.
Some... unknown energy... drew me closer... was it mere curiosity? I can't tell...
I found Herr Drum alongside an MND Agent, he introduced himself as Hans Eckhard. He was honestly, a rather creepy person, but he had a demanding, superior sort of authority with him.
Herr Drum and Agent Eckhard had a loud argument about a topic regarding an alien entity, the so-called...
"Nomads."
To be precise, both sides presented the other one... to be "infected" by the the aliens! I still have no idea what that means, but as Herr Drum later described, it is actually some sort of process of rendering a human being under the service of the... aliens...
I was eventually involved with the conversation myself. Both parties demanded me to make an arrest of the other one, due to the influence they were subjected to, but I didn't know whose orders to follow, until...
Admiral Malte herself contacted me... somehow.
I mean, I clearly heard her voice... her orders... but she was not... not connected into my comms channel. I don't know how she did that, but I had to obey her orders... her orders telling me to arrest Herr Drum and take her to Planet New Berlin.
I was never before that terrified. I had to follow orders, so I demanded the surrender of the Hauptfeldwebel on the first hand. I had the ever increasing urge to even...
Squeeze the trigger... shoot Herr Drum's vessel out of the sky. I wanted to kill him... to destroy his vessel... to slaughter him and everyone else around me...
It was a wild, terrified instinct of defense. Not even an instinct. I felt as if my brain was being ripped apart by some superior force.
=:=
On the verge of crying maniacally and killing everyone around me...
The feeling suddenly disappeared...
I looked at my sensors. Eckhard was gone.
Herr Drum was outraged. But that was not even remotely the end of it. He took me back to Stuttgart, but he went way off the patrol paths, with me still in formation...
We stopped. He armed his weapons. I felt as if my life was suddenly to end.
However, he didn't shoot at me. He simply told me that either I choose to go with him, or I die.
The things he described were albeit shocking. I still don't exactly understand what he was talking about, it was simply... too much information to process.
He explained me about the Nomads, telling me I even met them before. Which is true, considering they seem to... look like the spirits I met in Sigma-13 on my first patrols. Even further going into the subject, he explained that these entities were aliens, with the capabilities to "possess" individuals of human origin.
I recall reading something about that... something to do with Kanzler Niemann...
He also confessed to be working for an underground crusader group, the Order. I don't know much about them, but they seem to be outlawed by the Kanzleramt.
After telling me all that, he presented the fact that I was not to tell this information to anyone, or I would be shot down. I was about to take my leave, but then he told me I was under no condition to report back to HQ.
He made me follow him back to Omega-11 and help him in his... "mission" which was to kill MND Agent Hans Eckhard.
Either that, or he shoots me for treason. The chance had to be obvious.
At the moment, a few associates of Herr Drum are sheltering me and my vessel on Solarius... none of the Military patrols will ever find us out there, he says...
I'm wondering what will happen now... it's been four hours since I last reported back to the command. I cannot escape, as he placed a tracking device on my arm.