((OOC Note: This story is about how Xing joined up the SCRA with a Rheinland crew of ship engineers. The main party concerned would be the Coalition, the RM, and maybe Corsair and Red Hessian. This story is taking up places about a month ago from the actual FL timeline - before the tension hapening within cosair-scra. Therefore, members of these party can participate in this little RP of mine if you wish, and maybe others if you feel you can do something interesting (but please, nothing stupid like a liberty police battleship hapening out of nowhere huh?)
BLUE DEVIL
Somewhere near Stuttgart Border
ITV. Red Dawn
Class: Rheinland Custom Stellar Train
Owned by: Xing KeSi
Captain: Lieutenant Axel Baier
Total Crew: 43
Xing was thrown over the hull plating as the Red Dawn shook violently under the heavy laser fire. A hand came down to help him stand.
What the hell is going on? he yelled as he recognised his helper being Axel, already back trying to drive the train out of trouble.
Sounds like lady Asrial found us with her cruiser and escort for that matter he interrupted suddenly as another explosion shook the vessel, hm hull breach in level 6 I think.
Xing looked over one of the external cam of the ship the one at the back and felt a sudden cold fear within him
RNC. Gepanzerten Drachen
Class: Rheinland Military Border Cruiser
Owned by: Rheinland Militar
Captain: Kapitan Asrial Gaertner
Total Crew: 540
God, how did she found us? I thought or hyperspace jump was random programmed? he yelled at Axel, over the lasers hiss and missile explosions.
How the hell should I know?! Its a border control cruiser, guess its there to catch pirates though, Im sure shes very happy to have such a large catch today!
Xing held over the metal hulling as the Red Dawn was once again shaken by the fire. He looked over one of the screen on the control board and noticed the cruiser was coming nearer and nearer
Why the hell are we slowing down?!
Axel frantically punched buttons over his control board and a holoprojection of the Red Dawn appeared, and they saw immediately what was wrong one of the engine has been completely destroyed.
Oh god Axel whispered, but he couldnt finished as Xing was already running back toward the cargo section
What are you doing?!
Xing didnt answered and continued his erratic course in the Red Dawn, bumped from one side of the wall to another as the ship continued to sustain damage.
Xing hastily pushed the command to open the hangars door but saw that it was quite useless a second later as a green laser shot from the cruiser tore the door completely apart.
Ah well damned.
He kicked the thrusters pedal, propelling his small fighter into space with ease through the destroyed gate. A red light came to life as Axel tried to reach him through a channel; the transmission was bad,
Ar you king CRAZY?! Y goin alone agst a Rhein CRUISER OUT THERE!! G.. back now!!!
Xing managed to crack a weak smile before responding and ducked quickly shots fired from the Drachens escort fighters,
Sorry Axel, I might sound very selfish there but I prefer to die in combat rather than in a tin can!
With that, he turned his fighter toward one of the escort fighter and opened fire.
--
Asrial looked over from the view port of his ship to see a small fighter coming out of the damaged train.
hm sounds like its the mysterious fighter again She turned toward one of her officer, lieutenant, magnify 10X on that fighter. Gun, I want your men to disable, but do not destroy this fighter.
The main screen zoomed over the lone star ship, a blue-painted fighter which was deploying its long vertical wing and already firing crimson bolts at her escort fighters
A man came running at her, panting, captain, fighters are having trouble getting a lock on that ship, they say its incredibly too fast!
And as he finished his phrase, one of the escorts was indeed catching fire on one wing, commencing a deadly plunge toward the cruiser
--
Axel looked in astonishment as one of the Valkyrie fighter literally crashed on the cruiser, causing the shield to fail a few seconds.
Xing, what the hell have you put on that prototype? he wondered silently as he continued to do evading manoeuvres on one engine only. The ship was now a real mess smokes was erupting from everywhere inside as well as outside, and the crew was desperately trying to extinguish the fires. Axel turned his head slightly as he watched one of his men being bounced off by a particularly strong internal explosion probably another battery unit that burned out
Hey wait a minute. Battery
He opened a channel toward Xings fighter and sighed in relief as he noticed the man was still alive; Hey madman, how many nanobots we have in the storage unit already?
The answer came back after a few seconds of hesitation, followed by laser fires and explosions; som ing like 200? B they cant be used th blown the connection tube remote control, destroyed... wh d you want to know that?
Axel made a grin that Xing couldnt see the holoprojectors on the prototype wasnt yet installed. Think your team of engineers can turn these nanobots into war machines?
The answer came with a long moment of hesitation, Axel, thi is the mst crazy idea Ive hrd in a while. Youve got green fire f this. Tell Philip t get the nanobots pr..gramation changed to destructive mode well see if it works
--
Xing was amazed that he managed to actually down one of the Valkyrie, but he guessed it was mainly due to the surprise effect Trains werent supposed to have hangars after all. But now the second escort was aware of what was going on and was much more careful, trying to engage him into a front fight something a light fighter couldnt possibly survive
He nearly had a heart attack as he saw a large projectile fly by closely to his cockpit a flak from the cruiser.
one down, one to go, plus that cruiser what the hell.
--
Asrial looked up from the back of her chair, and saw her command center, or rather what was left of it, completely in ruin. The downed Valkyrie crashed on this section of the cruiser, pierced the shield and severely damaged the whole deck but by whatever miracle, she survived with some of her crew to the violent blast. She held carefully to her chair and looked around, stunned at the devastation. well Im still alive
She frowned, and looked at one of the view port to see her remaining Valkyrie in a fight against the unknown fighter. Punching a few buttons furiously on her command chair, she opened a channel to the fighter,
Captain Gaertner here. Change of plan. Blow this thing into oblivion. I want nothing left from this bastard.
--
Axel looked over impatiently at the balding man standing next to him.
Finished yet?
No! the man yelled over the blaring alarm sirens. The destroyed engine was now emitting heavy radiation but hopefully Axel managed to seal the area quickly. Look, just let me finish this alone, or well just all die! he continued.
Axel continued to fight his way, but noticed some of the cruisers gun were now releasing attention from him to his friends fighter which was a good thing for the Red Dawn, but not so much for Xings life
If only these nanobots were ready now
The man finally threw his arm in the air, looking as if he just won a billion credits: I got it! I got it! Quick, throw these nanobots out of here, they are engaged into destruction mode!
Axel didnt waste time and immediately opened the cargo hold containing the little machines, letting them do their destructive job.
Well I do hope you did your job well Philip or we probably all gonna die.
With their new programmation, the nanobots began seeking what was producing the greatest amount of heat in the area. The collective AI system detected 4 of them; two from relatively small fighters engaged in combat, another from what seemed to be a heavily damaged train and another huge source of energy coming from the engine of a cruiser. Using their integrated micro-propellers, they moved in swarm toward the Drachens engine, landing on it and began piercing it with their miniature tools, piercing small holes in the hull to enter within the ships.
Thirty minutes later, the chief engineer of the Drachen screams in horror as he notice the cruisers engine overheating, being flooded by some unknown substance apparently, particle of titanium metals. He ran a quick diagnostic of the situation by his computer, and couldnt believe his ears: what seemed to be nanobots were destroying the engines sensitive parts from within or blocking exhaust tubes by melting themselves over the surface.
What the hell is going on?! he screamed before the engine entered critical level and imploded, killing all power aboard except to life support.
--
Xing pretty much crash-landed over the Red Dawn, the repulsor lift having been completely shot by the Valkyrie. The Red Dawn itself wasnt in much better condition, one engine completely destroyed, the other one leaking, half the cargo areas, destroyed, the hangar itself was a complete mess it would take weeks before this ship became operational again that is, if they could find any place to stop at all
Hopefully the remaining Valkyrie wasnt foolish enough to follow him, it instead stayed behind near the dead cruiser, waiting for a rescue team probably.
For the crew of the Red Dawn, they were now in a difficult situation, being hunted by the Rheinland Military, the most powerful naval organisation in Sirius probably
Axel and Xing were looking over a holographic map of Sirius, the crew of the Red Dawn standing behind. The blue icon of their ship was placed at the moment over Omega-7. They had the choice to go back in Stuttgart that was out of question, continuing into Bretonian space that, was a bad idea considering their ship was probably now tagged as criminal everywhere, or finally
heading into the middle of a Corsair and Red Hessian playground.
Id hate to do that. Axel mumbled, looking sinister.
Hmhm. But for the moment, we really are no better than pirates. And we need materials to repair that ship. We cant stay here, too close to Rheinland border.
So you want us to go criminal? You sure the crew want that?
Are you with me on this one?
Axel crossed his arms over his chest considering the question, then;
I am. Rheinland is a worthless place now. So is the rest of Sirius. There is no place Ill call home in this kind of world where corruption is behind every men.
The other crewmen crowded behind Xing and Axel nodded in unison, agreeing silently.
Xing rose from the map slowly, and with commanding tone;
Lieutnant Axel Baier.
Sir.
Set course to Omega 5. Then he turned toward the rest of the crew,
From now on, we are outlaws, and are in harms way. We will never see home again never. All of you, at the beginning of this journey knew the risk we would take by our actions, and you decided to stay on this boat despite the danger for this, I am grateful of your loyalty to me, my friends. But do remember: it is highly possible some of us from now on will die. I know you werent all soldiers. Nonetheless, harden yourself for what will be coming. The ride wont be fun for a little while I can bet on this.
The Red Dawn slowly began its route toward Omega-5, working on one hastily repaired engine
So. What the hell we do now, Xing?
Xing looked over the squared face Red Hessian pilot with annoyance, ignoring Axels whispered question.
Now, pilot, this is my ship, and Im not going to hand it over to you for the good reason that Im neither a damned capitalist Rheinlander, nor a Corsair we have no reason to be hostile there, and anyway my ship hauls nothing, youve already scanned it.
The baritone voiced pilot sounded quite amused;
I dont really care, Xing we did met before, and your ship was registered as an independent Rheinland commercial ship. Maybe you just changed your ID Codes to pass unseen around, but it wont fool ME and my hunting boys.
His chatter was followed by multiple laughters from the other 5 Red Hessian pilots. Xing saw from the corner of his eye one of the engineer aboard, Philip, shiver in fear. His crew werent all soldiers He couldnt ask them to die for his actions
What do you want with this wreckage anyway?
Why, I could tell you the beautiful, standard pirate version, say we will sell whatever scrap of your ship that will be left, or I can say the truth; that is, for fun.
Hm. Was the only answer Xing deigned to answer. Instead he turned around and nodded to Axel.
Axel was reluctant, but had not much of an option there; he had no better idea really He powered the engine at critical level and charged toward the Hessians ships
What foolishness is this! The Red Hessian yelled, but his voice was cut off immediately by a loud noise. On the holoprojector, Xing saw with satisfaction the mans helmed head bump on its own ship hull.
Good luck Axel. He turned toward his crew, Men at battlestations! Bring down these fighters!, then he ran toward his prototype, once again to fight the enemy
Though this time, he wasnt sure they were going to be as lucky
--
The 6 Red Hessian Sabres were soon swarming like angry bees around the Red Dawn, ripping off even more hull plating over the already heavily damaged Train. Xingd own fighter was still holding, but was heavily damaged as well
Well, at least we wouldnt give the Rheinlanders the pleasure of killing us Xing thought in a dark mood
And then his sensor picked up contacts from the other side of the asteroid field, ID signals he didn't even knew existed...
Eugen screamed his excitement over open comms as the Coalition fighters sprinted towards the fray. Keying his commo array, he sent a tightbeam transmission to the battered freighter, and that oddly shaped fighter.
"Comrades, this is Lieutenant Commander Eugen Weise, of the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army. I believe this might be your lucky day..."
As two Hessian ships exploded in their midst, the remaining pirates swung around to face this new threat. Eugen and his wingman danced and spun, weapons hammering into shields and ships. The Hessian leader, now sporting a bloody nose, snarled a final curse before a firestalker punched though his cockpit, venting his shredded corpse to space. Another turned to flee, only to find Xing's ship on his tail. Try as he might, the mysterious prototype was unshakeable, and without a sound he vanished into the abyss.
Lieutenant Dan Warshovski, Eugen's wingman, laughed like a maniac as the reaming two hessians spun and slammed into each other. The long nose sections of the border worlds vessels jammed into each other, and the pilots yelling frantically over their comms, the pair slid into an asteroid, and muchroomed into a fiery cloud.
"I say, Danny boy, does that count as your kill or mine? I'd say mine, just because my disgusting good looks probably distracted them."
"What? You mean they saw you and decided death was actually the better way to go? I think they're mine, as I was chasing the first one before him and his friend decided to play pole-tag."
"Pole-tag? I'd always wondered what those pointy bits on the end of the fighters are for..."
Xing listened in amazement as the SCRA pilots continued their friendly banter over open comms. As he guided his ship towards them, he thought to himself,
"The Coalition? That's what their transponders say, and that's what this... Weise character said, but they sound more like cowboys than anything I would call revolutionary... On the other hand, they did save our asses. Might as well talk to them, anyways."
As Xing opened comms, the banter ceased, and Eugen and Dan leaned forward in the cockpits of their fighters.
"Well ah, Mr. Weise, I believe we owe you our lives, is there anything me or my crew can do to repay you?"
"Well, you could start with telling me about that ship. It looks... odd. It wouldn't have any alien tech in it, mayhaps?"
At the words 'alien tech', Dan powered his cannons, and swung around in a flanking position, giving them both a clear field of fire and a 66% encirclement of Xing's vessel.
"Uuuh, no, no, nothing of the kind! I designed it, I'm a ship designer, nothing alien about it."
"Aaaalrighty then! You appear to be in a bit of a lynch Comrade, feel like taking a little tour? We were just headed back to base when we saw the party starting."
Xing's options were clearly limited, and although this Weise character was almost certainly insane, he seemed competent enough, and they certainly owed them.
"Certainly, although I think the Red Dawn is going to need a tow. It's other engine is blown, and the one that's left is-"
The second engine gave a mournfull groan and sprayed itself over the side of the ship in a wash of yellow fire. Axel's face could be seen in the cockpit, gesturing wildly and pointing at his headset with a mournfull air. Dan's voice stuttered from the commo panel, it's mournfull air sharpening the rapidly-developing unreality of the situation.
"Oh, sure, it's Lieutenant Dan to the rescue again. Next it'll be 'Lieutenant Dan, these shrimp are really good. Lieutenant Dan, where are your legs? Lieutenant Dan, why are only a Lieutenant, whereas that Weise guy is two and a bit?' I'm tired of it, next time, your ship gets a tow cable installed!"
"Uh Huh. May I remind you of my stunning good looks? How else do you think one gets promoted? Get a better uniform, a shave, and some legs, and you too can have my job!"
"Hah Hah Hah, always with the legs. The prostetics worked so well, you didn't even know they weren't real until I told you, and that was after we had our pants off!"
"I was hammered, you coulda been the Commodore and I wouldn't have noticed."
"I think you would have..."
"Yea, me too, come to think of it, I hope he hasn't been recording my comms again."
"That would just plain old suck, and not in an even mildly erotic way."
"Ayuh-huh."
As they hooked up the tow cable and prepared to move out, Xing noticed their ships seemed old, beaten, and badly in need of a general tune-up. Eugen was flying a Viper Mk. I, rather out-of-date, whose hull was covered in weapons scarring, old patches, and asteroid indents. The single clan patch bore a red star, bright against the squalor. Dan's ship, although an Eagle, was in a similar state of disrepair, with only a bright red star to distinguish it from the thousands of others floating through the sector. Xing reflected that if anyone could use new ships, these men could. Eugen's voice brought him out of his reverie.
"Alright Comrade, we're ready to roll, Lieutenant Dan will tow your transport, and you can fly along. We'll take it slow, don't want anything else to fall off."
The strange procession made its way south, down into Omega 5. There were no jumpholes charted here, but Eugen progressed unnerringly to a single location, and finally, at seven kilometeres, Xing spotted it.
"Omega 52? What's in there?"
"Haha! You'll see sonny, you'll see. This is the base of the best thing that ever came to this sorry sector."
As they reached the Jumphole, Eugen stopped, and launched a missle through. After a three-second pause, he launched another, then gunned his engines, and moved through himself, sending a brief comm back to the others.
"Follow, and stick close."
With those cryptic words, Xing's ship threw itself into the vortex.
Jack Handey Wrote:I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.
Xing, with all his time serving in the Rheinland land army, has never been to the omega systems his operations mainly happened over habitable planets and the occasional stations being threatened by terrorists.
As the bluish vortex came to an end, he saw two planets all seemingly inhabitable. Around the larger one was orbiting a station hes seen often
A Zoner station? he wondered
Eugene replied with amusement,
More like, we killed the Zoners and now its ours. He answered after a small mad laugh.
Xing was actually getting used to the attitude of the coalition pilots why, despite all the discipline in the Rheinland Army, soldiers needed to take out some stress by whatever mean they could acting like cow boy being part of it.
He wondered for a second as he set course toward the station which his sensors determined as the Cap Verde station, and opened a private channel to Axel.
What you think of these guys?
Instead, it was Philip who answered, his voice showing panic,
Xing, these are madmen youll get us slau-
Get out of here Phil Xings talking to me a few seconds later, Axel was alone on the conversation.
I think they are crazy.
Xing produced a chuckle, explain yourself?
Xing, youve heard them. No armed force people would talk like that. They treat killing as a sport they are no better than some pirates around.
The Chinese pilot produced a sigh and considered a while before answering, looking far away.
Maybe. But these guys my people were once part of this Coalition
Axel remained silent, so he continued on,
Look, they saved our life. Crazy or not, these guys were competent soldiers who know how to work in team: what are their stupid comments compared to their skill? If they were really crazy theyd have blown us into dust for fun just like that Red Hessian idiot was about to do.
Axels voice came back, slightly provoked,
So you want us to stay with these men. Wed stand no better chance of survival if thats their only station, and frankly I believe this is, these coalition boy, despite how good pilots they might be are what, 7 thousands max?
Xing shook his head.
It doesnt matter. I remember when I first entered the rheinland army, the coalition was already active. If they were as weak as you pretend, theyd have been wiped away by the Rheinlanders since a while.
You forget rheinlanders usually dont get in omega 5 either
Well thats even better.
You know we are now hated by the authorities, the pirates as well and now our only allies are a bunch of revolutionaries Axel made a small laugh, At that rate I think we are as mad as they are.
Xing produced a smile, though Axel couldnt see, he knew he could feel it. They had been comrades at arm before. They understood each other better than anyone else.
What does the men think?
Well. Pretty much same opinion. But they dont want to work neither for authorities, nor for pirates. A bit reluctant, but they say its the best deal up to now.
So, we stay with them?
We stay with these guys. And damned, I think they need some updates on their ship its a miracle they even deign to fly these old warbirds
Xing produced a chuckle and cut down the communication. Yes indeed these coalition people could use their help.
He smirked as he thought of the bright red star, accompanied by Chinese markings over his own fighter. Maybe it was his destiny to meet the remnants of his people after all...
They could use this fighter as well. he thought as he followed their coalition saviours, and docked on the station.
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