It had always been a boring system. Always will be. The asteroids were mined out, the surrounding nebula was hideous, and the planets were cold as hell. What else could one expect from a machine of fascism, oppression, and militarism such as Rheinland? The only comfort of the entire nation was hunting the various groups who whined about human rights. That brought a smile to his lips. It always did. Ignorant little children who could live in splendor if they just ducked their heads down and fell in line like any normal person would.
But alas, the year was 801 A.S. and Rheinland was at the tip of the powerful iceberg it had carved with the sweat and blood of the masses. The majority of Sirius sat below it. Where they should be and will remain. The latest batch of battleships mass-produced from Oder and The Ring were moving into position at the Sigmas. Kusari was on the urge of attacking, and the Gott-Kanzler was not going to allow that to happen, bless his soul.
The peace talks with Bretonia, Liberty, and Kusari had failed; just as he said they would. The Ministry of Truth assured the populace that his words fell upon the ears of the people. Outrage, panic, and fanaticism sprung from them like weeds that had been addicted to speed. It was beautiful to be a part of this fine revolution.
Sadly, he sat here in New Berlin, making sure that the Hessians, Bundschuh, LWB, and Unioners didn't take advantage of this. Rheinland made a ballsy move by force-feeding the economy, military, agriculture, and doing away with the bureaucracy. They pissed off all of these poor bastards big time. As they came out of hiding to make 'precise strikes' at the heart of Rheinland, they were met with the prepared forces of the Military. A thing of beauty.
They fell right into the waiting arms of the Slendermen, never to be seen again by their loved ones.
The convoy had been filled with the cargo on purpose. There was no real need for mass trade at this time, it was all for military purpose. The Heron was evenly loaded with synthetic foods, mining machinery, government documents, and ship components. Any idiot would have realized this was a trap, but these idiots were desperate.
Five Valkyries, the pinnacle of Rheinland engineering, sat with it as it sat in orbit of New Berlin. It was being broadcast over the Neural Net that this vessel was moving to Bonn, but that no escorts could be spared due to the new military build-up in Hamburg. It would work. Any who would detest would go missing a few hours later.
The vessel moved towards the trade-lane ring, the brilliant white halo now blazing within the stasis nodes. In a flash, the meek Train was injected into the 'freeway' of accelerated light and energy. A few seconds passed. Then a minute. Then there was a cry for help.
As one, all five of the Valkyries slithered into the lane, projected forward in their secure bubble that protected them from acceleration. As one, yet again, they broke free from the lane where the Train had been so crudely broken free.
"All weapons free, take no prisoners. Leave no survivors." The order was clear. There were lives to take.
The first to fall was a Stiletto. Well, it didn't fall. It blew up. The resulting fireball was orange with blue tongues licking out towards the dark of space. It was rather backwards, getting hotter as it expanded before it died altogether. Stupid physics, or chemistry, or whatever! It blew up! That was it! He was getting distracted!
A Hawk exploded the next; the civilian fighter turned to confetti and showered the surrounding space with its guts. This one didn't explode, though. It just shattered. Distractions. Yet again with distractions. The space before his Valkyrie shimmered brightly as the green blots from the Hornvipers lanced into the hull of a Sabre. The enemy craft was bigger, more armored, but it was slower. What used to be armor was now a series of orange gobs of molten steel trailing from the hull of the ship.
A few of the bolts managed to puncture the soft heart of the superior-craft, turning it into a space-borne bomb. The components scattered from the resulting explosion, tumbling into the cold embrace of space. Not a single member of the Military had died. One had been forced out of the battle due to the loss of its power conductors to the weapons. But the man was alive, nonetheless. This was a major victory for Rheinland. No one outside of the nation would know of this triumph, but it would be a triumph for the people itself.
All enemy combatants had died. The transport did as well, but that was not the point. Nor a victory for them. Twelve fighters were obliterated to ruin one Heron. His Valkyrie had suffered minimal damage. A few dents and burns, one weapon melted down, and the reactor was running a little too hot. The usual.
The squadron proudly flew home. Their current home was the battleship Faust sitting in orbit of New Berlin. It had been stationed there to assure the populace that Rheinland was stable able to defend its people from the enemy within. It also regulated traffic past the capital.
"They die too easily," A squadron-member, Karl, spoke up.
"Always do," That was Anya.
"Are you complaining?" That was his own voice.
"Well...no..."
"Then don't complain."
"Otto, why are you always such a downer? We won. Let's gloat!"
Otto frowned wryly. Gloating showed you held no respect for the enemy. He hated that. "Angry little children; let the real men fly," He said with fake amusement. His smile was just as fake.
"Cut the chatter! News from the front," This was Hanz, their flight leader. "The fleet just broke through to Honshu. The Kusaran dogs have been crushed in the Sigmas. Planet Honshu and the main Kusari fleet is in sight." The pride in his voice was audible, but there was something else. He held a monotone, one that only broke when he had heard of the Rheinland victories. Or when they shot down an enemy squadron.
"Hell yeah!" Anya smiled at them from her video feed, her face mask now removed.
"It appears that we have our victory," Otto piped in. But for how long? He was not much of a cynic, but at times he doubted this nation. Waging war with that many nations at the same time was ludicrous. But the victory with Kusari was a stepping-stone. If their navy was crushed in the first wave, they wouldn't need to use their entire might. Things were beginning to brighten up.
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