Lennart Werhausen Personal Logs

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SUBJECT: L. E. Werhausen Personal Log
DATE: 1/7/824

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The LWB regulars here on Darmstadt are congratulating me on my first circulation through Vierlande Prison. First circulation? I don’t know how they can take the idea of being sent there more than once in such stride. The conditions in there were awful, prison commons were full to bursting, with inmates in such close quarters that you just couldn’t avoid breathing on the stranger next to you. Not a nice environment for making friends.

There weren’t many Bundschuh captives there. I saw a scant few of my crewmembers from the Marzforderungen, including my second officer, a few hardcore LWB pilots, but it was mostly Hessians and Unioners, a volatile combination in a space like this. Several fights occurred per hour. Some of the inmates might’ve ended up dead from their injuries. I tried my best not to pay too much attention to it, and for the most part I was left alone to rot for the length of my sentence. A grueling week passed.

Lucky me, one of the Hessians in my block, a cell across from mine, actually tried to talk with me. Color me surprised. He was an alright sort. He used to be a Daumann miner operating out of Munich, but he was planetside on Nuremburg when the crisis hit. They diagnosed him with some pretty nasty cancers, and he got laid off when he started barking a bit too loud at his manager for better workman's comp. He got scooped up by a Hessian cell pretty quickly once he was out. I don't blame them, he's a pretty easy mark. Another Rheinlander used up, dispossessed and looking to even the score.

I told him about how we got caught. Liberty Navy delivering us right into the hands of a waiting polizei, and we didn’t even put up a fight. The pilot even said that Bundschuh-affiliated ships weren’t allowed in Liberty space period, and here I thought the Libs actually supported our cause.

My prison-mate was more disappointed by us going so quietly than he was of my crew profiting off of the nominally Hessian blood diamond trade. “A fully-loaded Uruz and you let a Behemoth and a Liberty fighter boss you around? Are you crazy?” I don’t think he had the wrong idea, either. We could have opened up at any time and probably have smeared the polizei transport in no time flat. I told him that I didn’t want it to come to more Rheinlanders killing Rheinlanders. I was hoping that we could come to an understanding, or that I could talk my way out of it, or that they’d show sympathy. “So you’d rather that your crew suffer, you lose your ship, and be thrown in jail than dare to actually fight an enemy acting contrary to your goals?” he says.

I… didn’t really have an answer to that one. I know that revolutions are dirty work, you have to prioritize practicality over sentiment some days. But, does it really have to come to gunning down perfectly moral men and women, the countrymen I came back to Rheinland to help liberate, just because they stood up on the wrong side of the line? I got a sense that the officer who made the arrest, he was a good man. He might’ve even had sympathy for the Bundschuh cause, if I had him pegged right.

The fact remains that I wagered my crew’s safety on him being willing to let us go, and I lost that wager.

I have to live with condemning my crew to prison without fighting on their behalf.

Some captain, huh? It’s crushing for morale. Mine especially. I can't give up without a fight next time, whatever the odds. Letting other people suffer for my mistakes isn't a track record I'm used to, and it's not one I intend to start up. I need to get past this, prove that I'm better to the men and women I serve with. But... am I?

I guess being one of the few Bundschuh on-board Vierlande at that time had its benefits drawing that Hessian’s attention, because once he was done picking me apart for getting caught, he hinted me in on an escape routine – yes, a routine, repeatedly successful escape attempts made from a deep space super-max prison, I was surprised too – that they use to sneak out their best pilots when they get nabbed from time to time. For their sake, I'll keep the procedure unmentioned in this log, in case some determined, stone-faced MND agent digs this up some day. Better luck next time, eh?

I have to say, I was impressed by the professionalism, and the willingness to let me in on their escape. Compared to the confusing command situation going on with the Bundschuh right now, it’s becoming almost understandable why mother preferred the Hessians if they always run a ship this tight. That doesn’t make her right, though. The Hessians are still pirates and terrorists both, and I can’t put the news reports about the people they've killed out of mind so easily, however willing they are to pitch in for me. Still, I’ve had more than one preconception challenged since I’ve joined the Party... regardless, I had them drop me off on Darmstadt, since I had a fighter in reserve here.

The Marzforderungen is still impounded at Brandenburg, and I’ll have to figure out how to spring it. Upsetting as it is, the crew I lost can be replaced with a few more restless tertiary squadron members, but an Uruz transport is an invaluable asset I don’t want to be responsible for losing. I’ll come up with something to get it back.

I guess I’m already taking the lesson to heart. Practicality over sentiment.

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