Locking the Behemoth into a long cruise around the empty side of Hamburg, Kaspar unclips himself from the co-pilots chair and stands up, stretching. Leaving the pilot in charge he heads off the bridge and down the hall to his cabin.
Grunting at his unmade bed, he flips it up into the wall to make more room. Sitting on the stool at his tiny desk, he logs in to the computer and starts to write a missive:
"Dear Sir or Madam,
It's hard to begin to know where to start with these letters, so I'll get straight to the point: I would like to become a part of the Volksfront.
I suppose I can't go on and send just that. I'll start at the beginning and work up to here. My background is in civil engineering and architecture. I studied architecture at Vaihingen University on planet Stuttgart, of which I am a native. I came from a comfortable, middle class family with no history of farming. They always describe the universities of Rheinland as 'hotbeds of activism,' but I felt it was an exaggeration. Sure we spray-painted the sheaf on to Synth Foods processing plants, became self-proclaimed Bundschuh, and decried Daumann and Republican. But it felt insincere, shallow. I am almost certain none of my friends at university are active in the revolution.
I came close to the same fate myself. After getting my degree, I settled into an easy, profitable career as a civil engineer. But I retained my sympathies to the political activists even when my colleagues decried their former opinions as 'childish phases'. I donated to the 'unofficial' WVS collectors as many did, knowing the money was going straight to the LWB, but I did little else.
But then a childhood friend of mine that I'd almost lost touch with re-entered my life. We grew up in the same city, and after moving to Vaihingen together for a few years, he'd returned home to run his family farm. He came to me after the closure of his farm. He was at a loss. He was normally a very calm and measured person, but now he was furious and alive. And it fanned the dying embers of my own activism back into a roaring fire.
We slowly got ourselves affiliated with the LWB and assisted them for several years. I have no personal connection to the farmers' struggle beyond my existence as a Stuttgarter and Rheinlander, but I was drawn in to the movement for its ideals and actions. I was most at home in our little house, dreaming up plans and a future paradise of Rheinland.
Eventually, we went too far and had to leave Stuttgart altogether. We relocated to Darmstadt, where I have lived ever since. My friend, Helmut, signed up with a militant wing of the LWB, and flew missions out in space. I, however, remained on the station. The farmer's fight was not my fight. I busied myself hacking into the neuralnet from the station and disseminating activist literature across pirated frequencies.
Recently, though, I've been in space myself. At first Helmut needed a copilot for his bomber. He can fly a ship, but he is not at home amongst the technical side of things. I took to this role with enthusiasm. And later, I became a founding member of a grand project hatched between several LWB members - an uncatchable, irrepressible, unstoppable fleet of transport ships that would keep all the Rheinland activisits supplied and unified in the increasingly trying times. We got ourselves a few Behemoths and set out. It has raised our methods and our goals in leaps and bounds, and my brain felt alive again, working out plans, meeting with like-minded individuals, spreading out our ideologies and methods. This is where I am truly at home.
But I have no ship, no role, that is truly my own. When the behemoth is docked, I sit idly in station bars. And I grow restless. Although the LWB will always have a place in my heart, my history and my life, I think I would be most at home amongst the Volksfront. It is where my skills would be most efficiently put to use, and the perfect vehicle for my grand dreams. The Volksfront is the brain, the head, of the giant unstoppable beast of the Rheinland revolution. It drives it forward and keeps it together.
So, that's why the Volksfront would be good for me.
As for why I might be able to make myself useful for the Volksfront:
I am an educated, politically knowledgeable and active Rheinlander.
History of political and revolutionary activity.
Skilled with technology, equipment and repairs.
Knowledge of outlawed elements, peoples and bases from Sigma-13 down to Omega-47.
Competent co-pilot and gunner, willing to learn how to become a 'fighter jock' on my own.
I have proven my loyalty to the cause across several years, and have picked up valuable experience along the way.
I hope when you read this message, that it is a pleasant surprise.
Kaspar Keitel"
Feeling he should add more to the message, but finding himself unable to elocute his emotions, he relents. Hoping his message didn't sell himself short, but was honest too, he uploads it to the network and transmits it directly to Bruchsal Base. Picking a crumpled packet from his breast pocket, he retrieves a cigarette, and places it between his lips as he wanders back to the bridge of the Schoenen Hafer.
