The Journal of Admiral Malexa Malte

[Malexa]

[color=#00FF00]Journal

A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.
[color=#00FF00]~German Proverb~

[color=#00FF00]PREAMBLE:

To keep the etiqutte, I want to introduce myself at first.
My name is Malexa Malte and I am a Rheinwehr soldier and pilot.
An Admiral in position of supreme command of the Rheinland forces, to be more precise.
I am writing this Journal for the posterity and in the feeling every soldier obtaining such a responsible rank,
needs to write down his decisions and thoughts.

Whoever finds this journal in my dead hands, be it in battle or in my advanced years,
I hope you and especialy Rheinland can understand the cause of my act.

[color=#00FF00]07-06-817-Hamburg System.
A neat bread shop on Planet Hamburg.

"My hands don't shake before going to battle my dear. The only fear I ever have, is surviving a whole war. That would give me time to overthink my decisions I made.
Giving me time to think of the souls I sent to death. You will know what I mean Malexa, soon enough."
[color=#00FF00]-Admiral Hans Krieger

[font=Century Gothic]My old mentor was right. Today it should get understandable for me. Not against Libertonians, but Rheinlandsers. What an irony.

I was on my way to inspect my forces at the trade blockade in the Hamburg system.
Three of my pilots were enforcing the embargo at the Libertonian borders.
Major Austing Engels, Gefreiter Jonas Alsburg and Hauptgefreiter August von Speer were currently on duty.
The Battleship NW-Niedersachsen, a pride of her class, was also stationed in the orbit.
Another Military unit was running patrols near the lanes during this time of day.
The dull daily grind. But I was happy. As long as I could escape my office desk. A fatal error to believe this inspection would be better than that.

Strange signals came in over the Radio. Encrypted communications. A bad sign. And I was right. I hate myself for beeing right. Especialy today.
Altona Station went on red alert and the RW-Niedersachsen followed shortly.
A high scale Red Hessian attackforce was suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The perfect time to strike.
A Rheinland Battleship, a Rheinland Admiral and Altona Station, what a bunch of perfect targets. Oh dear, what a self-aggrandisement.

The Niedersachsen scanned the incoming Hessian forces and reported that they consist of multiple bomber wings and two cruiser class vessels.
What a mess. Bloody cruisers. A whole fleet. I was nearly not having enough time to scramble the present forces.
Different present units, make it difficult to form a well flown defensive line.
I had to learn it again. The hard way.

The first Hessian shells made their impact on the Niedersachsen and the Bombersquads followed soon. Their first dive.
It was a giant firework. A strange feeling came up. A well known one.
Beeing amazed by the beauty of this scene mixed with fear was indeed strange. The whole plan looked like a suicide mission, but I had to give the order.

I told my boys to clip on the Bombers tails to avoid a good shooting condition for the Hessian pilots.
The Niedersachsen got the order to shield Altona Station from the Cruiser shells and that the Starboardguns should focus their fire on one of the Hessian Cruisers.
The huge ship slowly moved into place and answered properly.
Every smaller vessel, which would get caught between the Battleship and the two Cruisers, would get vaporized in seconds.
Not a good place to be.
There was no place in this battle where anyone would like to be either. Baden Baden is good at this time of year, at least Hans Krieger told me so by sending a postcard. That was what I thought when giving the orders.

My pilots managed to down two Hessian Bombers when suddenly the first Cruiser lit up in a huge fireball, leaving a large debris field behind.
That must have been a direct hit into the ammunitions chamber.

Statusreports of the Niedersachsen reported several fires on the lower decks and massive damage to the Hangar section.
The Commander of the Battleship asked for permission to retreat, but I had to be tough.
Ordering to take down the second Cruiser was right, or Altona Station would be unshielded against its fire. This decision was at high human costs. My poor brave soldiers.

The Hessian Ace Bomber Pilots managed to be cool as usual during their attacks, even when loosing two of their wingmen. That is routine.
They continued their attack on the Niedersachsen when suddenly the last Hessian Cruiser ceased fire.

A shell was piercing the hull and must have hit the reactor itself. Massive blackouts on the ship. It was only a matter of minutes until the MOX showed its destructive potential. Another hundreds of Rheinlanders dead.
Traitors, but Rheinlanders. It is always hard to pull the trigger,
even for an Admiral. Now I understand what Hans Krieger told me that day.

The Hessians were not the only ones suffering heavy losses.
Battleship Niedersachsen was burning like a torch, dead bodies were floating around the ship. The ugliness of war.

I gave her the command to fall back. Their only chance to keep the ship together and the rest of the men alive.

Beeing heavily outnumbered at first, our forces managed to turn the tide. Pilots were already cheering over the comms when suddenly another Hessian squad arrived.
The bomber hunt turned into a close quarters battle.
Fighter against Fighter. Not beeing sure who is the prey now.
All the excitement of war, the different facets in one Battle.
If you can call war an excitement.

We suffered great fighter losses during this second stage of battle and only managed to take down two of their fighter class ships.

Fighting against the Hessians is like fighting against the own war machinery.
You dont want to be on the recieving end of Rheinland guns, especialy when Rheinland soldiers man them.
The Hessians are Rheinlanders and most of them former soldiers in the Rheinwehr. My Rheinwehr. A thought I cant stand.
Beeing familiar with the tactics, the weapons and the creed, makes them the most fearsome enemy in Sirius.

We succeeded in defending Altona Station, Battleship Niedersachsen and destroying the Hessian Cruiser fleet.
People tend to see the good side of a Battle only.

Tides can turn, even twice in a row.

Thousands dead. A black day for Rheinland and one more in our history.
When will we learn from history?

......

Good lord, this pretzel is wonderfull. I will have to visit this place more often.
It is contributing solace.

[color=#00FF00]End of Journal entry

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