Indeed one of the days that I classify as "I'm lucky to be alive", but all that matters is that we managed to secure the safety of Rheinland and kept civilian casualties at a minimum to nothing.
I was called on duty to respond to some Liberty Revolutionary Front ships showing up in Frankfurt, however as soon as I launched my ship to space, I have been notified of the threat already being neutralised. Since multiple SCRA ships have also been sighted moving around Stuttgart, we were told to investigate and intercept before they got to reinforce their fallen comrades. Fortunately, upon our arrival to Stuttgart we noticed that the Coalition ships were engaged in a firefight by Mandalorian Mercenaries, we didn't succeed in locating them though. A reserve pilot, Etzel Kuhn went a bit too overzealous and risked himself by going into a nebula to track the hostiles down and as soon as I told him it was a risky and unnecessary action to take, the pilot chose to disrespect my orders and start an argument about my situation. He somehow failed to realised that the Military is not existent to kill people, but to protect Rheinland citizens and if necessary do we have to resort to taking arms.
Our argument was quickly dissolved as the Wild Dragons reserve fleet reported multiple unidentified ships, later classified as Phantoms, approaching into the heart of Berlin. Since the reserve division failed to deal with the threat, we were called in to respond, Herr Stein from the Marinenachrichtendienst took charge of the anomalous situation. We eventually confronted the hostiles between the Bonn-Dortmund lane, we both dropped out of the trade lane at the same time. Their ship designations were most odd, the first one to identify was Shillelagh, quickly more of them arrived on spot. Overload, Shock, Mindrender, Ze'ev's Revenge, Rawshank and Valentine were the enemies I listed, standing against me, Feldwebel Kreuzchen, Hauptfeldwebel Weissman, MND Agent Stein, Wild Dragon Dominik Mertins and reserve pilot Etzel Kuhn. Not only did the enemy outman us, but their technological superiority was rather obvious aswell. Their ships were covered in an unusual, black paintjob with a sole insignia serving as their only decoration and strange, purple light was erupting from where their reactor seemed to be located. Their weapons were all producing an energy reading way above the standards, as it was proven later, it was painful to be hit by them. The ships all seemed to be piloted by madmen. Sadists, lunatics and psychopats equipped with superior technology, I admit, even as a Rheinwehr officer, they made me shiver for a moment.
They didn't really ask for an arrest warrant, they straight-out opened fire on our vessels. Our priority target was the Ze'ev's rage, a Farmers Alliance bomber. The vessel's pilot managed to fly his craft remarkably well, even though it was a bomber, it was really hard to hit. The odds were against our favour, the enemy seemed to be capable of good teamwork, while we were shooting at the bomber, they flanked us and got on our tail to cover their ship. Feldwebel Kreuzchen was the first one to go down from our ranks, I'm not aware of the details of his destruction, but I think he was hit by a torpedo. Following the destruction of Dominik Mertins and the realisation that we were most probably doomed, MND Agent Stein ordered a retreat torwards the Strausberg. We did not make it. First they shot down Hauptfeldwebel Weissman, then Agent Stein followed. A Bounty Hunter gunboat, designated as "Judge Jury Executioner" was also dropped out of the lane, but he was shot to pieces under a matter of seconds, he didn't even stand a chance.
Loosing Weissman and Stein made me face serious doubts regarding my survival. The cheeky reserve pilot, Kuhn was still holding the front with me, he even managed to deliver numerous razor shots to the enemy bomber's hull, making him flee the scenario. The enemy forces were so certain of their victory that they resupplied their bomber over and over again, but I think that was the point when the tide turned. After spending about 10 minutes in space against 6 Phantoms against me and Kuhn, backup arrived finally! Reserve pilots Sven Hassel and Fredrich Weiler dropped into the fight, balancing the odds a little. Herr Hassel even managed to blow the Phantom called Valentine up with a marvelous SNAC shot. Unfortunately, Herr Hassel was vulnerable in a bomber, the courageous pilot perished for Rheinland in honor. Targets afterwards switched between Shock, Shillelagh, Rawshank and Overload. The fight that followed was pretty balanced, we managed to get to a point where were weren't outmached anymore. We eventually stopped at targeting Shillelagh, by the time Vizeadmiral Krupinski and Admiral Malte arrived, he was almost destroyed. The Phantoms didn't try their chances with the Admirality's backup, the cowards ran for it.
We were told to pursue the targets, but they were too fast and fled. I returned to Planet New Berlin to inform Admiral Malte of our bitter victory. The fight lasted for about an hour and a quarter, we lost many good men today, but drove the terrorists off. We protected Rheinland and the Rheinlander citizens, if these vile beasts are really as merciless as the rumour has it, the loss of good men saved many more.
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