The Cloaked Union

[reversegrip]

Log 1: Evader: Remembrance and Escape
I slid behind the crate. There was the Arrow, an experimental Wraith with special cooling system and a special powerplant. Outfitted with Hornvipers, Mini Razor, and Nuclear Mines, it was as deadly as a piranha. The repair crew left for a break. I ran into the cockpit which barely let my six-foot frame fit. I activated the engines. They purred into life for the first time. I prepped the planetary atmosphere departing software. Then I saw repair crew running toward me with a tripod mounted Javelin missile launcher. I laughed. I whispered, Weapons Prep. A green light indicating that I could fire at any time came on. Thumbing the safety off, I pressed the trigger. Six tachyon shots raced toward the crew setting up the Javelin. I then fired the Mini Razor, blowing the complex to the hell fanatics deserve. I then activated the planetary atmosphere departing software, after thumbing the safety on. I took off from New Berlin. I quickly took the tradelane to Dortmund Station. I arrived at Dortmund and took the tradelane toward the Hamburg Jump Gate. I caught a comm transmission, Admiral, Four wings have been dispatched from the Battleship Moselle; we are jumping to New Berlin. A reply shot back, Get on it! I want him dead, immediately, but make sure to record the scanning of the Arrow before you destroy it! I dont want our hard work to be destroyed! Got it, soldier?!! The reply was crisp, We have never failed you, sir. All wings move into Claw Format. Record the scan, and destroy. Radio silence from here on out. I immediately broke out of the tradelane and said, Position Report, as I turned ninety degrees, heading toward the Hamburg Jump Hole. Top right corner of Sector 3D, came the computers reply. Perfect, I was headed to the Hamburg Jump Hole. I thumbed the cruise engines activation button. I gave a command, Direct All Systems to Cruise Engines. This forced the powerplant and cooling system to ignore everything except Cruise Engines and minimal Life Support. The speed increased 700. The Jump Hole quickly came in sight. I killed the engines. I was drifting at 700. I gave another command, Prepare to Jump. I hit the Jump Hole and entered the odd second dimension in which I travelled to Hamburg in seconds. I reappeared in space. I thumbed the Cruise Engines on. I raced toward Alster Shipyard. Dump Power to Cruise Engines. The speed jumped to 700. Remove Safeguards. The speed jumped to 1400. I caught another comm transmission, Curse that experimental Wraith!!! A rebuke came, Did I not say radio silence, soldier?!!! A new voice came on, Leave the Arrow to me. Admirals orders, officer. The officer replied, Fine, but dont expect me to take responsibility. The reply was crisp, You wont be held to the success of this mission by the honor of the oath you took or the honor of your rank. I activated my long range callsign sensor. A ping came on. I took a look at the callsign. Sword was its callsign. So you sent my brother to kill me, Dad. How foolish of you, you always knew I could kill him in a dogfight. The Sword was another experimental Wraith. However its design was most effective in pack hunting. Mine on the other hand was most effective alone. One of the reasons I took the Arrow and not the Sword. The main reason was that the Arrow was built more to my liking. Voice commands could do a lot, freeing the pilot to concentrate on the main activity of piloting and fighting. A minor reason was that the Arrow already had my voice imprinted on its memory chip. I took the tradelane to Planet Hamburg. I then got a shock. The Battleship Westfalen was waiting for me. It issued a command, Cut your engines or be destroyed. I gave a command to my ship, Stack. Trans shield toward the Westfalen. Split systems between cannon and shields. Kill engines. Activate thruster. Set waypoint at Bering Jump Gate. Execute. It executed all of my commands at the same instant. I let loose one Mini Razor shot at the bridge. The Westfalen started to move to protect its bridge. I activated the magnetic shot bending software. It started to bend the Mini Razor shot toward the bridge. The Westfalen activated its cruise engines. I gave a command to my ship, In System Jump to Waypoint. Dump All Energy. Remove Safeguards. This was a daring move. First, because this took every little bit of energy it had. Second, because this piece of equipment was untested meaning I could be stuck in that second dimension until I could build another charge up and rip another hole out there, but by that time it would take me out of the Sirus sector. The ship went dark. The small jump hole appeared and drew my ship into it. I rocketed in the second dimension. I appeared in front of the Jump Gate. I looked at my ships console. My brother was using the same piece of Jumping equipment and would be beside me in a second. I took the Jump Gate. I arrived in the Bering system. I quickly took the tradelane. I knew I was safe because Swords powerplant was inferior to mine. It would take him about 30 seconds to build up enough charge to activate the engines. By that time I would be in Texas. I started to think about what had happened. My mother had been killed by my father as she tried to escape to Liberty. My father was a fanatical Admiral of the Rheinland Military. I had seen my mother killed and knew I would have to honor her by escaping to Liberty like our plan was. I knew my best bet would be the Arrow, so I took it. My dad would of course send my brother in the Sword to kill me, even though he knew my brother would never succeed. I raced into Texas and then into New York and finally into Pennsylvania as my mothers plan called for. I went past Philadelphia Station. As I took the tradelane to Planet Erie I saw the Gettysburg move toward the Ralston Field. When I arrived at Erie, I saw the green trail of a Rheinland ship heading from Planet Tremont. I cut my engines and waited for it. A transmission came, Brother, you have lost, this time I will win. I replied, You know I will beat you, brother. You have always lost against me. I whispered to my ship, Divert systems to weapons. Kill engines and prep thrusters, on after thought, Scan the Sword, even though I fully knew its loadout by heart. When I scanned it, I received a shock, and I sent a transmission, Brother, do you actually dare to come at me with only a half load of Nanobots? A reply came back, Radiation repairs, Brother. I had no choice but to do that so I could intercept you. So you are a fool, brother. I gave another command to my ship, Remove safety IFF friendly lock. As my brother came in range, I opened fire with a barrage of Hornviper shots and a Mini Razor shot. My brother replied with his Firekisses and his Mini Razor. There in front of Erie we dueled hard. My brother ran out of Shield Batteries. 45 seconds later, I used my last shield battery. I shot off his shield on the next attacking run. He shot mine off on the next joust. I hit him with a Mini Razor shot. He used up all of his Nanobots. Somehow he locked in behind me and started pounding me. I was forced to use all of my Nanobots. I hugged Harrisburg Station and broke his lock. We both lined up for one last joust, knowing one would die and one would survive. A comm transmission came in, This is the Captain of the Gettysburg. Cut your fighting, immediately. I looked at my scanner. The Gettysburg was 10k away. I called, So what will it be, Brother, death or a Libertonian court room? He called back, It will be victory, Brother, nothing else. I replied, You sorely wish that, Brother. We activated our engines. We both dumped power into our Mini Razors, making them glow at the tip. We ran at full speed at each other. My brother fired his Mini Razor first. He led the shot to where I would be in a few seconds. I activated my thruster. Cutting across my brothers flight path, I fired my Mini Razor at point blank at my brother. My brothers escape pod launched. I made a run at it, firing my Hornvipers. It burst open, and I knew my brother had died. I activated the Docking Software. As I lost control, two explosions rocked my ship, Nuclear Mines, curse my brother. Everything went black.
Look at me, remembering my familys history. The Arrow was destroyed without a trace except in my head. I moved away from the Erie Hospitals window. A nice beautiful female, of about 18 years of age, walked in with a food tray. I asked her, When will I be released? She replied, You wont be. You are under arrest by the captain of the Gettysburg. You are forced to take part of a hearing sixteen days from now for killing a civilian. You have to convince the Admiralty of your innocence. I knew the Admiralty would never believe my story, so I had to escape. I walked over to the food tray. There was the steak knife, and there was a pistol on her belt. It was shameful to have to kill the girl, but I knew I must. I acted like I was going to relieve her of the tray. With my left hand I missed the handle and grabbed the steak knife; I ran the steak knife through her throat. With my right hand I yanked the pistol out of her belt. I strolled out of my room calmly. Everything was fine until the front desk. The male clerk yelled, HEY! You are not allowed out of your room. I turned the pistol on him and fired. He dropped. I fired on three other civilians, setting off panic. I ran out of the hospital. I ran toward the landing pad, a mere five yards away. There was a Starflier, prepped for launch on the launch pad. However there were four Liberty Navy ensigns running, pistols drawn, at me. I fired on one, dropping one. I fired at the other three, before they could react, dropping each and every one with skill and precision. I ran to the Starflier and took off.