Disappearance of Paul Richter

[Jansen]

Purple projectiles cut through the dense nebula, hitting the few surrounded Wraiths. One of them, the ship flown by Feldwebel Richter opens fire on its own men, shooting them down before they are able to react. The Military pilots try to use their escape pods, but none of them survives the shots aimed even at these pods. The attackers can not risk to leave any witnesses behind, everything that could reveal what happened, has to be destroyed. The remaining ships move back into the nebula, taking Feldwebel Richter with them. The Feldwebel'€™s eyes are glowing purple behind his helmets glass, revealing his or even more fitting, its true nature.

The Military had never been able to find out what happened this day, the only existing file, that could have helped to solve the mystery was created by the MND.

MND file OXLP-24839

MND main registry number: 92K83922O
Subjects name: Feldwebel Paul Richter
Subjects age and date of birth: 28; 13.January 791 AS
Subjects place of residence: Planet Nürnberg; Nürnberg City - Altenfurt district;
Subjects place of birth: Planet Nürnberg; Nürnberg City - Altenfurt district;
Subjects emplyoment: Feldwebel; Rheinland Military
Subjects date of dissapearance: 10.February 819 AS
Subjects last known location: Dresden System; Battleship Altenburg
Subjects whereabouts: KiA in Dresden system; ->Investigation ended, no further efforts necessary

Enclosure
-Collection of gathered files; chronological order

I have made it, I am finally a Flieger, part of the Rheinland Military. The 15 months of basic training were not that hard as everyone said, but we, I and the people in my squardon, had to work together to be sure that everyone is able to pass the final tests.
After a basic training at the Strausberg I will be assigned to the Westfalen to secure the border. Half of my squadron will go there as well, most others will be going to the Regensburg in Munich.
I would say that Hamburg isnt the worst place to be.

What a day, it started as a normal patrol near the Nordheide when our wing (me; the Feldwebel; and two other Fliegers) was under attack by 5 Unioner ships. At first there were two of them, they flew straight into the field after they spotted us. The Feldwebel gave the order to follow and destroy them and we followed his order, as we are supposed to do.
But we were lured into a trap, after we fired the first shots we were facing five of them. The Feldwebels ship lost a wing and one of the other wingmen died. We had to retreat, it was a bit like a wonder, but my ship took only a few scratches.
After our arrival at the Westfalen I was ordered to fly to the Alster shipyard together with a larger strike force. As it seemed the Unioners had launched another attack on the base and the attack on our wing was nothing but a way to grab our attention away from their real plans.
To sum this fight up, we arrived, we saw, we won. Our strike force of 20 Wraith class vessels had to face 13 Unioner vessels. There were no losses on our side, while they lost every ship they had. I was able to destroy 3 of their ships in this fight and the Major that was leading this counter attack told me that he wants to recommend me for a promotion.
There will be some kind of party now, I will have to hurry to be there in time.

Soldaten,
We are glad to announce the promotion of Flieger Paul Richter to Gefreiter.
The Admirality thinks that you deserve this promotion, Soldat. Keep the good work up
-Rheinland Military; Admirality

I have been promoted, I am a Gefreiter now. Looks like drinks are on me today.

We have been visited by the Vizeadmiral today, he inspected the whole ship and its crew. The best is, he congratulated me in person, for the things I did. Thats something very special I guess.

The days pass by here, everything is calm. Even the bad boys seem to be busy with preparing their christmas celebrations. My superiors granted me 5 days of holiday, time to visit the family. I have heard rumors that some of us will be sent to the Dresden system to fight the increasing Hessian presence in this system. I hope that I am not going to be one of the unlucky persons that will go there.

I just received the order to move to Dresden, to the Altenburg to be more specific. That is more or less the worst case I can imagine right now, I have heard stories about this place, Hessians behind every rock, people disappearing without any traces and fighting every day. I dont want to be there, but I am not able to choose.

I arrived at the Altenburg, I have been assigned to the wing of a Leutnant, maybe its good to have someone this experienced leading us. I will have the first briefing in a few hours.

Today was the first calm day since 3 weeks, the Hessians show us that we are not welcome here, they attack us out of ambushes when we expect it the least. I have lost 3 wingmen already and escaped my own death 2 times now, both times were close. I dont want to die here.

Soldaten,
We are glad to announce the promotion of Gefreiter Paul Richter to Feldwebel.
The Admirality thinks that you deserve this promotion, Soldat. You deserve it for your superior bravery even in hopeless situations.
-Rheinland Military; Admirality

Great they promoted me again, sadly I am not happy about it. This promotion means more responsibility for the people I fly with. I am not sure what I am going to do if something happens to one of them. The fight against the Hessians goes on.

Flieger Müller here, today was my first flight with Feldwebel Richter. He saved my ship from being destroyed by 2 Hessian Fighters of a new model, I havent seen any of those before. Those ships were more powerful then the Sabres the Hessians I had to fight until now used.

Today was a cruel day, we were attacked by Military ships with crippled transponders, as it seemed the Hessians were able to steal them. I have lost Müller there, his ship exploded after they landed a lucky shot into his fuel tanks. No chance of survival. And those Hessians were able to escape after its destruction. This place gets more and more dangerous, but I cant leave it. They need me here.

I lost another of my men today, I start to doubt that we are doing the right thing here, we should leave this place alone. The fighting is senseless, we are loosing a lot of good people here for nothing then some stupid rocks.

I saw these Hessian Military ships again, they shot down both of my wingman with ease, while I was not even able to do minor damage on their ship. But after my wingmen died they stopped, they didnt shoot me, instead I heard voices in my head, painful voices speaking of death and destruction. Fortunately another Military wing arrived and the Hessians flew away as if nothing happened. I dont even want to know what would have happened without the reinforcements.
I dont think that the other soldiers saw the Hessian ships, the visibility was too low and the devices didnt work correctly in that nebula.
The headache remains, I think Im going to visit a doctor.

I was ordered to meet the Admiral today, he told me what great job I have been doing until now. I think he was very surprised when I told him my opinion about the whole situation in the Omegas. Maybe he understood what I think about this whole fight, at least he did not try to find any stupid excuses why our people have to die there.
Shortly before I left the Admirals office he told me to get some rest and that he would always have an open ear for my opinion about the situation in the Omegas. Looks like I have gained some influence now.
I should visit the doctor again, these pills arent working at all, I have to try other ones. Maybe some rest is a good idea.

The doctors gave me a lot of different pills, none of them helped. The headache remains, so I will have to live with it.
I havent been in space since I met the Admiral, but I will ask if I can fly again. I will lie if it is necessary, I just cant stay here doing nothing, while others fight and die out there. I know that I can help them, but not here.

Gefreiter Schulz reporting the destruction of Feldwebel Richters ship by an overwhelming Hessian force, I was able to rescue his escape pod. I have heard that they brought him to a hospital at New Berlin.

I have been in the hospital for 4 days now, I dont know what they did, but the headache is gone. In exchange for one pain being taken away I feel sick, my neck is rigid and my hands and feet feel a bit numb.

I am finally out of the hospital, there was enough time to do some exercises to get back in shape, I'€™m feeling a bit wierd but I should get used to it soon. The headache seems to be gone forever, those doctors did a good job. I will be back '€˜home'€™ soon.

I have been given a new ship, I will fly out as soon as he order to do so is given. Its tome to test the doctors work now.

This is Gefreiter Kurze, we are surrounded, I repeat we are surrounded. No chance to escape, Feldwebel Richter is...

We have finished our investigations at the location of yesterdays fight. There was nothing of value left, the enemies removed all blackboxes from the location. There were no survivors left, but many wreck parts as well as destroyed escape pods all over the place, we do not think a further investigation would be helpful or necessary.
The soldiers, Feldwebel Richter, Gefreiter Kurze, Gefreiter Meißner, Gefreiter Apfel and Gefreiter Klar were killed in the fight, there were no traces that would have indicated their survival.
Due to the destruction of the escape pods the corpses can not be found, they are drifting somewhere in open space. Searching for them would be nothing but a waste of time and ressources.

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