Message to: pu_M_Mortiz
Comm ID: Conrad "Rimfire" Egon
Location: Rochester Base, New York
Hopeful friends, would-be comrades, I am sending this message because I think you are my last chance. Oh, the times I and my family have fallen upon . . . I had a well-paying job with Daumann Industries. They are scum, but they put bread on the table, and my family is more important to me than anything else. However . . . a co-worker lost an arm in an industrial accident, and my troubles began.
It was a preventable accident, and should never have happened. The plastic guardrail that should have covered the machine's heavy cogs had long since collapsed, and funds never arrived to replace it. They wouldn't even put a piece of timber there! And so my friend, a transfer from another factory, did not know that the guardrail was not there when he put his hand down to lean against the machine.
There was no emergency stop button, so I had to run and contact the foreman while my friend's arm was destroyed.
And to top it all off, he was fired after that! Fired! The company would not pay for his hefty hospital bills, prosthetic limb replacement, or anything. When I discovered what had happened, I lost my temper. I made the mistake of confronting the site boss, threatening to go to the press with this man's story. I was fired on the spot.
Nonetheless, I had some money still in savings, and used it to purchase a small civilian fighter to fly to New Berlin and protest directly to the government. But as you no doubt already knew, Daumann has powerful friends; my words fell upon deaf ears, and I began to receive anonymous warnings to back off. For the good of my continued health, they assured me. Right.
Fearing for my life and for the well-being of my family, I gathered my family and as many of our belongings as would fit in my Starflyer's hold, and we fled to Liberty. Thanks to a recruitment center on Newark Station, my wife was able to find a job as a secretary on Freistadt base in Sigma-7. Our two children are staying there with her. A friend we made in Liberty helps her, as well, because we made a decision.
Together, my wife and I decided that we had to do something about these, these monsters. I knew immediately that I had but one chance to do that: find a way to contact and join the Red Hessians, with whom I have long sympathized but been unable to join due to the need to support my family. I still need to support my family, but I would rather do it fighting our mutual enemies than any other way.
My wife and children support me in this, and so it is that I have - thanks to the Junkers - finally found a way to contact you, and offer you my services. I have only a poorly-armed Starflyer, but I am a decent pilot, and I assure you that I am highly motivated. I will fly whatever you need me to fly, be it a fighter, bomber, or commerce raider. I think I would take special pleasure in raiding, but if you will accept my offer of service, I will do whatever you ask of me in the name of the Fatherland and our people.
P.S.: I created the callsign "Rimfire" for myself after a type of ammunition my father and I used when he would take me hunting in my teenage years. Little sense, I know, but I have good memories of those times.
=========================================
(OOC: I've always been a total sucker for idealism - which is why I love flying Gaian, and fully expect to enjoy flying as a Hessian =P Also, www.behindthename.com is a lifesaver - Conrad means "bold counsel", and Egon comes from medieval German, roughly meaning "edge of a sword". I thought it would be appropriate. =D )
