Chapter Twelve- Unexpected Alliances

It was quiet in the Frankfurt system. The millions of people in the system were now under Bretonian rule. No ships were allowed to travel through the system at will, except those of Bretonian origin.

A jumphole to the Dresden system was located in an obscure corner of the system. The hole began to glow with an incandescent light, which grew brighter and brighter. The hole began to dilate, and grow larger and larger. Then, a ship emerged from the hole, followed by two others. Their momentum carried them a ways from the jumphole. The ships seemed to be dead in space, as they were drifting, and under no power of their own.

Suddenly, a tongue of flame leapt from the jumphole, covering the entire surrounding area in a fire that was a yellowish color. When the fire went out, the jumphole had vanished, but the three ships were still there, albeit a bit burned.

Black awoke. His mind, as well as his ship, was drifting. He struggled to remember what had happened. Then, it all came back to him. The battleship, the Bretonian fleet, the explosion. He knew that the Dresden system was dead, and that the Bretonian fleet, who had massed there, was also dead. He knew that he was alive, but barely. His head felt like it had been split in half. His leg was stinging with pain, and his eyesight was very dull after the brilliance of the explosion.

He ran a systems check on his ship. Scanners and thrusters were active, but he had lost weapons, shielding, and auto navigation. His ship was barely functional, and he was floating in Frankfurt, which he had jumped to seconds before the shockwave from the supernova had reached him. The jump had damaged his ship, since the hole had collapsed right behind him. He wondered if the others had made it.

He pulled up his scanners, and saw that a pair of Bretonian fighters was drifting several hundred meters from him.

He pulled up schematics of both, and found that they were in about the same state as he was. He wasn't able to determine who was in them, however. He hailed them on the comm, but neither responded. He hoped that they were simply knocked out, as he had been, but they could be dead, too.

He waited, and pulled up a map of the system. They were located fairly close to Planet Frankfurt, and on the bottom half of the system. He knew that they needed to get to Hamburg, and from there to Liberty, so they could try to help protect the Liberty capital.

He had no idea how long he had been knocked out. When he checked his chronometer, he was shocked to see that it had been eight hours since Dresden's star had gone supernova! Much could have changed by now!

He knew that Frankfurt had still been under control while he had been on the battleship, but Rheinland had been losing its grip on the already chaotic Rheinland populous. By now, unless things had changed drastically, the system would have descended into anarchy and the various pirates and revolutionaries in Rheinland would be running rampant. Rheinland would have already lost, even though Black had destroyed the attacking Bretonian fleet at Dresden. That would mean a difficult journey for a group of damaged fighters, travelling through lawless territory. They needed to hurry, while there still could be some sort of law in the system to protect them.

Just as he was thinking this, his scanners picked up a contact coming in from a nearby asteroid belt. He scanned them, and found that it was two wings of mixed ship types. Mostly Valkyries and Stilettos, the ships were headed right for Black and his party.

Black powered up all the weapons that he could on the damaged fighter, and flew out to meet the incoming ships. The ships drew closer and closer, and Black cut his engines and waited.

"Rheinland craft, this is Colonel Heinz of the Bundschuh. Please leave the area," came a voice on the comm, "we are here to kill Bretonians," he added.

"No! Those are NOT Bretonian pilots! Those are Liberty officers!" Black quickly responded.

The ships stopped several hundred meters from him.

"Please explain, then, why Liberty pilots are flying the ships of their enemies?" came the same voice.

"We came from Dresden. We boarded a Bretonian ship and managed to destroy their fleet there. We had to use a few of their ships to escape. My companions are currently unconscious. Please don't shoot!"

"Oh, so you are the reason that we lost contact with our men in Dresden. The comms are not secure any longer, so we will hear your story at a nearby base of ours."

"One question, first. Who are you?"

"We cannot tell you now, for fear that the enemies will hear us. We will inform you, however, that we hate the Bretonians more than you do."

Black found that hard to believe, but he trusted these men.

The ships went up to both of the Bretonian craft, and produced long tendrils of energy, similar to tractor beams, from their sterns. The energy touched the Bretonian fighters, and held on, unlike a tractor beam. The other ships began towing the Bretonian craft away, and Black followed the man who had broadcasted, assuming him to be the leader.

After about fifteen minutes of travelling, Black and the pirates arrived at a small asteroid base in a small debris field.

"Welcome to Brunschal Base, home of the Bundschuh Revolutionaries!" said the pirate leader.

The ships docked, and the pilots got out of their ships. The ones in the Border Worlds Stilettos were Red Hessians, and the Bundschuh were the ones in the Valkyries.

Black turned to the leader of the group.

"So, what is your story?" he asked.

The man motioned for Black to follow, and he, along with three other pilots, led Black to a nearby room. It was a fairly small room, and the man gathered a few chairs and arranged them in a circle.

"First of all, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Colonel Heinz, and I am the commander of the coordinated Bretonian resistance in this system. We are a combined force of Bundschuh, Hessians, Unioners, and Corsairs who are totally opposed to the Bretonian/Kusari attacks. We are working alongside various other pirate groups, as well as large numbers of survivors of the Rheinland Military and Police who fled when the government collapsed. Other than us, the system is Bretonian controlled," the man said.

Black shook his hand.

"Now, before we go into specifics, we would like your report of what occurred in Dresden. We are working with Liberty, and I can assure you we can have a copy of your testimony in the Navy's hands in a few hours."

So, Black told them the entire story, from the arrival in Dresden to the meeting up with Heinz. It reminded him of the others.

"What of the others that I was with? Are they alright?" Black asked.
"They are fine. The blond-haired woman and the dark-haired man were taken to the medical bay. You will be able to see them shortly."

Black was relieved. Serena and Reeves had made it. Poor Donavan, though. So it goes, he thought.

"Well, we think that your firestorm in Dresden, while very costly, was very successful. Our intelligence reports that the Bretonian Southern Fleet was decimated. Nine out of every ten ships from that group were in Dresden at the time you unleashed that supernova, and every single one was destroyed. This sector is barely held now, and Bretonia cannot send any more ships, since they are massing their full fleet for the attack on Liberty."

Black had known this was coming, but he had hoped that his actions in Dresden would have bought a little more time. He knew that he had to get back to Liberty. The last battle was coming, and he was not going to miss it. The future of Sirius hinged on that battle, and Black knew that every single man would be needed.

"Did a Liberty battleship pass through here a day or so ago?" Black asked, referring to the Jefferson.

"Yes, one did come through here alone yesterday afternoon. We did not bother it as it was headed towards Liberty space rapidly. Why do you ask?"

That relieved Black. At least the Jefferson had made it out of that hellhole.

"Well, that was my ship. I hoped she had made it back to Liberty," Black responded.

Heinz nodded. He understood completely.

"So, what happens now?" Black asked.

"With the Bretonian captors busy elsewhere, and their fleet here crushed, thanks to you, I would like to stage a revolution! Think about it, we could free Rheinland, restore the government, and then march to free Liberty," Heinz said.
"But, I need to return to Liberty! The Bretonians and Kusaris could be attacking New York within the next few days! I am needed at my home."

"We will get you home before the attack, never fear. All we ask for is a little more help from you. Besides, your friends will not be fully healed for a few days. If we want to free Rheinland, we will need your help."

Black took a moment to think. He thought of men like Schleiden and Schwarzkof. Those men would have wanted him to save Rheinland. Then he thought of other men, like Admiral Johnson and Commodore Fox, and knew that they would want him back in Liberty as fast as humanly possible.

He had come to a decision.

"I will stay, and help you re-claim your home, Colonel Heinz. At least until my friends have recovered, that is."

Heinz beamed. Black had decided that Johnson and Fix could wait a few days.

He just hoped that Dresden had slowed the Bretonian final assault by a few days.

It was time for a revolution.