[The date has been retconned to be in line with the rest of the setting.]
Late April, 2321
Yasny System, interplanetary space, 24 hours out from the Kitezh planetary system
It has been six days since the Grau Lancers left Kitezh's surface, regrouping with the Daheim Zwei. Six days to reacclimate to a low-gravity environment and rally with another corvette Admiral Vencencio had to spare, improvised to carry marines. Six days for Renee and Zana's wounds to heal.
Six days to learn of more bad news from Sol. The SLE's have been severely damaged, increasing travel time from Sol to Kitezh four-fold. The Soyuz and GDW were rapidly draining each other's arsenals, causing piracy to increase in the forming power vacuum. And supply shipments diminished due to the warfare and piracy, space colonies in the Jovian system, especially, began to protest louder.
There was something else. The KOS-869m Margelov, a large Soyuz dreadnaught with its own SLE, evaded Commonwealth interception and is now headed towards the Yasny system. Attempts to communicate have thus far ended in failure.
The two Commonwealth corvettes rested at a relative spot in interplanetary space, a few hundred meters between each other, following behind Kitezh as it orbited Yasny, waiting for the Wayward Giant to arrive in their vicinity. The Picket-Config, CSCS Persano was a Haflinger Class like Daheim Zwei, but with a module completely decked out in point-defense coilguns, four in total, one on each of the four sides.
"Are you sure we can trust them? Whoever did all of this got their hands deep in our leadership. Both the Soyuz and the Commonwealth." Eberhard stood in the small bridge of the corvette, allowing his helmet to float freely in the zero-gravity as he gently messaged his wife's shoulders, who was strapped into a crash couch, watching a monitor displaying information of all three ships: the two corvettes and the Giant. The Giant was essentially a flying hotel, thrice the length of either military vessel, with more transparent viewports than sense and an sleak, tapered architectual design with the bare minimum of thrusters other than its engine, a controls engineer's worst nightmare.
"You're still asking this question?" Ulrike looked up at him with a smirk, "Come on, they're our people. I already went through their background checks three times. Plus, weren't you the one who wanted marines with us?" She was in a Lancaster-Class as well, though some of the heavier armor pieces have been taken off.
Eberhard grumbled, "The lesser evil. It was them or TF52. Just because they seem less likely to backstab us doesn't mean they won't."
"Have some faith, Ebby. We'll get through this." Ulrike reached up to cup his cheek. "A date once this is all over?"
"Now that's a happy thought. Somewhere other than a tin can? Maybe back in Berlin if it's still around?" Eberhard bent down, his face coming close to his wife's...
"--- The Persano has been pinging us for the last thirty seconds, Rhodium." A hard, robotic voice came through the ship comms, announcing through the entire vessel. It came from Mari, hiding somewhere in the storage room, helping to manage the Daheim Zwei's subsystems.
"R-Right." Ulrike replied in embarrassment, accepting the Persano's hail, while Eberhard straightened up, putting on his helmet. "Lancers, report to the drop pod in five minutes." He informed.
Late April, 2321
Yasny System, interplanetary space, 24 hours out from the Kitezh planetary system
It has been six days since the Grau Lancers left Kitezh's surface, regrouping with the Daheim Zwei. Six days to reacclimate to a low-gravity environment and rally with another corvette Admiral Vencencio had to spare, improvised to carry marines. Six days for Renee and Zana's wounds to heal.
Six days to learn of more bad news from Sol. The SLE's have been severely damaged, increasing travel time from Sol to Kitezh four-fold. The Soyuz and GDW were rapidly draining each other's arsenals, causing piracy to increase in the forming power vacuum. And supply shipments diminished due to the warfare and piracy, space colonies in the Jovian system, especially, began to protest louder.
There was something else. The KOS-869m Margelov, a large Soyuz dreadnaught with its own SLE, evaded Commonwealth interception and is now headed towards the Yasny system. Attempts to communicate have thus far ended in failure.
The two Commonwealth corvettes rested at a relative spot in interplanetary space, a few hundred meters between each other, following behind Kitezh as it orbited Yasny, waiting for the Wayward Giant to arrive in their vicinity. The Picket-Config, CSCS Persano was a Haflinger Class like Daheim Zwei, but with a module completely decked out in point-defense coilguns, four in total, one on each of the four sides.
"Are you sure we can trust them? Whoever did all of this got their hands deep in our leadership. Both the Soyuz and the Commonwealth." Eberhard stood in the small bridge of the corvette, allowing his helmet to float freely in the zero-gravity as he gently messaged his wife's shoulders, who was strapped into a crash couch, watching a monitor displaying information of all three ships: the two corvettes and the Giant. The Giant was essentially a flying hotel, thrice the length of either military vessel, with more transparent viewports than sense and an sleak, tapered architectual design with the bare minimum of thrusters other than its engine, a controls engineer's worst nightmare.
"You're still asking this question?" Ulrike looked up at him with a smirk, "Come on, they're our people. I already went through their background checks three times. Plus, weren't you the one who wanted marines with us?" She was in a Lancaster-Class as well, though some of the heavier armor pieces have been taken off.
Eberhard grumbled, "The lesser evil. It was them or TF52. Just because they seem less likely to backstab us doesn't mean they won't."
"Have some faith, Ebby. We'll get through this." Ulrike reached up to cup his cheek. "A date once this is all over?"
"Now that's a happy thought. Somewhere other than a tin can? Maybe back in Berlin if it's still around?" Eberhard bent down, his face coming close to his wife's...
"--- The Persano has been pinging us for the last thirty seconds, Rhodium." A hard, robotic voice came through the ship comms, announcing through the entire vessel. It came from Mari, hiding somewhere in the storage room, helping to manage the Daheim Zwei's subsystems.
"R-Right." Ulrike replied in embarrassment, accepting the Persano's hail, while Eberhard straightened up, putting on his helmet. "Lancers, report to the drop pod in five minutes." He informed.
