SD 201-05-01 (May 1st, SD 201): The Gaewahn, the ILR spacecraft commanded by Captain Barlahan, attempts to threaten the EDF space station that it originally intended to destroy and that the new version of the Net prevented that in the previous issue. The station crew first threatens to destroy the Gaewahn as the ship attempts to approach the space station if the ILR ship doesn't identify itself first, which Barlahan does in order to imply that he means business.
The XO of the station, seeing that Barlahan might try to destroy the station, notes beforehand that if the ILR destroys the space station, they could first dump all their fuel into the space, something that Barlahan also anticipated beforehand, and which he also threatened to start firing if the station tried to do that. The XO asks for conditions to know if the ILR would not attempt to destroy the station after they gave its fuel to the ship, to which Barlahan gives his word of captain that they would not attempt something as vile as that. Obviously, the station crew can't trust the word of an ILR member, considering Barlahan's threats, but the Net, or the version of them installed on their computers, ensures that most likely Barlahan couldn't try to destroy the station and that it is just empty threats, since the version of the Net they have on their own computers would prevent it in the first place, just as it would also prevent the station from attacking the Gawahn. Since the space station's Net believes that Barlahan was being sincere, the best thing they could do was reach an understanding with him.
Once agreed, the XO asks Barlahan what he was offering in exchange for fuel for his ship, to which the captain offers to give them the prisoners they had in their possession. The ship's Net mentions that would be very convenient, as they could get rid of Barlahan's most problematic prisoners, such as Lady Damahannahaia and her daughter Temmanah, something that is not very pleasant to remember for the Lepine captain, but he agrees with the computer.
The station crew cannot believe that the ILR intended to obtain fuel in exchange for prisoners of war, which the XO refuses in principle because of EDF policies, but Barlahan clarifies that he does not have prisoners in his possession but "traitors" who intend to desert to the ConFed (which is not true). The XO has no choice but to agree with Barlahan's demands.
Once inside the station and before letting the prisoners go, Barlahan gives a speech to the released passengers to thank the ILR for letting them go and not to get in the way of the Republic again if they are found again. Meanwhile, an EDF official asks about the whereabouts of Lady Damahannahaia and Temmanah, who were not with the rest of the released prisoners, to which Barlahan replies that the ILR intends to deal with them separately because of their condition as "traitors" to their nation, which is really nothing more than racial persecution for the simple fact of being Lepines and members of the ConFed, something that the EDF official reminds the ILR captain very clearly. Barlahan, for his part, indicates the irony and hypocrisy of the ConFed, because for them, the ConFed is the one that is persecuting the ILR for being Lepines, something that is deeply rooted in the culture of the Republic on many levels.
Already in private with Ipcha Tankannahai, Barlahan tells him that his duty as an ILR soldier and his personal feelings were conflicting about what to do with Lady Damahannahaia and her daughter Temmanah, especially about the fact that he had received orders about executing any Lepine belonging to the EDF who refuses to join the ILR.
And with respect to these two women, Barlahan makes her aware of the fact that they would not be released at the space station with the rest of the prisoners and they would be punished in the ILR as "traitors", something that for the mother was something to be expected, while she mentioned the events that happened in Derzon 5 years ago, and did not expect mercy from the ILR, Barlahan, on the other hand, offers her and her daughter the opportunity to "rehabilitate" by joining the Republic.
The latter angers Lady Damahannahaia, because her husband fought the ILR in the first war and her husband's brother and family were killed by ILR killers five years ago. The mention of that event confuses both the captain and her own daughter, since the ILR apparently intended to eliminate a family that was politically inconvenient to her interests and apparently she and her daughter were members of it, because they were members of a very powerful clan called Enhannihai. Upon hearing that name, Barlahan and Temmanah are surprised, since in the case of the former, Temmanah's uncle, Entho, had allegedly died with his family, according to Barlahan's understanding, and in the case of Temmanah, she could not believe she was that person's niece, since according to what Lady Damahannahaia said, Entho (who now lives under the name "Cthan", at least for Temmanah) had survived the assassination attempt and that he and his entire family lived under assumed names.
After knowing that terrible revelation, Barlahan no longer knew if he should arrest Lady Damahannahaia and her daughter or let them go, and in an attempt to get rid of a problem that could jeopardize him later, he decided to do the latter, using the argument that her presence on the ship could be detrimental to the rest of the crew. After that, Barlahan ordered Tankannahai to come to his room.
Before his subordinate arrived in his room, Barlahan looked ahead at his Data Pad where he included his profile with his photo, for some reason. Once Tanakannahai was in the room, the capital asked him who he was loyal to, to which he obviously replied that Tankannahai was loyal to the ILR, which was the same case with Barlahan, but in those moments, he no longer knew whom he should obey, since it was very obvious that their leaders were corrupt and that they were willing to do whatever it takes to maintain the current status quo.
Faced with this situation, Barlahan decides to ask the Net about whether or not the AI agreed with the current war. Since the Net was designed to be a neutral third party, the computer cleverly avoided giving a specific answer, but it did remark that the current reason for the war was due to an imaginary aggression against the ILR and that the motives of the war also had much to do with maintaining the socioeconomic status quo with which the ILR could keep its population appeased and not realize that the current situation could not be maintained indefinitely.
For obvious reasons, Barlahan did not like the tone of the conversation, to which the Net responded that his attitude was normal, since he was trying to find a way to reconcile his duties as a soldier and what his heart tells him, not to say what to do with Tankannahai, something that at first seemed to worry him, until the IA assures him that the captain is on his side despite everything. With regard to the lieutenant, and before the same questions, he also faces the same dilemma, but Tankannahai assures Barlahan that he will continue to work alongside the captain, despite having previously mutinied against him. Barlahan, for his part, recognized the bravery of his subordinate, despite his mistakes, and now needed his help to continue their mission.
Leaving aside the ILR, now the plot changes to Enchawah's side, specifically Captain Itzak Arrat, who had received orders to go to the Rim, but first needed to talk to his crew.
The main topic of conversation was how to deal with an enemy numerically superior and better equipped than them, and to do so, they had managed to reverse-engineer the Matter Conversion Cannon, with which they could easily deal with any enemy they could face in their way.
Meanwhile, Erma and her ship's crew are preparing to jump again, this time more safely, into another section of space, this time into allied territory now that the Net seems to be trying to interfere in the affairs of all sides in the conflict. Fortunately for her, this time the jump was successful and the ship jumps to where it should be heading this time. After confirming that they were already in EDF territory, Erma received instructions from her superiors. She was to be transferred to a new spacecraft and although EDF was not going to forgive her for what she had done in Dornthant, at least they recognized her for what she had done so far and because of it, they would give her back her full authority.
She wasn't the only one who had received new orders. Nagai, her second in command, had also received his, in which he would also be transferred to another ship. Obviously, this is not amusing to anyone, especially Erma, since it was evident that the EDF was desperately trying to get rid of her by any means.
Days later, Erma's ship arrives at a space station, where the civilian and military crew (especially Erma) are separated and each one leaves in different directions. Nagai, Erma's now ex-XO, quickly deduces that it was obvious that they wanted to keep her away from the civilian crew to prevent the truth of what really happened in Dornthant from being made known. Fortunately for everyone, the Net had considered this eventuality and it made a copy of the information given by Erma to make it known in case anything happened to her.
Once on the EDF station, Erma is warmly greeted by a group of unfriendly escorts, and the station captain has no problem telling her the reasons why she was separated from her crew. Then, the captain summarizes for her what her mission would be, which would be to enter ILR territory and "reduce" (either capture or destroy) anything that could serve the Republic in the war, in her own complete judgment. The station captain also finds it strange that Erma receives full authority, considering that she is also considered a risk to the EDF, after what happened in Dornthant. Erma also deduces that the captain was not going to give her more details about anything they could do if she tried to do something that would be considered as an act of treason by the EDF.
Once all this was finished, the captain of the station presented Erma with his new crew, and after the proper introductions, she also introduced herself to the crew in the same way. She summarizes what her mission would be, which would be to destroy or capture ILR assets, something that some crew members sarcastically stated was not going to be as simple as Erma seems to put it in theory, a fact Erma already knew beforehand and that was something she wanted to discuss with her new crew. The targets they would have to deal with at first would be small colonial worlds and space stations, which it would be more advisable to simply go into rather than obliterate them. This last one perplexed the crew, and one member indicated to Erma that they do not have enough crew to carry out that task, something that Erma indicated that they should be careful beforehand in the face of that problem.
Already in action and in space, Erma's new spacecraft, along with her new crew, are gearing up for their new mission, according to the parameters she had indicated beforehand: A space station owned by ILR, which according to intelligence information had enough fuel and water, although there was also the possibility that there were only spare parts and some extra torpedoes. With the target in hand, Erma ordered some warning shots, and then she and her crew boarded the station.
Erma and her men entered the station without any resistance, where they are received by the station administrator. Erma, without further ado, explains to the officer what they intend to do there, something the administrator diplomatically protests. Erma, in a very snarky way, replied that, considering the current war situation, she could have ordered the station destroyed, something the Lepine administrator considers a bad joke. Faced with the officer's reluctance, Erma explains to him what happened in Dornthant at the hands of his own country, and how millions of people died at the hands of his fellow citizens. The news shocked the administrator, because he never imagined that his own nation would do something so terrible, not to mention that he had never heard about the topic, and at the same time he had no instructions about it. All he could do now was beg Erma not to try to harm any civilians inside the station.
In the next scene, we see how Erma and her crew managed to confiscate what they could find inside this station, besides destroying anything that could be used as explosives without many problems, all this offscreen. But one crew member argues that they were lucky enough to deal with a more reasonable and peaceful crew, since it was likely that the next station they were going to raid would not be as reasonable this time.
And indeed, the next space station refused to respond to them, to which Erma orders to fire some warning shots at the station. Seeing that they still did not react, she again ordered more warning shots, to which the station asks for a cease-fire. Once the station knew that they were serious, Erma ordered to storm the station, this time with more care, but without responding violently.
Once with the control of the space station, Erma and her men got ready to see what was there, but they found a serious problem: The station had some reserve water tanks, all of which were frozen and there was no way to pump it, because the pipes were damaged. Once with the structural readings of the water tanks, one of the members of the EDF ship's engineering team came up with an idea to solve the problem right away.
Already with the plan in hand, one of the EDF members ordered the station administrator to de-spin the station, to which the officer requests the reasons, only to receive an indirect response. The plan was apparently to use a plasma cutter to remove the frozen water tanks from inside the station, something that horrified the ILR officer, as he considered it impossible and dangerous to do. And while Erma's men were removing the water tanks, the administrator makes a resounding protest against her, because he considers that she was endangering the station by doing so, to which Erma responded coldly that she could order the station to be destroyed at once. When the Lepine officer saw that he was unable to change her mind, all he and his men they could do was trying to mitigate the damage to the station. By separating the water tanks from the station, Erma's EDF ship destroyed them as they floated in space.
As soon as that station was finished, the ship went to yet another station, which had been warned beforehand about the raids by Erma and her crew, and they had dumped whatever was useful for them into space. Seeing that she wasn't going to be able to get anything from the place, she might consider destroying the station, but that wasn't her mission, although there was something that the station crew could do for her and that was destroy the flywheel, something that the administrator warned would probably put the station crew at risk, a fact that, although it was something that Erma didn't care about, it didn't mean that anything bad would happen if they tried either. Also, by trying to destroy the flywheel themselves, there would be less risk of something going wrong with them. And without many complications, the station destroyed the flywheel, while Erma and her ship took care of the rest.
And so Erma's mission in that solar system was finished. Obviously, the ILR media mentioned the attacks on its space stations, something that didn't make its inhabitants happy. And now came the most difficult part, since now the next system would be more complicated to attack, since one of the targets included an entire planet and they did not have enough intelligence information, which would force them to work in the dark. On the other hand, Erma preferred to try to fulfill her mission and get out of all this alive. And to achieve this, she gave her crew a month to analyze all possible options and scenarios, in addition to doing combat simulations. The only thing she was not going to tolerate was finding herself in a situation her crew didn't plan for beforehand.
- Awful Truth: The Damahannahaias turns out they're holding a very terrible secret that involves both the ILR and the EDF, since the ILR tried to kill Lady Damahannahaia's brother-in-law and his family, but they failed and now he and his family lives under assumed names instead, since he and his family were against the racist policies of their country and the ILR tried unsucessfully to eliminate them.
- Blatant Lies: Lady Damahannahaia and Temmanah, due of their condition of being both Lepines and members of the ConFed, are being treated as desertors of the ILR, when this is not true, but this is likely a tactic from Barlahan to somewhat dehumanize them, even if he don't mean it for real.
- Genre Savvy: Barlahan knew the space station could easily dump their fuel rather than give it to them, so he remarked to the station that they will destroy they place if they attempt to do that.
- Hypocrite: The ILR thinks the reason why they are fighting against the ConFed is because they are supposely persecuted just because they are Lepines, when they are the ones persecuting people just because they don't agreed with them.
- I Gave My Word: Barlahan gave his word as a member of the ILR in exchange of not blowing up the station after they reload fuel with them. Obviously, no one trust him, due of the story of the ILR on trying to do this.
- There Is Another: For some unexplained reason, Enchawah Corp and by default, Arrat, managed to reverse-engineer the Matter Conversion Cannon, and use it against anyone standing their way.
