Size 9 / SIZE9

The short version of the events, more detailed accounts found below.

██████████ got rejected by the UEE as a pilot, he decided to become a ship designer instead. He was leading the design process of the Eclipse for Aegis, afterward overseeing the construction of the said ship. Being frustrated and angry with the UEE after not being able to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot, he modified multiple of the Eclipses being built to be remote controlled and managed to steal five of them. After the UEE and Aegis learned of his betrayal a system-wide manhunt started in Stanton. After several months ██████████ had built up a decent crew, later named after the Size 9 torpedoes they use, the UEE never was able to make a decisive victory against the Size 9 crew, until this day he plays a role in important decisions, even though he stepped down to live a more peaceful life. He left a legacy with his crew now doing private trading, aggressively protecting their routes as well as various, sometimes questionable ventures into other revenue sources.

Addendum 1-A: Detailed Notes and Analysis

██████████, better known as Size 9, born on the ██/██/2899 (Earth time), grew up on a research outpost on [REDACTED] in the Stanton system. His parents worked as scientists researching the flora and fauna of the planet, even though his parents tried to get him into working in the science field too, he was always more interested in the UEE Navy, he dreamed of being a captain one day, fighting in a war against great opponents and becoming a legend never to be forgotten. Once he became an adult, he enlisted in the UEE, unfortunately, after medical examinations, the doctors told him that he had a heart condition that made him incapable of becoming a navy pilot. They told him he had a high risk of serious injuries, even death due to the high g forces and his heart not being able to circulate the blood after high g force maneuvers again.

All his dreams where shattered that day.

That day a small spark in him started to glow, a spark that was the opposite of what he felt before, fascination transformed into frustration, interest turned into anger against the UEE.

Still fascinated by warships, fighters and ships, and much to the relief of his parents he decided to study ship design at the university of Lorville, first doing his bachelor, then his master, his master thesis was on stealth technology. His paper was reviewed and praised by some of the most renowned ship designers and engineers of the known universe. Soon a company, Aegis, at which he did an internship before, asked him if he would be interested in a once in a lifetime opportunity: designing a top of the line stealth bomber for the UEE. At first, he was reluctant to accept the offer but the salary was good, good enough to convince him to work even for the UEE.

The background for the project was the administration struggling to get peaceful relations with the Xi’an, a cold war, or even war seemed all too probable. In case of war, the UEE would have had no effective ships against the Xi’an technology and desperately needed a cautionary defensive measure. The first cold war was difficult and if there was to be a second one they had to make sure they had the advantage.

Work started in September 2930, shortly after imperator Coley requested it.

After working on the Aegis Eclipse with his team for several years ██████████ had become extremely fascinated and attached to the ship he had spent so many hours designing on. After countless hours of work, many sleepless nights, he didn’t want the Eclipse to just be gone from the grasps of his hands after his work was finished, he couldn’t let that happen.

He applied himself to be the overseer in the production of the Eclipse, even though his Bosses were confused why he would want a less well-paid position they were glad to have someone do the job who knew every small detail about the ship. What they didn’t know was that ██████████ forged a plan to steal an eclipse during the last months of designing and prototype testing of the ship.

On the 3rd of May 2932, ██████████ stayed longer after the workers constructing the Eclipses had already left, this wasn’t something unusual for him to do, he often did inspections on the days work. But this time, he didn’t only inspect, he uploaded a custom ROM, a modified version of the autopilot that usually was only used for autopilot and assisted landing. The Eclipse, as almost all modern ships, has antennas and receivers for communication as well as remote diagnostics, feedback, and locating after incidents.
The custom ROM he uploaded to the autopilot was designed to use the antennas to receive a remote signal and use the autopilot to hijack the ships, making them remote controlled.

During the last months of construction, he made several trips to Grim Hex, recruiting a crew for private ventures and his escape from the UEE forces. He didn’t yet know what he wanted to do, only that he wanted to show the UEE how pathetic they were. For that, he would need good and loyal pilots, the birth of the Size 9 organization.

After construction finished, preparations were made for a flight show, with the eclipses flying in formation, to show the finished work to the administration. Just before the first flight training, on the 7th of August 2932, with no pilots in the seats, the ships turned on and started to take of. Size 9 was sitting at his newly constructed control center, going through with his plan. Even though it was noticed quickly that something was very wrong, turrets and two cutlass blue were unable to prevent all the eclipses from escaping. All but three were jammed or shot down before they could hide out of range, this is considered a huge failure and disaster by the UEE Navy, they had to cover up the entire incident in order not to be publicly humiliated. Still, some rumors made it out, supported by later incidents of UEE ships being taken down out of nowhere without a warning. For a long time, many considered it to be just another conspiracy theory.

The UEE Navy tried for several years to track down ██████████, a long manhunt didn’t bring any results, with ██████████ and his crew, always being one step ahead, hiding at various places, always leaving behind a torpedo with a small message written on it, usually making fun of the attempts to catch him. During that time it was common too for UEE forces investigating and searching for him to be destroyed by size 9 torpedoes, none of the attacking ships were ever spotted but they are strongly suspected to be the stolen eclipses used to slow down and disturb the manhunt.

After many successful attacks on the UEE, interest on finding him and financial backing for the manhunt became less, as it seemed hopeless, to the point where the mission was aborted in 2937. Internally this is one of the biggest smudges on the track record of the UEE Navy. There is still no official statement about the events. The Size 9 crew turned to trade, supported by the veteran fighters that fought the Navy.

Even though still not on friendly terms with the UEE the confrontations and fights became less over time. The Size 9 crew is still suspected to be fighting against the UEE on occasion, supporting other forces for benefits on trading, taxes, and immunity for actions perceived as crimes by some.

In 2948, ██████████ gave leadership of the Size 9 organization to the five original, loyal members in order to enjoy a more peaceful life and take care of his family. He is still in contact with the organization, acting as a consultant for difficult decisions.

Events documented by historian and external relations expert Orljo in 2948.