A young man entered the bar. No one paid attention to him as he was one of the lesser rogues. He quickly located an empty table,ordered some minor drink and lit a smoke. "Still a damn rookie after a whole year...".,he thought.
The real reason behind this was probably his old man.. He never let him participate in some real action. Always supply routes and freighters.
And there he stood,lost in his own toughts about glory and fame.. Then he realised his drink never made it to his table. "Oh,right. It's a bar in an asteroid. What was I thinking?"
He went to the bartender and took his drink. -Took ya about forever,boy. What were you waiting for,a waiter?,said the bartender and laughed.
The young boy threw some credits at him,took his drink and returned to his table.
He went back to his dreams about respect and stolen cash.Without hesitation he finished the whole pack of smokes. He was about to go and buy a new one when a big figure entered the bar. "That illiterate old man",he thought.
His father came back with some loot from lane hunting and bought drinks for the entire bar.After that little celebration ended,the old man decided to pay attention to his son: -Whatscha be doin son? -I'm fine dad. Why don't you just drop that terrible accent? Take some courses or something.. -Be not disrespectful son.. Heritage,strong heritage! -Sure,what ever. Tell me you have something for me. At least a cargo run,I've been on this base for too long! -A small freighter be waitin in da equipment sector.. And be stealin' some goods,son!
Joshua De'ron rolled his eyes and left the bar trying to hide his excitement.
"Plese,don't be a Mule",Joshua kept repeating in his mind." A few more turns..Left,right..Here we go,equipment part of the asteroid base."
The usual people were around fixing some unfortunate ships. But there was one too whole to be in for repairs..Though it looked like a Mule. But,no..It seemed heavier and bigger. "A Bactrian?!"
Joshua couldn't believe his eyes. "So,my old man wasn't that bad after all." -Hey,boy! You the new owner?,someone with a rag in his hand and a toothless smile yelled. -I believe so..
-Yer ol' man made a few buck and bought ye this. Took me some time to get 'er runnin but she'll do fine. The core is big,but be careful,those guns eat power like it ain't nuttin'. -I guess,thank you. When do I test her?,asked Joshua eagerly. -Hell no,it ain't going nowhere yet. You must get some crew first. It ain't a Mule,boy! And you ain't doing cargo runs in it,if ye catch me drift., the man grinned. - Ye need atleast a gunner.
Joshua chatted for a while with the mechanic and returned to the bar. "Crew,huh..Who the hell will fly with me?"
He still couldn't believe his eyes. There they were,his crew mates.Dirk and Greg. Simple,rude and willing to do everything for credits. -Well,since you are all here,let us begin. Dirk,you have experience with navigating through tough areas and staring at scanners for the police,right? ,Joshua asked smiling.
-Well,yeah,been a while since I was off this asteroid.. Last time couldn't see a whole damn Navy cruiser and our ship got detained. I made off in an escap.. -Okay,okay. I don't need to hear more. I don't care. You qualify. Greg,good with the trigger?
- Ye. I just like shooting stuff.
-Qualified as well. -Josh smiled and lit another smoke.
"I'm doomed",he thought. "But it sure is better than nothing."
***
A few months had passed since he took the ship.Activity wasn't much in his sector,but every now and than a commercial freighter or transport would wander off course and fell to the Bactrian's turrets. Amount stolen was enough to make a few credits,not much,just enough to live by.
One day,on a normal patrol around the lanes, he noticed something strange in the ship's neural net account. There was a large amount of credits there.. The amount he'd made for a year of pirating.. Joshua smiled and tried to gain access to the credits. Access denied.
He tried again. Access denied. "Damn,another one of my father's jokes?!",he thought.
Even his two half-braindead crewmates tried but nothing worked.
Joshua contacted his father on the comms. He heard what he wanted and terminated the transmission. "So,he wants me to have an armor upgrade..And I can only use the credits for this purpose.Damn."
Joshua and his crew searched for such a sophisticated upgrade but failed to find one.
"Damn you Romario! Damn you and your accent! Damn your jokes..Where do I find such an armor.."
For a few days Joshua searched his known map for locations but found nothing.. He was never told of Cassini as he was still young.
He had almost given up hope when he heard a transmission over the open market,broadcasting about a freelancer station.
-But of course! Barrier Gate.. How did I forget that? They sell everything there!,Joshua thought out loud. - Set course,we have the coordinates.
-What do you mean you don't know where we are? , Joshua slammed one of the consoles and kept looking at Dirk fiercely. -Barrier Gate should be here, I swear! There's an ion storm messing with my equipment,man..
Joshua calmed down a bit and lit a smoke. "Idiot."
They couldn't see anything but the Barrier Rim as they drifted around for hours.
Josh had almost given up hope when the sensors picked up something massive in front of them. "Finally!"
But it was no station. -What the..
The massive thing was identified as a few ships. -2 transports,2 escort fighters each.Seems we interrupted some sort of deal.. Cardamine trade,one of the transports is Outcast.. , said Dirk. -So,they are selling directly to freelancers and .. miss out us. I'd say mo..
Joshua couldn't finish his thought as something rammed them hard and started firing at them.Greg tried firing back at the attackers,but surprise,surprise his aim was terrible.All sorts of alerts started warning about missing equipment and parts. When Josh thought they got away,something rammed them again,this time successfully. The last thing he remembered was the large piece of rock getting larger and larger in front of them until it was the only thing to be seen from the freighter.
The room was dark. Joshua couldn't recognise the place and panicked at first. Then calmed himself down and tried to think. He got up and started exploring the room,touching everything. 4 solid walls,a strangely comfy bed , personal toilet,a sink..and a locked door.
"Well,that's nice This holding cell is nicer than any room I've ever been into. What type of vessel has such luxuries...?"
A few days passed without anything happenening. Just a silent guard in a really fancy uniform gave him food without saying a thing.
After a few more days,the same guard came for him with a tazer.The guard then handcuffed Josh.
"Move,scum". Joshua obeyed. As they went up to the upper levels,Joshua tried to identify the craft... The guard slapped him and they both continued. This went on for a while until they mixed with other guards leading prisoners. After some time all prisoners were in a row,enforced by guards with tazers.
"Just tazers,good.",Joshua thought.
Joshua looked around and saw many faces. His two crewmates were there as well,healthier than ever.
Then a very obese man wearing a captain's uniform stepped forward and coughed.
While everyone's attention was locked at the morbidly obese human being,Josh removed the little piece of metal cord in his hair and started picking the handcuff.
"Heh,didn't check my hair,those idiots. Tazers,luxuries,not checking Rogues.. That could only be some Freelancer luxury yacht moving VIPs around.. Good."
"You were all picked up in space at some moment. Some of you tried to attack us,others were simply drifting. Since you all had bad transponders,identifying pirates,I am returning you to Liberty where you will do time in prison. You belong there,scum of the galaxy. Now,I want you all to start moving towards the exits,we will enter Liberty space soon. A boarder patrol will pick you up.".said the captain.
"Cortez,definately Cortez",Josh thought.
At that moment something unexpected happened.Josh's handcuffs finally cracked and he found himself free. He made a quick jump forward ,went behind the fat captain and grabbed him by the throat. That happened so quickly,no one could react.
"Ye stupid fancy guards. One move and yer captain's dead,we clear? Now drop those tazers and unlock every man in this room.Then lie on the ground with yer hands on yer head"
The guards stood still.
"Do as he says,you idiots",the captain yelled.
After all men were unlocked,the guards lay down on the ground.
"Give command to set course for the California jump hole,rather than the gate."
After that was done Josh simply broke the captain's neck.
All the men cheered as this won their respect.
"Kill the rest of the guards and secure the bridge.Check the passenger area for remaining people.Are you ready to fly under my flag,gentlemen?"
All yelled and proceeded with the tasks.
"Good.Now I have a yacht. Romario would be so proud..."
Sitting on the bridge felt nice. Commanding this rather big vessel felt even nicer.
With a crew consisting of pirates,outcasts,rogues,even a few lane hackers... He couldn't have even dreamt of such a thing.
Some of the Hackers were good engineers and could figure out how to get this thing moving.
Soon enough Alcatraz came into visual range. A few fighters came to intercept.
"Ah,right,the transponder."
"Hold yer fire,ye filthy pirates,it's me,Josh".Joshua yelled to the incoming fighters.
After a while he found himself in the bar. His yacht could be seen from the window. Everyone was looking at it. He wanted to see his father's face,but he was nowhere to be found.
"Where's Romario?",he asked one of the Rogues.
"Oh,something important,I think.. Lord Moka himself ordered him to move to McMurray...",he responded.
A few hours later he received a transmission by his dad,demanding him moving to Mcmurray to talk face to face. Joshua couldn't even brag about his new ship,his dad had already hung up.
***
Josh stood on the bridge listening to the quiet humming of the engines. The course was set and he waited in anticipation to get to McMurray. The yacht now had proper transponder and some other guns. Some of his crew remained on Alcatraz,while new members decided to hop in. After a trip without accidents,he reached Mcmurray. He moored the yacht and set foot on that station for the first time.
His dad was waiting for him near the airlocks.
"About time yu be comin' back son."
"Happy to see you too,dad. So,what do you think about my new possession?"
"I be thinkin' that yu be wastin' a perfectly fine Bactrian.. Anyways,Big Moka Boss mon' be orderin' me ta be in charge of dam bounty board and run it from here.. I be needin' a new vessel ta be makin' paymon from.. Yacht,yu say?"
"Hell,no,that's my yacht! My crew will never agree to follow you! not after what I did for 'em."
"Let us see then?"
They both walked on the yacht.
"Alright,mons,be listenin.. From now on,I be tha captain of dam vessel,mi son be second in charge. Anyone be havin' troubles with dat?"
A very large man stepped forward:
"I have a problem with that. I dun care who ye are and what board ye run,yer son saved us all."
Some of the other men started to nod. No one even saw how the pistol got into Romario's hand or when it fired. But everyone felt the large body hit the ground.
"Anyone else?",Romario asked. "Good. Be givin' him a proper burial ceremony - stick him in a dam Toxic Waste barrel and jettison him in space. I be seein' yu be sparin' som of da yacht original crew mons,good we needed slaves. Dam yacht be now renamed LR-What.Is.Love, I be tellin' dem techs change that."
Joshua had never felt angrier. But he couldn't do anything. His father had authority now. Still,he was second in charge on the yacht,much better than flying around in a Bactrian,hoping to get something...