A Blood Dragon member begins his training at fourteen years old. During the final exam one must be able to kill his brethren in a battle to the death. Satoya was unlucky enough to go up against one of the more promising students. One missile ended the fight with Satoya's ship ripped to pieces. Due to the impact of the explosion, combined with the intense burning that came after, he was declared perished by the medical team. As tradition followed, his body was tractored in and prepared to be put inside a ship which would ignite as it was launched its way out to the vast space.
But Satoya had somehow managed to survive, none could understand why. Every single factor that occurred during the event pointed towards his death. There was no logical reason to how he was still alive. A case like this had never happened before, it was always ensured that one pilot stood victorious. The training instructors saw this as a sign that this person was not meant to be killed and thus he was considered a fully fledged Blood Dragon member, he wasn't even asked to complete the final exam. Though, doctors were still fascinated about Satoya and his survival. He was exposed to several tests, one which seemed to show that Satoya didn't remember anything other than his own name. Later he was diagnosed with amnesia, the memories of his past and the life he had cherished before was forever lost inside a clouded mind. He was reborn once again...
((Note: Credits to [color=#FF0000]McNeo for the wonderful picture and helping with the story.)) ((Note 2: Credits to Unselie for helping with the story and correcting grammar.))
Technician: Computer, enter Universal folder.
Computer: This folder is secured, please enter password. * 5.B.3.O.F.1.V.9.X *
Computer: [font=System]Permission Granted. Universal Folder Opened.
Technician: Open Blood Dragon file.
Computer:[font=System]Blood Dragon File Opened.
Technician: Open pilot list.
Computer: [font=System]Pilot List Opened.
Technician: Open search configurations.
Computer: [font=System]Search Configurations Opened.
Technician:Set search functions to match this picture.*Inserts a disk with the picture file inside*
Computer: [font=System] " Picture to Picture " Search Initiated.
*Searching Database*
Technician: This will take about five minutes, Senpai!
Senpai: Argh... make it search faster!
Technician: The database can only handle a specific amount of pictures at the same time, Senpai.
Senpai: Alright, but it better be less than five minutes or else...
Technician: *Gulp*... Hai Senpai!
Senpai: Satoya...
Shosho: From what I’ve heard Senpai, this young pilot is a gifted warrior. His rank seems to confirm that.
Senpai: Out of every member in our honored family, was he the last person I thought would act so treacherous. But, you should have seen him when he first arrived here. You should have seen his eyes; I could tell that this man wouldn’t hesitate to die for us. Clearly I was wrong. That coward, that dog... ran off and not empty either, took one of our Katana Fighter with him, not to mention the equipment on it.
Shosho: Don’t worry Senpai. Satoya is considered a criminal in Kusari but is now exiled from the Blood Dragons, simply put: He’s hated by both sides, he will surely die soon enough.
Senpai: I want his head on a silver plate!
Shosho: Hai, Senpai!
KNF Wing-2: [color=#33CCFF]Hmm... Scanning indicates a Katana ship. That pilot is most likely a Blood Dragon.
KNF Wing-Leader: Roger that Wing-2. Wing Force initiate cruise speed, we have detected a possible Blood Dragon pilot just outside the Seiran Dust Cloud.
KNF Wing-1, Wing-2, Wing-3: Hai, Captain!
Satoya: Damn! Those bastards spotted me. Alright think... think... now I got it! I must head to the Ohka Dust Field. The Blood Dragon survival training will come in great use when I need to dodge those giant rocks. Hopefully they will crash into one, the KNF aren’t used to such environment.
KNF Wing-Leader: *Opens Comms*Katana Pilot, identify yourself at once!
Satoya: Corrupted dogs, you ain’t getting anything from me!
KNF Wing-Leader: I don’t take insults kindly.
KNF Wing-1: That’s defiantly a Blood Dragon, Captain.
KNF Wing-Leader: I concur. If you get a clear shot, don’t hesitate to eliminate him.
KNF Wing-1, Wing-2, Wing-3: Hai, Captain!
Satoya: They are closing in, I better hit that asteroid field soon or else my journey ends here... Come on, just a little bit further!
KNF Wing-2: He is heading to the Ohka Dust Field, Captain!
KNF Wing-Leader: What the... Does he want to take suicide?!
KNF Wing-1: Uhh... I haven’t been trained for this!
KNF Wing-Leader: Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.
***
Satoya: Finally I have arrived, now where the hell is that Jumphole located. I better contact an old friend of mine... Computer, initiate transmission to receiver: 3F79L1O.
Computer: [font=System]Transmission commencing, waiting for the receiver to answer... 1 ... 2 ... 3
Yasutoshi: [color=#33CC00]Sa... Satoya, is that you?
Satoya: Greetings, old friend.
Yasutoshi: Konnichiwa! How are you doing?
Satoya: I wish there was time to talk, but right now I need you to do something for me.
Yasutoshi: Ok.
Satoya: *Smiles*I knew that I could count on you. Now listen, I need you to get me the location of the Tau-23 Jumphole from Kyushu. Also, make haste!
Yasutoshi: No problem, I can hack through anything!*Hacks into Kusari Naval Forces Patrol Routes*Alright I got the location, sending the information right now.
Satoya: Thank you... I really appreciate your efforts.
Yasutoshi: No worries. But I guess you are in trouble right now, so... when you can, try contact me will ya?
Satoya: I will... my friend... I will. Goodbye for now.
Yasutoshi: Farewell, and be careful!*Transmission terminated*
***
Satoya: Now how to shake off these four pests behind me.
KNF Wing-1: The rocks there are too many, I can't dodge them al-*Crashes*
KNF Wing-Leader: Dammit! We just lost a pilot, Wing-2 fly back and see if he managed to eject his life pod.
KNF Wing-2: Hai, Captain!
Satoya: Two down and two more to go. Eat this! *Launches several nuclear mines*
KNF Wing-Leader: Nuclear mines! Watch out!
KNF Wing-3: *Explosion*Captain, a nuclear mine just ripped of my left wing! Argh! I can’t control the ship any longer. Oh... no!*Crashes*
KNF Wing-Leader: This isn’t worth it, I need to rescue my pilots and contact Wing-2. Breaking off. *Opens Comms* Until next time, Blood Dragon scum!
Satoya: I warned you...*Transmission terminated*
Satoya: Ahh, the Jumphole. I found it! Computer, initiate jumping sequence.
Computer: Jumping sequence commenced.
~ Inside the Tau-23 System ~
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Safe at last... now I can finally start my life over. Something peaceful but still a well earned job. Maybe Zoner, hmm... I need to find more information about them. A good place to begin with would be Freeport-6. Computer, search for the location of station Freeport-6.
Computer: [font=System]Freeport-6, Tau-29 System, 6-D.
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Tau-29, how the hell do I get there?
Computer: Incoming message (Attached file) ... Accept - Deny
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Accept.
Computer: Showing message on screen;
[color=#33CC00]Open the file when you can.
// Yasutoshi
Satoya: Computer, open the attached file.
Computer: [font=System]Attached File Opened. Showing file on screen;
[color=#33CC00]Konnichiwa Satoya-kun! I was concerned about you, so I decided to hack into your computer to see where your current location is and sent coordinates of nearby Jumpholes around your area. I hope they will come in use. Sayonara!
Satoya: It will come in great use indeed, thank you Yasutoshi...
Now let’s see. Tau-29... Tau-29... ah! Here it is! Coordinates 5-G.
***
[font=Book Antiqua]~ Inside the Tau-29 System ~
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Whew... my hull really took a beating from the Tau-23 radiation. Nonetheless, I must reach Freeport-6...
Satoya finally arrives to Freeport-6 after struggling with the Oxygen Asteroid Field.
A trip to Ainu, at the head of a transport...Done it a thousand times, nothing at all out of the norm. Except, I don't expect to do it again. The Unseelie is more of an office than a transport, and I'll soon have it refurbished to cut the hold down to only what is necessary to supply the ship. I've missed it, for a long while. Actually trading on the edge, where you might be forced to depend on days old futures markets to guess what to buy...The simple prospecting, and the scuffles around the docks when you aren't sure who's cargo is who's...Business used to be dangerous. Then politics was dangerous, and there was no time for business, and I built it into a shipping company, one with orders and dockets, where the freight is waiting and regularly contract bound...its safe, simple, and easy to maintain. One last run at the bridge. Then I'll sit at a desk and arrange mergers and takeovers, run the spiderweb and try not to stagnate. One last run through Kusari Space, a diplomatic mission on one end, and mafiosi sub bosses at the other.
Juno was exhausted, and upset. There was a sizable faction on Ainu these days, the Kiretsu, who are extremely hostile to the queen, and her. Not only because of her relationship with Bretonia, but very simply because she had left. Spending her week at home had taught her one thing: Juno Kietan has no home. She wasn't watching the sensors the way she should have been, and so, when the ship began to shake, that was the first time she realized she was being followed. Not only followed, but followed by Katana bombers.
The armour was doing its job, keeping the supernova hail from ripping through the ship, but it wouldn't last. Juno jacked into the ship's neural net, and fired the rear cannons, narrowly dodging another supernova impact as sparks erupted to her left, she'd collided with an asteroid. Cutting the engines, she drifted on attitude thrusters around the enormous rock, then opened fire with her main batteries into one of the oncoming bombers. 8 splitter tachyon bolts shredded the shield and tore wings and guns off of a catamaran, then the two ships collided, grinding through one another with a shriek of atmosphere seals rupturing along the dorsal corridor. ShipSys slammed the doors to the bridge closed, sealing it off from the rest of the ship. Emergency decompression systems kicked in, and she was sprayed with a gossamer film that quickly tightened to an airtight pressure seal. Time was up, the Catamarans had come around. Juno cut on her cruise engines, and three agonizing seconds crawled by, another nova striking the hull. Finally, the cruise cut in, and the liner jackknifed around an asteroid, 3 clicks to the hole...snaking the path so that disruptors would strike the cockpit and not the engine, she shot to the hole, and then was squeezed, everything sideways, into Tau 29. Juno collapsed into the command couch just before a plasma bolt erupted from the hole and stripped the liner's shield. A pair of catamaran bombers followed immediately afterward, putting two more blasts into the ship as Juno jerked awake. Seals broke as the ship erupted, and the decompression sucked Juno back toward the inferno through the shattered hallways. Knocked unconscious in a niobium lined hallway, she was hidden so that when the Katana Pilots scanned for life an hour later, they found no residual heat.
One of his first missions as a member of the Katana wing was the total annihilation of any assets belonging to enemies of the state. One very high profile member of this group was Juno Kietan. Incidentally, she also possessed a large portion of the assets that needed to be eliminated.
Since it was a mission early in his Katana wing career, Hajime Kitao had some green pilots on his wing. Honestly, he wasn't expecting any significant action, even in the tau's. The identification being broadcasted was easy to see, and the name "Katana" usually signalled the enemy forces to retreat before things got really bloody for them.
The patrol path was an achingly long one. From Battleship Nagumo in Kyushu to the front in Tau 31, doubling back to Tau 23 and completing the circuit back at the Nagumo using a newly discovered jump hole.
The first jump to Tau 29 went without incidence, all was calm and the regular patrols were cleaning a few Outcast raiders that had decided it was a good time to attack. It was these kinds of attacks that gave those in the Shogunate reason to obliterate the suspected smuggling routes in the taus.
In Tau 31, there were many clashes between battlegroups of Kusari and Bretonia. Ships were ablaze everywhere, cannons blinking in the distance signifying a burst of energy. Missiles penetrated hulls and torpedo's skewered and split the smaller capital ships. Parts were everywhere. Seemed almost like a scrapyard of military forces... a new Yanagi gas cloud...
Of course, that was all usual. The wing engaged some enemy capital ships and managed to retreat unhurt once they were down. The war was not the priority of the patrol, and they needed to complete their trip. Communications chatter was muted, the occassional short conversation taking place.
Once in Tau 23, the scanners blinked to life. They showed, oddly, a Bretonian liner in the vacinity. Warranting further investigation, the Katana bombers closed in for a pass. Following standard proceedure, the ship was identified...
The Unseelie eh...? Seems to be one of the targets. Open fire!
Hai!
At first, the ship did not respond to the supernova's and plasma bursts.
Obviously the captain is asleep! Keep up the fire!
Soon though, it came about and the guns lit up like a fireworks display. Tachyon beams lit illumated space and the bombers of the attacking Kusari. Kitao fired his antimatter cannon again into the ship, but it dodged it narrowly. The shockwave of antimatter, not obeying the limitations of physics, left a large scorchmarks along the left side of the ship. In dodging the blast, the liner managed to collide with a rock. As Kitao and the men under his temporary command came around for another pass, they found themselves facing the front of the ship.
Time appeared to slow as the main batteries of the liner began to fire. The pilot to Kitao's left, a pilot just out of flight school, was taken completely by surprise and hesitated a moment too long, while his ship was ripped to pieces. Kitao could only spare his craft a glance, and pressed his tractor beam activation control. However, the catamaran was still intact, signalled by the failure of the tractorbeam to activate.
Break off! Come around from the sides!
As Kitao and his remaining wingman completed their turn, they saw their comrade's ship plough into the liner. The collision caused an explosion and a subsequent violent change in direction of the liner. Its orientation management systems were struggling to deal with the change in momentum.
Neither his wingman nor Kitao himself were armed with a train cruise distruptor. It was unfortunately the job of the deceased second wingman to distrupt enemy vessels as they tried to flee. Both surviving members of the patrol gritted their teeth at the loss of their wingman and resumed their frequent supernova strikes on the liner.
The pilot of the hostile liner made an improbably move and managed to completely reverse the direction of the ship in seconds by using an asteroid as a pivot. As the bombers tried to reverse their direction, the liner managed to gain a small lead and headed to a gravitational anomaly... a jump hole.
These weren't used a lot by any branch of the KNF due to their unpredictability and dangerousness, but before long, the liner managed to jump through.
Fire through the hole!
Two supernova's entered the anomaly, and the Katana bombers arrived on the other side, in Tau 29, just in time to see them land. This time they caught the engines of the fleeing ship, and it completely disintegrated. For a moment, the naked core of the engine room was visible, plasma conduits and antimatter regulators exposed. Then it all went up in a ball of light.
Both remaining bomber pilots recoiled from the explosion...
The bombers returned home to the Nagumo and filed their reports, but also requested that the wreckage be sweeped for survivors. When the results came back, no survivors had been found...
Rays of sunlight blinded my eyes and warmed up my body. I slowly began to wake up from yesterday’s labour. The scent of nature, the suns presence, the very serenity which surrounded me... "Yes" I thought for myself. It was exactly this I wanted in life.
I moved myself to the kitchen, took a glass and filled it with the icy, clean water. The refreshing taste never failed to astonish me, how the Zoners managed to produce such delicacy was beyond my comprehension.
A Zoners life feels great, peaceful and yet interesting. I learn something new every day here, there are so many different kinds of people that stop by in Freeport-6: Criminals, Merchants, House military, Freelancers, you name it.
[font=Book Antiqua][color=#FFFFFF]~ Present time ~
Satoya:[color=#FF6600]This is Zoner Satoya Kikushi, asking for permission to launch, over.
Station controller: Roger that Zoner, you are clear for launch, good luck out there.
Satoya: Thank you.
Good livings Mr. Kikushi. Just sending a reminder about our meeting today at Freeport-10. Be there in time.
// Mr. Wilkins
Satoya: Computer, show the fastest route to Tau-37.
Computer: Calculating distance... complete. Waypoints shown in navigational map.
Satoya: [color=#FF6600] Computer, show all waypoints.
Computer: [font=System]Waypoint 1: Tau-29 to Tau-23 Jumphole.
Waypoint 2: Tau-23 to Tau-37 Jumphole.
Waypoint 3: Tau-37 Jumphole to Freeport-10 station.
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Computer, set course to Tau-23 Jumphole. Automatic cruise.
Computer: [font=System]Automatic cruise to Tau-23 Jumphole initated.
[color=#000000]***
As Satoya approached the Tau-23 Jumphole covered by the glacier-looking Oxygen Asteroid Field, he discovered something very odd...
Satoya:
What the... is that a Royal Liner burning? At least the parts left of it. I must fly inside the wreck and investigate further.
It seems this vessel had taken a heavy beating, these holes must have been made from Supernovas. Several major electrical wires were cut to pieces and some hanged from the ceiling sparking, which shorted the lights, they flickered for a few seconds until darkness lay upon the rooms once more. Furniture’s were shredded to pieces and shuffled around from the collision. I could see four bodies, three were lying on the ground and the last one had been pressed between a desk and a chair. Their faces revealed Bretonian descent, unfortunately none of them showed any signs of life...
I continued searching and went deeper into its core sections. From a large distance I saw something strange lying on the floor, it was very dark so my visibility was limited, but it had a human figure. Slowly I thrusted closer and closer to it but suddenly I couldn’t proceed any further. I had foolishly forgotten to turn on my ships lights and now I saw what was blockading me, a narrow hallway. Though now I could also see that it was actually a woman surrounded by a protective fabric. I took notice of her breathing and knew she was still alive.
*Crumbling noises*What the hell is going on? Oh damn, the roof is about to collapse! I got to get out of here but first, I must rescue that woman. Ok, so if I can’t reach her from the inside I must open a path from the outside.
Remembering the path out, I quickly thrusted myself to the exit, dodging the obstacles on the way. I swerved hard to the left and from there circled around the vessel until I found the spot where the woman was located. I shot three times at the fragile hull panels which blasted an opening big enough for my ship to enter. Once inside, I quickly tractored in the suit which carried the woman and set course to Freeport-6.
Satoya: [color=#FF6600]Hi, how do you feel?
Juno: Uhng...uh... What? Where am I?
Satoya: Take it easy, you still need to recover. I will explain later ok?
Juno: Recover from? What's going on here? Who are you?
Satoya: Your injuries... they still need time to heal. I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Satoya, your ship... it was destroyed. I was on a business trip heading towards the jumphole where I found you, inside a Royal Liner. Do you remember anything from the incident?
Juno: What?... oh .. Katana... Katana bombers... where are we?
Satoya: *Thinks*She seems confused, the explosion must have caused temporary amnesia. Hmm... Katana Bombers? So it was them who caused the Supernova holes. Why were they after you?
Juno: They... The war... They're after me because of the war.
Satoya: You mean the Bretonia - Kusari war? How are you involved in this mess? You don't look like a Bretonian to me. Infact, you remind me of a Golden Crysanthemum.
Juno: Ow... my legs are getting worse...
Satoya: I told you, don't try to move. You must give your body time to heal. Do you want anything? A glass of water perhaps?
Juno: I can't move my legs...what happened?
Satoya: Apparently you seemed to be inside the Royal Liner once it collided with an astreoid, combining that with the damage done by the Katana Bombers... your body got injured. Unlike the rest of the crew members you were in a protective suit, if it wasn't for it... you would probaly be dead right now.
Juno: Bloody hell...how long?
Satoya: How long?
Juno: How long have I been here?
Satoya: Approximately one day now. Though this is the first time I have seen you awake. Are you sure you don't want anything? Hungry? Thirsty?
Juno: My daughter...
Satoya: Your daughter?*Thinks*God, I hope she wasn't inside that Royal Liner, how would I explain her death then?
Juno: I need...I need to talk to my daughter.
Satoya: Right now you should focuse on recovering. I have purchased some medicine to stop the pain. But you still won't be available to move for a while.
Juno: I need to go... I've...my daughter...my business..
Satoya: Why won't you listen to me. You can't move, you will only hurt yourself more.
Juno: Where are we? I'm not safe.
Satoya: You can trust me. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to take care of you. And this is my home. Thoose corrupted KNF dogs won't catch you, trust me. I know how to deal with them...
Juno: You're a doctor?
Satoya: No, but as you know Freeport-6 gets alot of visitors, I have taken knowledge from various people, one or two happened to be Cryer employees. Also, in the Blood Dragon survival training I was taught basic first aid.
Juno: We're on Kyoto?
Satoya: Yes... in "Kyoto"... but lets not talk about that, its my past, I like it to stay that way. What the... you need to get some water right now.*Runs to the kitchen and fills up a glass of water*Here drink this*Moves the glass towards Junos lips*
Juno: *Cough*Thank you..*Juno shrinks back, squirming and flinching as her legs brushed the sheets*How's Mariko? She should be with christopher...she...*Juno's eyes slipped closed, and she drifted off into sleep*
Satoya: Mariko? Christopher? Who are the- ... oh , she fell back to sleep. Well I better prepare some food for her.
As everyone knows, Freeports get a lot of visitors. The nations of Sirius send their trade across the stars, and freeports beat like surging hearts strung on chains between the stars. Everything flows through a freeport; Drugs, money, produce, people...
Disease.
Of course, any station was equipped with hugely sophisticated scrubber systems, designed to challenge the hugely diverse array of infections that pass through any port, passed along by contact or through the air, any one of which could, if left unchecked, diffuse throughout Sirius in mere weeks, infecting billions of people with no native antibodies. Ideally, a clean station would quarantine all infections, but in any market environment, quarantining buyers and sellers was extremely impractical. Such safety measures had never caught on, even on military bases. Instead, stations and starports employed their own batch of custom tailored microorganisms and nanites, designed to work in concert with air filters and automated sanitation robots, out-competing and eliminating most natural bacteria. They were often supplemented by tailored proteins that only the stationboard bacteria could digest, or, on more sophisticates systems, proteins that were fed to specific bacteria by nanites.
Juno Kietan got much worse. Her fever continued to rise, and she could not keep down food. Three days after she'd sunken into her fever, she began vomiting blood, in her sleep. Satoya paniced, and took her to medical...she was almost transfered to Naga, before her own people ran across the red flags. She was quickly transfered to a medical center on Cambridge, and the infection had been shipped to CRI.