Francisco de Orellana

[Francisco_de_Orellana]

The Rescue of Francisco de Orellana
A small Cardamine interdiction force of the Familia Benitez stalked Sigma 13, hunting for traders foolish enough to carry the poison past the Corsair's front door. Business was quiet. Nothing on scanners.
A message popped up on Commandante Ronaldo's comms screen. The reclusive Don Carlos appeared into view.
"I'm aware that this is a routine mission but I have a bad feeling about this one. The yacht is not suited to military operations, so I will not be joining you, but I expect to be kept in the loop"
"Si, I will keep you informed of developments mi Don."
"Bueno".

Aboard the gunboat Aegis Leon Benitez was getting restless, "More power to the scanners. Keep targetting systems at the ready".
"We've got something, I have a ship on scanners, long range"

Ronaldo trained his fighter's scanners onto the Aegis's sensor-lock.
"Zoner markings, I'm moving in for a closer look, Pepito, cover us as we move in"
"Zoner ship OSI-Thetis: This is Senor Ronaldo Benitez, cut your engines and hold your position, we intend to scan you."

The huge ship hurtled through the gas field towards the the fighter group showing no intention of running.. As it moved into visual range, they saw why. The ship was drifting, tumbling at cruise speed, out of control.
"OSI-Thetis, Captain, do you read?"
The radio buzzed with static. This was not normal.
"Fire Disrupters"

A train disrupter streaked towards the ship and found its target, its EMP forcing a reset of every computer on the ship. The subcruise engines fired up and dragged the ship suddenly to a halt. Inside, everyone was thrown against the bulkheads by the sudden, violent deceleration.
Ronaldo barked orders over the comms to his men
"Scanners show 6 life signs on board, one faint. No cargo. Aegis, prep a boarding party, I want to know what's going on here. Fighters, maintain a security screen."

The Aegis moved in, grappling the Thetis and extending a conduit to the airlock.
"Leon, what's the sit-rep on that boarding party?"
"They're entering the Thetis now sir"


Aboard the Thetis the four man assault team descended into darkness. The ancillary power was out. Lighting up torches, they pressed on, clearing rooms as they went.
"This is Assault-1, We're aboard, no sign of the crew. Power's out."
They reached the bridge doors. Sealed shut. Grey smoke lifted lazily from the overloaded control padd.
"Bridge doors sealed, we're cutting through now".
Taking out micro-plasma torches, the four man team sliced through the thick door with speed and precision, a firm kick from a boot dropped the doors to the deck.

Ronaldo called in information from all points "Report in"
"Fighter section shows no contacts, GMG clearly aren't aware of our presence yet"
"Commando-1 here. We've just entered the bridge. Looks like the pilot's unconscious. He's... He's Corsair sir"
"A Corsair pilot? On a zoner ship? Check his dog tags."
"This tattoo, he's Benitez! But I don't recognise him sir, but he's old, perhaps as old as the Don"
"What's his condition?"
"I'd say he was dying, looks like Cardamine poisoning"

Out in the fighter group, Enrico called his men to readiness "Keep it tight, I've got a bad feeling about this".

Back at the Thetis, Ronaldo was quickly planning.
"Commando group, get that ship operational and get ready to move out. We'll head to Atka. If it is Cardamine, they're the only ones who can help him now. If we move him or attempt to run to Gamma, he'll die."

"Sir, we've found his tags. You're not going to believe this, I'm having a hard time myself."
"Spit it out, we're running out of time here"
"These tags belong to Francisco de Orellana"
"Impossible. He's dead. Lost on deep recon 20 years ago.
"DNA scan confirms sir."
" Madre Mio! Hmm... Well I'll be..."
"Commando 2 to Commandante, there's severe damage to the nav computer over here. I'm going to need to work out how to fly this thing manually. It'll take about five minutes.
"Enrico to Ronaldo, long range scans show GMG paramilitary and Outcast patrols in this region, we need to get a move on"

Ronaldo warmed up his ship, this could get interesting.
"Commando unit, you've got two minutes, take any longer and I'll drag you to Cadiz and sell you to the Sails"

Two minutes later, the subcruise engines on the Thetis powered up
"We're rolling sir"
Meanwhile on the Aegis, the scanners came alive
"Sir, we've got three Outcast Light Fighters closing on us!"

"Ronaldo to all hands: inbound outcasts, Security screen formation, protect the Thetis

Claes Leslie of the 75th guided her ships into range.
"OSI Thetis: Captaino Frost, move away from the corsair ships and surrender our prisoner and you may be afforded mercy"
"This is Gunboat Aegis, you can forget it. Turn and run or we turn on the turrets"
Swearing under her breath Claes opened a channel to her pilots:
"Take out the Thetis. We can tow corpses back to Malta."

As weaponsfire began to illuminate the clouds, aboard the Thetis the thrusters had finally fired up and the ship ran for the Sigma 17 jumphole, taking a beating from the attacking 75th patrol as it went.
"Sir, this thing doesn't handle weapons fire well, keep em clear!"

Ronaldo opened up the comm link to Atka Research Station and transmitted:
"Cryer Cryer, this is Benitez 1-1, we have a pilot with Cardamine poisoning, We're en route to you and bringing company"
A Cryer scientist appeared on the screen.
"Cardamine poisoning? We'll have the Emergency room waiting for his arrival. See if you can collect us some Outcast test subjects whilst you're at it?"

The Outcast onslaught continued as the Thetis jumped to 17 and powered towards Atka, taking a colossal beating as the heavy interdiction squad attempted to defend from the swarm of light fighters.

After a few minutes and with few regens left aboard, the Thetis docked inside the sheild envelope of Atka as two Cryer ships moved into position to keep the fighting away from the station.

Orellana was removed from the ship by the medics, the Thetis' crew and captain were located and treated. Once the battle outside had concluded, the ship was escorted to Freeport 9 and handed back to its Zoner crew. As they approached FP9, they spotted the silhouette of a Democritus yacht.


On board Commandante Ronaldo Benitez's ship, the viewscreen popped into life.
"This is Don Carlos at Freeport 9 to Benitez amigos. Gentlemen, you have a lot of explaining to do. I mean, I would love to know why the hell you've hijacked a Zoner Whale. You realise that boarding that ship could be considered an act of war?"
Somewhat taken aback, Ronaldo replied. "The ship was non-responsive and drifting, on boarding, we found one of our men, Fransisco de Orellana. He's been missing for 20 years"
"20 years? You mean before our little peaceful revolution?"
"Si"
"You realise what that means? Regarding his loyalty?"
"Si, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But first he must survive"