Justus Lynn

[boxcartenant]

Awaking, without memories, in a strange place, Justus Lynn found himself born again at the age of 24.

Justus woke fully dressed in the back of a Stargazer. He was wrapped in a crude blanket, with a pillow under his head, and an ancient video was playing on an old television which had been jerry-rigged to function using the ship's internal electrical system. It droned in the corner of his small living space -- he did not pay it any special attention, but in the back of his mind he recognized the voices. The machine, Landrew, had taken the lives and minds of an entire planet, handing them everything they wanted: peace, tranquility, and contentment... there was no fighting, unless Landrew willed it. Having stumbled onto this planet in their roaming, the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise was now subject to Landrew's devices; Kirk and Spock were moving to save the day. Later in the episode, Kirk would demonstrate to Landrew that by removing the necessary struggle from the people of his planet, Landrew had taken away their creativity, and was depriving them of life. Landrew, in order to correct the situation, would be forced to self destruct.

With the exception of some dim memories in the back of his mind, Justus was immediately aware that his surroundings were unfamiliar. He panicked at first, and thought he'd been kidnapped, but the keys to the Stargazer were in the ignition, the doors were locked, and nobody else was in the ship besides Justus. He opened every unlocked compartment he could find, looking for a clue, and found nothing. There was little food; only some clothing, and necessary hygienic amenities. Justus took the keys and stepped outside.

He was in a city inside of an asteroid. The city looked like a trash heap, but had a certain business about it. Every person in the city moved with purpose, as if towards a common goal. The Stargazer was battered, but not in need of repair. Justus thought to himself: Where am I?. After some walking around, he came across a bar: Maybe I can clear my head and learn something about this place.

Justus sat down at the bar and asked for a drink. The bartender asked to see his's ID, to open a tab. My ID! Justus hadn't even thought to check his back pocket. He reached in and pulled out an old fashioned, "Touch Screen" style wallet. The device was a model specifically built for durability. Justus resisted the urge to carefully examine it, and just opened up the ID application then handed it over to the bartender.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah," Justus replied.

"Well, welcome to Monterrey Bar. What'll you have?"

Monterrey?! What am I doing here?! "Vodka Tonic, easy ice. Thanks." Justus kept his cool, and waited nervously for his wallet to be returned to him. He knew enough about the Vespucci system to want to avoid it, and he hoped the bartender wouldn't see anything he didn't like in the ID.

"Coming right up." The bartender's tone of voice was reassuringly unchanged.

The bar was small, and had few patrons. The bartender returned Justus his wallet, and carried on a certain level of small talk to keep Justus interested while he was waiting for his drink. From the conversaion, he learned that the Legion was trying to expand out from their typical asteroid hideouts. The bartender also mentioned that the parts of the former Phoenix Shipyard had been moved to a new location and reassembled.

Justus's first impulse was to rush to Liberty Navy and tell them the rumor, but then he remembered where he was. Anyway, he thought, LiN probably has this information already. They know lots of things they don't share with the public.. He took a moment to examine his wallet while he sipped his drink.

On receiving the wallet, he glanced at the ID. It read, Hellfire Legion. Justus was terrified. He felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck, and he started to sweat. The bartender looked at him, and said "Are you ok? You look pale all of the sudden."

Justus turned his head toward the bartender. He attempted a smile, but stopped when his face began to twitch. He opened his mouth to speak, but had nothing to say. He turned to his vodka tonic and took a long draw from the glass, and then said with a deep breath, "I'm fine." His mind raced, and he struggled to remember how he got there, but he could not remember.

He tapped the wallet to open his bank account -- 2,000,000 credits had been recently transferred in, and there was a message associated with the transfer. The contents of the message were partially corrupted: "Justus, I'm sending you this [noise] was running from a group of bounty [noise] jump holes they chased me through. I thought I had escaped them in a nebula, but [noise] what system I [noise] as soon as I got to the other side, my ship [noise] heavy radiation, and I [noise] completely out of fuel. [noise] this money. It's all I have left. Thanks for [noise]..." The message was from Boxcartenant. Boxcartenant... Why does that name sound so familiar...?

Justus sat and thought, trying to remember where he had come from, to no avail. He drank four more vodka tonics before paying his tab and stumbling out of the bar. Slowly he made his way back to the launch pad where his ship was hovering idly, tied to the docking module. As he approached, he saw written on the side of the ship, "Boxcartenant", in bold letters. It was the name of his ship! Why is my ship named after that person? Justus's mind was at its limits. He climbed into the Stargazer and crawled into the back of the ship. The old television was now showing static; Justus turned it off and lay down, tired from the stress of his situation and from the alcohol. He fell back asleep.

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Kill a whale; save a giant squid.