The Brotherhood

[Lucend]

Don Lucendez was leaving the event horizon of the Alpha Jumphole when a breaking news bulletin caught up with his onboard receiver.

Good evening Crete! This is your Outcast New Network anchor signing on.

Today was met with shame and distraught as several Cardamine fields had been burned and subsequently destroyed by the an armed resistance group hiding like children in the mountains and caves of Crete. Selfishly burning our Cardamine has yielded less food shipments to Crete and thus more starvation.

Ever since the Coalition landed and started this guerrilla war with us, we have been suffering for it. As always, if anyone has information on the culprits, please contact your locale Brotherhood outpost at...

Juan shut the receiver off in disgust.

"So that's why I didn't get my shipment." He said to himself, hovering his finger over the cruise switch. Banking his Sabre, he dived back into the Alpha jumphole and transmitted a message.

Comm ID: Don Juan Lucendez
To: All Dons and Elder Don Maniaco
ID Trace: Omicron Alpha, Unknown Location

Displaying...

The Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army has finally shown it's true colors. Some upstart Captain is hiding on Crete with a contingent of ex-Corsairs. I'm going to defend my property, and my bottom line. If any of you want to bash some Corsair heads while also battling on a planet with a thick enough Cardamine atmosphere to breathe in without a mask, then be my guest.

As for Maniaco's orders, I'm sorry brother, but I must protect my property. It is my birthright and my obligation. I know you will understand.

//End Transmission.

Juan punched in the Cretan coordinates into his autopilot and sat back in his cockpit, reveling in the excitement for the blood ahead.

Meanwhile, on Crete...

"Captain!"

The young Hispanic boy ran up to the towering, yet neatly dressed Coalition captain with a red bandanna around his neck.

"Yes private, what is it?"

"Captain! A message from the Marx sir!"

The Captain held out his mechanical hand and arm and took the datapad from the private. He entered his access code and read the message over, tossing the datapad down on the floor of the cave they were using as a command center and paced in a circle.

Finally stopping, he looked at the private, "Assemble our forces and keep everyone on alert. The battle you and your comrades were looking for has just come."

The private salutes and runs off to inform his compatriots of their duties.

---

"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."

Osaika Moto, the Fall and Rise of a Kusari Farmer

Juan Lucendez, √ Corsair