Journal of Tarkis, the Orphan.

[Tarkis]

Data Entry #2:


So, my dear reader, where did i leave off?..

Ah, i remember. I had just realized i was brainless...let's go a little into the future, i don't really feel up to reliving my stupidity.


So...after a few days of relaxation, i discovered i had a small problem.
I was running out of money...
I had spent nearly all i had for supplies when i left Manhattan.
"Hm...this isn't good...i wonder how many credits i have left...i should probably check?..."
...
"..."
"AAH!!"

I had 60 credits.
Sixty measly credits that might buy me a few weeks of cheap moldy food.
I needed a job. Now i know what you might be thinking...'Uh oh, he's about to do something entirely stupid again, and this time it might really be a Corsair he bets!'
But no, actually i used my brain and realized that i was sitting in a fully equipped fighter.
Sure the gear wasn't top notch, but it was definitely a step above many of the local rag-tag criminals.
Plus the only skill i had, the only skill i have to this day, is piloting.
I'm an Ace, [color=#3333FF]a master dominator, [color=#33FF33]the cat's pajamas and [color=#33FFFF]the bee's knees of [color=#CC33CC]Sirius fighter pilots!

...Or at least i thought i was.
Yea...so...what happened on that first mission i took?
I bet you really want to know.
As some gamers back on Manhattan would say...i was owned.
Completely and utterly.
I didn't take out a single ship, and spent the whole time dodging while my mission partners took them out.

What Shame!
Sure i could dodge, but what good is that if i can't hit my target?!
I don't want to dodge a pirate for hours on end, i want it to be over in an instant!
Me on the winning side, of course...
So i did the only other thing i was good at besides dodging...i read.
I read and i read, then i read some more while eating my breakfast consisting of warm milk, a moldy biscuit, and more reading.
I studied piloting books, i learned what to watch out for, i learned what mistakes to take advantage of.
I learned that experience is the ruler of all that exists.
If you don't have experience, you don't exist. As far as anyone else is concerned.

So after reading every piloting book in the station's library computers, i was out of credits, and out of food. It was definitely time to test my mettle.

My second mission, i took it easy. Just a routine scouting route around a nearby gas cloud.
No hostiles had been seen there for quite some time, and i was assured that it would be boring, and safe.

Oh boy.
They lied!

Myself and three police officers were all they sent, and i swear they had to have known something was there.
And there sure was.
Not just a getaway criminal, or an unruly grandmother. No.
A freakin' Corsair base.
It was under construction...luckily, so there were no turrets yet.
As you surely know...under construction bases, especially pirate ones, are not left unguarded.
There were five of them, five Corsair Centurions against the cops and my Tiger Shark.

Before we knew what we where seeing, four cruise disrupters were fired in our direction, three hit their marks. I was one of the ones hit. So i took a split second to recall to memory everything i'd read about Corsair tactics and the characteristics of the Centurion.
That was a mistake, i had barely remembered that they were heavy fighters when my shield drained almost completely.
"Oh ____! Oh __!! What do i do?!"
Was all i could say or think as i dodged this way and that, thrust there, whipped around after an engine kill here...thrust back over there...

Suddenly there was a horrific scream, a death rattle more disturbing than that Kusari movie i saw as a child. (What was it's name...Ichi the Killer, i believe? Anyway...)
It was one of the police officers dying...and i knew it.
It knocked me back into reality. I had to think, i had to fight.
I looked down at my scanner and noticed that there was only one pilot left besides me. The one that dodged the CD must have ran...

"What a coward...what a worthless betrayer of his friends, those other cops are his friends! Well...one 'was' his friend..."

Another mind shaking barrage of plasma ripped at my shields, they were nearly gone now...
"This is it, fight now or die alongside some stranger."

I glanced at my scanner one more time, "Good...only 3 Corsairs left...".
I swerved and let all hell lose on a Corsair about to lodge a missile into that cop's cockpit.
He changed course and came after me. I turned and let him catch up behind me.
He had me in his sights...i sped up just a bit...he began to fire and that's when i pulled up and came to a dead stop.
Upside-down, watching in amusement as the Corsair flew right under me with a baffled look on his face.
He was too busy staring at me to realize that he was heading right into the mine i had dropped just as i started my little maneuver.

"One down, two to go."

I pushed the sight of the imploding Centurion out of my mind and went after my wingman's target.
The enemy ship's wing was already torn off and leaking fuel.
I dove in and slammed his damaged side with as much firepower as my ship could dish out.
I nearly ran into him, but managed to swerve just as his ship imploded.

"Hey cop, wheres the other one? I don't see..."
Officer: "I'm not sure, kid. Maybe he ra- He's right on my six!"
"Evading! Help me kid! I c-"

Another scream...
i cringed.

I wondered if he had a family...
"No! this is no time to daydream!"

I banked and thrust just as a few shots ripped the the space my ship had just occupied.

Quickly i turned to face the Centurion head-on.
I remembered the book about Centuirions...
"Their weakness is that they turn like slugs, but in a head on fight, you'll be flying to Crete in a cargo hold."
I swerved and boosted around him, trying to get behind him.

"Almost...almost...just a few...wha?? ____!"

Just as i had my sights on him, he pulled a low yo-yo and disappeared from view.
I killed my engines and turned in the direction he went...something i shouldn't have done.
He was already behind me, as soon as he saw that i was moving in a straight line, he opened fire with the hull ripping force of 6 guns and even his CD.

I was hit hard, i barely moved in time to stay alive.
I watched as one by one, system malfunction lights started flickering bright red.

*[color=#FF0000]ERROR: Engines: 68% efficiency. Thruster not registering. Port wing destroyed. Life support failing.*

I had failed...three of them proved to be too much for a rookie pilot like me...
Deeper and deeper into depression i sunk as i was mindlessly trying to dodge shots in a half dead hunk of metal.

"Why bother, no one is anywhere near this area, no one can help..."
I took my hands off the controls and waited to be obliterated in the small, unnoticed implosion that my tiny Tiger Shark would cause.

But it never came...

I started to get angry...

"Why isn't he shooting me? Why...what the...why am i not dead?! Corsair! Finish me off you scum!"

Unknown: "Calm down mercenary, he's dead. You'll live to see your family again."

Some freelancer noticed the battle as he was flying to some nearby jump hole, or at least that's what he told me later...in any case. He saved my life. So i was thankful, but his comment on me seeing my family? Not so much.

"...Thank you...but...actually, i won't."

---

Character Stories/Backgrounds:
Cat o' Nine Anodyne (Character no longer exists.)
Delirium (Character no longer exists.)
Journal of Tarkis, the Orphan.(Character no longer exists.)
Story of Iggy, the Amazing Citizen. (Character no longer exists.)