The Scarman Enigma

[|Scarecrow|]

Skyler Hawkins sat by the large bay window of the hotel room he, Zed Raphael and a number of Black Flag Brawlers were using as their temporary residence. He looked out at the bustling city across and below. Los Angeles was one of the busiest placed he had ever been. And he detested it; it was nothing like his native Bretonia. Hawkins had been one of the first Black Flag Corsairs, recruited by the mysterious Agent back in their home dimension several months after Marcus Scarman had founded the pirate warband. He and several others had been the first in Scarecrows wing of terrorists, hitting transports and working their way up the bloody arena of competing pirate factions.

All of the others who had joined then were now dead, most of them by Scarecrows own hand. Hawkins knew Scarman trusted him, even if the two didnt share a common sense of amity. Scarman trusted his only two elite pilots with his life, and for good reason. It was the only way Hawkins and his counterpart, Zed Raphael had made it into the Black Flag Elite. They were the single remaining members, as the rest had either been left behind in their native dimension or killed at the hands of Scarman for betraying him.

Skyler new better than to cross their Tyrant, but several of the Gladiators using some of the hotel rooms down below were beginning to get cocky. They were deferring to Sayne Jadyn; some had already disbanded the Black Flag to join Jadyns Darkside. Skyler had decided to ignore the arrogant turncoats for the moment, but swore that they would pay for their disloyalty. As soon as Scarecrow found out, heads were going to roll. And Skyler had no doubt that as soon as whatever deal Scarman and Jadyn had made, relations between the Black Flag and Darkside were going to deteriorate rapidly.

Skyler flipped his tattered hat over in his hands and sighed. He reached across for his beer bottle, noticed that it was empty, and spat a curse at it. Raphael wandered over from the other end of the room, smirking.
Youre getting restless Hawkins,
You noticed did you? Skyler looked up, dry sarcasm dripping from his words.
Well, somebodys tetchy, Raphael sat down beside Skyler, revealing another beer and a bottle opener. He opened the bottle with a crack and flicked the cap out of the window. He then took a swig of the chilled beer, tiny steams of it dribbling down his chin. Ah thats good,
You ****er,
Shame there arent any more, all the ****ing rookies drank them all.

Skyler suddenly slammed his fist down on the table beside him. Damn it Raphael, how long are we going to have to sit here in this ****ing place. Scarman has been gone now for more than three hours; youd think hell have managed to get something useful by now.
Ease yourself, our Tyrant will send us word sooner or later.
Sooner it would seem, Elise Clark, one of the Black Flags most promising Brawlers had been listening in on their banter. She had been sat manning the rooms single computer system, which lay with half of its insides strewn across the floor. Hawkins had modified it to block out all hotel functions and had transformed it into an advanced, high bandwidth communications block. They were tuned in to all of the frequencies Scarecrow was likely to use.

Ive got something coming through,
Stream it off, Skyler said, jumping up and purposefully knocking Raphael so that he sloshed beer down his front.
Bastard, Raphael grunted as he stood up and followed Hawkins. The two Black Flag Elite walked around the coffee table and sat behind Clark.
Its a coded transmission, no audio Its a massive file package.
Open it up, Hawkins leaned over Clark, inspecting the schematics that flashed up on the screen. A smile slowly began to cross his features. Zed, our Tyrant has pulled through yet again. Get in contact with Jadyn, tell him we have an entire schematic for the Tuatha de Danaans combat capabilities. Her lead-out, shield modulation, fighter regiment, hell even what the Admirals mess is serving for dinner this evening.
Raphael grinned and turned away, Ill get right on it,

Wait, Clark said as Raphael exited the room. Hawkins turned back around to face her.
What is it?
There is another coded transmission coming in, this one is audio.
He must be rotating channels, Skyler said, leaning back over the Brawler, Put it on,
My elite, Marcus Scarmans voice said over the speakers, I have transmitted you a schematic for the Freedom Fighters ship. The information should assist you with the proper engagement plans. Also, there are two operatives heading down for the surface. Merlow and Admiral Scarman are busy up here, so for the moment the two operatives will be without backup. Give them a lead; play them into Jadyns arms. We have a plan formulating.

The transmission then cut off. Hawkins looked over at the doorway and then back to Clark. See if you can get any more information on these two operatives of which he speaks. Weve been monitoring incoming stellar traffic; I want to know what has entered atmo within the last hour. Message me once you have it.
Ill get right on it, Clark nodded and turned back to the computer.
Skyler turned around and made his way through the hotel room. He arrived at the doorway and strode off down the outside corridor, heading for the landing platform.

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| S C A R E C R O W |

"See you space cowboy..."