The 'Scarecrow' Saga - Overviews of the Original Stories

[|Scarecrow|]

001. “SCARECROW”, Officer’s Logs –
Written as a post-by-post by [Scarecrow], on Freelancer Evolved (EvolvedOnes).

An introduction to Marcus Jonathan Scarman: Liberty Navy Flight Lieutenant 2nd Class, initially serving aboard the LNS Missouri in the New York system. This story took the form of a first-person officer’s log and was originally posted on the Freelancer Evolved / EvolvedOnes forums. This chain of logs begins with Marcus’ promotion to Flight Lieutenant 2nd and progresses through several key moments in his early Navy career.

Marcus quickly becomes a respected starfighter pilot, earning ace status early with flight group Missouri Green. He reveals a natural talent for zero-g combat, and eventually earns his callsign, Scarecrow. In a protracted campaign against an ambitious pirate warlord with the Liberty Rogues, Scarman creates a feared reputation. As the campaign reaches a crucial point of shifting power, Scarman’s Defender class fighter, serial number sixteen-forty, becomes a key asset to the Navy forces. If serial sixteen-forty is seen to be flying in a Navy wing, the warlord’s Rogues take to abandoning their missions and dispersing. Marcus comes to be known as ‘the scarecrow’, with his comrades, as the enemy develops a habit of scattering at the sight of him.

The logs progress onto another campaign for the Navy, this time as Scarecrow and his wing are reassigned to the LNS Half Moon, operating out of the California system. Marcus is promoted to Flight Lieutenant 1st and is reshuffled into a new wing: Half Moon Red. Now flying as the wing second, as Red Two, Marcus is in a position of mid-tier command for the first time in his career. However, he slips up. He falls in love with one of his squad-mates, a young woman by the name of Samantha Reynolds. Fraternising amongst Navy personnel is strictly prohibited, and Marcus and Samantha find themselves facing stern reprimands.

Simultaneously, a mysterious new threat emerges. Scarecrow, Reynolds, and the crew of the Half Moon investigate a mysterious string of events and eventually discover that a formidable party within the Navy are forming a campaign against other elements of the armed forces. Marcus is soon embroiled in a battle with Navy assets who are under the influence of an incursion of alien Nomads. The fight takes them to the Alaska system, where they ultimately engage a wing of Nomad fighters. In a shocking twist, wings from the Half Moon turn on Red squadron, and all ships, including Scarecrow’s sixteen-forty, are destroyed. This is humanity’s second encounter with the hostile alien race and is the beginning of a long campaign of terror that is about to be executed across Liberty space. Scarecrow's ejection capsule is recovered by a Nomad controlled SAR team who aim to turn him to their side, but he is eventually able to steal another Defender: serial number two-one. To his horror, he realises that the ship he has stolen is the one that had gunned him down mere hours earlier.

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| S C A R E C R O W |

"See you space cowboy..."