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  Discovery Gaming Community Role-Playing Stories and Biographies
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The Finer Things in Life

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The Finer Things in Life
Offline LancerZero
03-02-2010, 06:22 PM, (This post was last modified: 03-18-2010, 04:51 AM by LancerZero.)
#16
Member
Posts: 852
Threads: 52
Joined: Oct 2007

About Eight Months Ago

After a rather long and bumpy ride in the heavy fighter's cargo hold, Katashi and Ren were all too happy to see sunlight once more. The ships in the sky were different than what they were used to, of course, but other than that the city their rescuer had landed in could've been that of any major house in Sirius.

Holding his helmet under one arm, the bearded pilot grinned hugely and made an expansive gesture with his other arm. "Welcome to Gallia! My name is Jacques Aguirre, and I am a fighter pilot and scout for the Council. Come! The wine in the bar is peerless, and we have stories to share." Neither of the Junkers had heard of Gallia or the Council - except the Corsair Council of Elders on Crete - but wine was a familiar word.

* * * * *

Several hours of talking and a bottle of fine Gallian wine later, Katashi asked, "What happens now?"

"Well," Jacques folded his hands and leaned forward. "The information you gave me is interesting. We knew about the Bretonia-Kusari war, but not that Liberty and Rheinland were on the brink of war as well. While we would certainly like more information about house politics, one can hardly expect borderworld pilots to know much of such things. So, you are free to go."

Katashi blinked. "Just like that?"

"Oui. Of course, you might need a ship...I am afraid I cannot simply give one to you, but I can provide lodging while you do odd jobs in-system until you can afford a ship of some kind."

"We appreciate it. One thing that still confuses me is that the Junkers were already here...and we didn't know about it."

The Gallic pilot grinned again. "We know how to keep our secrets, yes? But the time for secrets is over. It is time Sirius knew of us, and we of them."

"Which is the whole purpose of the Council."

"And to overthrow the corrupt crown." Jacques shrugged. "It is not the first time in our nation's history such drastic measures have been required. And our revolution, like the one before it, will eventually become drunk with power and corrupt, and need to be overthrown as well." The grin returned. "But not while I am alive!"

"Well...been a pleasure, Jacques. We lost our ship, but we have our lives, and with any luck they think us dead."

"The pleasure is mine, mes amis." He shook both of their hands - though as usual in face-to-face encounters, Ren had been almost totally silent - and handed Katashi a card. "Go to that address, and give the card to the person at the counter. They will give you a small room for a few months while you find work. Farewell!"

Between Ren fixing things and Katashi flying short-haul atmospheric freight runs, they had saved up enough for a barely-operational CSV in just over a week. Over the course of the next few months, they did some small-time trade with the Council's allies, saving enough money to upgrade their CSV to the point that it stood a chance at surviving the gauntlet of Gallic Royal Navy warships between them and Orkney.

* * * * *

Present Day

Nearly eight months after their arrival in Gallia, they were finally ready. With Ren's itchy trigger finger on the CM launcher and her watchful eyes on the scanners, Katashi guided the little freighter past the Gallic Navy patrols and bases, stopping at the occasional Council base to resupply. They continued in this manner all the way to Orkney, and - after a harrowing trip through the minefield - through the Taus. Nobody came to meet them or kill them.

Whilst seeking out the Edinburgh jump hole in Tau-31 - and dodging more mines - a couple of derelict Kusari fighters came up on their scanners. In silent agreement, they investigated...netting a few top-of-the-line neutron guns, armor plating upgrades, and an experimental weapon with "JADE" etched on the heat sink. Things are looking up! they both thought to themselves, as the trip into Edinburgh continued without a hitch.

It didn't take them long to locate a Gaian fighter patrol near the ice cloud Islay Base was rumored to be in. Hailing them, Katashi spoke on the private comm channel. "'Scuse me, but would you Gaians happen to know a nice place nearby for a pair of Junkers to hole up for the night?"

The trio of Hawk fighters altered their patrol path until they were close enough to scan the CSV before replying. "Roger that - form on us, we'll guide you through." Though Islay was a relatively small base, and Gaian hospitality didn't quite match Gallic, they had a nice evening having pleasant conversation with a young Gaian pilot before heading off to the bunks they'd been assigned. Everything was going fine...until they woke up.

* * * * *

"Time to get up, amigo...that's it. Open your eyes."

Katashi did so, and found that he was now lying on the floor, on his back. Standing over him was a heavily scarred man wearing the uniform of a Corsair pilot, with a holstered pistol. He also found that he could barely move anything but his eyes...he could barely see out of the corner of his eye another Corsair dragging Ren out of bed, and dropping her next to him before leaving the two drugged pilots alone with the scarred man. With monumental effort, he managed to roll his head just enough to see that her eyes were open and moving. Poison. That Gaian poisoned us...why?

"I suppose you don't remember me, do you?" The scarred Corsair gave a tight-lipped smile. "No, of course not. But I remember you. You shot down my Titan, and tractored my pod onboard rather than letting me be rescued by my squadron mates. And you took me to Alaska!"

His tight grin had twisted into a very, very ugly snarl. "Do either of you have any idea what they DO to Corsairs in Fairbanks? Do you?!" He gave Ren a vicious kick in the side, all the while watching Katashi's eyes. He seemed to like what he saw there...the smile that spread across his face was entirely lacking in humor. "The same thing they do to your kind on Crete." He ran his fingers across the scars on his face. "Just for starters."

The unnamed man's face fell again. "You destroyed my fighter, and humiliated me by taking me to a prison like a common criminal instead of the warrior I am! And not only did you do the same to many of my comrades, you had the gall to BRAG about it in your journal! Yes, I've read it. Everything you put in there is now known to me. All the BHG bases you visited, operational patterns you recorded, the locations of several concentrations of my other enemies...and the experimental weapon in your hold. I will mount it on my Praetorian, I think."

He took another step, standing directly over the pair, but still focusing on Katashi. "It was me, by the way. I posted the bounty on your head that sent half the BHG and a few Navy pilots scrambling after your hide...now you have a taste of what it's like to be hunted. I honestly didn't think you'd survive...when I found that you two had, I decided it was time to get creative. Information can be had from anyone, for a price...even some of your Gallic "friends" who ventured too far from Orkney." He turned and gestured behind him, and the other Corsair returned to the room with a pair of syringes filled with a thick-looking orange liquid. In turn, he jabbed them into the arms of the two drugged Junkers, who couldn't even cry out in pain...they could only moan.

Their moans tapered off quickly, however, as the new drug took effect. "Feels pretty nice right now, doesn't it?" the scarred man asked. "That's concentrated, top-quality cardamine. Should be more than enough to turn you into addicts without killing you - probably - but just in case, I've filled your ship's air scrubbers with it." He knelt over them, and the humorless smile returned. "Like that? Not like those stupid holodramas where the hero gives the villain a scar to remember him by. No, I just gave you two an addiction to last however long you both live. You won't be welcome in House space anymore. Whatever world you called home, you'll never land there again. Your family, if you still have any, will disown you."

"Oh, and I've spread your names and descriptions among the Corsairs and their allies, so I'd recommend avoiding them. Really, your only options are to try to live completely in your tiny spaceship, beg the Outcasts to let you join them so I can kill you later, or die in space." He stood back up. "I almost forgot to mention, and the docking clamps are damaged now. How clumsy of me. You can probably dock two, three times before they're inoperable. And replaced your weapons with low-power Gaian photon guns, removed most of your H-fuel, and took most of your credits. And your spare parts. That dose of Cardi was strong - you'll probably lose consciousness soon. You will wake up inside your CSV outside of Islay. The Gaians won't let you dock again, and though you could dock on a lawful base, they'd never let you leave."

The still-nameless Corsair took a couple of steps back, smiling again as he drew and raised his pistol. "If you two somehow survive all this, I will be waiting. But I doubt it. I think you will run out of fuel and die slowly, incredibly painfully, simultaneously of starvation, Cardi depravation, and asphyxiation. Oh, and one more thing. Your ladyfriend probably has a broken rib, and you-" he fired the pistol, and Katashi groaned as agony shot up his left leg. "-have just been shot." His smile widened. "And now, lady and gentleman, may you die slowly, may your spirits never rest, and have a good day. I know I am."

As he holstered his pistol and left the room, Katashi looked over at Ren. Silent tears were running from her eyes...he wanted to tell her he was fine, not to worry, but all he could do was make his mouth move enough to moan. He caught sight of movement by the door - looked like that Gaian they'd been speaking with the previous night, but he couldn't be sure - right as he passed out.

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Messages In This Thread
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-10-2007, 06:34 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-12-2007, 02:38 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-19-2007, 12:26 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-19-2007, 05:29 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-21-2007, 08:42 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 12-31-2007, 09:42 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 01-11-2008, 04:59 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 01-11-2008, 11:28 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 01-18-2008, 03:38 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 01-19-2008, 04:47 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 02-08-2008, 06:02 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 02-18-2008, 05:19 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 02-24-2008, 07:55 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 02-28-2008, 05:40 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 02-26-2010, 03:09 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-02-2010, 06:22 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-04-2010, 05:34 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-06-2010, 05:43 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-08-2010, 06:08 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-09-2010, 11:28 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-12-2010, 05:06 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 03-20-2010, 04:31 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 04-03-2010, 04:48 AM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 04-03-2010, 08:14 PM
The Finer Things in Life - by LancerZero - 04-09-2010, 02:57 AM

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