The One Man Army

[Vogel]

Impossible Itll never work

The man swore under his breath as he goosed the throttle of his Bloodhound to the firewall. Hed bought the little ship after selling off his personal Starflier and scrounging what credits he could in order to finance the project. Hed rigged the Z-2010 with old, surplus Navy weapons, of the plasma variety. It wasnt much, but it was a fighter, and it got him out there.

Just to get turned away

Hed put up with the police patrols, run from the packs of Rogue Wolfhounds, even dueled with a small-time bounty hunter who decided to try his luck. In the middle of it all hed attacked small trade convoys, raided their ships for supplies, always making sure to destroy the corporate vessels and save as many of the poor crew as he could. But evidently that was not enough for the Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army, or the vaunted Citizen Katz.

Dean Vickers scowled as he sent his fighter towards Dryden Base. The Xenos there were desperate enough for whatever support they could get, so in exchange for some supplies they let him base there, even though their ideologies conflicted rather dramatically.

Hed been stopped by a fully loaded fighter of the SCRA. What the pilot said hed only heard before; Ontario had to give the ODP a chance, give it time, fighting will solve nothing. And yet the Liberty Navy felt compelled to steamroller through Ontario a year ago and literally massacre the residents. As far as Dean was concerned, the point where the military was capable of that was where democracy melted away into the truth: corporate, militant dictatorship.

The ODP were puppets, or at the very least were simply figureheads of an incapable movement; the fact that they won an election meant little, as any reforms or requests they put through would easily be stepped on. Libertys coin-purse demanded that Ontario remain a subjugated sector, ripe for the reaping of its spoils. Theyd have nothing of their independence movement, under any circumstance. That much was clear.

But what was also clear was that the Liberty Navy, distracted and spread out though it was, was no less deadly a force than it had been before during that tragedy.

Theyre right when they say itll just bring them in to cause more bloodshed but what else do we do?

Give the ODP time was the trademarked phrase.

But time to do what? Fail? Itll fail, and then well see

The SCRA pilot mentioned something to the effect of the Coalition not letting the will of the Ontarian people fail. But Dean had obvious doubts; the SCRA hadnt deposed a single House let alone faced up to the Liberty Navy in the way it would take to prevent the rape of Ontario. And besides, what was their angle, really? They were not Ontarians; it was not their fight, and they were therefore unreliable, just like the ODP.

What itd take, he was convinced, was putting noses to the grindstone of warfare. But how to necessarily go about it was still a quandary. The OLF would have him target anything and everything, just to get the point across. Sure, he could shoot the ships out from under corporate pilots, but hed easily kill some of them. Then the Navy would come. He could also strafe military targets, like the SCRA pilot suggested. Then the Navy would come anyway. It almost seemed as if everything had been rigged in the oppositions favor, and that even their supposed allies were a part of the deception.

But what to do

As far as he knew, his little Bloodhound represented the sum total of the Ontario Liberation Front Space Corps. Hed had little to no contact with the movements leadership itself; getting word back through places like Toronto was difficult to say the least. While his actions were of course along the lines of the groups intended actions, he had yet to actually get their concrete approval, or be informed of any prospective pilots to help him. It seemed that the OLF was more concerned with actions on the ground: hoverjet bombs, assassinations, and the like. Space was a dangerous frontier they saw fit to conveniently ignore right now.

Even though its at the heart of the whole thing. Without forces in space well never be able to stop fighters from strafing our homes or battleships from bombarding the planet!

So he had little recourse. He could do as he currently was, petitioning for donations, all the while raiding small-time convoys and drawing the ire of the SCRA.

Or he could give the ODP a chance and sit on his thumbs.

Not gonna happen.

He knew the ODP would fail, and that when it did thered be nothing left to continue the struggle, politically or physically. It was up to the OLF to call the SCRAs bluff, to round up enough men and material to create a force strong enough to give the Navy something to think about before it decided to pull a stunt once again.

And with the OLF leadership firmly rooted to the ground, he was the only one with the room to maneuver. He was the only one in the position to start this buildup.

It starts today.

But where to start? First thing first: he needed a ship to stockpile weapons and supplies. Holing up all his resources at Dryden would be a mistake; the Xenos could just as easily overpower him and confiscate it for their own needs. He decided hed check into Liberty public records; maybe someone was selling a large container craft on the cheap, or maybe a company decommissioned an old one? So long as it was big, and so long as it flew, hed be in business.

Then what?

Petitioning for donations would only get him so far. Hed have to find more reliable sources of income, but being branded a terrorist made this all but easy; the Xenos were the only ones who seemed to tolerate his presence. That ruled legitimate trading out, and to say that his Bloodhound was combat worthy made bounty hunting, freelancing, and mercenary work an absolute joke.

Smuggling it is. Those Xenos would be all too happy for the goods.

Beyond that all he could think of was trying to recruit pilots and upgrading his own fighting craft. The Bloodhound would no doubt prove inefficient for any purposes; thankfully combat was not foremost on his agenda now.

When all the credits roll in, and I get some pilots, we can actually make a difference. Sure, well hold ourselves at bay for the ODP fools to work their magic. In the meantime well be preparing for the inevitable, so when it comes we have something to protect Ontario with.

Dean let himself crack a grin on the way into Drydens hangar bay.

This isnt over yet. If the rest of the OLF ever starts reaching out they'll find quite an ally already in place.