To Fight for a Country that Hates You... (Tigre-Family Stories: First Generation)

[Mr.Fabulous]

The door to an adequately-lit room slides open, and Leonardo promptly steps through. The first thing he notices is the Corsair woman in a bored, half-dozed state, sitting on a chair and leaning on the table in front of her, with a beer to the side and a spilled shotglass on the other.

As soon as the door behind the Zoner shuts with a bang, for a moment the Corsair quickly flinches up in surprise, waking up from her stupor. He only raises an eyebrow at her reaction, before clearing his throat as he began, "Greetings... I guess the first thing I should do is thank you for saving me, Ms... Casini Chrisostomo."

Casini recovers herself, and goes back into a formal look, "Right... I suppose you've come here to ask your questions as to what happened?

"Sad to say, I wasn't there when you lost your ship, if that's one of your questions... I only found you in your escape pod, unconscious and in need of some medical attention as I was passing through the Kiribati Asteroid Field, deep withing the Omicron Delta System. Other than you, nada... No other escape pods, no ship scrap, and if there were engine-exhaust signatures they must've been weeks old if my scanners hadn't picked them up."

"But..." Leonardo paces around thoughtfully, "... I was in Omicron Iota prior to my destruction... surely it would've been impossible for my single escape pod to have traversed the Jump Hole back to Delta...

... unless... unless I---"

"Are you implying that when your ship perished, and you rendered unconscious, your escape pod was somehow retrieved by a nearby third-party, and then jettisoned somewhere in the Kiribati, is that what you're saying?" She pointed out.

"Exactly..." He pauses when the idea hit him, "... The Freelancer, David, and I were on an expedition to Omicron Iota to hunt Nomads, and we saw no other contacts other than our intended game within that system.

"I suppose he managed to tractor me in before managing to flee, and when he got through the Jump Hole he jettisoned my pod into space."

"Do you also suspect foul play at work here?"

"No... not that I know of, at least..." He further contemplates to himself, "... Oh wait... mmhmm... yeah, I suppose that could be one. Maybe he wanted to get back at me for having been responsible for destroying one of his ships a while back.

"But... I wonder if..." Leonardo turns back to Casini and said in a slightly-worried tone, "Are you truly certain you only found my pod? Was there no other pod, by any chance?"

"Affirmative. Yours' was the only one I found that day. Why? Was there someone else who came along?"

The Zoner bit his lip painfully, and nodded his head sadly, "Y... yes... I was with... my adopted sister, Milarosa. She and I were on a Moldy Crow called the Solardancer in the expedition. She was my co-pilot at the time... and..."

He puts a palm on his face as he continued, "... She... she was... special to me..." He angrily goes on half to himself, "Why... why didn't I turn back when I had the chance? Why did I have to bring her along, instead of bringing her back to the Estate...?"

Casini solemnly watches as tears start running down the side of his cheek; then she slowly stands up and replies, "... I'm sorry for your loss, Señor... Will you be alright?"

Leonardo's reply was immediate and sharp, "No... I need to find her... I need to find Mila, whatever her fate. I can't go on with the thought of not knowing what exactly happened to her. I don't think you'd understand, but she's been everything to me: she was the one who saved me from losing myself."

"I don't think that's a very logical solution, Señor. The chances of finding her, or her pod are quite slim: if she hadn't been retrieved from Iota, probably the Nomads would've gotten her; if she was jettisoned in another part of Omicron Delta, let along anywhere else, she'd probably be of some significant distance to be---"

"I DON'T CARE!!!" He furiously lashes out at the Corsair, "I've put her through too much... It's my fault I lost her now, and... and... I need to find her, no matter what the cost! We MUST go to Omicron Iota and see if she's been captured by the Nomads! We MUST go find that Freelancer and---"

"SEÑOR!!!" Casini slaps his face without warning, "LISTEN to yourself! You've just been outside the infirmary, and just like that you're willing to go to death's door without a second thought? Do you think that's what your sister would've wanted for you, HUH?! Don't be such a stupido! The last thing you'd want now is to shame her further because you had lost your life again for nothing but recklessness!"

"... I..." Leonardo felt the area affected, and quickly he breaks down in tears, "... You're right, Ms. Chrisostomo... My recklessness has caused me to lose Mila, and... I do not wish for my survival to be in vain..." He walks over to the chair and slumps down on it, "... But what am I to do now?" He places both his hands on his face, "All I have left for leads to Mila now is that Freelancer, and I don't exactly know where he's currently residing."

The Corsair leans on the table with a hand, "The Neural Net should make your search easier. If he's a lawful Freelancer, then he shouldn't be too hard to find, unless he's chosen to make his residence a secret.

"But don't you have your other relatives to go back to your... Estate?"

"That's the thing, really... Ever since the death of my parents, other than my Maid, Milarosa's been my only closest relative... and the irony's that we're not even blood-related. Basically, I'm the only remaining blood-member of the Tigre Family that I know of.

"And so... I can't go back to the Estate... not until I find her... alive, or dead. She's the only one I've got left, and to have lost her... I had lost a part of myself."

A momentary pause descends upon the room. Eventually, Casini breaks the silence with a cough and continues, "So what now? What do you intend to do, Mr. Tigre?"

"... I suppose I should go look for Mila... I'll start with a search for the Freelancer, and try to seek him out.

"But first, I don't suppose there's anything I can do to repay you for saving my life?"

"Well..." The Corsair beams a slight grin, "... I sure could use a co-pilot on my Centurion, but I don't think---"

"No... it's nothing." He quickly remarks, "I can be your co-pilot for a time, sure... but all that I ask from you is that you aid me in my search for my sister. Since I can't go back to the Estate without her anyway, I might as well come along with you. And besides, you look as if you do a lot of traveling, so all the better for me. Do we have an agreement?"

"Alright then. Your choice." Casini walks to the door and opens it, "The room has two beds, so you can pick which one you wish to use for the night.

"We'll be heading off to Trafalgar, a Junker base in New London tomorrow. Surely, if the Neural Net fails you, the Junkers ought to have the information as to where this Freelancer you are looking for lives, at least for a price. I'll be heading to my ship for now to ready it for the trip. Take the time to recuperate your thoughts and plans... please." And with that, the Corsair finally leaves the Zoner to himself.

Leonardo gives a large sigh to himself, and looks out on a window that lead to outer space, the outside showing a slightly-violent ion storm brewing...










----------FLASHBACK

Leonardo Tigre was leaning on the platform's palisades, staring out deeply to himself as the starry-night skies above the Estate's golden fields, which were now brilliant-dark-copper from the darkness, were clapping violently with spectacular bolts of light from the ion storms raging all throughout Sirius. He stood there, undisturbed as the thunderbooms rocked on.

Eventually he felt a shy tug on his trench-coat sleeve; he turned his head around to find his sister Mila with a long, thick bedsheet wrapped around her, parts of it being dragged across the floor, "... Meep... uhm..."

"Hmmm? What is it, Mila? Can't you sleep?" He monotonously asked as he moved his head back to view the horizon.

A quick thunderclap makes her reply almost immediately, "MEEP! H-h-how could anyone?!" She quickly walks to his side before continuing, "Meep... You've also been standing here the whole time ever since after dinner. Normally, you don't stand that long unless there's something REALLY bothering you, and that's... uhm... not very common. What-cha thinkin about, Leonardo?"

Without turning his head he said, "... Marriage... I'm sure you're excited about the... hopefully-still-happening event we're going to attend, aren't you?"

She remarks with a gleeful tone, "Yup! That's righty! But what has that got to do with your thoughts?"

"Well..." He gives a slight, but evidently-embarrassed smile to himself, "... Honestly, I've been thinking about this feeling people call... love... I'm guessing the reason for this event is because they love each other very much, but... you could say that what I'm afraid of the most is I won't be able to understand the couple's feelings should I get the chance to meet them personally."

"... Why not? Everybody knows how to love! Don't you know how to love, brother? You've shown lots of concern for me! Isn't that what everyone calls love too?"

"About that, Mila..." Another thunderclap rings in the air, "That's not the kind of love I meant. The love you're referring to is more like the type parents have with their children... You're more like a daughter to me, what with your childishness and all.

"No... The love I meant is the type that sweeps people off their feet, the one that... I don't know... completes them perhaps? That's the reason why people marry: to become one, and spend their lives together, and eventually have families... Of course, what with this marriage between two females I don't think that's going to be likely anytime soon."

Mila raises an eyebrow at him before she understood, "... Aaaaaahhhh... Meep! Neither do I, heheheh! I've always wondered what it was like to have feelings for someone to really, REALLY love them, meep!"

FLASHBACK----------










... a small teardrop shines from Leonardo's eye, which quickly falls down to the floor of the room.

"... It's only when I've lost what's most important... when I realize just how much I loved you..."

---

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