And with that Juan Montoya walked out of the bar. As he was walking on the path towards the Elders council chambers, he composed a message in his mind, what he felt honestly. He then thought of who to send it too. Not the brothers he knew so well, they weren't to blame. They didn't need to hear his words.
It was the independent Corsairs who needed to listen, and listen they would. His course was set, his direction true. Nothing would stop him.
Quote:Comm ID: Juan Montoya
To: All Corsairs, SCRA, and TBH Elders but EXCLUDING other TBH brothers.
Now, I have observed from afar, not taking any action to compromise my position as an Elder, but enough is enough. You will ALL bow down to the power of the Brotherhood. Time and again we have tried to keep the peace in Gamma, only for our friends to be shot. It causes instability, and I will eliminate this instability completely. I don't give a damn anymore about the rights of the individual Corsair. All Corsairs will respect the absolute power of TBH rule, diplomacy, and actions. If any of you slip up even once, you will be unwelcome within the rest of the Corsair continuum.
All of you rebellious pilots soil our name, or what was left of it. I have tried to be nice, to let you learn from your mistakes. But, enough is enough. If you will not fall in line when you see me being nice, you are tempting the devil. And I have been tempted. I have restrained, until now.
Fall in line, independents, or operate on battlestation Cadiz, battleship Fes or with our allies. If you will not fall in line through these measures, you are not fit to be Corsair. I am sick of the careful diplomacy we set up being destroyed by your rash actions. I am tired by the unseen powers of this world stripping you of your craft and equipment. I am tired of putting up with this. No more. Never again. I am hereby authorising the pilots of the Coalition to open fire if any hostilities are provoked, verbal or physical in any sense. Dont like it? Dont speak to them!
If you are not with us, you are against us. This is my decision alone, and I will be stopped by no one. I will sort you out, or kill you all with my own hands.
Corsair tradition be damned, I will do this myself, by myself. It is the only way to sort this out. I have tried being nice, and now I will be nasty. If I see one step out of line this weekend, I will destroy your craft myself, over and over again until you go away never to return. None of you will be spared my wrath.
I have been broken.
Prepare to be broken.
End Transmission.
***
Crete is still at night. Most nights only the soft rumbling of take-off thrusters on the landing pads around the planet stir anything, even the slightest whisper.
This landing was not soft.
The entire bar room shook at the approaching Titan, so low in the atmosphere. The Titan landed on dry ground with no anti-grav support so the entire craft looked like it had been knocked over. A gaunt looking Corsair jumped out of the cockpit and landed heavily on the floor of Crete, dusty, yet shimmering. He reached up and removed something stone-black from his cargo hold, the man quickly picked up walking speed. From a distance he looked as though he carried some sort of long rectangular parcel and a single white sheet of paper. The man walked quickly to a semi-circle building and entered into a hallway, leading to a door with two guards posted in front. He walked quickly and importantly up to the guards, who promptly asked for identification and business.
Setting his parcel down, he allowed one guard to try and guess how to open it and distracted the other with his Brotherhood badge. He took the opportunity to stick both guards quickly with a syringe containing a powerful anesthesia, they quickly fell asleep. He stopped, breathed in a long intake at what he just did, exhaled and searched the guards, finding the keys to the council chambers. He unlocked the door and kicked it open with a loud *BANG*.
"Juan Montoya!" Lucendez shouted into the almost empty room. A figure stood up and the two Juans looked at each other. It had been somewhat ironic that they hadn't had much time to get to know each other. The room he had just entered was comfortable, with paintings of all the Elders that came before the current ones, looking down at the room, some paintings seemed depressed or sad, others smiling.
Lucendez set his black parcel down, said "there will be no bloodshed here, I simply wish to talk," and held up a copy of the message Montoya had sent out to all independent Corsairs.
"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."
