The Council doors, which seemed to be creaking more than usual because of all the entrants, opened slowly, revealing a man on a wheel chair, oddly, his legs crossed.
Silence fell, just as Juan entered the hall. Some were staring at Juan, but others looked deep in thought, leading Montoya to believe that he had missed something pretty important.
Juan wheeled quietly to the side of the hall and waited for the conversation to continue, all the while not noticing Ares, whose eyes had sharpened, and were following him around the room.
"Sorry, fashionably late I know.... and enough staring already! God, you're making me blush people..."
Chatter sounded through Carlos' earpiece, and his manner immediately changed. He slumped into his seat for a moment. He then rose to his feet. He spoke with the cracked voice of a father who had lost a son.
"It seems my hermano did not run away after all, but was in-fact rushed to medical, and is now dead. As you can imagine, I have no desire to argue or tolerate insults on this sad day. I don't want talks to be suspended. However, if you don't respect our current state of mourning, and insist on insulting or slandering us, we will simply walk out. I will not tolerate it today.
Please continue."
from: Battleship Persephone II
to: Council of the Corsair Elders [TBH]
"This is Jinx, cpt of the guardship persephone II. this is an official announcement about gaining [zoner guard] merits. during that process the ships IFF will most certainly show funny affiliations. This is unavoidable to initiate that process.
So just so the council knows - the ship is to be considered out of order while i exercise for the guards of the zoners. during these exercises, the station will sometimes use remote drones that show corsair IFFs, simply for the fact that the IFFs are different from our zoner IFFs. Order technicians have set up msot of those drones and they are used to improve the combat ability of the guards without messing with "real" opponents.
So you may see the Persephone II battle corsair IFFed ships in delta sometimes, but at closer look, you will see that those are remote drone if you want to make sure about it. We zoners prefer rather peaceful practice against the AI instead of duel practice like it is sometimes exercised by the corsairs. unfortunately those exercises are a necessary evil on gaining the zoner guards trust.
so that message is to make you aware that the ship is still in zoner service, even if its IFF is messed up right now - and that the ship is not fighting any corsair ships or anything but drones ( except when keeper ships show up ) - Jinx out"
Ares sits, beginning to get impatient. He doesn't see why this meeting was even called.
He looks around, wishing he had his friends with him, to give him someone to talk to more than anything, really. These people around him were very different from him, that he most certainly realised.
Ares thoughts then turn to Montoya... they were close friends before Juan cast him out, but even now Ares worries over Juan's health.
He tries to shake the worry for his friend off, thinking "It's not like he's lost an arm..." to himself.
A tall, lanky Corsair walked through the doors a minute after Montoya did. The last time this Corsair was in these Chambers was a private conversation between him and Montoya. Now the Chambers were bustling with activity, tension was rife. The moment Lucendez looked up from his pad trying to catch up on all that had happened in the last week, he was astounded to find so many Elders present.
"Sorry about the late arrival. Bad weather in Delta. I was out of commission on Freeport 11, although I did use the transit time to catch up..." The other Elders stared at him, he felt their eyes on the back of his skull, searing right through him.
"If I may speak first ..., I have something to say after reading through your conversations. The Benitez are a very proud and ancient family line that holds more power in Corsair society than any other. The Brotherhood is a greater familia that exerts it's control over our space and negotiates our business. The SCRA, while alien and ideologically different, have held the swarms of enemies at bay and have sacrificed much for our home."
The Corsair walks into the central circle, panning his vision around the assembled Elders.
"Home ... Crete is the central pivot point from which this argument is stemming. This raises the universal question of: If your can't come home, where are you to go?" His question landed on Ares. All the while, from his election to Elder to all this dealings with the Brotherhood, Lucendez didn't have much contact with anyone outside. Now he boldly reached out to Ares.
"And what does it say when your familia throws you out, but doesn't bother to change the locks?"
"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."
"Where to go, hmm? Well, I had business in Liberty. Nearly got killed, but everything turned out fine. Apparently Liberty needs a whole fleet to take on a lone fighter... my comrades from the Revolution jumped in from the other side of Sirius to help with the extraction..."
Ares then pauses after being asked about 'the locks'.
"I had assumed Miss Maniaco had changed them back after Montoya's casting me out..."
Elder Costello made his way to the council chambers but instead of heading to the main conference hall he turned right and headed to his own living quarters. Sitting down on the bed he couldn't help feeling sad at the thought of what he was about to do.
Quickly he moved the thought to the back of his mind and gathered the few things in the room that meant anything to him.
Walking back out of the Council building he stopped outside the door of the conference room just for a second then carried on walking to the hanger.
He had already got the hanger hands to dock his Titan on the Velasco and the few loyal men to Costello where already on board the ship waiting for him to arrive.
On the bridge of the Osiris he couldn't help but think about the last few years, joining the Brotherhood for what it stood for, working his way up to Elder, but it seems what it used to stand for is now no more. He remembered reading the information about them to a single line that made him want to join "We are a militant group of radical Corsairs who prefer to achieve their goals by force than by using diplomatic ways as the diplomacy has repeatedly proven to be useless and leads to corruption rather than to its intended goals.", it is a shame the Brotherhood didn't hold up this ideal anymore he thought to himself, after everything that had happened over the last month they still chose to "talk" about it instead of taking action.
He launched the Velasco into Space and headed out into the Omicrons. Then when everyone was settled in for there journey he started composing a message to the Brotherhood.
To The Brotherhood.
It is with a heavy heart that I had to make this decision, but to much has changed for me to be able to stay. Right now I'm on board the Velasco, I do not know my destination I just know I cant watch the brotherhood fiddle with its fingers instead of its lasers.
I've had allot of good times and I've made allot of good friends and it pains me to leave this way, you all do the Corsair people proud in what you do, I wish you well in the future. I only ask one thing from you now. Please do not hate me for my action friends.
Only one Brotherhood member inside the Elders' Chamber hadn't seated for the whole conversation, instead only stared at the picture of one of his dearest friends and hardest losses, Elder Pedro Maniaco. Skyelius had laughed and looked back towards the others when the Benitez cube harassed one of his brothers, felt anger and closed his eyes when hearing the way Benitez acted towards latest matters, and bowed his head down sadness when he received the message from his brother, Costello. Instead of opening his mouth, he only closed his fist and put his other hand in his pocked, and grabbed a memo he had written shortly after his talk with Zavier. He put it in a table in the middle of the room and stopped walking right at the exit door. He half-looked back at this brothers who were looking at him, wondering what would happen next. Instead, he sighed, and said a short sentence in the most soft and low voice he had spoken before in his life.
"I'm sorry..", Sky said as he finished walking out of the Elder's Chambers and out from view. Soon afterwards, Elder Yanez picked up the memo, which indicated that he was tired about brothers leaving, in his view playing a very dangerous game in response to the biggest and gravest problem Crete had yet faced. In his last sentence he asked Costello to think over it and trust him, stating they all had less than one day to get together again. He didn't even mention solving the problem, only giving example of the unconditional Brotherhood they were suppposed to be members of, and stated his wish for all to be there by tomorrow, in the docking ring outside their planet. Having made all this clear, and Raul about to close the memo, the screen switched to a text specifying Skyelius' most recent agreement with Benitez, the ranks chart.
:TBH(Benitez)-:> Brother(Soldato), Centurion(Centurion), Tribune(Praetor), Elders(Elder)
:Benitez family exclusive, no effect on general Corsairs-:> Consul(family leader's advisor), Commander(family leader).
"As the most prominent family, our Benitez brothers probably have the strongest military than any other Corsair family. Results of this fact include most of them have more individual power than many Corsairs and some brothers in The Brotherhood, making them more prepared to command a century of their brethren within the same family, which after a census I determined there are slightly more than two thousand Corsairs bearing Benitez bloodline. However our tradition since our beginning states that although only a maximum of 20 families of Crete (out of its tens of thousands) can simultaneously bear one of its members as an Elder in the Council of Elders, never one family has more than one Elder in the council. Eldership is an honor, but not the most important position an individual could achieve in a lifetime. A hero is, in my opinion, and although I have protected Crete with all my power, I have refused the position of Elder more than twice. It pains me to take such rash decision as to force you to come together again or face my resign, but I have no other weapon but this final action. You are the bravest soldiers I have fought alongside with, but if you cannot come together, bring back Costello, and prove that no matter what tries to tear us apart we will always be brothers, I cannot set foot on Crete again."
With everyone on the Council now silent, the ground suddenly shook, indicating the launch of the Black Emerald towards the infinite darkness of space..
"It is a cold universe until you know God as your Father, and then it becomes a home. Even the next life simply becomes the Father's house, home."
—David Pawson
Raul didn't notice any further technology on the memo, so he read all of it loud to the others, with tears breaking out of his eyes. It was not the memo alone he was so sad, but also the recent event that shook the Corsair Nation heavily around. First, the fight with SCRA. Second, ICO betraying us. Third, losing our ties with Benitez, too. Fourth, the departure of Joe and Fifth, brother Skyelius.
Raul seemed to have reached the point where he was weakest. It only happened once, that was back when Pedro Maniaco died. He had no idea what to do. He reviewed the old times again, back when he joined TBH and made his way up to an Elder. Raul looked up to the ceiling. He still could remember when he was nervously standing at the Recruitment Office of TBH. He remembered the ceremony where his entrance into Eldership was celebrated... He remembered the countless fights he and his brethren fought...
He didn't notice everyone was staring at him until he moved his head back to the others. They went back to chatting again. He felt they had to do something. Something he never dared to do. Something that could bring all back together. He didn't think of any consequences, he just told himself *It's worth a try*. Then, he just stood up, pulling all attention of the others in the room.
"Brothers! I have a question for you! Why should we, Brotherhood and Benitez, as well as SCRA, tear apart each other? Why should we babble our mouths dry for something called 'Diplomacy'? Why don't we rather talk about honour and unity with our enemies, where our guns speak? Even as we speak here, the enemy, namely the Outcasts, Rheinland, and even ICO *Raul looks at Ares*, makes plans about our total anhiliation! Is THAT the behaviour true Corsairs show? Taking about things we don't need?! My answer is: NO! Diplomacy is not a thing true Corsairs hang on their walls, it's the heads of our enemies they hang on their walls! A true Corsair is born with pride, and learns unity with his friends, so he can fight with pride and shield with unity! A true Corsair lives to taste the victory against the Outcasts! So let's go out and fight for our Honour, Dignity, Pride and Unity above all human possibilities! VIVA LOS CORSARIOS!
He stood there a minute long until he realized he just disgraced himself.
Julio was apparently amazed with the recent news. First facing the possibility of a civil war and then losing brothers one by one. He was looking at Teresa helplessly, obviously still in a shock as he asked to himself, Why couldn't the Corsairs just concentrate on protecting their unity against the increasing threat elements instead of tearing apart with pointless squabbles? If we are no more able to sacrifice things in the name of unity, then how will we exist?
On the uncharted lagoons of anguish, I sail with a canoe made of my sins.
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