Brotherhood Bar-Talks

[Lucend]

Lucendez nodded, and heard Julio's story, all the while staring into the glass counter top of the bar. Tales of men rarely go beyond "he was rich" or "he was a war hero," or even "he was a father to me." This short story, even off the top of a drunken man's head, was better than anyone Juan had heard in life or fantasy.

Julio ended his story and stared off into nothing. Lucendez processed the information for a while. He pictured Pedro as his mentor and friend, in the good times. Juan got up, seeing Julio's state and thought to let him be.

Lucendez moved closer to the comatose man and whispered "Through our actions, through our deeds, Maniaco will live." He wasn't sure if Julio heard what he said, so he got up, paid both his and Julio's tab, and walked out of the bar.

---

"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."

Osaika Moto, the Fall and Rise of a Kusari Farmer

Juan Lucendez, √ Corsair

[chavez]

Teresa quietly walked in the bar. It wasn't very populated, but probably only due to the fact it was 2 o'clock afternoon. She sat at the bar-desk and ordered an espresso with sugar and milk. The bartender wasn't probably used to such orders but he just raised one eyebrow and turned to the coffee machine.

She just arrived from Yaren base where she prematurely finished her training. She could fly all kinds of corsair ships, but she always preferred lighter ships. She knew, that the maneuverability is what matters when someone wants to stay alive.

The bartender came back with her coffee.

So this is the famous Boozer's Lounge. Every woman she heard talking about this place adviced her to stay out of it, especially in the night time, if she wanted to stay out of trouble. But Teresa wasn't afraid. She had some martial skills and she knew how to take care of herself.

Teresa reviewed the message from her father again. She knew that his death saddened a lot of Corsairs, especially those who were part of the Brotherhood. He was a great and wise leader, they all said. But Teresa didn't have reason to cry as she barely remembered his face. There were times when she hated him whole-heartedly and therefore she changed her surname to her mother's, but those feelings passed in time. She was used to her loneliness and she never had many friends although she always interested a lot of young Corsairs.

She wanted to get in connection with the Brotherhood, and meet the Elders father wrote about, but first of all she wanted to test the new ships he gave her, so she finished the coffee and walked out of the bar, heading to the hangar. She was interested especially in the Centurion, previously registered as Zumbador. Funny name, but she already made the arrangements to register it under a new name...

---

If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez

[8B@ll]

Drunk died, 8B@ll finished his rum glass with a thought for Pedro Maniaco. Then he noticed this woman, arrival of Yaren a few hours ago. He thought: "Trop jolie pour un pilote" before collapsing, the rum of smuggling had shooted him down....

---

[LDDLG]-Cixi- Raven Talon
[LDDLG]-8B@ll- Gunboat
[LDDLG]-Voodoo- Bomber

[Othman]

Upon being startled with heavy footsteps, Julio opened his eyes with a terrible headache. One would not hesitate to say that this man was apparently having a hangover. First thing he did was to quietly mutter in the dusty corner he was lying half awaken as usual when he did not feel well. ''Oh god, I should not have touched the 3rd bottle.'' he muttered quietly. Then he attempted to stare around eyes wide open, yet the vision was still quite blurry. He moved to sit up and recognized a large bucket full up with water. The bartenders had made a habit of leaving buckets around filled with water these days to prevent the cleaning disorder in the lounge especially when Crete was short of water.

Julio moved close to the bucket, stared around again with weary eyes and then suddenly splashed the entire amount of water on his face by pouring it down on his head. Now he was wet as a rat but the gloomy vision had been replaced with a clearer sight making him able to select the figures around more apparently and effectively. It did not take quite long for him however, to understand that most of the people in the lounge were gazing at him with inquisitiveness. A man taking shower with a bucket of water in front of the entire lounge.. Well this was not quite a usual thing for the recent history of the lounge itself..

Unexpectedly, Julio was not neither blushed by the face as he would in his younghood nor did he feel any kind of bashfullness. Not only this was a contradicting way of behaviour with his overall manner, but the mood he had was as if he was somehow assuming to be more and more indifferent every passing day after Pedro's loss.

While staring at the bar desks, Julio's eyes recognized somebody who suddenly triggered an ungaugable avocation in his mind. A beautiful young lady whose face lines were terrificly similar with Pedro's was sitting on a desk drinking espresso. ''Oh my.. this could be Pedro's daughter, Teresa..'' he said to himself. He had remembered from the last reports that Teresa Chaves, Pedro's daughter would join the sides of the brotherhood soon. The immense enthusiasm to corroborate this young ladys personality was growing rapidly and he could not resist much longer to sitting next to her. He was still drying himself with the towel bartender had thrown and Julio requested a new shirt while gazing Teresa with curious eyes, still unsure of her real identity and still sceptic about attempting to talk to her..

---

On the uncharted lagoons of anguish, I sail with a canoe made of my sins.

[I_m_rdy]

Raul raised his head. He slept on the table, he was too tired to think. He trotted to the bar-desk, sat slowly at it and told to the barkeeper: "Pedro, I need a coffee." Pedro smiled. "Hard night, Raul? How much did you drink?" - "Nothing, I fell asleep on the table." Pedro laughed. "Well, this is not the right place to fall asleep, amigo. Your coffee comes in a minute."

As Pedro turned away, Raul noticed another person at the bar-desk. "A woman? Pretty courageous of her to come here." Raul thought. "She looks like Pedro Maniaco... Oh! Yes, it's the daughter of him, Teresa Chavez!" Raul drank his coffee quickly, went to the toilet and organized himself. You can't welcome a woman with everything not at its place, huh?

Being finished, he walked to Tersa. "Um, hello. You must be Teresa Chavez. My name's Raul D. Yanez. I'm very sorry what happened lately, only if I could turn the time back... Anyway, Pedro surely wanted us to fight, not to sit there and whine. Welcome to Crete, Teresa!"

---

[chavez]

Teresa was quite satisfied after she tested the new ships. And her anticipation, that the Centurion would suit her best, had been correct. It was already late in the afternoon so she decided to try to contact some Brotherhood members. She entered the bar again and she didn't even have the time to sit at the bar-desk when the bartender, Pedro Alonso, smiled at her and said: "Espresso, with sugar and milk. Am I right?". She nodded, looking amused.

While she was enjoying her coffee she registered interested looks from two corsairs. Both of them were trying to mask the fact that they were still drunk, one by showering his head using a glass of water, the other one tried to fix his look at the toilet, and they weren't very succesfull. But there was probably no need to worry as they didn't look dangerous.

They must have already known her as one of them called her using her name. She answered: "Hello! Yes you are right, I am indeed Teresa Chavez. And you guys are?", hoping for an answer that they were part of the Brotherhood.

---

If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez

[Othman]

Julio wasn't mistaken. This young beautiful lady was Teresa Chavez indeed, daughter of the great Elder Pedro.

He examined the polite motion carefully, while the words were dropping from her lips.

Next to him was sitting Raul who had already introduced himself to Teresa while combing his hair hastily. Julio involved in the speech after hearing the response from her, still flurried with drying his face.

''Greetings young lady, I am honored to have met you, my name is Julio Ibanez. Brothers mostly call me Julio.''

She smiled intimately as Julio continued to talk,

''Your father was a great leader and we are still in mourning after his loss. While our mourning, the remaining forces those who managed to survive are still retreating from Rheinland. I am still regretful not to have managed to save him that day. Losing the battle costed us Pedros.. I should have known that he knew it from the beginning..''

Being unsuccessful with finishing his last sentence he tried to conceal his sad tone but Teresa was aware of the situation. It wasn't the hardest thing to understand from Julios eyes and speech that he had a special fondness of Pedro.

Julio went on after a slight pause,

''He was a caring man, at least he cared for me in my young age. If he had not helped me out, my life would be a desperate one.. ''

Teresa seemed to feel bad for a moment.. Julio asked to himself, whether she felt pity for him or something different..

As Raul's coffee arrived, Julio seemed more resolute to end his speech and wait to hear from Teresa.

''So now you are here at Crete. We heard that you have been preparing your new ship for future assignments. I would be glad to help you with anything I can. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you really need a hand. And, welcome again, welcome to the Brotherhood..''

Julio thought deeply for a moment, his instinct told him exactly what he wanted to think.. Teresa was entrusted by Pedro to their care and Pedro was still watching them from somewhere..

---

On the uncharted lagoons of anguish, I sail with a canoe made of my sins.

[I_m_rdy]

Raul said with slight pride: "Like I said, I am Raul D. Yanez, one of the Elders of The Brotherhood. And this is Julio Ibanez, also a member of the Brotherhood. Nice to meet you." Raul sipped his coffee. "So, I've got a question, Senorita. The Brotherhood always needs some good forces that can pack a punch and be there when we need them. I know, you just left from training, but we are in the need of every force we can have. Do you accept?"

---

[chavez]

Teresa carefully listened to both Julio and Raul.

Julio's words about how her father cared for him when he was young made her feel a bit uneasy. She always knew her father would prefer a son instead of her, but she didn't want her personal issues to destroy the relations between her and the new friends right at the beginning.

She looked at Raul, he was young, yet he already made it to an Elder. Interesting. She answered his question: "Yes, I am here to join the Brotherhood. I am sure you are short of pilots right now and I think I really have some skills I could offer."

Then she continued, speaking to both of them: "I don't want to go into details but the fact is I didn't know my father very well and you probably know more about him then I do. Especially from the recent past and to be honest I am quite curious so when we meet again, you could tell me some more. But right now I should visit the recruitment office as I believe that's where every new recruit should go."

She took the final sip of her coffee and continued.

"And yes, I might need some help as I made a stupid mistake when I was testing the father's Centurion at Yaren base. I wasn't used to father's custom settings of the ship and I acidentally dropped a mine near to the storage depots and of course, with my luck, the mine blew them up. This not only resulted in all Corsair vessels shooting at me so I had to get lost from there. But I was also fined for the damage I made. And 10 mils credits is a huge amount for me, so if you could help me with a loan from the Bank of the Brotherhood or something. I am sure I will be able to pay it back as soon as I meet some forehanded trader and convince him to give me the money. I can be pretty convincing when it's needed. I'll also need to do some missions to convince others that I really belong to Corsairs."

---

If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez

[Othman]

Julio chuckled upon hearing Teresa drop a mine accidentaly to the supply depots.

''Dont worry dear, you will get used to them soon. It is probably because Pedro was used to work with a different combination of control commands. Few of us could unravel the mystery about the electronical parts of that centurion.''

Teresa seemed to be serious on this one and Julio fixed his tone to be more solemn. He went on after a slight pause..

''I would gladly help you Teresa with the funding you need if I had the access codes to the Brotherhood Bank. Unfortunately I dont have the access there. However, I could transfer a payment from my personal account till you get used to the basic settings and equipment. And you shouldn't worry about the payback. The Brotherhood are generous enough to let you take your time here. I am sure you will be a great addition to us.''

Julio finished the last remaining drops of his bourbon after an ecstasic speech as Teresa was preparing to move. He added quickly..

''I could accompany you to the recruitment office if you want, you will probably need to take the test..''

Even if she was Pedros daughter, the Brotherhood traditions preponderated for Julio..

---

On the uncharted lagoons of anguish, I sail with a canoe made of my sins.