the story behind Slum-City

[Madvillain]

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Once in a lullaby ii ii iii
(Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' - Somewhere Over The Rainbow)

The story of slum-city

Chapter one - The find

It was a moment of almost magical proportions that day almost sixteen years ago.
For days the Mary Jane , uncle Pete's liner was trying to navigate through the treacherous Smoky Hill Nebula.
After the projects fleet entered Kansas many project pilots heard rumors of it.
Locals warned them that many ships had been mysteriously sucked into its core , never to be heard of again.

It was not strange many crewmembers of Pete's flagship protested heavily after what happened next.
Pete decided if the rumors were true , there must be tons of loot waiting to be recovered out of there.
So he made his plan.

The entire fleet was ordered to wait behind the small Colby moon , while the Mary Jane set course into the unknown.
Being the most armored ship at his disposal , the vessel also wielded a immensely powerful engine,
not uncommon for Pilgrim liners of its type.

Uncle Pete was holding baby Simon (later to be known under the call-sign Star Smudge) firm in his arms,
while standing strong as a statue in the bridge , yelling his orders "increase thrust! , bring me a cupcake!!".
It was unclear if baby Simon was crying because of Pete's smelly armpits , or because it sensed the overwhelming power the nebula harvested.

Slowly but surely the thick smoglike substance embraced the Mary Jane in its grasp.
The ship started to shake and vibrate as in a violent turbulence.
''Uncle uncle!'' young big Joe was shouting
''We are taking damage! We got a leak in our beer supply , Its flooding the lower deck!!"

Uncle Pete yelled "NOOOO not the beer!" and in his confusion dropped baby Simon head first on the floor.
"Activate the lower deck pumps!" Pete yelled with tears in his eyes , "we'll have to jettison it!".
And so the pumps started to run , spraying a vast amount of top quality beer into the Vacuum of space.

Because of the liners strong gravity core , it formed a bubble around the entire ship ,
as a side effect the shaking turbulence came to a halt , and Pete picked up the baby
that rolled several meters away from him in the commotion.

Pete said "what the heck am i doing here holding a baby anyway!?" Otis , his comm officer answered
"We don't know uncle , maybe you should but him a trolley"
"Shut up!'' the good uncle yelled , and he turned his view back on the bridge front window.

"Uncle!" a crewmember yelled ''we are detecting some heavy mass up ahead!
It seems to be drifting!''
''any lifeforms detected?'' uncle asked.
''No uncle , no life forms''

Little John Read (later known by his given callsign The Bastard) walked up and pointed out of the window.
"Whats that uncle Pete?" he asked.
A vague gigantic shadow was emerging in front of the liner.
"I don't know my boy!" uncle answered "But get back to your corner! you know i don't want you around here you little bastard that you are!"

Then Pete and his crew could finally see what it was.
They could clearly see it was a heavily damaged barge , holes were slammed in its hull by astroids ,
and scanners showed one of its two engines being totally destroyed.

"Alright my boys!" Pete shouted waving his hands and baby in the air , ''Twenty of you gear up get your spacesuits! ,
We got ourselves a barge to tow out of this mess!"

---

Baila Morena | Toilet Trouble | Elder Presidente[TBH] | The Titan Combat Manual | Confession
♰ Join the Corsair Brotherhood ♰

[Tailsdoll]

The one guy in ToP with a tie

Civilization amongst barbarians

Chapter 2 - The ToP Public Relations and Transportation Department

The door creaked as a narrow beam of light flooded the small office aboard the damaged Barge. As the repair crews farted and yelled all around them, working tirelessly to make the Barge habitable, Peter Brimstone pushed Jonathan Cook into the room and slammed shut the door behind them.
Pulling a small string, Peter bathed the room in a dim, orange light, revealing the barren emptiness of the large cube-shaped office.


*What's this?" - asked a bewildered Jonathan.
*Yar' room and office* - Pete farted as he said that.
Jonathan took a long look as Pete emptied his bowel air, at least trying to be silent. But failing. Jonathan felt a deep sense of pride and accomplishment as remembered the reason he was there. Not so many weeks before this happened, Pete told him he had a surprise.
*Seeing as you're the only half-normal person here* - Jonathan remembered he had said - *I'm gonna put you in charge of our foreign relations, how's about that?*


He had stood there, in awe, finally realising he was to use his MDs on something more than conning some random Outcast out of his Cardamine supplies in mid-Liberty.
*Can I decorate it?* - asked Jonathan.
*No flowers* - Pete burped and turned around, leaving the room and a strange odour behind him.


For several weeks, Jonathan tapped into his own funds, buying everything a decent office needed, while the rest of the Slum City turned into little more than how it had been found, save the new life support systems, obviously. Almost a month later, the barren room had been redecorated into a cozy little office, complete with an encrypted FTL communication system and a small Mary Jane plant which Jonathan watered daily.

This groovy-smelling room had played host to many important people, such as the plumber and the electrician and, on one glorious ocasion, the pizza delivery service guy. For Jonathan is way too paranoid to conduct business in person, choosing to remain hidden behind several firewalls and encryption processes.
While Jonathan may seem like the last person to work as the PR guy behind an organization like ToP, that little pinstripe suit bears witness to many an important communication. And many a parole meeting for his little brother...

---

<span style="color:#000000">The awful plight of he who cannot draw to save his own life.</span>

[Tailsdoll]

The Downfall

Chapter 3 - Gallia and ToP's Losses

Everyone in the Taus remembers the day the GRN flooded those star systems, the mass of ships obscuring everything in their path. Countless lives on the balance as the ancient war machine sprung into action.

Amidst the mass of ships, a small Light Fighter with police tags flew in an erratic pattern, not unlike drunken driving. No one within the Gallic Forces seemed to give it much notice, even when it diverted from pre-planned course and veered off into Bretonia ahead of the main force.

Six months ago...

"I'm telling you, Uncle, we're fine, no need to worry"
"I hope so. Can't afford ta lose all of us in one day!" - a burp.
A sigh.
"We'll be fine" - a crackle, and the communication died out.

Jonathan sighed quietly into his flight mask, the stunning views of Dauphine barely visible through the Clelles Nebula. Around his ship, four others floated in space, one Pigrim class Slave Liner and three Eagle fighters. The silence was palpable.

"Where are they?" - John Read broke the ice after what seemed like an eternity.
"They'll be here... They better..." - muttered Jonathan, more to himself than anyone else.
"I don't like this" - said Pete, the farts so badly disguised one could almost smell them over intercom - "They should've been here by now! TEN MINUTES AGO!"
"Give them five more..." - responded Jonathan, simultaneously noticing something strange on his scanners.
"YOU SAID THAT FIVE MINUTES AGO!"
"Silence! There's someone here..."

The group waited in silence for a couple more minutes while the visitors approached their location. Something was off. It wasn't a single ship. Jonathan could count at least seven ships, none of them transports. And more were coming from the edge of the Nebula. Police ships.

"Damnit, they tricked us. EVERYONE, BREAK!"

Madness. The Project ships didn't even think about fighting back. The odds were so absurdly stacked against them, any kind of retaliation would be suicide. And none of them were in the mood for being sacrifices. In a desperate effort to confuse their would-be captors, each of the five ships took a different direction, ignoring the fact the Police had more than enough fighters for all of them.

Over the intercom, Jonathan could hear John Read and the masked man being caught up. They fought wildly, and several Gallians met their ends at his comrade's guns. But, inevitably, their voices were silenced...

He lost contact with Pete and Smudge. He could only assume the worst as he moved to the nearest Jump Hole, five fighters on his tail.

"Stop, at once, filthy smuggler!" - came a voice from one of the ships.
"BITE ME!" - yelled back Jonathan, popping all his flares in frustration.

He had no more time to say anything, though. His last flare failed. A disruptor hit his ship. The following seconds were blurry. All he remembered was waking up in a Gallic prison ship...

Present day...

"DAMNIT, I'M TELLING YOU, I'M BRETONIAN!"
"You're using a Gallic ship!"
"I HAVE MY DAMN PAPERS RIGHT HERE! I EVEN HAVE AN ACCENT!"
"I'm afraid I'll have to call my superior, sir..."

Jonathan sighed in desperation. He'd finally got to the border and was being stopped for suspicion of being a Gallic agent. In retrospect, maybe using a Gallic ship to escape enemy territory was a bad idea, but what was he to do?

"Sir, my superior cleared you for passage, but we recommend you change ship at once" - came the voice from the station.
"Fine, fine, whatever, just let me through!"
"Have a nice..." - Jonathan flew past the station - "Day..."

He had a long way to go. Six months. He dreaded the damage Pete would have done in his absence.

---

<span style="color:#000000">The awful plight of he who cannot draw to save his own life.</span>