Jake Talon walked down the long hallway towards Hanger 4A at a leisurely pace. In the end, it wouldn't matter, but Jake would rather be anywhere but approaching Kress again after what had just happened.
Jake took a moment to consider his current status. He had the entire group in custody now except for Tanya Ramirez. Where had she gotten to? She had been with Rob when he had last seen them, and that other wounded man had been there too. And Jake seriously doubted Kress would be able to get Rob but not Tanya. So then where was she?
Suddenly it hit him. The look of utter despair and desperation on Rob's face when he had arrived. Jake knew Rob, and he knew Rob would not be that depressed about simply being captured. The man had escaped Fort Bush's highest security cell block, for crying out loud! No, there was only one thing that Jake Talon knew would make Rob Schaefer behave like he had.
Goddammit, she's DEAD.
Talon had seen the signs between Rob and Tanya long ago, and he had watched recordings of them in public. Talon was willing to bet a brand-new Eagle that they had had feelings for one another. And if Tanya was now dead, that would turn Rob into a desperate man, a man who thought he had nothing to lose.
Rob will make a break for it any chance he gets. And knowing all the damn gadgets he has up every sleeve, that could be any second.
Talon sighed.
Rob, you have to trust me. Don't act hastily.
Jake suppressed a chuckle.
Fat chance of that.
With that, he arrived at the hanger and was forced to direct his thoughts towards Kress, standing in a different area of the hanger, immersed in a small handheld computer.
Jake got within ten feet of him before he looked up. His face looked as if it had aged a couple years in the thirty minutes since Jake had last seen him.
"Talon, this is serious. We had two escapes from the cell block within minutes of one another. And they were both the men I just captured. The men you took to the cellblock."
Kress directed a long, nasty glare at Talon, and then relaxed a bit.
"Luckily for you, the preliminary analysis indicates that both escapes were both distinctly disconnected and not done with any outside help. The first escapee, Gabriel Urran, has been tracked though the ship, as he is literally leaving a trail of corpses behind him. The second escapee, your friend Rob Schaefer, has been less conspicous and his position is currently unknown."
Jake nodded understanding.
"Okay, I will lead a team to apprehend Urran, and I want you to find Schaefer. You are to return him alive, if at all possible. He is on this ship, as I have ordered a strict quarantine. Nothing will leave this ship until both of them are returned to me. This includes you, Mr. Talon."
Talon suppressed a grimace as he realized how badly Rob and Urran had just f*cked up his plan.
Jake nodded to Kress and walked briskly from his presence.
As he walked out of the hanger, he considered using his wrist comm unit to call for backup, but he decided against it. Having too many people around would be stupid if Jake wanted to help Rob. If anyone else got wise as to Jake's true intent, then neither Jake nor Rob would leave the ship alive.
He moved down the hallway, working his way back towards the brig. From the reports flowing in on his comm unit, it appeared that Urran had rampaged towards the planetary side of the ship, which meant he was going directly away from Hanger 4A. Which also meant, with total certainty, that Rob was coming directly towards Jake. And they were bound to run into each other at some point.
It was a few more minutes before it happened. Jake was moving down a darkened portion of corridor towards a four way intersection. He stopped at the corner and peeked out. Sure enough, Rob was stealthily moving up the corridor perpendicular to Jake's about fifty feet down. Jake pulled his head back before Rob saw him, but then Jake noticed someone else coming towards Rob from the other direction. Rob saw him and ducked for cover, but the man caught a glimpse of him and came running down the hall, weapon drawn.
He never even saw Jake standing there, and the shot to his face killed him instantly.
Jake stepped out into plain view, weapon lowered, and walked down the hall towards Rob.
Summary: Jake returns to Kress, who informs him that Rob and Gabe have escaped. Jake is assigned to find Rob while Kress goes after Gabe. He finds Rob, and saves him by shooting an assailant in the face. And oh yeah, Jake thinks Tanya is dead too.
Edited by - ww2jacob on 4/16/2006 1:53:10 AM
Edited by - ww2jacob on 4/16/2006 1:54:36 AM
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CYOF Fanfic RPG - The Game - updates
Read, add and comment on excellent written stories by fans, set within the Freelancer universe
Fri May 05, 2006 12:28 pm
Red lights, a cold metal floor, people walking back and forth going about their business. Stefan opened up his eyes; he could see traders buying and selling, ships from various factions and drunken people coming out from the bar, he was in a hangar bay. He stood up, brushing off the dust from his clothes, and looked around while he tried to remember where he was. He remembered being on Planet Cambridge giving away some large chunk of rock to some scientific institute. He remembered going on a few trips to the countryside, sightseeing and visiting museums. Then he remembered getting drunk and getting off of Cambridge, taking the trade lane to Battleship Norfolk, then taking the lane to the Omega-3 gate and then… nothing, absolutely nothing. He couldn’t think of anything. So he decided that he would be better off finding out where he was if he just walked around a bit.
He walked up the metal stairs and into the corridor leading to the bar. There some drunken bounty hunter came and for no reason just pushed him into the wall, grunting some incomprehensible words and walking away.
“Jävla gubbe.” He muttered for himself and continued towards the bar. He was clearly not in his best mood right now, a little angry and easily irritated. Having to bother with some drunken fool was not what he wanted to do now, he swore that the next guy coming through, repeating it, he would punch the sorry old man in his stomach and leave him on the floor coughing blood. He knew his strength; his hardest punch could very well crush the nose of anybody trying to pick a fight with him. It’s happened before, mostly on Freeport 9 when some drunken, arrogant bounty hunter or Corsair just randomly smash people into the walls of the corridor. Normally he wouldn’t use violence… he hated it. However sometimes he just couldn’t control himself, or was too angry to notice.
He stepped into the bar and looked around for a second. People sat at their tables drinking or playing cards. The music was calm and relaxing and the people were quiet, just what he needed. He went to a chair at the large panorama window, looking at the surroundings. But there wasn’t much too see, a big orange cloud was covering the whole station, apparently the Walker nebula, but he could make out the shapes of a trade lane and some storage depots. Then he looked at the bartender, a fairly young man. Blue eyes, blond hair, point head and he was wearing an IMG vac suit, indicating that this was an IMG base. He then summed up everything noticeable he had seen and tried to figure out where he was.
“Låt se… Walker nebulosan och handelsvägar, då måste jag vara i Omega-7. Vad finns det för baser här då, Bautzen… Freistadt! IMG verkar ju styra den här basen, så det måste vara Freistadt.” He murmured to himself. Now having found out where he was the anger faded away and he started feeling thirsty. He asked for the bartender to come, who came forth to his table and greeted him. His Dublin accent was very easy too notice.
“Good day mate, what may I get for you?” The bartender asked, with a very jolly expression on his face.
“Mineral water please, otherwise just plain water.” Stefan replied.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” The happy fellow said and rushed away.
Stefan sighed, put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. He was tired; sleeping in the hangar bay was not any pleasant experience. All he wanted for the moment was to get home to New Berlin, home to Heiligenstadt, and get some sleep.
“Here’s your water mate, that’ll 5 creds.” Stefan gave a coin to the bartender and drank from the bottle. He emptied it in a minute and then walked out of the bar.
When he came to the hangar bay it was full of life. The sound of people talking, machines humming and ships coming in and out all mixed up into a large noise that was painful to the ear. Stefan took a pair or earplugs from his pocket and plugged them into the ear, and then he proceeded to his ship and took off. Once outside the station he leaned back into his seat and looked at the hellish, but rather beautiful, Walker nebula for a moment before taking the trade lane to the Stuttgart jumpgate.
The trip through the lane was rather boring, as was this whole system, nothing but orange clouds everywhere. Neither was the jumpgate, nor the Stuttgart system. To keep himself from getting bored Stefan thought about his past, or more likely, his ship.
Rebirth, which more closely resembled a scrap heap than a ship, had been through a lot of things. Pirate attacks, harassment from Libertonian ships, radioactive nebulas and a lot more things. After Stefan had escaped from his wretched prison he managed to take himself to Freeport 2, where an old friend of his recognized him. He took Stefan to planet New Berlin where he lived and worked at an outdoor scrap smelter. From the scrap heap there they managed to salvage a ship engine, an old shield, various ship hull panels and some other materials needed to build a ship. They gathered a few other friends and pieced together the parts till it loosely resembled a ship. Luckily it worked, and it still works fine. He later modified various sections of the ship to make it better, more durable and capable of bearing weapons. Finally it became decent to fly with, and it has never failed him. Civilian ships that are sold nowadays come with a lot of problems, especially those that are made in Rheinland. For example the engine might shut down in the middle of nowhere, whereas Stefan usually offer his help to the poor souls and tow the ships back to some friendly station or planet, for a small fee of course.
He came up on Freiburg station in and continued directly towards Planet Stuttgart. He wondered how he could have forgotten anything at all. The implants in his brain serve as his own neural net, it is meant to record everything, even dreams. After thinking awhile, he came to the conclusion that it must have been the alcohol that made him forget. How he actually got drunk was a mystery to him, the only alcohol he drinks is one glass of red wine a day, no more no less.
His little train of thought stopped when he exited the trade lane and he glanced at the old damage indicator left on his ship since its early days. It was only half filled, indicating the ship was damaged. He asked himself “Why haven’t been informed of this?” but he soon saw that he hadn’t connected himself to the ship; he felt around in his pocket with his hand, the wire was still there. He’s been driving around manually all the time, something he hasn’t done since he was 42, and he hadn’t noticed it. This was very strange to him.
“This is Zoners Zeta 9-4 to Planet Stuttgart, requesting permission to land.” He hailed the docking ring.
“Understood, permission to land is granted, proceed to land.”
The large gate swung open and the ship entered the atmosphere, continuing down towards the main city. Stefan always had to land on a planet when he came across one. All the beautiful forests, lakes and cornfields could be seen for his cockpit. It was sights like this that gave Stefan the will to continue living; if it weren’t for the beauty of nature he might not even have been here. He would possibly have committed suicide; he couldn’t bare the memories from Alaska, which came to haunt him for the rest of his life. For every word he spoke, every sound he heard, ever sight he saw, every thought he was thinking, there was the memories. Lurking at the back of his brain, he couldn’t get his thoughts of off them. Every second in life was a pain, the memories remaining there, torturing him. He just wanted to die.
But the staggering sights of nature kept him alive, his memories became more vague whenever he saw beautiful scenery. Another factor that kept him alive was the thought that while he is alive, he might do something to make peoples lives better, whether it was doing some great changes in society, or just helping the average Human with his or her problems. He was absolutely convinced he could do something, and the will to help was strong within him.
Then there was a third factor, revenge. The man that had caused him so much pain, toying around with him as some little guinea pig in his secret lab, that had turned his entire life into an agony, had gotten away without a scratch. This madman, who in his eyes was the personification of evil itself, had to be erased from the universe. Not only for personal revenge, but also for all the other poor people he tortured just to reach his pathetic goal, to create the perfect soldier for Liberty. Now he lives in luxury, as the governor of California, and has an entire system at his disposal. Jack Mason, the criminal of the century.
He stepped out of his ship, and took a small trip out in the countryside. Walking is good exercise, strengthening your leg muscles and receiving fresh air, all in one. It also calmed him down; it was almost like a cure to dampen the pain from his memories. He always landed on planets for this reason, for fresh air and for a beautiful sight. Let it be an endless steppe, a never-ending ocean, a green forest or a mighty mountain chain anything calms him down. However, Leeds and Manhattan are two depressing sights for him. A symbol of humanity’s encroachment upon nature and its lust for destruction, it’s not a legend that the hands of Humans have extinguished so many species of plants and animals. The best example of this is Planet Leeds; it may once have been a beautiful and pristine world like Planet Denver, but was destroyed due to mankinds greed. It looks more like a trashcan than a planet.
The absolute opposite to Planet Leeds is just on system away from it, in Edinburgh where the most wonderful planet in the entire Sirius sector resides, Planet Gaia. It is a planet resembles Tellus, the home world of the Humans, the most. It’s rich in fauna and even richer when it comes to flora; however Gaia now also faces the threat to get destroyed by humanity’s ignorance towards nature. Especially with Orbital Spa and Cruise’s trips down to the planet, and their new idea of building permanent residents for Humans upon the planet. If nothing will be done anytime soon, then Gaia will most surely look like Planet Los Angeles after 300 years. Sure it maybe nice to live out the last ten years of your life on Gaia, but think about the indigenous residents of the planet. Choose a planet that is already populated, and spare the poor inhabitants of Gaia from the evil clutches of Humankind.
Stefan himself plans to spend his last years of his life on Planet Malta; working on a plantage where everyone does it’s best to help the community. Where everyone is loyal to each other and wouldn’t even think of himself. And the community (the people) decides what is best for everyone. It’s a socialist’s vision that has come true, on a planet that is politically hostile towards the rest of Sirius however. So the average Rheinländer has absolutely no chance to even get near the planet before getting incinerated. War or conflict as it is called, is one of the things that make Stefan ashamed of being a Human.
After wandering around in the forests for a while Stefan returned to his ship and left Planet Stuttgart, after repairing it at the local equipment dealer, setting course for New Berlin, this time connecting himself with the ship. He started thinking again, when looking at the names of planets and stations in Sirius, it is nice to see that some at least tried to preserve the names of various cities, lakes and rivers and mountains on Tellus. Especially in these times, now that people care so little about our common history. Stefan had been into “The Rheinland”, he has read about the history of Germany, the predecessor of Rheinland. About the Holy Roman Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Imperial times, Adolf Hitler, the holocaust and the Third Realm and about Germany’s role in the Sol War. The entire history of Germany lies preserved in “The Rheinland” for everyone to look at. The only thing that is missing is how the Sol War started and for what reason, it’s like a blank field in our otherwise so well preserved historical timeline. However, very few people are actually interested in history at all. Fame, fashion and other mainstream things are what they are interested in. Like a brainless sheep in its herd, just doing exactly what the rest are doing. This is why when anyone, even a professor, is asked about Rheinlands past they more than often answer “Ich weiß nicht”.
Stefan approached the New Berlin gate with its giant “teeth” open, and went through. Coming out on the other side, he took the gate to Bonn station and from there to Brandenburg border station. He didn’t think much while travelling this time, at least not until he took the lane from Brandenburg to Planet New Berlin. Where he looked at Rheinland space, seemingly unpolluted like most of the other houses. He admired the people that took their time to clean Rheinland space; no one wants to look like Bretonia. It is especially important in such an industrialized nation as Rheinland, if the ALG wouldn’t be around then this system would look just as filthy as New London.
When he came out of the trade lane he flew directly to the docking ring and landed. He flew to the little town where he lived, Heiligenstadt. It was a bit dark, nightfall had come, now waits a whole year of darkness. But Stefan always tries to see it from the light side; at least the stars will be visible. Space traffic is almost nothing on the far side of New Berlin.
He parked the ship in the garage and went to his little underground storehouse-like residence. He took a cup of mulled wine or glögg, as he liked to call it, and sat down into his armchair and whispered the words “Borta bra men hemma bäst” to himself. Then slowly, he fell asleep.
Stefan sat in his ship outside Battleship Norfolk, feeling happy but very tired. He took the trade lane towards Omega-3 and leaned back into his seat. Suddenly, the trade lane got disrupted and there were 4-6 Junker ships in front of him, demanding the consumer goods in his cargo hold. Stefan activated charged up his cruise engines and awaited a shower of fire, and it came. He was bombarded with the beams of the Junkers weapons, then his shield went down but he managed to enter cruise speed. While his shields were recharging he sent out his nanobots to repair his ship, then he flew into the Keswick cloud. After flying for a while he came to the jump gate to Omega-3, he entered and came out on the other side, then continuing towards Omega-7 via the trade lanes. When he arrived at Freistadt outpost in Omega-7 he stopped and docked with the station. As soon as he came out of his ship he started looking for a dark corner somewhere. It didn’t take long time before he found one, he went there and turned around to look at his ship, but collapsed down to the floor before he could see it, and everything went dark.
Stefan opened his eyes, only to see the ceiling of his house. He had been dreaming, dreaming of his journey from Planet Cambridge to Freistadt Base, he now remembered everything. The last bit of anger went out of him as he realized this; he laid back into his bed with a slight smile on his lips, wanting to sleep. But he couldn’t sleep. He had been sleeping for 16 hours, and all tiredness was gone from him. So he stood up, took a shower and dressed, and went down to the kitchen to get some Sushi. While eating, he looked out through the window, just staring into oblivion, thinking about his future as an old pensioner. Malta was the place where he wanted to live out his last years, he could imagine sitting inside his villa in a room with dark wooden walls, shelves filled with all sorts of books in various languages would stand at the walls. Staring out through the window he would embrace the beauty of the rolling fields of orange grasses, which to him appeared more like yellow.
While Stefan was thinking about Planet Malta, it suddenly hit him that he hasn’t visited Don José Linares, a close friend of his, in a long while. When he finished he took his best clothes and put them into a bag, hopped into his ship and departed for the Omicron Alpha system. He planned to take the route through Omicron Theta where he would take a pause at Freeport 9 before continuing to Omicron Alpha. This would be a long and boring trip so he programmed the ships computer (which currently was like some sort of second brain for him) to follow the trade lanes and jumpgates to Planet Stuttgart and land there. When the ship entered the trade lane going to Brandenburg border station he pick up a book from a little box in his ship. It was “Unsere dunkeln Vergangenheit“ by Reinhold Schröder, it told about everything that was known by science about the Sol War and why we came here. With information gathered from all sleeper ships, with the exception of “The Hispania”, it is the most complete book among the colonies that sums up all the major events in Sol that eventually led us here, to Sirius. Stefan relaxed into his chair and began reading.
As planned he landed on Planet Stuttgart to buy a lot of nanobots and shield batteries for his ship before he entered Omega-11, from where he would proceed to Omega-41. At Omega-41 he would rest a little at Freeport 5 and then go to Freeport 9, Omicron Theta and from there to Omicron Alpha.
The trip was rather fortunately uneventful so it didn’t take too long before he arrived at Freeport 9. He docked quickly and bought a little more necessities for his ship at the equipment dealer before he went to the bar. The bartender who was currently serving was a friend of his, which directly recognized him.
“Hello John, a glass of red wine please.” Stefan said as he approached.
“Stefan? Long time no seen, where in all Sirius have you been?” John questioned while pouring wine into a glass.
“New Berlin, where else?”
“On one of our glorious Freeport’s of course, enjoying the freedom of life. Have you made any help-out recently?”
“Nah, not with my ship. Besides, I’ve been a little busy recently, and I didn’t want to miss the elections.”
“So, saluting the chancellor rather than helping out your brethren is more important I presume. Anyways, welcome back.” John commented while handing over the glass to Stefan.
“Thanks. Well actually there a friend of mine gave me a hint that something awful had happened in Omega-5, I just had to take a look.” Stefan replied before taking a sip from the red beverage.
“Yeah, I’ve hearing that on the news too. What happened?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Tell me and we’ll see, it can’t hurt now can it?
“Well, to keep it short I’ll say that both the Hessians and the Corsairs bases where completely torn apart and everyone present in the system at the time are now dead. I don’t know what caused it though.”
“How the hell can that happen? No military in that area is powerful enough to deal that much damage, that’s for sure.” He wondered, with a slightly louder voice.
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know. I only ventured around there, however I found some strange stone like thing that I took and brought to Planet Cambridge. I also found a Junker base there.”
“Weird. But let’s talk about jollier things shall we? Like are you going to stay here?” The bartender hastily asked.
“Unfortunately no. I have other things to do.”
“Oh, so what are you going to do hereafter?”
“I’ll just drop by my mother for a short visit before I head of to Omicron Alpha, I’ve got a friend there I would like to meet and talk with again.”
“Again you’re putting something else over your own faction.” John complained.
“Oh quit it, I’ll be back sometime. Just not now, you need to learn patience boy.” Stefan answered with a slightly annoyed tone.
“Alright but I want to inform you that your mom has moved to Freeport 10 in Tau-37. Ain’t there anything else you’ll be doing here?”
“Not this time, but I’ve got to go now. See you again, I’ll stop by here on my way back.” Stefan said as he handed back the empty glass.
“Bye Stefan, safe journey.”
“Thanks!” Stefan thanked and then walked away to his ship. He left as quickly as he had arrived and set course for the northern tip of the Amarus cloud where the jumphole would be. On the way Stefan marvelled at the beautiful sights of Omicron Theta, especially the sun and the nebulae. When he arrived he quickly entered, and as soon as he came out on the other side he went into cruise and flew to Malta. Again marvelling at the beauties of the Omicron systems.
When he had landed on Malta he took a deep breath and looked up at the yellow sky, then down at the orange fields of grass before he went to the nearest train station and took the train to Linares’ plantation. He looked out through the small window at his seat, but soon he got bored of the never-ending orange steppe. But the station where he would go of was not far away, the boredom didn’t last for long. When he stepped of he walked through the small village and proceeded on a rather wide dirt road that led towards Linares’ plantation. Soon enough he arrived at the main gate that divides his property from the rest of the world. He ringed the bell and was soon answered by the Dons familiar voice.
“This is Don José Linares, who seeks me?” A voice answered in Spanish.
“Good day Don Linares, it’s your old friend Stefan. Remember me?” Stefan replied in a jolly tone, he too in Spanish.
“Stefan! So good of you to come by, I almost thought that you had forgotten me. Anyway, more talk inside, meet me at the door and I’ll let you in.” A little beep was heard signifying that the gate was unlocked; Stefan opened it and walked in, closing it behind him. When he came to the door he waited for a while until the Don opened it. The Dons face was glowing in happiness, Stefan was just about to bow when the Don suddenly hugged him, and Stefan hugged back.
“It is so good to see you again old friend, I’m starting to feel a bit alone in my castle here. What brought you all the way you here?” The Don curiously asked.
“A lot of things have happened since the last time we met, a lot of horrible things. I needed someone I could seriously discuss these issues with. Besides, we haven’t seen each other for a long time. It’s good to see you too.” Stefan answered.
“Well then by all means enter, I too have felt the need for talk. You can go up to the library and have a seat while I get the tea.” With that the Lord hurried away into another room and left Stefan alone in the large hall.
In front of him were two wide stairways made out of the finest wood on Malta, its fine golden appearance gleamed as sunshine hit it. The stairs where covered in a wide red carpet with sides made out of a shining golden fabric. He proceeded up the stairs, and then to the right, the walls were made out of a very dark, brown wood with various patterns carved into them. When he came to the fifth door he opened it and walked inside, there he met by the shining yellow-green light from the Maltese sun coming in from two large gothic style windows. The walls were just the same as in the hall outside, but instead of the marble floors the ones here were red parquet floors. The walls where filled with bookshelves, which possibly contained more than a hundred books in both English and Spanish. He searched around a little to see if he could find anything of his interest, and he did. Far up on one of the shelves he found an unusual dictionary. It seemed to be some “Español-Portugoese Portugoese-Español” dictionary, a language seemingly extinct in Sirius’ society. It could be seen that time had taken its toll on the book; the pages were yellow and fragile, while the book itself was quite worn. On the last pages of the book was a chapter with the name “ Historia de la lengua Portugués” he sat down and began reading it, page after page, eyes focused on every word, swallowing the text. The door opened and José stepped in, with a plate with teacups and a teapot, unnoticed by Stefan. Not until José spoke did Stefan lift his head from the book.
“Interesting?” He said and carefully put the plate on the table in front of Stefan.
“Oh yes, very.” He replied.
“What is it?” Stefan showed the back of the book to José, and then he turned back and read again.
“A dictionary? How can one be entertained by reading separate words one by one?” He asked, with a slight expression of confusion on his face.
“There is an interesting part on the last pages of this book that tells the history of the language. Roughly 25 pages.” Came Stefan’s reply.
“So, you have immersed yourself into the art of linguistics, I would never have guessed that. What language?”
“Öhh… I don’t really know. Something… ah, here it is; Portuguese?”
“Ah, that book. I got it from an old friend a long time ago. However I don’t find it of any use, do you?” José wondered.
“Of course, our linguistic heritage is part of our history, it is always good to know how they talked back home. One shouldn’t let a language die out because of the ignorance of the majority. Besides, it is always better to talk with one in their native language, don’t you think?” Stefan replied, and then asked back.
“Not really, it is already a dead language. Only known by a few, and those who know it never use it. It is really of no use to anyone, that book belongs in a museum. I wonder why those who know it ever bothered to learn it.”
“A native language is part of a persons identity, you can’t give up your native language without losing your identity as one of them, for example these Portuguese people.”
“Well, the Libertonians don’t seem to care about that.”
“Oh please, don’t even get me started on Libertonians. All they do is care about themselves and how they look. They follow fashion like a horde of rats that throw themselves over a tiny piece of cheese. I bet you, if one of those superstars would tell them to kill all homeless people in Liberty they would do it. Stupid society.” Stefan said with an irritated tone.
“I guess you’re right. I’ve never liked Libertonians that much myself. Arrogant people. Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss language and Libertonians with me, so let’s talk about something else, and have some tea.”
“Thank you.”
“So, have you heard about Cali?” José asked.
“Yes, and I’m surprised. How can one commit such a hideous crime, it was massacre. I even knew people on that station. They should pay for their crime.”
“Indeed, I lost my last son there. Surely you remember Alberto?”
“Oh yes, what a man. He was full of life and ambition, his whole life lay before him, and he got it taken away by some thugs.”
“Tragic yes, but not that all surprising. Our brethren so often strike at civilian targets within the houses, so it would be logical of them to want revenge. Then there is something else, some radical sect has come up lately, and they’re gaining in numbers. They worship the Nomads as if they were gods, and think that Sirius belongs to the Nomads exclusively.” José told.
“Please, continue.” Stefan asked him.
“Even the conservatives regard them as maniacs, they are despised by everyone. But as they are our brethren we cannot attack them, no matter how much we wish that we could. They had a meeting on Cali at the time of the massacre. Maybe some outsider faction wanted them taken out. That’s only pure speculation however.”
“How could anyone know about them outside Outcast society?” Stefan wondered.
“After the battle in Sigma-19, this group managed to capture a group of Bretonian vessels. Gunboats, cruisers and one or two Battleships I think. After this action they popularity within the Outcast youth skyrocketed, and many went to join them. From what I know, they managed to build a shipyard somewhere in Omicron Beta and station the captured ships there.”
“But how would they know that it was the Outcasts that stole the ships?”
“Well, before the ships were hijacked a squadron of these radicals came to Sigma-19 and engaged the house forces that had amassed in the system. Thereby aiding the Nomads. Surely it must have raised concerns that they didn’t fight the Nomads in the battle. I think that it was this that made us targets for the Cali massacre.”
“I see, are the Bretonian ships in their hands now?” Stefan questioned.
“No, not to long after the Cali massacre the radicals shipyard in Omicron Beta was attacked by an elite squadron of the Bretonian Armed Forces. They took back their ships, destroyed the shipyard and killed a large number of the radicals. The ships were returned to Bretonia, but the Bretonian government kept this a secret from the populace. After this, the radicals support went down to below 10%, now they’re recovering.”
“Good to hear, I hope that they won’t be any obstacle for you in the future.”
“Well, thanks to them all Outcasts are blamed for aiding the Nomads, I suppose that the Bretonian government are not that happy either.”
“Supposedly they’re mad at you, I wouldn’t be surprised if the BPA and the BAF would try to purge you from their space.” Stefan commented.
“Giving the Corsairs the upper hand.” José said.
“Not really. The Corsairs have been into a lot of bad they too. Before I came here, I went to Omega-5. A friend of mine had told me a rumour that all activity in the system had completely vanished. I went there to check out what had happened, and when I arrived I saw the most horrid sight a man could see.” Stefan said.
“What had happened?”
“Ronneburg base was completely torn apart when I came to it, and when I traversed the Hammen Hole en route to Cadiz is discovered a Junker base in the area, Fairbanks they called it. I ignored it and proceeded towards Cadiz, and when I arrived the whole asteroid had several large holes going straight through it. I went into it, and what I saw was beyond comprehension. Thousands and thousands oh people where dead, floating around in space inside the hollow asteroid, sliced, butchered, torn up or divided into small pieces. It was horrid, and I can’t escape from the sight, it haunts me.” He told.
“Horrifying indeed, but you could at least have kept the details for yourself. Now I’m feeling bad.” José complained.
“I’m sorry, it all appeared in my head again, I just couldn’t keep myself from it. I’m sorry.”
“No need to excuse, but there is one question: what could possibly have done this much damage?”
“I don’t know, but I found something unusual. Some sort of hard substance that reflected laser shots, I’ve never seen anything like it. It also had some strange pattern engraved in it.” Stefan explained.
“Do you believe that it can be the radicals?” José questioned.
“No, not them. It would be almost impossible for them to get down all the way to Omega-5 unnoticed and end all life there. Provided that they don’t have some special sort of cloaking technology, which I strongly believe they don’t have.” Stefan replied.
“They have been seen carrying around alien artefacts, active ones. They might have used them.”
“Where would they have gotten those from?”
“They have been seen frequenting the Junkers Yanagi Base in Sigma-13 and at the Omicron Theta jumphole here. They must have gotten their artefacts from either the Zoners or the Junkers.”
“In any case, I do not believe in magic or magical properties for certain objects. Nothing can go against the laws of the cosmos.”
“Well you should, these artefacts have properties beyond your wildest imagination. Ask the Corsairs, they should know.”
“José, do you really think that a group of alien worshipping Outcast radicals could have gone all the way from Omicron Alpha to Omega-5 and unleash Armageddon without anybody noticing?”
“If not them, who else?” José questioned.
“Nomads?”
“Oh yes, the Nomads, I forgot about them. Sure, it is very possible that the Nomads could have caused such carnage, but don’t they fly in organic ships?”
“Yes they do, but I don’t think they’re limited to organic ships. They might have used something else to.”
“Maybe, but this doesn’t seem to get anywhere. Lets just drop it, speculating hardly makes anything better. Lets talk about something else like… what do you plan to do when you leave us?”
“Not much, just visiting my mother on Freeport 10, her birthday is in about two weeks and I want to make her happy.”
“How old is she now again?”
“87 after her birthday. She’s old and has Alzheimer’s, but that doesn’t stop her from taking a walk around the whole station everyday. She has so much energy, you rarely find that in elderly people nowadays.”
“Oh, that lady. So she’s your mother? I would never have guessed, I thought that she would look more… depressed. With you disappearing and all.” José said.
“Well, she doesn’t remember that. She believes that I’m studying linguistics at Cambridge and always sends me messages and asks how good my Japanese is. She is actually quite happy all the time.”
“Haha… seems that she is luckier than you. Are you still having nightmares?”
“Yes, every time I sleep the memories return. It’s horrible. Can you imagine how it is to look at a person slowly being torn apart while conscious? It’s so horrible. I feel so sick afterwards when I wake up; sometimes I even have to vomit.” Stefan described.
“I think I know what you need: a vacation. Go to Curacao, I heard they’ve constructed special platforms in the open sea with only trees, grass and bushes. Should do you good. Some reading won’t hurt either.”
“Hmm… you’re right, I really need a vacation. But I’ve got nothing to read, all my books just sit on the shelf and collect dust.”
“Well what about this dictionary? You seem to find it interesting.” José suggested.
“But, isn’t it yours?”
“Yes but I have no use for it any longer, it just sits here and “collects dust” as you said.”
“You mean I can really have it?”
“Sure, I already know the language. Wait a minute, I think I have something for you.” José said and went away only to return a few minutes later with to thick books in his hands.
“I think you will like these; one is for learning the language, the other tells the history of the language. I think you will find them interesting. They’re both in Spanish.” José then handed over the books to Stefan.
“Thank you! Yes… these will indeed be interesting.”
“I’m glad you like them.”
“Wait, didn’t you say you already knew the language?” Stefan asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Because you seemed to complain about how useless it was earlier.”
“Haha, you never forget anything do you? You and your near photographic memory.” José said with a bit of humour, they laughed. “Indeed, I find it useless. I have nobody to speak to in that language. But I suppose that you plan to learn it?”
“Of course, and when I do it won’t be as useless as you first thought.”
“Hmm…well, it has its positive sides. If we want to talk about something secretly, then we can talk about it in Portuguese.”
“Now that’s the spirit!” Stefan exclaimed and then glanced at his watch. “This has all been very nice José, but I’m afraid that I’ll have to go now. It’s getting a little late and I wouldn’t like to keep my mother waiting, even if she doesn’t remember it.”
“Hey, I thought you were going to stay here for a week or so. Won’t you at least take a little cardamine?”
“I’m sorry José, but I promise that we’ll do it next time. I’ll even work with you at your plantation, how about that?”
“Alright, next time. Good bye friend, see you next time.”
“You too mate. But I’ll be back soon.”
“Hope so, I’ll miss you.”
“Me too. Good bye José.”
“Good bye Stefan.”
Stefan walked all the way back to the spaceport, then took off and headed for the Tau-37 jumphole. While travelling he sat back and beheld the beautiful sights of Omicron Alpha, looking at a certain section of space where the Edge and Crow nebulæ meet. The engine humming and radio communications all melded together and became a sort of muffled sound, he closed his eyes, deciding to take a nap.
When Stefan woke up he was already in the docking bay, howevel little was going on in the there. First he exited his ship, then he went to the center of the station. In here there were more people, mostly Zoners, miners and Outcasts but also a few freelancers and bounty hunters. He sat down on a bench between two bushes, watching every single person with his hawk-eyes, trying to guess what they were thinking about. He was also searching for his mother somewhere in the crowd, she was usually out and walking and this time.
After a time he found her, taking a walk as expected. So he stood up and we straight after her. As he caught up with her, a thought hit him: Maybe I need to take a vacation.
“Hej”, he called out to her. She turned around.
“Hej, vem är du?” said the startled elderly woman.
Yes, I really need a vacation, Stefan thought.
He walked up the metal stairs and into the corridor leading to the bar. There some drunken bounty hunter came and for no reason just pushed him into the wall, grunting some incomprehensible words and walking away.
“Jävla gubbe.” He muttered for himself and continued towards the bar. He was clearly not in his best mood right now, a little angry and easily irritated. Having to bother with some drunken fool was not what he wanted to do now, he swore that the next guy coming through, repeating it, he would punch the sorry old man in his stomach and leave him on the floor coughing blood. He knew his strength; his hardest punch could very well crush the nose of anybody trying to pick a fight with him. It’s happened before, mostly on Freeport 9 when some drunken, arrogant bounty hunter or Corsair just randomly smash people into the walls of the corridor. Normally he wouldn’t use violence… he hated it. However sometimes he just couldn’t control himself, or was too angry to notice.
He stepped into the bar and looked around for a second. People sat at their tables drinking or playing cards. The music was calm and relaxing and the people were quiet, just what he needed. He went to a chair at the large panorama window, looking at the surroundings. But there wasn’t much too see, a big orange cloud was covering the whole station, apparently the Walker nebula, but he could make out the shapes of a trade lane and some storage depots. Then he looked at the bartender, a fairly young man. Blue eyes, blond hair, point head and he was wearing an IMG vac suit, indicating that this was an IMG base. He then summed up everything noticeable he had seen and tried to figure out where he was.
“Låt se… Walker nebulosan och handelsvägar, då måste jag vara i Omega-7. Vad finns det för baser här då, Bautzen… Freistadt! IMG verkar ju styra den här basen, så det måste vara Freistadt.” He murmured to himself. Now having found out where he was the anger faded away and he started feeling thirsty. He asked for the bartender to come, who came forth to his table and greeted him. His Dublin accent was very easy too notice.
“Good day mate, what may I get for you?” The bartender asked, with a very jolly expression on his face.
“Mineral water please, otherwise just plain water.” Stefan replied.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” The happy fellow said and rushed away.
Stefan sighed, put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. He was tired; sleeping in the hangar bay was not any pleasant experience. All he wanted for the moment was to get home to New Berlin, home to Heiligenstadt, and get some sleep.
“Here’s your water mate, that’ll 5 creds.” Stefan gave a coin to the bartender and drank from the bottle. He emptied it in a minute and then walked out of the bar.
When he came to the hangar bay it was full of life. The sound of people talking, machines humming and ships coming in and out all mixed up into a large noise that was painful to the ear. Stefan took a pair or earplugs from his pocket and plugged them into the ear, and then he proceeded to his ship and took off. Once outside the station he leaned back into his seat and looked at the hellish, but rather beautiful, Walker nebula for a moment before taking the trade lane to the Stuttgart jumpgate.
The trip through the lane was rather boring, as was this whole system, nothing but orange clouds everywhere. Neither was the jumpgate, nor the Stuttgart system. To keep himself from getting bored Stefan thought about his past, or more likely, his ship.
Rebirth, which more closely resembled a scrap heap than a ship, had been through a lot of things. Pirate attacks, harassment from Libertonian ships, radioactive nebulas and a lot more things. After Stefan had escaped from his wretched prison he managed to take himself to Freeport 2, where an old friend of his recognized him. He took Stefan to planet New Berlin where he lived and worked at an outdoor scrap smelter. From the scrap heap there they managed to salvage a ship engine, an old shield, various ship hull panels and some other materials needed to build a ship. They gathered a few other friends and pieced together the parts till it loosely resembled a ship. Luckily it worked, and it still works fine. He later modified various sections of the ship to make it better, more durable and capable of bearing weapons. Finally it became decent to fly with, and it has never failed him. Civilian ships that are sold nowadays come with a lot of problems, especially those that are made in Rheinland. For example the engine might shut down in the middle of nowhere, whereas Stefan usually offer his help to the poor souls and tow the ships back to some friendly station or planet, for a small fee of course.
He came up on Freiburg station in and continued directly towards Planet Stuttgart. He wondered how he could have forgotten anything at all. The implants in his brain serve as his own neural net, it is meant to record everything, even dreams. After thinking awhile, he came to the conclusion that it must have been the alcohol that made him forget. How he actually got drunk was a mystery to him, the only alcohol he drinks is one glass of red wine a day, no more no less.
His little train of thought stopped when he exited the trade lane and he glanced at the old damage indicator left on his ship since its early days. It was only half filled, indicating the ship was damaged. He asked himself “Why haven’t been informed of this?” but he soon saw that he hadn’t connected himself to the ship; he felt around in his pocket with his hand, the wire was still there. He’s been driving around manually all the time, something he hasn’t done since he was 42, and he hadn’t noticed it. This was very strange to him.
“This is Zoners Zeta 9-4 to Planet Stuttgart, requesting permission to land.” He hailed the docking ring.
“Understood, permission to land is granted, proceed to land.”
The large gate swung open and the ship entered the atmosphere, continuing down towards the main city. Stefan always had to land on a planet when he came across one. All the beautiful forests, lakes and cornfields could be seen for his cockpit. It was sights like this that gave Stefan the will to continue living; if it weren’t for the beauty of nature he might not even have been here. He would possibly have committed suicide; he couldn’t bare the memories from Alaska, which came to haunt him for the rest of his life. For every word he spoke, every sound he heard, ever sight he saw, every thought he was thinking, there was the memories. Lurking at the back of his brain, he couldn’t get his thoughts of off them. Every second in life was a pain, the memories remaining there, torturing him. He just wanted to die.
But the staggering sights of nature kept him alive, his memories became more vague whenever he saw beautiful scenery. Another factor that kept him alive was the thought that while he is alive, he might do something to make peoples lives better, whether it was doing some great changes in society, or just helping the average Human with his or her problems. He was absolutely convinced he could do something, and the will to help was strong within him.
Then there was a third factor, revenge. The man that had caused him so much pain, toying around with him as some little guinea pig in his secret lab, that had turned his entire life into an agony, had gotten away without a scratch. This madman, who in his eyes was the personification of evil itself, had to be erased from the universe. Not only for personal revenge, but also for all the other poor people he tortured just to reach his pathetic goal, to create the perfect soldier for Liberty. Now he lives in luxury, as the governor of California, and has an entire system at his disposal. Jack Mason, the criminal of the century.
He stepped out of his ship, and took a small trip out in the countryside. Walking is good exercise, strengthening your leg muscles and receiving fresh air, all in one. It also calmed him down; it was almost like a cure to dampen the pain from his memories. He always landed on planets for this reason, for fresh air and for a beautiful sight. Let it be an endless steppe, a never-ending ocean, a green forest or a mighty mountain chain anything calms him down. However, Leeds and Manhattan are two depressing sights for him. A symbol of humanity’s encroachment upon nature and its lust for destruction, it’s not a legend that the hands of Humans have extinguished so many species of plants and animals. The best example of this is Planet Leeds; it may once have been a beautiful and pristine world like Planet Denver, but was destroyed due to mankinds greed. It looks more like a trashcan than a planet.
The absolute opposite to Planet Leeds is just on system away from it, in Edinburgh where the most wonderful planet in the entire Sirius sector resides, Planet Gaia. It is a planet resembles Tellus, the home world of the Humans, the most. It’s rich in fauna and even richer when it comes to flora; however Gaia now also faces the threat to get destroyed by humanity’s ignorance towards nature. Especially with Orbital Spa and Cruise’s trips down to the planet, and their new idea of building permanent residents for Humans upon the planet. If nothing will be done anytime soon, then Gaia will most surely look like Planet Los Angeles after 300 years. Sure it maybe nice to live out the last ten years of your life on Gaia, but think about the indigenous residents of the planet. Choose a planet that is already populated, and spare the poor inhabitants of Gaia from the evil clutches of Humankind.
Stefan himself plans to spend his last years of his life on Planet Malta; working on a plantage where everyone does it’s best to help the community. Where everyone is loyal to each other and wouldn’t even think of himself. And the community (the people) decides what is best for everyone. It’s a socialist’s vision that has come true, on a planet that is politically hostile towards the rest of Sirius however. So the average Rheinländer has absolutely no chance to even get near the planet before getting incinerated. War or conflict as it is called, is one of the things that make Stefan ashamed of being a Human.
After wandering around in the forests for a while Stefan returned to his ship and left Planet Stuttgart, after repairing it at the local equipment dealer, setting course for New Berlin, this time connecting himself with the ship. He started thinking again, when looking at the names of planets and stations in Sirius, it is nice to see that some at least tried to preserve the names of various cities, lakes and rivers and mountains on Tellus. Especially in these times, now that people care so little about our common history. Stefan had been into “The Rheinland”, he has read about the history of Germany, the predecessor of Rheinland. About the Holy Roman Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Imperial times, Adolf Hitler, the holocaust and the Third Realm and about Germany’s role in the Sol War. The entire history of Germany lies preserved in “The Rheinland” for everyone to look at. The only thing that is missing is how the Sol War started and for what reason, it’s like a blank field in our otherwise so well preserved historical timeline. However, very few people are actually interested in history at all. Fame, fashion and other mainstream things are what they are interested in. Like a brainless sheep in its herd, just doing exactly what the rest are doing. This is why when anyone, even a professor, is asked about Rheinlands past they more than often answer “Ich weiß nicht”.
Stefan approached the New Berlin gate with its giant “teeth” open, and went through. Coming out on the other side, he took the gate to Bonn station and from there to Brandenburg border station. He didn’t think much while travelling this time, at least not until he took the lane from Brandenburg to Planet New Berlin. Where he looked at Rheinland space, seemingly unpolluted like most of the other houses. He admired the people that took their time to clean Rheinland space; no one wants to look like Bretonia. It is especially important in such an industrialized nation as Rheinland, if the ALG wouldn’t be around then this system would look just as filthy as New London.
When he came out of the trade lane he flew directly to the docking ring and landed. He flew to the little town where he lived, Heiligenstadt. It was a bit dark, nightfall had come, now waits a whole year of darkness. But Stefan always tries to see it from the light side; at least the stars will be visible. Space traffic is almost nothing on the far side of New Berlin.
He parked the ship in the garage and went to his little underground storehouse-like residence. He took a cup of mulled wine or glögg, as he liked to call it, and sat down into his armchair and whispered the words “Borta bra men hemma bäst” to himself. Then slowly, he fell asleep.
Stefan sat in his ship outside Battleship Norfolk, feeling happy but very tired. He took the trade lane towards Omega-3 and leaned back into his seat. Suddenly, the trade lane got disrupted and there were 4-6 Junker ships in front of him, demanding the consumer goods in his cargo hold. Stefan activated charged up his cruise engines and awaited a shower of fire, and it came. He was bombarded with the beams of the Junkers weapons, then his shield went down but he managed to enter cruise speed. While his shields were recharging he sent out his nanobots to repair his ship, then he flew into the Keswick cloud. After flying for a while he came to the jump gate to Omega-3, he entered and came out on the other side, then continuing towards Omega-7 via the trade lanes. When he arrived at Freistadt outpost in Omega-7 he stopped and docked with the station. As soon as he came out of his ship he started looking for a dark corner somewhere. It didn’t take long time before he found one, he went there and turned around to look at his ship, but collapsed down to the floor before he could see it, and everything went dark.
Stefan opened his eyes, only to see the ceiling of his house. He had been dreaming, dreaming of his journey from Planet Cambridge to Freistadt Base, he now remembered everything. The last bit of anger went out of him as he realized this; he laid back into his bed with a slight smile on his lips, wanting to sleep. But he couldn’t sleep. He had been sleeping for 16 hours, and all tiredness was gone from him. So he stood up, took a shower and dressed, and went down to the kitchen to get some Sushi. While eating, he looked out through the window, just staring into oblivion, thinking about his future as an old pensioner. Malta was the place where he wanted to live out his last years, he could imagine sitting inside his villa in a room with dark wooden walls, shelves filled with all sorts of books in various languages would stand at the walls. Staring out through the window he would embrace the beauty of the rolling fields of orange grasses, which to him appeared more like yellow.
While Stefan was thinking about Planet Malta, it suddenly hit him that he hasn’t visited Don José Linares, a close friend of his, in a long while. When he finished he took his best clothes and put them into a bag, hopped into his ship and departed for the Omicron Alpha system. He planned to take the route through Omicron Theta where he would take a pause at Freeport 9 before continuing to Omicron Alpha. This would be a long and boring trip so he programmed the ships computer (which currently was like some sort of second brain for him) to follow the trade lanes and jumpgates to Planet Stuttgart and land there. When the ship entered the trade lane going to Brandenburg border station he pick up a book from a little box in his ship. It was “Unsere dunkeln Vergangenheit“ by Reinhold Schröder, it told about everything that was known by science about the Sol War and why we came here. With information gathered from all sleeper ships, with the exception of “The Hispania”, it is the most complete book among the colonies that sums up all the major events in Sol that eventually led us here, to Sirius. Stefan relaxed into his chair and began reading.
As planned he landed on Planet Stuttgart to buy a lot of nanobots and shield batteries for his ship before he entered Omega-11, from where he would proceed to Omega-41. At Omega-41 he would rest a little at Freeport 5 and then go to Freeport 9, Omicron Theta and from there to Omicron Alpha.
The trip was rather fortunately uneventful so it didn’t take too long before he arrived at Freeport 9. He docked quickly and bought a little more necessities for his ship at the equipment dealer before he went to the bar. The bartender who was currently serving was a friend of his, which directly recognized him.
“Hello John, a glass of red wine please.” Stefan said as he approached.
“Stefan? Long time no seen, where in all Sirius have you been?” John questioned while pouring wine into a glass.
“New Berlin, where else?”
“On one of our glorious Freeport’s of course, enjoying the freedom of life. Have you made any help-out recently?”
“Nah, not with my ship. Besides, I’ve been a little busy recently, and I didn’t want to miss the elections.”
“So, saluting the chancellor rather than helping out your brethren is more important I presume. Anyways, welcome back.” John commented while handing over the glass to Stefan.
“Thanks. Well actually there a friend of mine gave me a hint that something awful had happened in Omega-5, I just had to take a look.” Stefan replied before taking a sip from the red beverage.
“Yeah, I’ve hearing that on the news too. What happened?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Tell me and we’ll see, it can’t hurt now can it?
“Well, to keep it short I’ll say that both the Hessians and the Corsairs bases where completely torn apart and everyone present in the system at the time are now dead. I don’t know what caused it though.”
“How the hell can that happen? No military in that area is powerful enough to deal that much damage, that’s for sure.” He wondered, with a slightly louder voice.
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know. I only ventured around there, however I found some strange stone like thing that I took and brought to Planet Cambridge. I also found a Junker base there.”
“Weird. But let’s talk about jollier things shall we? Like are you going to stay here?” The bartender hastily asked.
“Unfortunately no. I have other things to do.”
“Oh, so what are you going to do hereafter?”
“I’ll just drop by my mother for a short visit before I head of to Omicron Alpha, I’ve got a friend there I would like to meet and talk with again.”
“Again you’re putting something else over your own faction.” John complained.
“Oh quit it, I’ll be back sometime. Just not now, you need to learn patience boy.” Stefan answered with a slightly annoyed tone.
“Alright but I want to inform you that your mom has moved to Freeport 10 in Tau-37. Ain’t there anything else you’ll be doing here?”
“Not this time, but I’ve got to go now. See you again, I’ll stop by here on my way back.” Stefan said as he handed back the empty glass.
“Bye Stefan, safe journey.”
“Thanks!” Stefan thanked and then walked away to his ship. He left as quickly as he had arrived and set course for the northern tip of the Amarus cloud where the jumphole would be. On the way Stefan marvelled at the beautiful sights of Omicron Theta, especially the sun and the nebulae. When he arrived he quickly entered, and as soon as he came out on the other side he went into cruise and flew to Malta. Again marvelling at the beauties of the Omicron systems.
When he had landed on Malta he took a deep breath and looked up at the yellow sky, then down at the orange fields of grass before he went to the nearest train station and took the train to Linares’ plantation. He looked out through the small window at his seat, but soon he got bored of the never-ending orange steppe. But the station where he would go of was not far away, the boredom didn’t last for long. When he stepped of he walked through the small village and proceeded on a rather wide dirt road that led towards Linares’ plantation. Soon enough he arrived at the main gate that divides his property from the rest of the world. He ringed the bell and was soon answered by the Dons familiar voice.
“This is Don José Linares, who seeks me?” A voice answered in Spanish.
“Good day Don Linares, it’s your old friend Stefan. Remember me?” Stefan replied in a jolly tone, he too in Spanish.
“Stefan! So good of you to come by, I almost thought that you had forgotten me. Anyway, more talk inside, meet me at the door and I’ll let you in.” A little beep was heard signifying that the gate was unlocked; Stefan opened it and walked in, closing it behind him. When he came to the door he waited for a while until the Don opened it. The Dons face was glowing in happiness, Stefan was just about to bow when the Don suddenly hugged him, and Stefan hugged back.
“It is so good to see you again old friend, I’m starting to feel a bit alone in my castle here. What brought you all the way you here?” The Don curiously asked.
“A lot of things have happened since the last time we met, a lot of horrible things. I needed someone I could seriously discuss these issues with. Besides, we haven’t seen each other for a long time. It’s good to see you too.” Stefan answered.
“Well then by all means enter, I too have felt the need for talk. You can go up to the library and have a seat while I get the tea.” With that the Lord hurried away into another room and left Stefan alone in the large hall.
In front of him were two wide stairways made out of the finest wood on Malta, its fine golden appearance gleamed as sunshine hit it. The stairs where covered in a wide red carpet with sides made out of a shining golden fabric. He proceeded up the stairs, and then to the right, the walls were made out of a very dark, brown wood with various patterns carved into them. When he came to the fifth door he opened it and walked inside, there he met by the shining yellow-green light from the Maltese sun coming in from two large gothic style windows. The walls were just the same as in the hall outside, but instead of the marble floors the ones here were red parquet floors. The walls where filled with bookshelves, which possibly contained more than a hundred books in both English and Spanish. He searched around a little to see if he could find anything of his interest, and he did. Far up on one of the shelves he found an unusual dictionary. It seemed to be some “Español-Portugoese Portugoese-Español” dictionary, a language seemingly extinct in Sirius’ society. It could be seen that time had taken its toll on the book; the pages were yellow and fragile, while the book itself was quite worn. On the last pages of the book was a chapter with the name “ Historia de la lengua Portugués” he sat down and began reading it, page after page, eyes focused on every word, swallowing the text. The door opened and José stepped in, with a plate with teacups and a teapot, unnoticed by Stefan. Not until José spoke did Stefan lift his head from the book.
“Interesting?” He said and carefully put the plate on the table in front of Stefan.
“Oh yes, very.” He replied.
“What is it?” Stefan showed the back of the book to José, and then he turned back and read again.
“A dictionary? How can one be entertained by reading separate words one by one?” He asked, with a slight expression of confusion on his face.
“There is an interesting part on the last pages of this book that tells the history of the language. Roughly 25 pages.” Came Stefan’s reply.
“So, you have immersed yourself into the art of linguistics, I would never have guessed that. What language?”
“Öhh… I don’t really know. Something… ah, here it is; Portuguese?”
“Ah, that book. I got it from an old friend a long time ago. However I don’t find it of any use, do you?” José wondered.
“Of course, our linguistic heritage is part of our history, it is always good to know how they talked back home. One shouldn’t let a language die out because of the ignorance of the majority. Besides, it is always better to talk with one in their native language, don’t you think?” Stefan replied, and then asked back.
“Not really, it is already a dead language. Only known by a few, and those who know it never use it. It is really of no use to anyone, that book belongs in a museum. I wonder why those who know it ever bothered to learn it.”
“A native language is part of a persons identity, you can’t give up your native language without losing your identity as one of them, for example these Portuguese people.”
“Well, the Libertonians don’t seem to care about that.”
“Oh please, don’t even get me started on Libertonians. All they do is care about themselves and how they look. They follow fashion like a horde of rats that throw themselves over a tiny piece of cheese. I bet you, if one of those superstars would tell them to kill all homeless people in Liberty they would do it. Stupid society.” Stefan said with an irritated tone.
“I guess you’re right. I’ve never liked Libertonians that much myself. Arrogant people. Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss language and Libertonians with me, so let’s talk about something else, and have some tea.”
“Thank you.”
“So, have you heard about Cali?” José asked.
“Yes, and I’m surprised. How can one commit such a hideous crime, it was massacre. I even knew people on that station. They should pay for their crime.”
“Indeed, I lost my last son there. Surely you remember Alberto?”
“Oh yes, what a man. He was full of life and ambition, his whole life lay before him, and he got it taken away by some thugs.”
“Tragic yes, but not that all surprising. Our brethren so often strike at civilian targets within the houses, so it would be logical of them to want revenge. Then there is something else, some radical sect has come up lately, and they’re gaining in numbers. They worship the Nomads as if they were gods, and think that Sirius belongs to the Nomads exclusively.” José told.
“Please, continue.” Stefan asked him.
“Even the conservatives regard them as maniacs, they are despised by everyone. But as they are our brethren we cannot attack them, no matter how much we wish that we could. They had a meeting on Cali at the time of the massacre. Maybe some outsider faction wanted them taken out. That’s only pure speculation however.”
“How could anyone know about them outside Outcast society?” Stefan wondered.
“After the battle in Sigma-19, this group managed to capture a group of Bretonian vessels. Gunboats, cruisers and one or two Battleships I think. After this action they popularity within the Outcast youth skyrocketed, and many went to join them. From what I know, they managed to build a shipyard somewhere in Omicron Beta and station the captured ships there.”
“But how would they know that it was the Outcasts that stole the ships?”
“Well, before the ships were hijacked a squadron of these radicals came to Sigma-19 and engaged the house forces that had amassed in the system. Thereby aiding the Nomads. Surely it must have raised concerns that they didn’t fight the Nomads in the battle. I think that it was this that made us targets for the Cali massacre.”
“I see, are the Bretonian ships in their hands now?” Stefan questioned.
“No, not to long after the Cali massacre the radicals shipyard in Omicron Beta was attacked by an elite squadron of the Bretonian Armed Forces. They took back their ships, destroyed the shipyard and killed a large number of the radicals. The ships were returned to Bretonia, but the Bretonian government kept this a secret from the populace. After this, the radicals support went down to below 10%, now they’re recovering.”
“Good to hear, I hope that they won’t be any obstacle for you in the future.”
“Well, thanks to them all Outcasts are blamed for aiding the Nomads, I suppose that the Bretonian government are not that happy either.”
“Supposedly they’re mad at you, I wouldn’t be surprised if the BPA and the BAF would try to purge you from their space.” Stefan commented.
“Giving the Corsairs the upper hand.” José said.
“Not really. The Corsairs have been into a lot of bad they too. Before I came here, I went to Omega-5. A friend of mine had told me a rumour that all activity in the system had completely vanished. I went there to check out what had happened, and when I arrived I saw the most horrid sight a man could see.” Stefan said.
“What had happened?”
“Ronneburg base was completely torn apart when I came to it, and when I traversed the Hammen Hole en route to Cadiz is discovered a Junker base in the area, Fairbanks they called it. I ignored it and proceeded towards Cadiz, and when I arrived the whole asteroid had several large holes going straight through it. I went into it, and what I saw was beyond comprehension. Thousands and thousands oh people where dead, floating around in space inside the hollow asteroid, sliced, butchered, torn up or divided into small pieces. It was horrid, and I can’t escape from the sight, it haunts me.” He told.
“Horrifying indeed, but you could at least have kept the details for yourself. Now I’m feeling bad.” José complained.
“I’m sorry, it all appeared in my head again, I just couldn’t keep myself from it. I’m sorry.”
“No need to excuse, but there is one question: what could possibly have done this much damage?”
“I don’t know, but I found something unusual. Some sort of hard substance that reflected laser shots, I’ve never seen anything like it. It also had some strange pattern engraved in it.” Stefan explained.
“Do you believe that it can be the radicals?” José questioned.
“No, not them. It would be almost impossible for them to get down all the way to Omega-5 unnoticed and end all life there. Provided that they don’t have some special sort of cloaking technology, which I strongly believe they don’t have.” Stefan replied.
“They have been seen carrying around alien artefacts, active ones. They might have used them.”
“Where would they have gotten those from?”
“They have been seen frequenting the Junkers Yanagi Base in Sigma-13 and at the Omicron Theta jumphole here. They must have gotten their artefacts from either the Zoners or the Junkers.”
“In any case, I do not believe in magic or magical properties for certain objects. Nothing can go against the laws of the cosmos.”
“Well you should, these artefacts have properties beyond your wildest imagination. Ask the Corsairs, they should know.”
“José, do you really think that a group of alien worshipping Outcast radicals could have gone all the way from Omicron Alpha to Omega-5 and unleash Armageddon without anybody noticing?”
“If not them, who else?” José questioned.
“Nomads?”
“Oh yes, the Nomads, I forgot about them. Sure, it is very possible that the Nomads could have caused such carnage, but don’t they fly in organic ships?”
“Yes they do, but I don’t think they’re limited to organic ships. They might have used something else to.”
“Maybe, but this doesn’t seem to get anywhere. Lets just drop it, speculating hardly makes anything better. Lets talk about something else like… what do you plan to do when you leave us?”
“Not much, just visiting my mother on Freeport 10, her birthday is in about two weeks and I want to make her happy.”
“How old is she now again?”
“87 after her birthday. She’s old and has Alzheimer’s, but that doesn’t stop her from taking a walk around the whole station everyday. She has so much energy, you rarely find that in elderly people nowadays.”
“Oh, that lady. So she’s your mother? I would never have guessed, I thought that she would look more… depressed. With you disappearing and all.” José said.
“Well, she doesn’t remember that. She believes that I’m studying linguistics at Cambridge and always sends me messages and asks how good my Japanese is. She is actually quite happy all the time.”
“Haha… seems that she is luckier than you. Are you still having nightmares?”
“Yes, every time I sleep the memories return. It’s horrible. Can you imagine how it is to look at a person slowly being torn apart while conscious? It’s so horrible. I feel so sick afterwards when I wake up; sometimes I even have to vomit.” Stefan described.
“I think I know what you need: a vacation. Go to Curacao, I heard they’ve constructed special platforms in the open sea with only trees, grass and bushes. Should do you good. Some reading won’t hurt either.”
“Hmm… you’re right, I really need a vacation. But I’ve got nothing to read, all my books just sit on the shelf and collect dust.”
“Well what about this dictionary? You seem to find it interesting.” José suggested.
“But, isn’t it yours?”
“Yes but I have no use for it any longer, it just sits here and “collects dust” as you said.”
“You mean I can really have it?”
“Sure, I already know the language. Wait a minute, I think I have something for you.” José said and went away only to return a few minutes later with to thick books in his hands.
“I think you will like these; one is for learning the language, the other tells the history of the language. I think you will find them interesting. They’re both in Spanish.” José then handed over the books to Stefan.
“Thank you! Yes… these will indeed be interesting.”
“I’m glad you like them.”
“Wait, didn’t you say you already knew the language?” Stefan asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Because you seemed to complain about how useless it was earlier.”
“Haha, you never forget anything do you? You and your near photographic memory.” José said with a bit of humour, they laughed. “Indeed, I find it useless. I have nobody to speak to in that language. But I suppose that you plan to learn it?”
“Of course, and when I do it won’t be as useless as you first thought.”
“Hmm…well, it has its positive sides. If we want to talk about something secretly, then we can talk about it in Portuguese.”
“Now that’s the spirit!” Stefan exclaimed and then glanced at his watch. “This has all been very nice José, but I’m afraid that I’ll have to go now. It’s getting a little late and I wouldn’t like to keep my mother waiting, even if she doesn’t remember it.”
“Hey, I thought you were going to stay here for a week or so. Won’t you at least take a little cardamine?”
“I’m sorry José, but I promise that we’ll do it next time. I’ll even work with you at your plantation, how about that?”
“Alright, next time. Good bye friend, see you next time.”
“You too mate. But I’ll be back soon.”
“Hope so, I’ll miss you.”
“Me too. Good bye José.”
“Good bye Stefan.”
Stefan walked all the way back to the spaceport, then took off and headed for the Tau-37 jumphole. While travelling he sat back and beheld the beautiful sights of Omicron Alpha, looking at a certain section of space where the Edge and Crow nebulæ meet. The engine humming and radio communications all melded together and became a sort of muffled sound, he closed his eyes, deciding to take a nap.
When Stefan woke up he was already in the docking bay, howevel little was going on in the there. First he exited his ship, then he went to the center of the station. In here there were more people, mostly Zoners, miners and Outcasts but also a few freelancers and bounty hunters. He sat down on a bench between two bushes, watching every single person with his hawk-eyes, trying to guess what they were thinking about. He was also searching for his mother somewhere in the crowd, she was usually out and walking and this time.
After a time he found her, taking a walk as expected. So he stood up and we straight after her. As he caught up with her, a thought hit him: Maybe I need to take a vacation.
“Hej”, he called out to her. She turned around.
“Hej, vem är du?” said the startled elderly woman.
Yes, I really need a vacation, Stefan thought.
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