Wow.

This has got a lot of potential to it. I look forward to the rest of it!


*** Freelancer 2---Starring Napoleon Dynamite. Coming to a computer near you. ***

Intereseing. I would like to see more


And now sports....

Edited by - Steel_Fang on 6/11/2005 6:13:29 PM

Prologue Continued

"I have flying experience back in my day fighting the Coalition, and I had practice flying ships of this size in the simulators", said Caesar. He turned towards the chief engineer "You said the secondary engines are still operating right?"

"Yes...” the man stuttered, still looking at Chavez's dead body.

"Good, long range sensors indicate that there are planets suitable for life within this ship’s reach. I'm going to pilot this ship close enough to where we can use the escape pods to get to the planet from there".

"I'm not going", said Carlos "Something feels wrong about this damn place, and I’m going to take my chances with the life-pods… the Hispania can’t take no more…”

Carlos points towards another blip on the hologram, away from Caesar’s choice.

“The radar reads this being more inhabitable than the one you picked. It’s a bit harder for the Hispania to navigate too, it seems, but I think we can take some of the shuttles on the ship and travel to there.”

“Trust me, Carlos”, said Caesar, “we’ll be better off all together on the Hispania and make our way to that planet…”

One of the representatives yells over Caesar.

“It’s a damn trap! They wanted some of us in the rear dead so they could claim for themselves! Are we just going to let them round us all up and kill us?”

"If we weren't of the same nation, I would've of shot you right now", said Caesar, “I doubt any of us would ever do such a thing, but to be realistic that’s something I’d expect from your sort!”

An uneasy silence falls on the ship. Some of the civilians who overheard the conversation begin spreading it amongst others- Though it wasn’t about the possibility of a Coalition saboteur or an Alliance conspiracy- it was one about their very brothers and sisters turning against each other for greed. Fights and verbal insults get thrown around the ship, and slowly, they begin taking sides.

Carlos and Caesar, despite wanting the people to reach an agreement, can’t stop the divide that manages to split the people within hours. They begin talks with the other representatives and come up with a decision. Caesar would take those who wanted to take their chances with the Hispania, and Carlos was appointed to leading the ones who wanted to use the shuttles.

Carlos and Caesar decide to lead the people to safety. Caesar takes the Hispania to the planet he read, and Carlos takes those who wanted to bail to the nearby system. After a while, some shuttles launch from the ship, with Carlos's ship in the lead. He looks at the rear view monitor, and stares at the wounded Hispania limping towards their destination

"May your path lead you to success", he said as he saw the Hispania move away from them.

They stumble across a series of jump holes, and a couple of weeks later the shuttles make contact with a mysterious planet. Carlos gives the go-ahead to land after the scanners indicated it was terrestrial. The shuttles land in a plateau overlooking a valley, and the people rush out of their shuttles and kiss the ground, praising the variety of deities for a successful journey.

Carlos stands looking down into a canyon below, and up into the sky, his eyes passing menacing deserts and mountain tops, and finally to the sky, the first signs of night already showing. The massive green cloud they had traveled through was visible in the sky. He recalled the Hispania going towards a green cloud as well, and silently he hopes the others made it. He looked around at the barren land, and turns towards one of the scientists.

"Amerigo", he starts, "Does this place support any sort of vegetation?"

"Maybe a little", said Amerigo, "But I don't believe we can get enough food for all of us. This terrain looks like its going to be too hard do any large scale agriculture"

"How many food rations do we have left?” asks Carlos

"Very little", said Amerigo, "Most of it was consumed as we journeyed here"

"Any equipment to build some bio-domes in space?” said Carlos.

"No, the shuttle carrying the equipment was destroyed on the Hispania", said Amerigo.

Carlos looked grudgingly at the harsh landscape, and turned back towards Amerigo.

"We'll have to pray that fortune smile upon us...” said Carlos, "We've landed in hell..."


Prologue Pt. 2

Life on the new planet isn’t easy. Within days of landfall, the survivors realize just how hellish the planet is. With little resources, almost half of the original survivors die. The leaders call a meeting to decide the best course of action, and after weeks of tense debate, the Ventru Clan volunteers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the people. Initially, the very thought of cannibalism is rejected, but the Ventru Clan convinces that the future of their people is at stake and the council approves the move. The entire Ventru clan is slaughtered, and the survivors take their share.

The population stabilized, the Hispanians set out to form a government. They elect the politicians and generals who had journeyed on the exodus, and the Council of the Elders was formed. The Elders are well respected for their knowledge of the events preceding the Exodus and the days of the Golden Age of Earth. All the Hispanians look to the Elders for guidance, and soon they laid out their first orders.

The Elders set down quotas of consumption of the supplies they reap from the little agriculture the land managed to sustain. Then the process of naming the planet came up; initially Castilla was considered, but a number of the populace rejected the name. When the Elders questioned these subjects, they revealed themselves to be Italian and French survivors, put on the Hispania as a part of the Alliance's backup plan to have small numbers of each nationality in the other ships in case their respective sleeper ships were destroyed. They argued that they should strive for something that could unite all of them under one banner, not just a Spaniard/ Portuguese one. The Elders decided on a Mediterranean feeling to their new civilization, and eventually the populace agreed upon the name of Crete, which Carlos had brought up, relating the island’s hilly nature to the valley they landed in. They also set down the establishment of the first city, Nova Madrid, and the architects are instructed to construct the buildings within the mountains, as to create a temporary relief from the heat.

The survivors also come across strange ruins dotting the landscape. When the Elders inspect them, they discover that what ever they were, they weren’t human, and instruct the people not to disturb them in anyway.

The Hispanians went from day to day, looking to the skies, hoping for an Alliance ship to come upon them and save them in some way from this hellhole. Days became months, months became years, and years became centuries. Cynicism took root among the populace, many of them rigid in their beliefs of a conspiracy by the other members of the Alliance, or the other Hispanians became widespread. The Hispanians looked inward, forming strong bonds with one another. They well believed that they would never see any trace of humanity again, and set out to make what little they could of that bleak planet.

== 450 years after the arrival of the Liberty Sleeper Ship to the Sirius System ==
"OK", said Julio, "See that rock I put over there?"

"Yea...” said Alberto "And I guess who ever shoots it gets the meat?"

"Yup", said Julio.

The two young boys stand over the remains of a small hawk, why it died was of no concern to them. Neither of them had even the smallest morsel of meat, and neither were about to just give up the bird so easily. They shake hands, and Julio takes the first shot with the small pistol.

The two shoot their pistols in turns, most of the time missing. As Alberto takes his turn firing, Julio looks up at the night sky, and sees a bright light. His teachers had taught him about the star constellations, and he did not recognize that one.

“What the hell is that!” exclaimed Julio.

“If you think that’ll distract me Julio, you got another thing coming! Now shut the hell up!” yelled Alberto angrily.

As Alberto lines up his sights, Julio sees another dim light emerge, and watches as it gets brighter and brighter in the sky. He hears Alberto mumble a curse, and then a punch to the shoulder.

“Yo numb nuts, here’s the damn pistol…” mumbled Alberto.

“Alberto, look!”, said Julio.

Alberto joins Julio in watching as the light makes its way from the larger light, and slowly it takes the shape of a ship. The two take cover near a rock, and watch the shuttle land in the small depression in front of them. They watch as a ramp opens from the ship, and strange men in green uniforms come out, muttering a language neither of them could understand. Julio and Alberto grab the bird, and their feet took them to the place where they felt comfortable that anything… strange could be solved.

The made their way to Nova Madrid, and down the causeway, yelling and screaming of “visitors”, attracting people from their houses. They approach the Elder’s Palace, and run to the guards posted at the main gate, who approach them.

“What are you kids causing a commotion about?” questioned one of the guards. He saw the bird clenched in Alberto’s hand. “You wanna sell that or something?”

“No, sir, we must speak with the Elders, a ship has landed from outer space!”

The guard raised an eyebrow, and whispered to the other guard. He sighs and moves aside.

“Go on in. It’d better be important, or I guarantee you’ll regret even coming here!”

The boys ran past the two, running down the long hallway, and eventually arrive at the large conference table, surrounded by a number of robed figures

"Elders!", cried Diego "Space ships! Space ships!”

"What? Who let you kids in!", yelled one of the Elders.

One of the Elders raises his right hand to quiet the current discussion.

“Boys, are you sure you saw a spaceship?” he questions.

“Elder, we don’t have running spaceships any more, it must’ve been someone else’s!”

The Elders whisper to one another, and they ask another question.

"Now where did they land?”

"Well we didn't see them land, but we saw it come down near those old ruins in the small clearing near here", said Diego.

"Ok", said the Elder "You kids stay with the guards until we resolve this issue"
"Yes Elders", they said as they left.

"This is good", said Elder Miguel, "God smiles upon us"

"Indeed…” said Elder Vasquez, “We can’t let this opportunity slip past us. We need to get to space…”

“If the boys saw a shuttle, there must be a larger ship in orbit…” commented another Elder Tejo.

"We can take over that ship to use to explore the regions around us. We can take the star maps and the technology to help build our own space crafts. Finally we can go and exact our revenge on those damn bastards who stranded our ancestors many years ago. We can go and get the supplies we need once we find where our "friends" have gone too!” said Elder Miguel.

Elder Giovanni looks towards Elder Miguel, puzzled.

“Miguel, there are a lots of theories as why our ancestors crashed. Obviously, we can’t get back at the Coalition. We aren’t sure if it is an Alliance ally. It also leaves us with our distant brothers…”

“Well, personally, my clan has suspected them from the start…”

“You two, shut up!”, yelled Elder Arago, “This isn’t about revenge! This is a chance for our children to have better lives! We need to establish contact!”

"My son and his friends are skilled warriors", said Elder Soler "We should send them if things get… messy”

The Elders agree on the plan, and send out Andrés and a cadre of elite warriors. They are told to leave the city quietly to prevent the people from realizing what had taken place.

Elder Soler's son, Andrés, and his squad make their way to where the boys saw the ship. They see the bright light in the sky, and a small shuttle landed near the ruins. Strange men in green uniforms are sitting around a camp fire, speaking a language they can’t understand.
=====================================================================
The expedition team looks around, unsatisfied with their findings.
"Well this planet is inhabitable", said Fredrick "But it lacks many basic resources, and the soil quality is very poor"

"I'm not sure why Daumann and the Rheinland government bothered financing this suicidal trip. We've seen that the Omega's and this Omicron system have bad planets, few resources, and a hellish environment", said Gustav

"That idiot Schulman. Says ‘All for the glory of the Fatherland’ and drags us on this blue milk run", said Karl, “Let’s just go back to the Schiller and report the rest of our findings…”

"Shut up, he's coming back!” said Fredrick.

"What's the report guys?” said Schulman as the people saluted him.

“Nothing of interest here, sir”, said Karl.

“That might be so, but look at this…” said Schulman as he pulls out a colorful artifact from his vest, “This place seems to have a lot of these things… the scientists back home will pay quite a lot for these…”

They continue talking, not noticing the mysterious men overlooking them.
Andrés points to the man dressed in civilian clothing

"So that must be the leader", said Andrés. Andrés and his men make their way down the cliff, and surprise the visitors. They yell at each other in their native languages, pointing their rifles at each other threateningly. Andrés realizes that this situation could quickly turn messy, so he decides to see if the language of business is still used by the houses of the Alliance.

“You men speak English?”, questioned Andrés.
The visitors look around, and nod.

“Good…”, said Andrés.

“Great Scott! Human life? Are you people Independents or something?” said Schulman with glee, “How long have you been here?”
Karl pushes Schulman aside.

“We’re a bit… shocked that there’s life here. From where do you hail?”

“The Hispania”, replied Andrés.

The visitors look at Andrés blankly.

“Is that a freight carrier or something”, questioned Gustav.

“I remember that name from a history class…” said Frederick.

“It’s the lost sleeper ship, you fools”, said Schulman.

For a moment, the Rheinlanders stare blankly at the scruffy men in front of them. For them, the Hispania was simply a glossary term they were expected to know on an exam… but seeing something that had long been supposed lost was a shock to them.

Andrés gives an uneasy look, and looks around at the men, seemingly disappointed.

“I guess then you aren’t searching for the Hispania?”

“No,” said Schulman, “I’m leading an expedition through the Walker Cloud, that orange cloud thing in the sky, to find more resources for House Rheinland…”

Andrés sees that some of the other men are speaking again in their native language. He asks another question.

“Can you guys help us? We’ve been stuck on this rock for years! Our ancestors hoped for a day like this!” said Andrés.

“We’re sorry, but we can’t handle all you guys… maybe when we get back we can call some of the Liberty people to send you guys some help or something…”

Frederick goes back towards the men standing behind Karl and Schulman, and they converse about the current situation.

“Hispania survivors? Hogwash, they must be simple pirates…”, chided Frederick.

“Yes… something doesn’t add up about this”, said Gustav, “These fools are trying to play us…”

“Those bastards have weapons on them too…”, said one of the mercenary guards.

“Let’s show them some Rheinland hospitality then…”, said Frederick.

The men go over to Schulman and whisper “Code Red”. Schulman nods in agreement and gives them the go-ahead.

One of Andrés’s men whispers to him that he saw Schulman make a hand-signal to the men behind them. Andres continues to listen to Schulman’s diversion, and sees the men reaching for their rifles.. Andrés nods, and yells to his men.

"KILL ALL BUT THE OLD MAN!” he yells.

The Rheinlanders beat them to their weapons, but none managed to even hit the Hispanians. Within seconds, the Rheinlanders are all dead, save Schulman, who lays shocked on the ground.

Andrés grabs Schulman by the collar and pulls him up.
“You monsters!” yelled Schulman, “Believe me the Rheinland Navy will take care of you bastards!”

“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet...” snickered Andrés.
=====================================================================
"What's taking Schulman so long?” said Johann, “I say we turn the Schiller around and go straight back to Rheinland, this place is just a hell hole…”

“I don’t know”, comments Eliza, “The planet looked dead from long-range scanners… wait, here comes his shuttle! Let’s go meet him at the dock. Alert the crew that the ship is coming in!”

The two hurry over to the Aft Landing bay, and watch the shuttle glide in and land on the deck. They salute Schulman as he emerges from the ramp, but they take notice of his nervous attitude.

“Herr Schulman, are you feeling ok?” asked Johann.

Schulman gives an uneasy look as Andrés emerges, and gives a sly smile to the two crew mates as they put their hands up, and watch in fear as more and more of the strange men emerge from the shuttle.

Schulman looks dismally at the planet in front of him in the bridge, as the Corsairs move about the ship, inspecting all the consoles. He shudders to think of how all his colleagues were massacred and stuffed into a small container, launched into the local star. Was he next?

He saw the men stop, and watched them as they went to attention. He sees robed men enter the room, one of whom approaches him. The man pulls down his hood, revealing a bald man, with a large scar running down the right of his face.

“You must be Mr. Schulman… I’m Elder Soler”, he said, extending his hand
Schulman looks at the Elder blankly.

A leadership structure… They’re not simple pirates after all?

He hesitates for a moment, then shakes the man’s hand, still trembling.

“Don’t worry Mr. Schulman”, said Elder Soler, “I assure you that you are far too valuable to be killed… you need to help us.” He motioned towards the console.

“You see we can’t read your language, you’re going to have to help us translate it and see if we can insert our own language,” said Soler.

Schulman looks around at the ship.

“Wait… what are you going to do with the ship?”

“Simple”, said Soler, “We’re going to use it as a way to finally go into space, and to get a share of Sirius that the other houses have withheld from us. All the data on this ship as well as the ship itself should be useful. Oh, by the way, if you’re thinking I’m stupid to tell you this since we’re going to let you go, fat chance. You’re staying with us for good.”

Schulman looks at Soler, shocked, and tries to argue, but falls short of anything past opening his mouth. He sighs, and accepts his fate.

Schulman helps the Hispanians with the ship, eventually translating most of the ship’s commands to their native language. From there, he aids the scientists in the planet with the information in the database, everything from sector charts and history to ship schematics, and cross-referencing those with old data salvaged from the Hispania.

Within years, the Corsairs construct their first space ships and use the map onboard the Schiller to expand into the Omega Border Systems within the Walker Cloud, and began to attack transports for vital supplies, returning things like food and water back to Crete. By the year 500 A.S., the Hispanians had become known throughout Sirius. Both House Rheinland and Bretonia already reported their mining companies and shipping firms coming under attack by the mysterious pirates while they ran the trade in the Omega Border worlds between the two houses. House Bretonia escalated the Hispanians status to the highest priority.

Then the infamous name came about- The Corsairs. No one knows how the name stuck, it just did. Supposedly it is said that a Bretonian professor at the Royal College of New London brought it up during a debate about piracy in his Pre-Sirius History Class. He compared the Hispanians to the “Ancient Corsair Pirates of the Mediterranean… raiding ships for supplies then disappearing to their elusive port…” The Hispanians took a liking to the name, and soon they were known as such.

The Corsairs continued their pirating, but in the 6th Century AS, a Liberty Freelancer by the name of Jim Bown was able to gain the respect of the Corsairs, and landed on their mysterious home world. He brought many foodstuffs and consumer goods, but the Corsairs could offer little at the time beside the alien artifacts that littered their planet. When Bown took these back to Liberty, they were demanded by both scientists and the social elite. The Corsairs then found a new source of trade- artifact smuggling, setting up intricate trade routes through out the sector to drop up at certain areas to be sold.

All the while, the Corsairs still maintained their relentless piracy, and slowly they began to grow in power. Their hardships before the Schiller’s arrival helped contribute to their hardy nature, giving them the reputation as one of the deadliest pirate factions in all of Sirius.

They are marked as enemies of the crown by most of Bretonia, and Rheinland recognizes their problems in the Omega systems. They are embroiled in a terrible war with the Red Hessians, a large pirate group operating in Rheinland space. The Corsairs even encountered hostility from their lost brethren from the Hispania, who called themselves the “Outcasts” when they journeyed further into the Edge Cloud. They were selling the deadly drug Caradime throughout the Houses, hoping to corrupt Sirius from the inside and setting the stage for an Outcast take over. The Outcasts looked down upon the Corsairs as weak and inferior, who in turn viewed the Outcasts as corrupt and vile, trying to push the terrible Caradime drug throughout Sirius.

It is believed that the Corsairs maintain their piracy to survive, and it is believed that they hope eventually to claim their birthright- a chunk of Sirius for the Children of the Hispania.

End Prologue



End Prologue.
Ch 1. is next.

Edited by - MercZ on 6/11/2005 11:34:57 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 6/11/2005 11:38:44 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 6/20/2005 11:42:41 AM

Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 1:28:32 AM

Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 1:33:53 AM

Edited by - MercZ on 5/22/2007 2:20:03 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 5/22/2007 2:23:32 PM

Ch.1

A young Corsair, Alvaro, is proving his worthiness in the corsair trials. He has been paired with his friend, Benito, to bring back artifacts in order to become a Corsair.

"I' don't feel anything", said Alvaro.

"I don't care", said Benito, "If it stays this way, this'll be a piece of cake!"

"Well aside from that, visuals are low", said Alvaro "All I see is the green nebula"

Their legionaries fly in the cloud for a while until they find a floating asteroid. It's littered with artifacts.

"Do you see this!” said Benito.

"Yes!", said Alvaro, "Lets take all of it, maybe we'll get a good reputation with our leaders. Why bring one when you can bring more!"

"Are you sure we won't get sick?', said Benito, "Remember we're unshielded, the radiation might kill us"

"Don't worry", said Alvaro, "That's only if we stay here for a long time"

The two destroy the asteroid, and they begin to collect the artifacts. But as they collect half of them, something bad happens.

"I can't wait to see the look on their faces", said Benito.

"Yea, they'll probably give us nice ships and a big meal for bringing this much", said Alvaro. He takes one from his cargo bay "This'll be my good luck charm!"

Then, out of no where, three beams come from far and take off Benito's wing.

"Oh no..", studdered Benito, "Someone is attacking us, and they don't look like Bounty hunters..."

The two boys hit cruise engines and blast out of there. The mysterious ships shoot missiles and Benito’s engines are cut. He disappears into the nebula.

"Benito!!!", yelled Alvaro.

He turns back into the nebula only to find what's left of Benito's Ship. His body is floating in the nebula, badly disfigured. The mysterious ships begin firing at Alvaro's ship.

"You guys are going to pay for this...", said Alvaro.
He unloads a barrage of lasers onto one ship, and destroys it out straight. He begins to chase after the other ship. He fires his laser at him, but finds it hard to keep up with the speed of the ship. Other lasers fire at his ship, but he can't see the source of them.

"Dang that thing is tricky...", said Alvaro.

The ship suddenly turns around and fires lasers in quick succession. Alvaro's shields go down quick and one of his wings is cut off. One engine is damaged, making it impossible to go into cruise speed.

"This can't be it...” said Alvaro

More ships suddenly uncloak, and back up the mysterious ship

"I'm done for...” said Alvaro

His ship is pounded by the mysterious ships and his ship ruptures. His cockpit cracks and the ships come back around for the finishing move.

"Only a miracle can save me now", he signed, and he blacks out.

Alvaro wakes on a bed, and he looks around, he instantly recognizes that he's back in his room on Crete and sees some corsairs looking at him. He still has his "lucky" artifact clutched in his hand.

"Doctor", said one, "He's still alive!"

"What happened?” said Alvaro, "I thought I was done for"

"We got worried", said one Corsair, "None of the initiates had came back, usually five come back, but none came. We came to investigate, and we saw a whole fleet of the … uh, Zoners… pounding your ship. They had broken through your hull when we came, but we held them off until they could get you out. Usually ships don't attack the initiates; the goal is to survive the radiation, not fight. Usually maybe one comes out, but not in a swarm like this!"

"But none the less, you proved yourself", said another, "These artifacts are pretty large, and yours isn’t like anything I’ve seen before… It’s different somehow... You'll be on break for awhile; you've been through a lot"

"And make sure you get some good sleep", laughed one, "I'm going to be your squad leader when you're deployed"

"Alonso! You're going to be my captain!” said Alvaro

"Yea, your dad requested me, and I owe him for saving me back in Omega-5", said Alonso

"Where is he?” said Alvaro

"Octavio is still on Cadiz and won't be back for a while", said Alonso, "But you'll be deployed to Cadiz too once you're done with my training"

"So what do I do now?", said Alvaro

"Take a vacation, you have a week to yourselves", said one Corsair, "We usually give a month, but we need good pilots like you to fight amongst us, we'll leave you now"

Alonso and the other corsairs say bye and leave him. Alvaro sits up on his bed and looks at the red dwarf high above in the skies. He looks at the artifact in his hand.

"Maybe this thing really is lucky", he sighed. He pulls another out of his pocket and runs out of his house to Alonso.

"What's wrong?” he said

"Alonso, could you give this to Benito's family", said Alvaro "This was his, and they need something that he had for his grave"

"Will do", said Alonso, "They'll appreciate this, now go back and enjoy your rest"

Alvaro returns to his house looks at a picture, his now dead brother Miguel.

"Hope you're proud of me, brother", said Alvaro

A week later, Alonso, knocks on Alvaro's door. Alvaro opens the door.

"It's time kid", said Alonso

The two walk out onto the landing pad, there sits a titan and a legionnaire.

"Here's a new ship for you", said Alonso

"What? Who gave it to me?", said Alvaro

"Specially from the elders", said Alonso, "They felt you went through too much to have to earn your own ship on your own means, so they got one for you. It's out fitted with good shields and the best weapons it can handle."

"Wow, It's a fine piece of work", said Alvaro, "I had a legionnaire too and it was nothing compared to this"

"Yea, it's one of the new models", said Alonso, "But lets get going, we have a mission"
The two launch from the pad and enter clear space and enter a jump hole to Omicron Theta and wait in the Edge Nebula.

"Ok, here's the mission...", said Alonso

"Wait, I'm not going to have any training!!?!!", said Alvaro, "You're just going to put me into a mission?"

“Don't worry", he said, "You've done well in the simulators and practices from what I hear, and this'll be easy, trust me. Any ways, there is a bounty hunter freighter about to enter this system, containing electronics and food. It'll probably have four light fighters escorting it, but they're probably rookies."

"Why would they have rookies escorting it?", questioned Alvaro.

"They have their hands full with us and the Outcasts", he said, "We're just too good for them"
"Who're the outcasts?", said Alvaro

"Shut up!", yelled Alonso, "here they come!"

A dromedary enters the cloud with four fighter escorts. Alonso's titan unloads a barrage of lasers on one of the escorts, destroying it out straight. He immediately pursues the other ones.

"What are you waiting for!", yelled Alonso, "Go and shoot out the engines on that dromedary. Don't destroy it, we need the cargo!"

Alvaro begins chasing the Dromedary. He dodges its turret fire and fires laser beams in the engine. It explodes and the dromedary begins to slow down, but a stray piece of debris hits the cockpit. It stops and floats around. Alvaro moves his ship to see the cockpit. The pilot is sitting his chair, but with the metal lodged into his head.

"Well at least the cargo isn't damaged", he sighed

Alvaro makes his way back to the battle and assists Alonso. Alonso had already taken down all of the ships.

"Well, what’d I tell you", laughed Alonso, "Wasn't that easy? You didn't even have to fight that much! Did you get the ship?"

"Yea, its right there", said Alonso.

The two make their way to the dromedary, but a ship suddenly goes in front of them, a sabre.
"You two back away, the cargo is now the property of the outcasts", said the pilot.

"What would you want with food!", said Alonso "You have your damn caradime, isn't that enough!"
"Apparently", the Outcast laughed, "You haven't seen what ELSE this ship carries"

Alvaro scans the freighter and his eyes open wide. It contains heavy weaponry.

"The Bounty hunters mixed up the shipping and their heavy weaponry got shipped in the wrong freighter", said the Outcast

Then the language switches to Spanish and bits of Portuguese, Alvaro could only pick bits and pieces of it. Apparently, Alonso and the Outcast were cursing. The Outcast tears open the hull and beams up the weaponry inside. He fires a missile, nearly hitting Alvaro. He speeds off with the cargo.

"Get on him!", yelled Alonso, "Only your ship can catch that bastard!"

Alvaro starts speeding up and fires a cruise disrupter. He begins to fight with the sabre, simply going around in circles, firing his lasers.

"Trying to fight that thing would be suicide", said Alvaro, "It's too heavily shielded!"

A torpedo barely misses him.

"Where the hell is Alonso?!?", he grunted.

As if he knew Alvaro’s thoughts, Alonso comes out into the fray and fires a missile, destroying the engines. He proves too skillful for the Outcast and breaks through his shield and disables his ship. He stops short from killing him.

"Wait, I got a better idea", chuckled Alonso, "Beam up some of the cargo out of the ship and see if there are any survivors from those Bounty Hunters, They'll catch a good prize"

Alvaro beams up some of the cargo and finds one bounty hunter floating in space.

Few minutes later Alonso comes back. He sees the Outcast’s ship missing

"What did you do to him?", asks Alvaro.

"I decided to show the Outcasts what happens when they interfere with our business", he started, "I put him in a vac-suit, tied him to his ship, and sent him through the jump hole to an Outcast system. It's a good way to show who’s in power, and on top of all that, we get to kill an Outcast!”

Alonso could sense Alvaro’s confusion and horror, and immediately changes the topic.

"But forget that, we need to get back to Crete and give this stuff off. And you can keep the money for the Bounty Hunter!"

The two make their way back to Crete, but before entering the hole, Alvaro asks Alonso a question.

"Why did that man speak our tongue?” said Alvaro, "I thought we were the only ones that spoke it"

Alonso stopped for a moment

"That's something your going to have to ask your dad", said Alonso, "He's good at explaining this topic…"

The two go through the jump hole back to Crete and give their items out. Alonso says good bye and leaves to Tripoli shipyard for another duty. Alvaro collects the credits for the Bounty Hunter and returns back to his house.

"That sure was boring..", he sighed "I can't wait to go to Cadiz and kill some Hessians..."


Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 1:48:27 AM

Ch. 2

It's been at least a month. Alvaro, under his captain Alonso, have successfully raided many transports in the Omega systems. They've come back with many necessities, and have gotten a good reputation boost from it. They had also gotten notorious with the Bounty Hunters, after Alvaro killed a squad all by himself. The BMM have also put a massive bounty on their heads, due to the reason that most of Alonso and Alvaro's targets were of the BMM Corporation. Their bounty totals 80,000 each. They have been deployed to Cadiz due to their remarkable skills, and are now traveling to the Walker Cloud to begin their journey.

"I can't wait to see my dad!", said Alvaro.

"Well you won't have too much time", said Alonso, "From what I've heard those Hessians have stepped up their attacks, and even managed to sneak a marine squad into Cadiz. It's a full-blown offensive attack"

"Well that's no problem", said Alvaro, "The Hessians are only powerful through numbers, they aren't too skilled with one-on-one"

"Yes", said Alonso, "That may be true, but don't get too cocky, since..."

But before Alonso could finish his sentence, some laser beams hit the two, and some Bounty Hunters appear. They hail them both.

"Ah", said a Bounty Hunter, "Those two will catch a good price from the BMM"

"You guys are no good to us dead, so just surrender, our barracuda's could overwhelm you guys!"

"Hell no", said Alonso, "You guys are going to have to fight to get us"

"As you wish, you two are worth enough dead", said another Bounty Hunter.

The group breaks into an attack. Alvaro is tailing one Bounty Hunter.

"I got you in my sights", he said

He gets his aimer into view, and begins his attack. He launches a barrage of missiles to destroy his shields.

"DAMN", said one bounty, "That bastard got my shields!"

"Good bye...", chuckled Alvaro
He unleashes a laser barrage and manages to clip off much of its wings. He finishes off with two missiles. The barracuda explodes in a brilliant explosion.

"DAMN", yelled one BH, "That Corsair got Patrick!"

"Keep that Titan off my tail", said one Bounty Hunter, "I got an idea!"

The Bounty Hunter ejects out of his ship and hides behind an Asteroid. Alvaro and Alonso team up on the one still remaining..

"Got him my sights kid", said Alonso, "Just make sure that he doesn't try to hit me from the behind...”

"Sure thing...” said Alvaro, but before he could finish, a space suit jumps onto his cockpit, brandishing a knife.

"WHAT THE HELL", yelled Alonso, "One of those idiots is on my cockpit!!"

The Bounty Hunter begins to break through his cockpit, and once it breaks, the Bounty Hunter grabs Alvaro and makes his way back to the ship. He throws Alonso back into his ship and jumps in.

"I got one", said the Bounty Hunter, "The other one will kill us if you don't come...”

*Radio silence*

"Alex?...", said the Bounty Hunter.

"Crap", the Titan must have gotten him", he said.

Alonso’s Titan begins appearing in his view.

"OH ****", yelled the Bounty Hunter, “Time to high tail it!”

The Barracuda speeds off into the distance and Alonso fires a cruise disrupter. It doesn't hit the target.

"Oh joy, what a great day this’ll turn out to be…” mumbled Alvaro to himself. He feels a strange feeling overcome in, and he falls asleep.

Alvaro awakens later. He feels knocked out, and slowly he begins to see what it is. He's in some sort of prison. He sees other people around his cell.

"Hey look", said one prisoner, "The Corsair woke up!"

"Had a nice dream?” laughed another, “Did you finally get that bag of chips!”
Ignoring the other pirates' remarks, he makes his way to his cell door and sees that he's in some sort Bounty Hunter cell, judging from the designs and the Bounty Hunter insignia on the walls.

"So", said a voice, "I see that the BH got you"

Alvaro sees that it's coming from the cell next to his.

"You must have done something huge to get their attention", it said, "Usually those BH pricks are scared to venture that far into y’alls turf!"

"Yea, but I guess the bounty the BMM put on me really woke them up", said Alvaro, "They got me, since they had no chance of getting my captain, out of the three they sent, only one came back alive"

"So did your ship get destroyed or something?", said the prisoner.

"Actually it was a strange tactic", Alvaro started, "One of those Bounty Hunters ejected out of his ship and tore me out of my cockpit"

"Yea", said the prisoner, "That's a tactic they've been using recently. Suicidal, but it'll get the job done."

Suddenly, a small hole opens in the wall and he can see his neighbor. He's wearing a black suit with a breather attached to his mouth.

"So, from where do you hail?", said the prisoner.

"I'm a Corsair from Crete", said Alvaro

"I'm an outcast", said the prisoner, "Miguel de Santiago at your service"

"I'm Alvaro Gulliento", said Alvaro, "I guess this is strange, we would've killed each other if we were in space"

"Strange indeed...”, said Miguel

"Where are we?” said Alvaro.

"We're in a Bounty Hunter base in Omicron Theta. This is where the criminals from the Omegas and Omicrons are held until they are sent to where the need to be. The bounties on most of these people are pretty high", explained Miguel.

Alvaro notices a breathing aid on Miguel's face

"Don't mind me asking, but what is that thing you're wearing?", said Alvaro
"We can't get survive in other climates, we need this to survive, that's what our planet did to us when we landed their ages ago. The caradime we've found has brought us much needed supplies, but we've payed a price- our humanity", said Miguel

"If that's the case", said Alvaro, "I have an idea"

The two converse an idea, and a few hours later...

A bounty hunter begins a patrol on Alvaro’s sector. Miguel suddenly collapses, and the guard rushes into Miguel's cell.

"DAMN IT!", yelled the guard, "Another outcast dead, why do these guy so quickly?"

Alvaro reaches through the hole and grabs the guard's keycard. He opens his door and goes into Miguel's cell. He strangles the guard and throws him into Miguel's bunk and covers him. He goes to Miguel's body.

"Hey", he said, "Wake up, the plan worked!"

The two grab the pistols from the guard's body and make their way down to the control room. A short fight ensues, but the two release the prisoners in order to make the escape easier

"What!!", yelled a Hessian, "I'd rather die than work with a Corsair!"

"Shut up!” yelled an Outcast, "We don't want to work with you weaklings, so prepare to die, you disgraces to humanity!"

Alvaro fires his gun, and the crowd quiets down.

"YOU ALL SHUT THE HELL UP!", he yelled, "We must work together to get out of here. Whether you are fighting a corrupt government, sell caradime, raid transports for survival, or a ruthless killer, we are all targets of the Bounty Hunters and enemies of the houses! Now put aside your differences and let’s fight our common enemy, and survive to live another day!"

All the prisoners quiet down and begin to group together.

"So what do we do know?", said one Outcast

"Well we should make our way to the hangars and get ourselves a ship and escape", said Miguel. He points to an open room at the end of the corridor.

"You all get a weapon from the armory in that room, and follow my lead!", commands Miguel

They all begin their escape. The criminals make their way out into the main hall and begin shooting and killing every bounty hunter they see. Soon the whole station erupts into chaos, and fights occur all over the ship.
"WARNING!WARNING!! All Bounty Hunters take up arms and proceed to the detainment sector. There has been a jail break and the criminals have armed themselves. Don't hesitate to kill!"
"Well I guess they're coming now", said Alvaro.

"HURRY EVERYONE!", said Miguel, "There is going to be a big fight soon!"

The criminals make their way down the hall until they reach a Bounty Hunter barricade. There is a line of bounty hunters blocking the way.

"All criminals", said the Captain, "Give yourselves up, or we'll be forced to shoot..."

He's interrupted by a laser shot, which hits one of his troops in the head.

"As you wish", he said, "OPEN FIRE!!!!"

The criminals quickly take cover in the rooms adjacent to the hall, and those that don't make are torn apart from gun fire, their blood splattering on the walls.

"****!", yelled Miguel, "We're trapped!"

Alvaro looks around and spots a vent above the room. He looks at the grenade on Miguel’s belt.

"Miguel!", he said, "Give me that grenade!"

"Why?", Miguel said, "You can't throw it! The gun fire will destroy it!"

"No, just watch", said Alvaro.

Alvaro makes his way to the vent and crawls. The sound of the gun shots is ringing in his head as if a bee swarm is around him. He finally peers through one of the blinds, and sees the heads of the bounty hunters below. He punches it open and drops his grenade in and quickly makes his way back. The grenade drops into the bounty hunter's group, they all freeze and studder. The Captain stops shooting, and sees the grenade.

"Oh ****...” he sighed

An explosion rocks the hall, and the screams of the bounty hunters ring through the criminal's heads. They peer out into the hall and see the remains of the bounty hunters splattered against the wall, and the hall all shattered, with numerous pipes sticking out and leaking. A piece of debris hits Alvaro's right eye and his vision suddenly messes up and blurs out.

"Warning!, gas leak detected in the central hall...."

"Oh crap!", yelled Alvaro, "RUN DOWN THE HALL QUICK!"

The criminals run through the hall, and soon the gasses ignite and a fire starts.

"You are a dumbass!” yelled Miguel, "You could've got us killed! And look! Your right eye is severely damaged! Hell, you may be blind in there!"

"Well at least we're alive", said Alvaro, "Plus, the rest of the bounty hunters can't get through; we only have to deal with the crew... And my eye will be fine, I can still see, somewhat..."

The criminals go through the living quarters, shooting and plundering what they can get.

"Warning!!!! Fire detected in the main hallway, disturbance detected in living quarters. All Bounty Hunters are advised to shoot any prisoner. They are considered dangerous.."

"Damn!” said Miguel, "That intercom is giving away our locations!"

One of the Outcasts drops dead from a laser shot. Alvaro dodges another and shoots a bounty hunter in the head.

"We must find a communication room", said Alvaro, "I know a way to distract them...”

They criminals make their way down the hall, shooting randomly indiscriminately. The Bounty Hunters are killed and overwhelmed but still manage to fight well- atleast a quarter of the criminals are dead too. Finally they make their way to the communication room and shoot the crew. The intercom, which has been going off through the whole fight, suddenly stops. Alvaro makes his way to the communication panel and enters a frequency.

"All Corsairs, this is Alvaro Gulliento", he said, "I've found a hidden BH base and need backup to destroy it. I'm currently on board, and I need some help1”

*Radio silence, the sound of the fight is still heard*

"Affirmative, we have your signal, this is the Minotaur squadron, We thought you were a goner!", said the Captain

"Here are the coordinates", said Alvaro, "This station's destruction will certainly lessen bounty hunter attacks in the area...”

"Affirmative", said the captain, "We're on our way!"

Alvaro switches off the frequency, and shoots the communication device.

"Ok", he said, "My comrades our coming. They'll probably cause a distraction..."

"Let's get going", said Miguel, "We are suffering heavy casualties, and if we lose any more they'll overpower us!"
The criminals make their way through the station, and many gunfights ensue. The walls are littered with blast marks and blood. The ground is littered with corpses of criminals and bounty hunters. The automated intercom comes on, and big blasts are heard pounding against the hull. The impact sends the people onboard slamming into walls.

"WARNING!!!WARNING!!! The station is under attack! All pilots take prepare to launch!!"

Alvaro looks out a window, and surely enough he sees a full squadron of titans and centurions pounding the station and picking off the weak bounty hunter ships.

"GOOD!” laughed a Hessian, "This is a good kick in the ass for the bounty hunters!"

"There's no time", said Miguel, "Those Corsairs are buying us time, but they'll have to blow the station apart if we don't hurry!"

The criminals make their way to the hangar bay, and suddenly the fighting stops and the bounty hunters make their way to their ships.

"WARNING!!! Main reactor has been hit! The station is lost! All hands evacuate!"

"Uhh.. Every man for himself!!!” yelled an Outcast. The station goes wild and the criminals race to steal a bounty hunter ship. Another explosion rocks the station, and the hull starts to tear. The outcasts steal a freighter and go off. The Hessians do the same.

Alvaro runs to one to catch it, but he's kicked off.

"Sorry kid", said an Outcast, "You may have saved us, but you’re still a corsair, and we can't take you".

The ship goes off and Alvaro stands there alone.

"Damn bastards", yells Alvaro, "Ungrateful sons of *****es!"

He sees a bounty hunter freighter begin too launch.

"It's my only chance...” said Alvaro.

He starts to chase it and grabs the ladder on the dromedary he punches open the door and throws a grenade into the hold. Some Bounty Hunters go flying out of the freighter through the hole created by the grenade. The freighter slowly approaches the docking door.

"Crap", said Alvaro, "I'd better hurry..."

He jumps in and runs past the Bounty Hunters, some shooting at him and others trying to hold on and not get thrown off. He goes to the cockpit and shoots the pilots he takes control. He locks the bridge door and pilots the freighter out, and just in time- the station explodes just as he leaves, but it also takes his shields out. The space around the station is suddenly littered with corpses of dead criminals and bounty hunters. A piece of debris hits the Alvaro's freighter and severely damages it. The computer comes on.

"Life support failing in bridge...”, the computer states, “Hull breach detected!”

Alvaro feels a searing pain as a piece of debris pierces his arm, and he starts to feel woozy.

"It can't be..", he said, "After all this.."

He sees a bright flash of light outside his ship coming into his cockpit, and he passes out.

End Ch. 2


Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 2:11:52 AM

I am reading this great story, please keep it up, it`s so good!

A excelnt story keep it up.

_____________________________
Monky see, Monky Shoot

Good story, keep it up. I noticed something, however: In your story, Crete was found by a battleship, but the game it was found by a research ship. No big deal, I just thought you should know

Edited by - Steel_Fang on 6/19/2005 3:57:31 PM

Ah, thank you. Sometimes I type too much and I get somethings wrong. Thank you all for reading.

@steelfang, I fixed that error as best as I could. Thanks for pointing that out.
Ch. 3

Ch. 3

Alvaro wakes up on Crete, but not the Crete he knows. This Crete is much more green and peaceful and massive cities rise up to the sky. Strange aliens are walking around, and one building catches his eye. The aliens simply pass him by and he walks to the building. As he walks into the building, he floats off and sees a bright light. He feels relaxed and free. He spots a rotating sphere in the middle of the building. He starts going towards the sphere, but when he touches it, the whole scenery suddenly turns black and he sees two distorted shapes, slowly going towards him. His vision begins turning to the darkness of space, and he sees two space suits hovering over him.

"Look, a bounty hunter is still alive!", said one.

"We'll take him back to Crete, maybe we can teach that bastard a thing or two!", said the other.

Alvaro can see them coming and breaking through his cockpit and floating into the bridge of the freighter. He can hear them in his communication frequency, and assumes they’re Corsairs.

"Damn", said one, "He's severely injured"

Alvaro begins to move, but suddenly he stops and feels a searing pain. He looks over and sees his arm pierced by a piece of steel, which has also pierced the chair. He's stuck to it.

"HA!", laughed the man, "The Bounty Hunter's stuck to his chair like a dog"

"Let's ease his pain...” said the other one.

"Heh, He won't survive with an open wound in space", said the other one.

The men start to work on the steel. He feels tremendous pain as the steal is removed. The men are laughing.

"You'll pay for killing our kind", said the man nearest to him.

"STOP!” yelled a voice far away.

Another man makes his way to the two space suits.

"Stop Rodriguez!” said the man.

The two look at him and leave the steel alone.

"Why Captain Alonso!", yelled Rodriguez, "Those bastards keep killing us and took Alvaro!"

Alonso works his way over to Alvaro and wipes his visor, and Alvaro's blood-covered face is revealed.
"This is Alvaro!” said Alonso.

"What!?!!", said Gulliento, the other corsair, "Why isn't he in a Corsair ship?

"Because the bounty hunters only took him", said Alonso, "Not his ship, don't you remember anything!"

"Sorry, captain", said Rodriguez, "So how are we going to get him out? The steel is keeping him stuck to the chair, and if we remove the steel, he will die..."

"Get me the wielding tools and call the debris freighter over", said Alonso, "We're going to have to detach the chair from this ship"

The two hand Alonso tools and he starts to work on the chair. Alonso looks over to the two Corsairs and tells them to see if there's anything in the back of the dromedary. They make their way to the back of the bridge and open the door. A headless corpse hits him, and the two Corsairs jump back. The cargo room is filled with the corpses of dead Bounty Hunters, some of them pierced by debris, and the others torn apart by Alvaro's grenade during the escape.

"It looks like your kid did the work", said Gulliento, "He really is the son of Octavio"

"Yea", said Alonso, "This kid is really amazing, it seems that he always escapes death!"

Alonso's tool successfully breaks through the binding and the chair is free.

"Quickly!” he yelled, "We need to get him onto the freighter now! Alvaro's life support won't last for ever!

They carry Alvaro over to the chair and carry him into the freighter, and some of the Corsairs look at the team, and more at Alvaro's body.

"Get the doc over here now!” he yelled, "Alvaro is severely injured!"

A medical team goes over to Alvaro and put him on the ground and quickly pull Alvaro's helmet off, and they see his blood soaked eyes. They quickly clean the blood off, and Alvaro begins to start screaming.

"DAMN!", said the doctor, "His right eye is gone and that piece of metal is pretty jammed in there!"

"Give the kid the pill", said another doctor, "This pain will be too much for him...”

The doctors slip a pill into Alvaro's mouth, and he slips into a deep sleep

Alvaro has a vision of him fighting strange ships and he sees his fellow corsairs get destroyed. He tries to “fight” these strange ships, but they prove too much for him. The ships stop and strange beings go towards him. "He sees a pair of tentacles go towards his body and grasp him and yank him out of his cockpit. He sees the creature make his way into his mouth and can feel it going up into his brain. He keeps screaming, but he can't do anything about it. Soon he feels a jolt of massive pain and everything goes black. He slowly begins to see a white room, with lights, and can see a man in the corner. He tries to move, but he can't. He looks over to his arm and sees that a cast is pulled over it. He manages to pull himself up, and the man in the corner jumps up and puts him back down.

"You'd better not move for a while", said Alonso, "Your arm is still healing, we don't have the tech that the houses have."

Alvaro ignores his command and pulls himself up to a sitting position. He sees the window out into space, and can see his reflection. There is a scar across the left side of his face and an eye patch is pulled over his right eye.

"That was quite an ordeal you went through", said Alonso, "You were basically in the wasp's nest"

"Yea", he sighed, "Where are we anyways?"

"We're passing through Omega-41", said Alonso, "There was alot of good things we got from the remains of the Bounty Hunter base, and Cadiz is desperate in need of supplies right now"

"What!", said Alvaro, "Have they been having trouble raiding transports?"

"No", said Alonso, "The houses were locked into a full-scale war, and the economy has been severely damaged. Most of the houses aren't interested in trading, they just want to rebuild"

"A war?", said Alvaro, "What happened?"

"I don't know", said Alonso, "We're getting this news mostly from Junkers and freelancers. Supposedly Rheinland started a war in the colonies, causing damage everywhere, but as a result, Rheinland has gotten severely affected, since they suffered many losses. Even the Hessians are more powerful than the navy at the moment"

Alvaro looks out the window and sees the asteroids and the neutron star. He can see a skirmish between bounty hunters and corsairs off in the distance. The intercom comes on.

"Attention crew, we are approaching the jump hole. We may be ambushed by Hessians on the other side, so gunners, stay sharp!"

The freighter goes through the jump hole and a few seconds later they arrive in Omega-5. Alvaro sees the mighty base of Cadiz in the distance.

"It's quite a site, isn't it?", said Alonso, "Only the Blood Dragon's home base rivals in its size and mightiness, or so I hear"
"Yea", said Alvaro, "It withstood many of the Hessians biggest attacks"

"We've payed a high price for that thou..."

Before Alonso could finish the sentence, the ship starts to rock. Alvaro is knocked off the table and he slams into the wall, his injured arm hitting the wall. His cast comes off and the blood spatters on the wall.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", he screamed.

Alvaro drags himself to the window, and sees a squadron of Stiletto's firing on the ship. Lasers from both the Corsair ship and the Hessians go off firing, blazing past the window. The intercom comes on blazing.

"WARNING!!! THE HESSIANS ARE ATTACKING!!!! ALL CREW MAN THE TURRETS! SHOOT THOSE BASTARDS OUT OF THE SKY!!!"

The ship continues to rock, and Alonso can see the ships closing in. Two get destroyed. One blows up out straight, but the other one goes on a crash course towards the transport. It crashes against the hull and it rocks the whole ship.

"CADIZ!! WHERE ARE YOU! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!

A Stiletto launches a torpedo on the engine, and it gets destroyed.

"ENGINES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED!!!!!", said the Captain, "CADIZ WE NEED BACKUP!!!"

"****...", said Alonso, "The Hessians never try to go this close to Cadiz..."

Suddenly the Stilettos are pounded by heavy fire, and are destroyed out straight. Some titans come into view.

"Transport Barcelona, this is Lieutenant Octavio Gulliento, we're here to escort you to Cadiz"
The titans pull the damaged freighter to Cadiz. Soon they enter the base of Cadiz, and Alvaro can see the skyscrapers of the base. They pass through traffic of hover cars and transports, and pull down the freighter in front of a garrison. The pilots of the titan land behind them.

"Ok", said one Corsair, "All of you guys go into the garrison..."

Octavio notices Alvaro in the corner, in a pool of his blood.

"Alvaro!", he yelled as he ran over to him. The wound from the steel is very noticeable, and he sees the eye patch, "What the hell happened to you!"

"Oh, nothing..", says Alvaro with a smirk on his face. He falls unconscious. Octavio looks over at the other Corsairs.

"WHAT ARE YOU BASTARDS WAITING FOR!", he yelled, "HE'S LOSING BLOOD FAST, GET THE DOCTERS AND A STRETCHER!"

Alvaro can barely see his father, and he slowly begins to fall unconscious.

"Hang in there!", said Octavio, "Don't die, you're all I got left..."

End Ch 3.

Edited by - MercZ on 6/20/2005 3:12:11 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 6/23/2005 12:25:15 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 2:24:23 AM

Keep going great work

Dang it.I know this feel so this cliff hanger realy got me going wish it was a longer chapter :'(.Was even leaning into the screen ^^.

Me 2

If life throws you melons, throw them back. But make sure you hit life in the groin, that means life won't throw you anymore melons

Yeah, this is really interesting

Well, what do we got here?

Thanks for the nice feedback guys!

Ch. 4

Alvaro looks around, and notices he’s back in the same locale as he was in earlier. He touches the sphere, but there is no effect. He floats back down to the ground and sees the aliens, who are speaking a language he can't understand. Alvaro stands in their way to get their attention, but they pass through him like a ghost. He can't understand their language; it's just a series of clicking and unrecognizable sounds. He continues to follow them trying to get their attention, and slowly the language becomes understandable. The aliens are chatting about useless everyday events. Suddenly a laser beam comes down from sky and hits the structure. Rubble onto the floor, and the aliens begin panicking.”

"We're under attack!!!!", yelled an alien.

"Who is it!” questioned the other, “Was it our enemies? They can’t seem to help that other races exist with them!”


"I don't believe it!” said the alien near a star chart, "It's the guardians! Our guardians!"

"We're receiving a transmission from the home planet...” said the alien, "They've said that the guardians have turned on us. They're telling us to initiate the plan now!"

Alvaro goes outside and sees a strange crystal like object in the sky. It's bombarding the surface of the planet, and the aliens are running to their houses and locking the doors. Alvaro goes back into the building, and sees that the aliens have opened up the sphere, and a hologram control panel is shown. The aliens push the buttons on the hologram, and the building begins to deploy into a massive cannon. It fires into the sky revealing a massive laser beam; it hits the mysterious ship, destroying it on impact. The ship goes on a crash course, and it burns up in the atmosphere.

Alvaro hears chatter from the inside of the structure.

"I never thought the guardians would turn on us...” said one alien.

"It doesn't matter...” said another, "It's happened all over the home sectors, but there has been no casualties, just damage to our structures"

"We have to go with the operation, our top warriors our going to trap the guardians before they deploy their full force", said the other alien.

The aliens begin to push another series of buttons, and a large barrier beam deploys. It goes in both directions and the aliens disappear.

Alvaro is left all alone by himself. He goes out of the building, and it seems that all the aliens are gone. Slowly, the world around him begins to fall apart, and he sees shadows in the distance, and lights above him.

"Alvaro....wake up.....Come on!!!....Don't die now!!"

"This is strange....His pulse has suddenly come back...he returned from the dead..."

Alvaro slowly awakens from his vision, and sees the room around him. He can see his dad standing above him, a doctor, and Alonso.

"He's awake!!!” said Alonso.

Octavio goes and hugs him and starts to cry.
"I thought that you were gone... You're the only one I got left...” said Octavio.

"Boy", said Alonso, "You are one stubborn kid. First you get shanghaied by those mysterious ships, captured by Bounty Hunters, escaping a Bounty Hunter base and receiving serious injuries, surviving in you space suit, and now this!"

"I got to say", said the doctor, "You just don't want to die, you have a tight grip on that ledge boy...”

"What happened to me...” said Alvaro, "I had a strange dream..."

"That's normal", said the doctor, "People typically get strange dreams when they're on the verge of death...”

Alvaro sees that he still has the eye patch, and his arm is in a much more reinforced cast.

"You're lucky we didn't have to amputate that arm", said the doctor, "Corsairs don't have good prosthetics"

"Is he free to go?” said Octavio, "He's been here for 2 days now...”

"Yes", said the doctor, "Just keep him in your quarters, he won't be able to pilot anything in that condition"

"Will do, sir!” said Octavio.

Octavio and Alonso help Alvaro into a wheelchair and roll him out of the hospital. The skyscrapers of Cadiz rise above them outside, and hover cars and freighters are going back-and-forth outside, high up in the asteroid. The three go into the hover car and go into the streets. The buildings blast past them as they speed down the street.

"I was going to visit you, son", said Octavio, "I was really proud when you passed the initiation, even with that attack. You've brought honor to our family; your mom and brother would've been very proud if you...”

"Yeah, kid", said Alonso, "At the rate you're going, you’ll rise the ranks faster than your dad!"
The hover car turns and goes to the launching complex, and Alvaro gets puzzled.

"Yes, thanks", said Alvaro, "Where are we going?"

"We have to drop of Alonso", said Octavio

"Where are you going?” said Alvaro.

"Ever since you destroyed that base, Bounty Hunters have increased their attacks on us", said Alonso, "The Elders are recalling some Corsairs back to Crete to go on Bounty Hunter raids. Those Bounty Hunters are becoming a real thorn on our side"

"Good Bye, old friend", said Octavio, "Thanks for looking after Alvaro!"

"No problem", said Alonso, "And keep up the good work, you might become a big shot like your dad"

They exchange farewells and Alonso boards his Titan. His ship takes off and exits through the docking port. The two got back onto the Hover car and continue on.

"Dad", said Alvaro, "Where are we going now?"

"I have a house here", said Octavio, "I’m on leave for one week so we can stay together, and it's a good thing, your injuries need tending. By the way, how did you receive them?"

Alvaro looks at the buildings for a while, and then starts his story.

"I was captured by the bounty hunters. Alonso and I got quite a reputation from the raids we did on the BMM. The Bounty Hunters ripped me out of the cockpit and took me to a bounty hunter base. It was filled with Hessians and Outcasts, but not a single Corsair, excluding myself"

"Sounds like quite a hellhole", said Octavio, "I'm amazed you got out"

"Yea, but it would've been impossible as a one man job. All the Hessians, Outcasts, and I came together. We would've never done that in space, but we all have a common enemy- the Bounty Hunters. I would never work with a damned Hessian, after what they've done to our family, but I needed them to be meat shields for my escape. An Outcast and I...." Octavio interrupts.

"You were able to convince an outcast to work with you!?!?!” said Octavio, "You really have guts, they typically put themselves above others!"

"Anyways, his name was Miguel if I recalled correctly. We were able to escape and we fought our way through the base with the others. We reached a barricade, with Bounty Hunters and gun emplacements. I used the vents to be able to drop the Plasma Grenade above them. I succeeded and their guts splattered all over the wall. Some of the debris hit my eye though, and it got blinded. Only my left eye has vision now. When I escaped, those damned Outcasts kicked me out of the ship and left me there. I had to hijack a Bounty Hunter escape freighter. I killed some of them with a grenade and locked myself in the cockpit. I got a suit as quick as I could, and got out. Just in time to... That place blew up as soon as I got out. Some metal pierced the cockpit and hit my arm. Passed right through and glued me to the cockpit. The rest you probably know", said Alvaro.

"You are really a Gulliento", said Octavio, "You can survive in the worst conditions. I'm glad you're alive. I lost Maria and Carlos to those damned Hessians, You're all I got left now", said Octavio.

The hover car lowers down to the alley and parks in one of the houses. Octavio helps Alvaro out and puts him in the bed and puts on the holo-net. The Corsair news comes on

"Recently... the war in the houses has ended.... Outcasts kill an innocent Corsair family..."

"Dad", said Alvaro, "Who are the Outcasts? They speak our tongue and have our culture...”

"I don't know too well myself. I only know what the Elders have told me. They say that along time ago, we had a nice country and green land to ourselves; on the Planet they call Earth. There was a war, and our side lost. Alongside the other nations of the group they called the Alliance; we built ships to carry our peoples to safety. There was the Liberty, Rheinland, Bretonia, Kusari, and our ship- the Hispania. When we arrived here, our engines were destroyed. The houses say that it was the work of a Coalition (The enemy of the Alliance) Saboteur. Some say an Alliance member may’ve done it, more than likely a Rheinlander, to get more land or blood purity, and others even suggest some of our own brothers may’ve done so!”

He pauses for a moment, almost sighing.

Our peoples split in two, since we disagreed whether or not to settle on a nearby planet or somewhere else. We already distrusted each other, thinking the other try to kill us by detonating the bomb. Some of us took the lifeboats and found Crete weeks later. You probably know what happened from there. The other group was able to use the secondary engines on the Hispania, and found their way to that planet. The ship didn't get there; only close enough to the planet to get a ship to go there. We were right, the planet was damned. They got addicted to the drug caradime, and they can't leave their planet without getting killed, so they carry caradime and wear breathers to survive out side of their planet.”

He starts punching things into his computer, and information about caradime appears in the hologram.

“That evil drug has changed them, and they believe they are no longer humans, they are something better. When we first encountered them, we sent an Elder to meet their leaders. They were glad to see we survived, but had no interest in making an alliance with us, saying that we were the reason that the ship was disabled. They said we were inferior, and told the Elder to leave. The Elder says that he was attacked by them on the way back, and some of our pilots were killed. From that day on, we became enemies…"
Alvaro sees the window from the bed and sees a fleet of titans going out of the city.

"Dad", said Alvaro, "What's going on?"

Octavio steps up to the window and sees the titan squad.

"The Commander of this base had got orders from the Council of the Elders; they presented a new plan to end this menace, and said to go on the defensive for now, to weaken those bastards. Those Hessians' advantages are in numbers, we have advantage in skills", said Octavio, "But recently, they haven't been attacking much...”

"When I get better", said Alvaro, "Will I fight with you?"

"Probably", said Octavio, "I'm giving you my old Centurion for your new ship. It's rigged with a great engine, power plant, and can mount some very powerful weapons. It can mount a powerful shield. You could probably take a Sabre out in that ship"

Alvaro smiles a bit, and looks at the picture of his family.

"Dad", said Alvaro, "What happened to Mom and Carlos?"

"I can't tell you that yet", said Octavio, "All I can tell you is that those damn Hessians are responsible for both of their deaths. But enough of that, let's watch some movies from Liberty!"

The two spend a week to their selves. They go to bars, watch the holonet, and practice their skills in a simulator. Alvaro is able to take off his cast, but it’s still healing. He has a massive scar where the wound was, and it still gives pain when too much stress is put into it. One day, the two drive back from a wrestling match.

"Damn, that Rodriguez guy was one hell of a wrestler, wasn't he?", said Alvaro.

"Yea, Caesar was good too, but Rodriguez was too good for him", said Octavio.

"Dad", said Alvaro, "Who was that man you were talking to? He didn’t' look like a Corsair…"

"He was a Freelancer from Bretonia", said Octavio, "He says that the war in the Colonies destroyed the economy, and Rheinland has been hit the hardest. He also says that there were three people, a Freelancer and two members of the LSF who got full pardons for some reason. They were the biggest enemies of Liberty, but they got excused, and got the Lone Star. Not too many people know what they did, and they disappeared afterwards"

"They must have done something big", said Alvaro, "Getting excused and getting a medal means they've probably fought something big"

"You know, you look like the Corsairs of old, in Earth. Pirates then had the stereotype that they had eye patches..."
Before Octavio could finish, a massive explosion rocks the city, and some debris falls from the ceiling.

"WHAT THE HELL!", yelled Octavio.

Alvaro turns on the Holonet in the car to the Alert frequency.

"Warning! Warning! The base is under attack from a massive Hessian fleet! All pilots, active and un-active, report to the Landing pad.. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

An explosion is heard through the holonet, and it turns off.

"DAMN!", said Alvaro, "What could have caused that explosion!"

Their hover car rushes to the landing pad, dodging falling rocks from the ceiling. People are screaming around them and they can clearly see the corsair pilots going towards the landing pad. Fleets of titans and centurions launch and exit in swarms. They arrive at the landing pad, and lots of ships are launching as they jump out of their hover car. They rush to the observation deck.

"Oh good Lord!..” said Octavio.

A massive battle is taking place. Lasers fly everywhere, and Sabres and Stiletto's fly through the space. Titans and Centurions rush out of Cadiz and engage them. Explosions are seen through the space, and an occasional explosion rocks Cadiz.

"What a battle...”, said Alvaro.

"That's not the main attraction kid", said a Corsair behind them. The corsair points off to the right and what he sees makes his eye widen. A fleet of Rheinland Battleships, Cruisers, and Gunboats are pounding Cadiz.

"This is going to be one hell of a battle...” said Octavio.

End Ch. 4

Edited by - MercZ on 6/23/2005 1:11:01 PM

Edited by - MercZ on 6/24/2005 10:47:23 AM

Edited by - MercZ on 8/6/2006 2:41:54 AM