We've been fighting for over three hundred years now. Three hundred and eighteen to be exact. Some might argue that's an awfully long time to beat one's head against the rushing tide of progress, might even say to give it up and find another way.
The man tapped his drawn sidearm against his thigh, beating an irregular pentameter that seemed to chase a beat behind his words, drawing his captive audience's attention between the cliche monologue and the implications of potential violence.
Yet, for some reason, here we are. Alive, whole and growing ever stronger; as evident by our presence here on the bridge of your fine vessel within the beating heart of Sirius.
With a push he stood to his feet, the damning drumbeat taking a moment's respite as the man slowly surveyed the bustle of his fellows moving about the bridge, muttering to themselves as they worked out the controls around the foreign language.
See, we're a special breed really. Most houses have groups somewhat similar to ours, folks who've been set out of place to such a degree that they took up arms to reclaim the livelihood that'd been denied them in chase after a bottom credit. But oft as not they abandoned their ideals in the pursuit of dropping the bigger picture for the immediate benefit. Emulating those 'as put them in their place to begin with I reckon.
He flashes a quick grin.
Strikes one as ironic, no? Our own Rogues, the Hessians of Rheinland, Unioners and so on, Mollys from your chunk of space... All decided that chasing after the credit was better than chasing after the dream. They're not going anywhere any time soon. Or you've the IMG, sure they did alright for themselves by running off into the dark to craft their own little piece of the sector, but they abandoned their fellows uncontested to the fates of a damned life. Not terribly brotherly.
The man slowly hunkered down before the Gateway Shipping Captain and, after a moments pause of thought, resumed his monologue.
So what we end up with is a sect of people who just won't gosh darn go away. Now I can represent them with this here firearm, but shooting doesn't really touch on the human heart in a way that sustains a movement such as ours. So what we're going to do is direct your vessel towards yon planet, fire up her engines and send her into the atmosphere. She'll break up 'afor she hits the ground like as not, but damned if it wont make a hell of a show eh?
The vessel shuddered under his feet as its cruise engines engaged, the slow path to her death translated through the growing whine of the overcharging engines. She would be an unstoppable force by the time she reached the planet, and they would be well on their way. His men quickly rounded up their gear and made their way back towards their shuttle, bonded to a hatch left open by a sympathetic dockworker on Manhattan. He stood by the comm station, feeling the increasing thunder building through the bulkheads of the vessel as the dim jewel of Los Angeles grew ever larger through the portal ahead.
My name is David Chambers, and I am a Knight of Labor, I am the people of Liberty and this is my message...
The celebrations raged in the Ouray bar as the evening newscast showcased the slow death of the mammoth Shire class vessel, her hull slowly stripping away into oblivion as she sank, burning, through the atmosphere despite the efforts of the naval vessels attempting to tow her free. When her belly burst it was amidst of spray of Bretonian gold and the cheering whoops of the men who had felled her.
The man tipped back another shot of the bar's finest and allowed himself a small smile, bitter atop the burn of the drink and another step trod on the road to hell. But he had to remember that they were all good kills. When you killed for something greater than yourself.
The Xenos... Xeno, title branded to our movement long ago. Something which put our struggle and our ideology into a nice little box. Something you could look at and shake your head, or scorn over the evening news, as members of the aristocracy curse our names after another shipment of whatever fine trinket they were hoping from Kusari or some other damn place was denied them for but a day was pulled out from under their feet by some Xeno pilot risking all to pit his will against impossible odds.
The movement got its name in 600 AS, but the origins of the movement can be traced along a series of profound incidents that took place throughout her history. The most noted of these are the double blow of the exhaustion of Colorado's natural resources and the great Texas incident of 500 AS. With Colorado's massive labor based economy barely sustaining itself upon a rapidly faltering practice of chemical re-mining Houston's own population was subject to Deep Space Engineering and Ageira technologies both departing the planet, along with anyone who could afford to do so, leaving in their wake a population derived almost entirely of those impoverished to escape the sudden collapse of the economy.
This teeming population of the poor and disgruntled lead to the construction of Huntsville prison for the system's, and eventually Liberty's, hard cases in addition to the steady development of labor work camps for the planet's ever increasing criminal populations. The rapid expansion of these camps at the exclusion of any other real development of sincere labor programs incensed many sectors of the local population, feeding into its own system of frustration and distrust. These were the days of the great trade embargoes between Liberty and her neighbors over Interspace's corporate greed, every home noticed how easily Liberty trembled when cut off from the goods of her neighbors, she having imprisoned the hands she might feed herself with.
Things came to a head in 590, when the last shipyard in Colorado was shut down in favor of Kusari business, removing one of the last major employers in the system. A number of violently incensed workers seized the station in a demonstration against the perceived callousness of the act. The minor rebellion was put down as quickly as it started and just as violently.
600 AS is when our kind first found the title Xeno adopted to them, as Colorado and Houston both fostered a new generation of those who felt their livelihoods had been snatched from them in favor of cheap foreign competition. They nursed a hatred for both foreign entities in addition to the aristocracy of Liberty and the forces that toiled to preserve the status quo, the navy and police.
The police. The formation of the LPI is what truly galvanized our movement. The conversion of the labor camps that so many had come to know as a fact of life were revolutionized, brutalized, to turn a profit. Slag camps were raided for fresh bodies, those within society who had no advocates were certain to find themselves on the wrong end of petty infractions with hefty trials of service. The LPI were lauded for turning the idle of Liberty to honest work, turning a profit in consumer goods to tickle the fancy of the same foreigners who had stolen their livelihoods, now were being amused by the produce of a virtually enslaved population.
Colorado, too, formed additional hotbeds as Denver was seized by the elite. Turning the planet away from dirty industry to serve instead as the latest world designed to cater to their particular tastes built upon the money gleaned from Ageira and Interspace interests. Those sects of the population whom were deemed undesirable were relocated and subject to the process of police oppression as their contemporaries in Houston.
As generations came and went the radical enclaves of dissident citizens caught in an endless cycle of hard time and hopelessness formed the early core of what was to become the modern face of the Xenos. Focused on settling blame upon the import of cheap foreign goods as being the root cause of the hardship of the Libertonian working class, those that could secure vessels began to prey upon transports moving goods through the California and Colorado systems, taking advantage of bases carved from the asteroids from which that their ancestors had once gleaned a living.
With each subsequent captured Xeno returned to Huntsville serving as another voice of the cause, and the youth of Houston and Denver rallying, the numbers of the Xenos continue to swell; outracing that of their closest rival, the Liberty Rogues, and granting the possibility of a greater edge against the Junkers.
Those who act against us enjoy rankling on what we lack. Our ramshackle vessels glean cries a plenty of rugged improvisation. Our weapons gutted from the remnants of those we've torn asunder or bartered from Zoner merchants garner no end of scorn for their inelegance. But our lack is the fire that keeps our movement alive despite its short comings. When Liberty's trials evaporate - so will we. That our numbers swell with each passing year fills my heart with sorrow, we are progressing but we are not winning. But progress is made. Our weapons are inelegant, our methods barbaric and we often venture towards the lanes in the heart of the most heavily armed nation in Sirius in ships that have lost their ability to hold ammo... Somehow to emerge time and again as victorious.
▪ None – Maybe one day a group will earn this privilege. But for now the only people we can really trust are our own.
Collaborators
▪ Bristol – A cooperative with a vested interest in reinforcing the Independent Worlds. A useful partner for securing the infrastructure needed to build the LFR and fortify its claims.
▪ Independent Miners Guild – Sometimes it's hard seeing our former selves in you. But at least it's a reminder of how far we've come and how much further we're yet to go. We've got your backs, and whether you're part of the Kongsi Syndicate or mainline Guild - makes no difference to us.
▪ The Order – Have you heard about the order? I think it's a conspiracy and you can -. Spooky is as spooky does and the order's operatives are quite the spooks. Our preferred point of contact among them is Section 8, the Overwatch gives people a headache. Regardless, we have an understanding when it comes to invasive aliens.
▪ Zoners – Free spirited people that want to be left alone. So much alike and yet so different.
Indifferent
▪ Bundschuh– Representatives of a foreign cause but a familiar ideology. Don't trust them but don't just kill them either. We can rely on them to help with Erie's struggle and that's enough to earn some tolerance. There's also been some talk about the Hessians putting the squeeze on their capabilities, maybe firsthand experience gleaned from dealing with the Legion can help these "kindred" spirits.
▪ Gaians– The Atacama Cohort, the last bastion of the Legion's idealistic founding, threw in their lot with the environmentalists. Ever since then, they've been an oddly reliable "partner" in ensuring that nobody goes looking for warships in nebulae.
▪ Synth Foods– If Ageira had half the spine they did and weren't total sellouts then maybe Liberty would still be the icon of progress it used to be.
Unfriendly
▪ Lane Hackers–Corporate princelings and pansies. Untrustworthy and good for nothing. There's a group of them going around that are tolerable enough. But don't forget that the Inner Circle played the same tune and bailed on the eve of Hesperia.
▪ Liberty Rogues–Thieves, and opportunists. They don't seem inclined to array themselves against us with too much enthusiasm, but are occasionally hired by the Junkers to get in our way. Handle them as you see fit, but keep in mind they're just as likely to shoot the Police and the Navy alongside you.
▪ Outcasts–Genefreaks. If they abide by the accord then leave them be. But if they don't then show them that cultural supremacy doesn't count for much when outnumbered 20:1.
Hostile
▪ Bounty Hunters– Traitors hang.
▪ Corsairs– Former trade partners that refused to wean off the Junkers and trust us with artifact supply. We eventually picked up a better deal that involves killing them on sight. It's like they said - it's just business.
▪ Liberty Navy– Attack dogs and lackeys, gut them as payback for Hudson.
▪ Liberty Police Incorporated– Free the caged and kill the jailers, it's what slavers deserve.
▪ Liberty Security Force– Glory hounds and fanatics hellbent on showing up their "peacekeeping" cousins in the Navy. They aren't any better.
▪ Omicron Supply Industries– No longer Zoners - just corporate hypocrites.
▪ Technocrats– Unplug them.
▪ Junkers– Rochester was just the start. We are FAR from done with your kind.
▪ Foreign House Navies/Police/Intelligence– Willing subjects of a sector-wide scheme to keep people like us down.
Volunteer
You're fresh meat, an egg yet to crack open and show potential. We give you the standard kit access till you can prove yourself. Maybe you'll earn the right to bear one of our names and get sent to Ramsey.
ALLOWED SHIP: Star/CTE series of ships.
Requirement for advancement: Approved for advancement by peer vote.
Knight of Labor
To never stop working and to always lead by example, that is your solemn pledge and oath. You owe it to the working man of this once truly Great House.
ALLOWED SHIPS: XAF series of ships plus any other.
Requirement for advancement: Earn 3 proficiency commendations in any field of work.
Adjutants
As close as it gets to a bureaucrat. Since the first ever Vice Commander spearheaded a thoughtless mutiny, you are the new face of administration for the rapidly expanding Alliance and help ease the otherwise impossible burden of day to day affairs on the Commander. Get used to wearing grey instead of the usual knightly white, this is an appointed post and you report directly to the Commander.
ALLOWED SHIPS: Gunboats
Requirement for advancement: Appointment by Commander.
Luminaries
Your accomplishments speak highly of you, hence your newfound status as an advisor to not only the Commander but an ideological guide to the movement as a whole.
ALLOWED SHIPS: All+Retribution and SRP allowance.
Alliance Commander: Leader of the Xeno Alliance. Tactician and bureaucrat in one, capable of managing the herculean task of keeping the people under his command united and the movement supplied.
The current Alliance Commander is Damien Morreti.
Adjutant: Technically second in the chain, although a compartmentalized series of administrative officers who serve on appointment-basis. Responsible for day-to-day affairs.
Luminary: Higher officers of Xeno Alliance. Spiritual guides, skilled speakers and advocates of Xeno ideology.
Knight of Labor:
Experienced and battle-hardened pilots of Xeno Alliance.
Volunteer: The discarded of House Liberty throwing in their lot with the only cause left worth dying for.
Bronze - Successful interception/destruction of commodities amounting to 10,000 units.
Silver - Successful interception/destruction of commodities amounting to 40,000 units
Gold- Success interception of commodities amounting to 100,000 units
// Okay, so after a long, long period of being out of date. The roster is now up to date and more members added to the "gone but not forgotten" list alongside their rewards that they earned.
The rewards system will simply serve as a memory until one of us gains the ability to recreate this magnificent art that a previous XA member was able to make... which is unlikely. So yeah, don't join expecting to earn these. I'd love to but we can't.
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