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+--- Thread: La Villa Strangiato (/showthread.php?tid=44080)
La Villa Strangiato - Zapp - 07-18-2010
Eugene Debs (no relation to the politician) sat on the edge of his seat, anxiety painting his countenance with sweat. The fact that the room was cramped with all sorts of equipment and two other men didn't help. The Civilian Shuttle wasn't his idea of a 'space-worthy' vessel, though the past few months had been one harrowing escapade after another in search of his old ship, La Villa Strangiato. After his crew had served their time on Sugarland, he had found with some surprise that the gunboat was no longer in the LPI's main impound yard in Texas. The person who requested the transfer and the destination weren't logged, that much had been learned inside the first week. The crew of 15 quickly spread out to gather what information they could, using stolen ships and small purchased ones to travel quickly.
Clue after clue had led to the conclusion that the ship was being held in the LPI stronghold of Illinois. The purpose was unknown, but Debs was determined: he would reclaim what was his. Thus, he sat on the 'command deck' of the small Shuttle, drifting without power a few klicks above the elliptic plain of Illinois.
Samuel Gompers, Debs' XO, straightened from the console he had been viewing.
"Well?" asked the Captain as he leaned forward.
"We have a fix on the impound yard in there. It's huge. Only one Rogue gunboat though, sir."
"Security?"
"Can't get a positive fix, but it appears we slipped by the worst of it getting in."
Gaining entrance had been hell. The LPI officers Debs managed to get a hold of would talk for money, but gaining access to Illinois was impossible. In the end, it had been luck that had found him a jump hole that was unstable but currently in phase, leading to a remote section of an asteroid field taking up most of the south-western part of the system.
"Engage thrusters, set us to drift in."
"Aye, sir," responded Terence Powderly, helmsman of La Villa Strangiato. "ETA is 12 hours."
Eugene sighed and eased back into his chair, waiting.
La Villa Strangiato - Zapp - 08-14-2010
Twelve hours later, they drifted past the perimeter of the sensor grid that covered the "impound lot". It was set to scan for energy signatures, not life signs or dead mass. Each of the three men were wearing EV suits; even life support was offline. Samuel Gompers activated his comm unit.
"I'll prep the airlock. Tell me when."
Mr. Powderly was looking out the canopy window. He could just make out La Villa Strangiato through the numerous hulks that called this space their grave. Luckily, they managed to slip right up to their objective. Mr. Gompers opened the airlock and jumped over to La Villa Strangiato with a line attached to him. In the dead of space he floated over peacefully.
Once he hit the gunboat, he activated his magnetic clamps and clung to the hull. Disengaging the line and attaching it to the hull, he gave the signal and watched as the shuttle inched closer, retracting along the line. Once there, all three men scampered across the hull for the airlock. It opened with ease, as if it had just disengaged recently. They swept through the ship to the bridge, only to find, with some surprise, that the ship was pressurized and life support was running.
"Something isn't right," said Terence, as he went to work on the helms console. Samuel responded with, "They changed out our weapon system. Power, too."
"What?" demanded Eugene Debs, looking surprised.
"Ship's sporting basic gunboat turrets and a battle razor. Definitely not what we had. That, and the power system is optimized to be more... LPI-friendly, I'm guessing. Bastards were gonna use our ship."
Eugene sat in his command chair and rubbed his chin. Looks like they will miss this ship after all. He sighed.
"Regardless, proceed with the plan. Mr. Powderly?"
"Aye sir, executing."
He got up and went back to the airlock, passing through and getting back in the shuttle. He set the timer and commands, then ran back to La Villa Strangiato after cutting the line free. Once in the bridge, he sat down and prepared to set it into motion.
"Any second now..." Debs said, clenching his jaw. His hands were gripping the armrests.
Then the shuttle powered up, squawking a Liberty Rogue IFF. A lot of sensor noise started then, and Mr. Gompers activated the remote control, flying the shuttle off and away from them as Mr. Powderly stepped on the afterburner for five seconds, activating nothing else. They began to drift away as the LPI focused completely on the drone. La Villa Strangiato's power signature was nil, and the few seconds of thrust were missed as they scrambled for the decoy.
La Villa Strangiato - Zapp - 08-15-2010
Once free of the impound lot, they had to engage power and make a very hasty retreat. The jump hole to Oita was less guarded, but as far as they knew it was a dead-end system. Thus, they had to risk circumnavigating the defenses around the Colorado jump hole, namely the interceptor wings and the McNeil Island, an incongruous Liberty dreadnought. Luck was on their side, however, as they circled around and hit the jump hole at full cruise speed, away from the dreadnought's firing solution.
In Colorado, they sped for the Galileo jump hole a step ahead of a squadron of Liberators and bombers. Once they hit the asteroids, the LPI faltered and turned back, especially as several Rogue signals started popping up from the woodwork. La Villa Strangiato made it to Padua with no further incident, and the crew entered the ship, elated. Not a single one had deserted Captain Debs since their arrest. They were loyal to him, as he was a man of a stature that inspired loyalty, trust, and morale in his subordinates.
So they began to ply their insidious craft on the lanes of Liberty once more, Debs continuing his work in an honorable and fair fashion. The other Rogues, however, did not view his methods as 'sound' or 'becoming of a Rogue'. He was polite and well-mannered, while most Rogues were 'smash-and-grab' types. He was also not willing to risk his ship and crew to assist Rogues caught in certain situations; he was not a risk-taker, especially when it came to fighting the Navy or Police.
Eugene saw it before even the other Rogues saw it. A sort of resentment, as those of the lower echelon of society resent the robber barons. He amassed a fairly decent sum of credits and... left. La Villa Strangiato lowered the Liberty Rogue flag and raised the Freelancer one as it passed from Liberty into unknown waters, ready to prey on unsuspecting merchants...