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+--- Thread: Crimson Flame (/showthread.php?tid=57792)
Crimson Flame - Tabris - 04-02-2011
Thira Colony, also known as the Quietest Place in the Corsair Empire, located in Omicron-94 in the heart of Corsair Territory where few not aligned with the Empire dare tread. It was a planetoid within the Santorini Belt, hollowed out by the Corsairs was turned into a fortress, a bastion for the Corsair Empire should Omicron Gamma in some manner fall to their enemies.
It was a calm place, nothing of interest never seeming to happen there as it was so far from the war the Corsairs wage even today against it's numerous foes. But today was different, the atmosphere was thick with tension, a Benitez convoy approached the planetoid and the Gunship carrying a precious cargo docked with the station, work crews in the hanger deck briefly paused from their jobs as the Gunboat settled down onto the deck, her engines powering down as the hanger is vacated of non-essential personnel by Security.
As several soldiers filed out from the Gunboat, in their midst a single man stood out, his skin lighter than those from Crete, brown hair and blue eyes that were covered by spectacles, clutched under his arm was a small metal box, on it's surface was multiple locking mechanisms; DNA Scanner, Thumb Imprint, a small microphone for an audio password and a standard lock. Whatever was within the box was important obviously, the man holding it was dressed in a brown flight suit, black boots covered his feet as well as leather gloves on his hands.
As they left the Gunboat the man sighed, almost relieved it seemed as he finally relaxed his guard, he had been on the run for several weeks now, always looking over his shoulder, worried an agent of those who was seeking him out was standing behind him with a dagger ready to be plunged into his back, as they waited for the Benitez representative to arrive the man ran his free hand through his hair, it had been a nerve-wrecking journey, but now he was relatively safe...For now.
Crimson Flame - Slavik - 04-02-2011
The cruise engines halted and the titan slowly glided towards the huge meteorite known as Thira he thought to himself 'they will never find him here'. The comms burst to live all of a sudden, docking clearance was granted. The ship slowly drifted into a docking port. The cockpit slowly opened with a slight hissing sound.
They all made it and mister Warner was safe, safe on thira Colony. A place not known to the coalition, not known to any of the many enemies the nation has. Whilst most preparations where already made on Thira there were still things to be arranged, a short briefing with station security and the commanding officer reassured him that there was nothing to be worried about.
'There is an apartment ready for our amigo senor, under continuous surveillance. It is on deck five, right next to the security office and the Operation rooms, far away from the few prying eyes that this base has.'
Hopes were high that Ben Warner had plenty of usefull information for us. The hope was that Nation would be able to deal a heavy blow to the coalition. Let us hope we can end the useless bloodshed that the Coalition has brought to our people, both on Crete as well as on the immigrants of Gran Canaria. 'This deal better be worth the investment we made' he thought to himself. The Corsairs had lost several highly experienced commandos on the raid deep into Libertonian territory.
As he walked towards the gunship that had been put down in the docking bay he extended his hand to mister Warner. He stood out heavily between the slightly tanned dark-haired Corsairs. 'Well senor Warner, you made it, to most peaceful place in the Nation of Corsairs. They will not be able to find you here, even if they would have contacts within the fleet. 'Let's give you some rest first before we talk about business, si? But first a drink, and a proper one at that.'
Crimson Flame - Tabris - 04-03-2011
As the man walked towards him and greeted him Ben nodded, still clutching the box under his arm as he adjusted his glasses. The former Coalition officer gave a slight nod as a drink was suggested, looking the Cretan directly in the eyes he lets out a small sigh.
"Don't underestimate the tenacity of the Commissariat, they have ways of digging up that which doesn't want to be found." he gently warned, having been formerly in charge of the Commissariat he knew their capabilities quite well...To underestimate them would be a grave mistake.
"A drink sounds good about now, while Manhattan is a nice place to hide, it's rather lacking in proper liquor.' he commented, pushing the glasses back to the bridge of his nose as they had a tendency to slide off over time.
Crimson Flame - Valeria_Benitez - 04-03-2011
Having just landed her Decurion craft on Thira colony Valeria exited it and walked over. Although her demeanor was confident, her eyes showed the curiosity she felt in regards to the entire situation. As she approached the scene, she remained quiet, listening and unobtrusively studying the foreign man. As a corsair, she did not get the chance to interact with foreign people very much other than pointing her guns at them and telling them to get lost or hand over a few hundred credits.
"And you are right.. this.. this Kommissariat.. " (Valeria tried hard to not mispronounce the foreign name) "... is likely going to look for you el pronto and very hard. It is never wrong to not underestimate your opponents..."
Then Valeria continued to listen as the conversation progressed and when the subject shifted to relaxation and the bar, she spoke again.
"But si, do not worry, the corsair empire is known for its pilots and you are now under our protection. And we fight for us and those we protect, we always have." Valeria had a strong hispanic accent, but her voice was confident and gentle. She did not know the man, nor his story or background, or even his motivations. However, knowing he was now under corsair protection was enough for her and she accompanied those who headed towards Thira's bar.
On their way, Valeria continued to think about the foreign man. She could see it in his eyes, he had seen very much... perhaps too much. Of war, of humanity, of greed, betrayal,... and who knows what else. Although the man had not truly spoken about his situation or story yet, Valeria couldn't help but feel she at least vaguely could imagine how someone in a sutuation such as his must be feeling. He had just fled his own people and confided to the protection of those he used to fight against. His world must currently seem without angle, turned and twisted upside down. For a moment, Valeria wondered what this man held to in order to not loose orientation but as they approached the bar she dismissed these thoughts. Some things were not for her to know.
Once they were there, Valeria finally turned to the man and addressed him.
"By the way,... it is not often that a corsair can speak to one foreign to the empire on terms such as we do. As such I do hope my curiosity does not offend you, I do not mean disrespect and neither do I mean to pry. But you look like you have seen a lot and have despite all that you went through in the recent time, come to a very deep understanding about humanity. Your eyes.. speak of it."
Valeria offered a rueful smile.
"And it is this understanding that I would love to hear about. However, I do understand of course if you would rather not speak of anything that transpired, and like I said I do not mean to pry."
Knowing full well what the man must have gone through Valeria was cautious and gentle. She was genuinely curious about what insights and understanding that man had come to about humanity. And it was this honesty with that she met the man with. The same kind that her flying was based on and that she met friend and foe alike with. Friends with words of kindness and foes with the flickering energy of her weapons.
Crimson Flame - Tabris - 04-03-2011
The transit to the Bar was for the most part calming for Ben, having being used to darting from cover to cover in order to safeguard his life on the run and during his days as a common soldier of the Coalition.
As the lady spoke he nodded his head in agreement at her own comment at the Commissariat, seemingly not noticing the mangling of the pronounciation of the organization.
"For now the Coalition's resources are too tied up with the Civil War, they currently are likely using the resources of the Commissariat to search for the Rebel Base instead of a single man." He commented as he switched the box over to his other arm, tucking it under as he walked into the Bar with them, several Corsair pilots were already there, having finished their patrols and trying to unwind, Ben suddenly felt isolated...Alone as they spared him a brief glance before turning back towards their drinks. Shaking off the feelings he took off his glasses and cleaned them, a habit he had formed out of nervousness.
"Your pilots are skilled yes, I know this from first-hand experience, however one cannot dismiss those who absolutely believe in a cause and are willing to do in order to ensure that they succeed, if there is something the Coalition is skilled at it's indoctrination." he spoke in a calm even manner, he knew from experience that Coalition pilots were tenacious, they didn't give up very easily due to the belief that the cause they were fighting for was just...Hopefully they wouldn't make too much of an effort to search for him but he somehow doubted it.
As she commented upon his apparent experience with humanity displayed with his eyes he raised an eyebrow. Ben had experienced all that Humanity had to offer, the good, the bad...And the worst...Betrayal, Friendship, Sorrow, Acomplishment.
Speaking softly so the other pilots could not hear he nods all so slightly. "The journey here was quite...Harsh, it's not every day one's own crew attempts to murder their Commanding Officer." he commented, a frown on his face as he remembered the events onboard the Lithuania.
"I was lucky to escape with my life and the information in my possession, this has unfortunately shown me that one cannot count upon their own comrades, Humans will lie, cheat and steal to further their goals, for good or evil." He says while putting his glasses back on his face. "My cause was rightous, however the forces involved with making it come to life not so much, we as humans conceal monsters even worse than the Nomads within our very souls...We will betray one another for Credits, Land, Food and even other people." he explains, trying to figure out the best way to tell his story.
"Waking up to find your crew, who have been with you since you took command, lead into battle and pulled off victories is ordered to kill you 'for the good of the Revolution' tends to show you the coldest and darkest side that Humanity has within itself."
Crimson Flame - Valeria_Benitez - 04-03-2011
She nodded slowly as the man spoke quietly about what he learned about humans and for a moment, Valeria found herself feeling a rather great dismay as she realised that he was right. Even they, the corsairs, were not much better. They pirated, stole and took what they needed to survive. Sure, sirius did not care when they were stranded on crete way back but did that justify their actions?
Valeria shook her head slowly to herself as she thought about it. She began to feel bad about herself as she stood before a former enemy of the empire, despised and hunted while he still flew under coalition colors. And now she stood before that man and realised that he was likely a better person than most people in the corsair empire.
She did refocus however and continued to listen with genuine interest in what he had to say. As he finished, she eventually spoke.
"Gracias, senor, you are the living proof of what I once said to another corsair when speaking about the hessian war. In the past I was curious about the history of the empire and in the process came upon information about how this bloody, century long war began. And what is nowadays a mortal feud composed of irrational hate, had begun as a simple territorial dispute." Valeria paused briefly. "And what has it developed into. Perhaps, that too, is a statement about humanity and one that unfortunately does not proove your statements wrong at all.
I realised that the war would likely never end but I also realised that this was not something that could be called dispute or even war any longer. It was slaughter, senseless cruelty with absolutely no humanity. Neither side was better than the other. Instead of returning collected pilots in exchange both sides tortured and worked them to death .. and what for? Out of mere spite."
She paused again briefly.
"I wished there was someone else who realised what was happening... and seeing you here, hearing you say what you said, alone was worth taking the risk in helping you to safety here. Gracias, senor for sharing your thoughts with me, I am glad that such people still exist."
Valeria finished. She was speaking a little more slowly due to her strong accent.
Crimson Flame - Slavik - 04-03-2011
He pored a second round of drinks for Ben, Valeria and himself. He couldn't resist the urge of thinking about the enormous numbers of his people that where victimised in the wars on all sides. " The best rum we have here on Thira, El commandante Rum. The amount of drinks on offer here is not enormous. The owner of the bar is not used to foreign visitors. I have a bar myself back on Crete, if there is any drink that would make you feel more at home feel free to inform me senor, It will be on the next shuttle in."
"For your safety we will keep you here for atleast the upcoming months. All inhabitants of Thira where screened and hand picked when this base was Commisioned. The shuttle pilots that make all the regular runs to this are all trusted Hermanos. Whilst you must not underestimate your enemies you should be realistic about the abilities of your own side. If they ever DID find you, which I find highly unlikely they would first need to get through all the security measures. There is an entire fleet on the guard in this system because of various reasons. We could deploy these against any threat that enters this system."
Ronaldo exhailed a slight tired sigh. "Come lets finish our drinks Valeria, lets get our Amigo here settled in. He must be tired and so are we."
Crimson Flame - Tabris - 04-03-2011
As Ben accepted the liquor he nods, mildly reassured at Renaldo's claims of the security of the base. While he'd rather be planetside deep underground in a bunker reinforced by Capital-Ship Grade plating this Planetoid would do for security.
After he took a sip from his drink he spoke once more in his soft voice.
"Questions do not bother me, curiosity can be humanity's greatest ally or it's worst enemy, the important thing one can do to separate the good from the bad is their actions using the information." he spoke, imparting his hard-earned wisdom from his time during the Commissariat.
"The Coalition as an ideal is a force of good, it's the people that eventually turn what was once a revolutionary force of the people into a force of terror and injustice." he commented to Valeria before looking to Ronaldo.
"I don't need rest at this time, however it'd be a good idea for me to know the room I'll be calling home before we get down to business, as for the personnel-" he pauses before nodding.
"If you can trust my life in their hands than I shall endeavor to do the same, however my nature you understand forces me to view everyone with some measure of...Suspicion." he tells the Benitez man, taking another sip of his drink before setting it on the counter, apparently finished.
Crimson Flame - Valeria_Benitez - 04-04-2011
"Completely understandable, senor." Valeria spoke and stood up looking to Ronaldo to lead to the quarters.
Crimson Flame - AeternusDoleo - 04-04-2011
"Thira in sight, senor Devante." one of the crewmen aboard the Toro called. "Won't be long now. But I thought the place was on lockdown?"
"We won't be going aboard further then the airlock, Rico." Devante replied. "We're just here to drop off these goods."
Devante sighed. It had been a while since the "package" was transferred. Some kind of dignitary. He scoffed. Foreign dignitaries? Out of Liberty? What in the nine hells were the Elders thinking now? Still, it wasn't his place to question them, and he knew better then to try. He'd flown with the escort out of Hudson - aside from a few in-transit breakdowns, it had been uneventful. He had opted to leave the escort past the Theta/Gamma jumphole. A convoy that large - if someone was chasing, it would be better to know about it. But noone came.
"Initiating mooring with the cargo dock, senor." Rico called. Devante merely nodded, half heartedly. He was curious. Curious about what it was that drew half the family into space. What person or people needed all that protection.
"Arrange for the excavation drills and other goods to be put into storage Rico. I'm going aboard the station for a while. Alone."
"But senor. The lockdown?"
"That's why I'll go alone."
With that, Devante left the bridge of the transport, and went aboard Thira, intending to reach the bar, in search for some answers.