The new line of Outcast capital ships began with the Outcast destroyer. From humble beginnings, the MNS Giustizia was the prototype that paved the way for future generations of Destroyers. It was state-of-the-art at the time, and led the newly commissioned fleet to many victories. The ship took damage more than the normal Destroyer, but it pressed on.
678 A.S.
After the first 31 years of active service, the MNS Giustizia was recalled to an unknown base to get general refits and upgrades in order to keep it on par with the newer Destroyers.
701 A.S.
The old CO, Jorge Gomez, dies when a power-relay on the command deck overloads. A new CO, Diego Fernandez is chosen to replace him. While showing aptitude for command, he is noted to be terminally insane.
702 A.S.
Diego Fernandez leads the ship to Omicron Theta, where he plans a preemptive strike against a perceived Corsair invasion. Intelligence was false, which led to the Giustizia being chased back to Omicron Alpha, pursued by a fleet of Corsair ships. They were rebuffed by Outcast forces, but the Giustizia took heavy damage, and Diego Fernandez was relieved of command.
An eye-witness describes the Giustizia after the battle:
"There were holes in the hull, and bulkheads strewed across the corridors. Half the decks were incapable of supporting life, and three-quarters of the lighting fixtures were smashed. Debris flooded the halls, and it took six days to finish digging out the dead."
A month later, Bartolo DeJesus is given command, and the Giustizia spends the next six months in dry dock, receiving repairs and upgrades to the latest model of the Destroyer line.
705 A.S.
Bartolo turns out to be a worse commander than Diego, and the Giustizia is captured in Omicron Theta by Corsair forces.
706 A.S.
The Corsairs parade the Giustizia around Omicron Eta, using it to lead a fleet that they use to harass Outcast interests in the area. The Outcasts retaliate, and are forced to cripple the Giustizia in order to board and recapture it. The Corsair fleet is turned around in the first battle of Palermo, which is where the Palermo Station derives its name.
707 A.S.
The Giustizia is sent to drydock once again, for upgrades. It spends the better part of the next year here, while the Dons debate who the next commander is to be, after the debacle of the last two.
709 A.S.
Domingo Ortiz is given command, and turns out to be a competent commanding officer. He leads the ship to many victories over superior Corsair forces, and earns himself the Medal of Valor.
714 A.S.
The Giustizia leads an offensive against Gamma, it's aim to cripple Tripoli and the Corsair's shipyarding capabilities. The fleet is rebutted as soon as they enter the system, though, and the Giustizia is forced to retreat back to Theta. Several ships are lost, and the Corsairs manage to cripple one of the Giustizia's engines. It limps back to the Eta jump hole, where the final assault decompresses all the decks but one. Only one Outcast survives, who managed to don an environment suit, get to the command center, and set the auto pilot for Malta. However, the ship ran out of fuel, and the sole survivor quickly perished of lack of oxygen. The Giustizia is considered lost, and all attempts to recover her were abandoned for several years.
815 A.S.
A hundred years later, an odd Outcast patrol stumbled upon the floating hulk of the Giustizia. They call in, and it is towed back to Corsica, where the leaks are plugged, and it received a basic upgrade to the standard modern-day Destroyer.
Giovanni Cordova walked down the long and wide corridors of Corsica, head abuzz. He had been pestering Mia that they needed a new destroyer for some time now, and he had just been called up to her office. Giovanni was an extraordinary Sabre pilot, but he was also concerned about the growing number of gunboats attacking Malta, and the lack of sufficient firepower at any given time to take one down. Of course, due to the 101st's policy on capital ships, namely, "We don't like 'em that much", he hadn't expected much to come of his pestering...
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Esperanza Larez just happened to be walking down the long and wide corridors of Corsica, going to Mia's office from a different direction. She, too, had been called up by Mia, and she too had been pestering Mia for a destroyer. The 202nd's policy was much the same, except for the flagship, the Legacy. Esperanza's reasoning behind wanting a new destroyer was that the Corsairs were pulling out so many huge ships that they needed to retaliate in kind, especially with most new recruits preferring to fly the Sabre instead of the Falcatta.
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Giovanni reached the door to Mia's office at the same time as Esperanza. He motioned for her to go through, and followed, gently shutting the door behind him. Mia sat behind the desk, and pleasantly asked them both to come in and have a seat, gesturing at two chairs with red cushions in front of her desk. Mia began without preamble.
"Now, I know you both have been asking for a new destroyer..." Giovanni and Esperanza looked at each other. In their minds, it had just become a contest.
"...and funds for the 66th have been rather tight..." And there was no way of two being bought.
"...so we decided that, to shut you both up, we're going to put you both in command of the recently re-discovered Giustizia."
They both looked at each other for a moment, looked at Mia, then looked back at each other, dumbstruck looks on their faces. They both said two words in unison.
So there Giovanni and Esperanza were, finding themselves in command of the most ancient, and least-combat worthy, Destroyer in the fleet. They stood together, side-by-side, by the airlock, looking in. The darkness coming from the interior was ominous and quite disconcerting. They found resolve, and went in.
Giovanni fumbled for a light switch, and row after row of lights flickered to life, though a few here and there were out. There was small debris littering the corridor, and a few carbon-scoring marks on the walls. It had the musty, moldy feel of a freshly-opened tomb, and it probably had been a tomb to quite a few Outcast in it's time.
Giovanni and Esperanza walked down the corridors, distaste evident on their faces. They picked their way to the command center, twirled a hatch, and stepped over the threshold. It was a dimly lit room, with consoles along the walls and two chairs in the middle; normally the CO and XO's, but in this chapter of the ship's history it would be two COs. Through a door to the back left of the command center was an office, with a refurbished table and a few chairs, a computer, but not much else.
"OK, we should pick our crew out," Giovanni started, going to the computer and logging into his account on the 66th Computer Network. "Mia gave us a crap ship, but we get a free pick of who we want like any other ship."
Esperanza tried to push him out of the way to take over the computer, but soon gave up and stood behind him with her arms crossed.
A long manifest of names came up, possible candidates.
"Well, I guess we should narrow it down to people that have experience in engineering... to fix this bucket of bolts up," Esperanza said, leaning over and entering it into the requirements field.
The list shortened a bit, and they quickly picked out their crew, and began working to fix up the ship.
Having their crew of 18 selected, they began the long and arduous work of restoring the destroyer to its former glory. They stayed docked to Corsica for two weeks, the crew constantly refurbishing (and under Esperanza's orders, cleaning) the ship. Soon, it was like it was brand new, and ready for action.
Mia had given them this command to get them out of her hair, to stop them whining. She figured that it would be a ceremonial ship from now on, seeing as it was the least combat-worthy ship in the fleet. If space had oxygen, the ship would be rusting. Bad. Well, Giovanni and Esperanza had one thing in common as far as goals went: they want to prove Mia wrong.
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It's the day of the maiden voyage under their command. They both sit in their comfy chairs, Giovanni to the right ,Esperanza to the left. Down below is a long console that controls the navigation and general helms; above was tactical, and there were all sorts of consoles on the side. The ship slides out of Corsica's huge dock, and enter cruise with the Omicron Alpha jump hole as target. Doing some fancy legwork to avoid crashing into any of the multitudinous asteroid fragments, they finally manage to jump to Omicron Alpha, where our story begins...
The huge behemoth of a ship slided through the green swirling mass that is the Siniestre cloud in Omicron Alpha. The lights were dim, and of the 18-man crew, only four were awake, Giovanni included. He sat in the command chair, watching the view screen and snoozing. It was another uneventful night shift on the Giustizia's bridge.
Eventually, Giovanni and Esperanza were able to work out that two people commanding at the same time was a bit dangerous. This decision was reached after several training simulators, where they started a shouting match over whose orders were better while the ship fell down over their ears. So, they came up a system where only one was in command at any given time, alternating shifts.
They were currently drifting near the Omicron Beta Jump Hole, on some random patrol assignment. A few minutes passed, and the proximity alarm sounded. Giovanni bolted upright, to see a Sabre cutting through the green fog like a sword would cut silk.
"Sir, it's sending a docking request," the only other officer on duty at the time said. He was sitting down at the helm, and was a short man, Guillermo Torres by name.
"What does it's IFF say?" Giovanni asked. The Outcast Destroyer's newer model can dock up to two fighters at any given time. It is used by Liberty Rogues in New York, and Mollies in New London. Giovanni kept his Sabre on Malta, and Esperanza kept her Falcatta there, too. Most of the crew had their own personal ships, but they kept the docking bay's limited capacity clear for emergencies.
"It's... Blue Lotus Syndicate.... call sign Zapp, sir."
Giovanni smiled. A better Sabre pilot he had never met, he admired the man. A bit.. out there, besides rumors of hacking the Fantasia all he knew was that he was madly in love with Esperanza.
"Tell him he can dock on Bay 1. I'll meet him there." The night shift just got a whole lot more fun.
Giovanni met Zacarias at the airlock, two bleary-eyed marines holding attention to either side of the hatch. Zacarias stepped from the cramped landing pad into the corridor that led away from it, and shook Giovanni's hand.
"Surprise to see you here, Gio. I hear Esperanza was in command," he said by way of greeting.
"Yeah, she is. But I am, too."
Zacarias looked at him like he was some sort of crazy, then asked slowly, "How is that possible?"
Giovanni sighed. "We both got on Mia's bad side, asking for another destroyer to be commissioned, and so she finally did. But gave it to both of us. It has not been a fun ride..."
Zacarias grimaced. He had never met Mia personally, but to put up with being married to Willow, she had to be as tough as nails. Not someone that it was smart to anger.
"Right. Well. I need to talk to Esperanza for a bit, something I didn't want to trust to a transmission, no matter how secure."
"OK, she's in her quarters. Right this way." Giovanni led Zac down several corridors before coming up to a door like all the rest: narrow and tall. Zacarias thanked Giovanni, then pressed the button that set off a chime inside the room. Esperanza answered it in her pajamas, and was surprised to see Zacarias. Giovanni had made a hasty exit as soon as Zac hit the button.
"Hey you, mind if I come in?"
She let him in, and he gave her a pad. "This is a precaution. If ever a black briefcase comes into your possession... well, let's just say you'll know it when you see it. This is the code to open it. I don't have much time, I have to go. It's... nice seeing you." He kissed her. Moved to go then kissed her again. And again. Then he left, heading back to the docking bay, his Sabre, and space.
I spent the better part of the last week sorting out the IFF of that new Scimitar I got, spending that time on the Hacker base Mactan. Annoying little fellows, and I feel a new law should be passed: Never give power-hungry nerds space superiority fighters. Regardless, on my quest for Outcast Guard status, I met someone. Emika Valaria, in a Virage VHF. Must curious young woman, and despite flashing a Bounty Hunter IFF, I allowed her to explain it. Apparently it was there because of an over appreciative bounty hunter on Rostock. I could understand, so we talked for awhile. She seems quite nice.
New Entry: Date: omitted
I met her again, this time with my Guard status. I was about to go home to Malta. This time her Bounty Hunter IFF was gone, and we talked some. Apparently shes a mechanic, quite interesting: my Sabres been having some troubles, I figured Id invite her along for the trip. She seems nice enough.
New Entry: Date: omitted
We reached Malta, and I dont know what came over me. I invited her on a tour of the Giustizia, something that even civilian Outcasts cant do. On the tour, I showed her the engine room, the view from the best spot on the ship (the bottom turret), the hibernation bay, the internal workings of the forward missile launchers, and the cardamine filtration system. By her leave I activated them, and something started happening. Suffice to say shes addicted, but I dare not say what other secrets my head holds, not even in logs. I think that if I never tell anyone else, the knowledge will die with me and her.
Giovanni sat back in his command chair, the one that had been intended for only one CO. With Esperanza dead, the ship was... different. Quieter, definitely, but that may just be the ship itself mourning the loss of one of it's masters. It may also be the crew mourning. It sure as hell was Giovanni mourning. Even though they had fought, and had their differences, he had come to admire and respect her. She had been strong-willed, stubborn to a fault, and without her commanding the ship wasn't the same. They had balanced each other, given the ship the best of both worlds: brash and daring, honorable, determined, yet willing to listen to reason.
The Giustizia would miss one of her commanding officers. The crew sure as hell did, and for a full month after her death nobody dared speak over a whisper.