Time for revenge - the life story of David West

[Lumik]

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Now if you guys want to know more about me and what brought me here...

*click of a lighter is heard, then the sound of a cigarette smoke inhaling*

...I can tell you something more. I hope you don´t mind it this way, but typing long stories is not really my thing. So, I was born on the Pittsburg on 8th July 775 A.S. and grew up there. My father was a boron miner, mother worked in the ore storage terminal. I guess you know what it is like there, nothing fancy, there is a reason why the planet is nicknamed The Pit. After I finished my technically oriented high school - with quite good grades, by the way - the family did not have money to send me to the college, so I started to work at the local spaceport in the spaceship service and repair depot.

*sound of a bottle clinking against the glass and liquid pouring is heard, also little drunkenness can be noticed in the voice*

During those years I first happened to hear about Xenos here and there, mostly during late-night conversations with friends over eight beer in the pub. You cannot live on Pittsburg and not come into contact with who you are and what you fight for. But I will be honest, I did not care much at that time, I considered it as a rambling of losers which failed to achieve anything. I thought I am more, that I can change my life with my hands. Now I know I owe you apology. But I was young, naive...basically stupid. Who wasn´t at that age...

So, the wage was not really great and as I mentioned, I thought I can do better. And I did, in March 797 I got myself a job at the Baltimore Shipyard. Money really was better there, but also more work. A lot of screwing, hammering and welding both in hangars and space, later I also learned a few things about installation and maintenance of engines, so I worked on them as well. Nasty injuries happened at the workplace from time to time because the schedule was tight and jobs needed to be done quickly, but I did not complain, it was fine for me at that time. I had some girlfriends, then met an office worker named Kate which I turned into my wife after a year in April 801. But later I met another better girl named Sarah, so got divorced and two years later in November 805 married this one. Then son and daughter made us complete family. You know, the usual stuff.

By the way, while working on Baltimore, your supporters were around me again. And this time I actually got involved too, despite only indirectly. I mean, sometimes I was looking for some parts and they were not in the storage, despite they were listed in the inventory. I asked about it because I did not want to get into problems and I was told to not care. But I am not a type which can be sent away like that. So after a little talk, guys dropped few hints about this being support for people which fight for the better future of Liberty. And that I can do my part as well, either by pretending to use more parts during my work and then donate what I will not use, or at least keep my mouth shut and look the other way. I will not lie, I did not want to risk the former because I did not want to endanger my job and income for the family, but the latter sounded like a good compromise. Because I started to know and feel things, as they are in Liberty, are not right. But I did not have the courage to actively do something about it, I wanted to be a family man.

*the man stops for a moment and sips his drink*

So, life went on, some years were good, some tough, but it was okay overall. And then f***er named Jorgen f***ed everything. He was immigrant from Rheinland which started to work in the same shift as me in September 812. I am not sure if he was just slow or lazy, but he could not hold the proper pace. One week we worked on a ship and he was behind with his part of the hull again, so I went to help him with it to save our shift´s task bonus. You know how it is, corporations do not ask who caused the problem, they simply punish financially the whole team.

Anyway, the work was done and Jorgen said I should write his whole part as my job to the records because I did most of it. It was true, so I did it, unfortunately. Some weeks later we were called and they told us that the ship suffered decompression due to crack in the hull caused by wrong welding. No one died, but there was quite a bill for the repair of the damaged ship. When they showed us photos I recognized perfectly it was part which Jorgen was welding, but he refused to admit it and kept pointing at the record where my name was. They told me I will have to pay part of the repair costs, quite a big sum of money.

When we left the meeting room, the f***er told me in the hallway that he is sorry but he has a family to feed. Like if I had not... That was the final straw for me and I answered with my fists, giving him what he deserved for his scummy move. He ended in blood on the floor, then security stopped me. It was some beating, true, but nothing really serious, he went home from the hospital after a few days and he didn´t even have any scars or such. But I was fired of course and on top of that charged for assault.

*sips drink again*

Now I don´t have to tell you much about justice in Liberty these days. It was my first and minor offence, yet I got six months in the Huntsville, lower-security section. Though I spend most of it in working camp on Houston. The jail and the work camp would not be that much of a problem. I am not the type of person which other inmates around me wanted to mess with or play some dropped soap games in the shower. But losing my job combined with the obligation to pay that ship repair bill hit the family hard. Also, after I served my sentence and left the prison in March 813, I had a debt to pay and on top of that I had a criminal record, thus it was almost impossible to find a good job.

Fortunately, my good friend Jim from childhood on Pittsburgh helped me. His family was running a small business on Manhattan, ale brewery and bourbon distillery. And because people still can appreciate good ale and bourbon, they had orders from all around the Liberty and sometimes even from abroad. For their deliveries, they used some older ships and skilled mechanic which knew how to keep them operational for low cost was what they were looking for just at that time. For really small deliveries they used Falcon because of the low fuel consumption, for bigger ones Kestrel freighter or Mammoth transport. Because ships were old, I had to maintain them not only at the spaceport, but I was often part of the crew to repair any broken part during the route. After a few weeks, my friend showed me the basics of flying what allowed us to change roles for every purpose necessary during the flight.

*the man finishes the drink, clinking and pouring is heard*

Things went quite well, except for the less time spent with my wife Sarah because she stayed on Baltimore where she worked. But at least kids were able to stay a few days with me from time to time. Unfortunately, it did not last long. In December 814 we flew with big delivery to New London for Christmas holidays party of the local community of Libertonians who lived there, including even Liberty ambassador. Hence why they wanted some fine drinks. It required all company ships, I was piloting Kestrel. But after we jumped to the New London system, we were ambushed by Mollys, two bombers and a fighter. And after they saw our cargo, they ordered us to jettison it. My friend as a convoy leader tried to reason with them but they did not care, not to mention we barely understood them because what they spoke was way too far from English. We did not have any other choice than to obey. And do you know what those f***ers did next? Destroyed everything! Shouting something about Libertonian filth, inferior products and such. I was so pissed! But I couldn´t do anything.

It was a disaster for the company. They got some money from insurance, but they could not afford any with good conditions like corporations have, so it did not cover what was lost even by far. And mainly, it was almost whole stock they had, so they lost that big New London contract because they were not able to make new delivery in time. They managed to continue, but they did not run out of bad luck yet. Four months later in April 815 company got decent order from planet Erie. Both Mammoth and Kestrel were sent, with me piloting the latter again. But after we jumped to Pennsylvania, we faced almost the same situation. Except for this time, f***ing Junkers were pointing their guns at us. A bomber and transport. And robbers were again after our cargo, this time wanting to steal it and sold it themselves without a doubt. We all knew that losing another big contract together with products stock will probably mean the end of the company. So, after negotiation failed, my friend aboard the Mammoth ordered to run to Philadelphia Station, hoping they will send some help which will respond to the emergency call.

*the man stops for a moment and sips his drink*

I don´t think it will be surprising for you to hear that their patrol arrived too late of course. Mammoth named Beam was completely destroyed and my friend Jim died aboard it. My Kestrel was seriously damaged, cargo section tore apart, but thanks to better agility, I managed to escape. Not that it could be considered as a win, because most of the cargo flew out to space through holes in the hull, or was damaged during the escape.

Jim´s family was devastated by what happened. And from a business point of view, despite they got some money from insurance again, it was -again- far from enough to buy even used ships to replace the lost ones. Thus they decided it is not worth the trouble to keep their own ships and they started to use Universal Shipping services instead. That meant, of course, that mechanic slash pilot was no longer needed, so I lost my job. I do not blame them though, they sincerely apologized to me for firing me, explaining it is their only option how to keep business running. It was all that scum which police can´t handle who caused it. And I would not keep my job for long anyway, after a few months I found out that the company went bankrupt. Another fine true Libertonians which kept tradition lost their livelihood because of foreigners and lowlifes, people who were supposed to be protected by the police and navy which are paid from their taxes.

*sips drink*

Anyway, I had to find a new job and my criminal record made it difficult again. In the end, I returned to where I came from - to boron mines on Pittsburgh, one of the few places where they can´t be picky. Unfortunately, repaying rest of the debt with the wage of a boron miner was not easy. In order to keep the family above the water, I had to dive deep into the work. I worked a lot of extra shifts, so I could not see Sarah and kids much. It went like that for two years and in the end, that f***ing Rheinlander Jorgen caused much more damage than just the time and money I lost.

*sips drink again, voice is slowly starting to sound more drunk*

Shortly after New Year of 817 Sarah told me that her sister won a stay for two on Curacao in some NeuralNet quiz contest or something like that. Because she was single at that time, she decided to take Sarah with her. I did not object, wife deserved to have some rest and enjoy the opportunity, considering the hard times we had. But inside I had a bad feeling about it. Neglected wife spending two weeks in holiday resort full of guys loaded with money, that´s asking for a trouble big time. And yeah, what I was worried about happened.

*the man finishes the drink, clinking and pouring is heard*

As I said, I was busy with work, so I did not notice anything until a few months later she told me in during a call that she can´t continue the life like that and she wants to divorce. I simply knew from the first second there was another man involved, so I asked just at the start. She kept denying it and the call ended in a big argument, me refusing to agree to the divorce of course. I hate when someone lies straight to my face, especially my own wife. Another call went the same way, then she stopped answering. And following that she sent me divorce papers over NeuralNet. After eleven years of marriage, this is how it was supposed to end. Over f***ing NeuralNet!

*big sip follows*

So I took three days off in the work and jumped on the shuttle to Baltimore. When I arrived at the apartment, I found out that I can´t open it with my keys because the lock was changed! I got angry and started pounding on the door and Sarah yelled at me to go away through them. I got really angry at that moment, started kicking the door and suddenly they opened and I was looking to the face of a middle-aged f***ing Kusarian with a taser in his hand! He started yelling at me to go home, that Sarah no longer wants to be with me and some other bulls**t. Then he added something like that I do not deserve her, she can do better than some dirty miner and she and the kids will have a better life with him. And that I should return back to the boron pit I crawled from.

*the man finishes the drink, clinking and pouring is heard*

I got so angry like never in my life. I actually remember it as a film, I was not in control. He missed his attempt to knock me down with the taser and never got a second chance. After a few punches, he staggered back into the room so I went in and continued to teach him a lesson to not touch someone else´s wife. After another series of punches to his head, he fell down and hit a coffee table with his head, shattering the glass. It took me some another few punches in his head before I realized he lost consciousness and also there is blood everywhere. I didn´t really care though, he asked for it. Right?!

Anyway, I moved into the apartment, but Sarah was locked in the bathroom with the ten years old David and eight years old Diana. Because I let out the anger on the Kusarian, I was calmer now and tried to talk to her again. All I got was "go away" and "leave us alone" though. Before I could figure out what to do next, security arrived and I was arrested.

*the man stops for a moment and sips his drink*

Long story short, the Kusarian f***er was some Interspace Commerce middle-management manager which worked on Newark because some management rotation corporate bulls**t or something brought him to Liberty. He went on holiday to Curacao, paying it with money his company took from people like my friend´s Jim family, where he made an impression on my wife. In the end, I did not blame her so much, we had tough times. It was him who seduced her, waved with his credits earned by robbing people like me and lured her away. Anyway, he suffered serious head trauma because he hit the sharp edge of the coffee table with the wrong part of the head, and also was severely cut on the neck, thus lost a lot of blood. After a few days in critical condition, he died. But I really won´t miss him or feel sorry for him.

*big sip follows*

I was charged and then sentenced for manslaughter. My lawyer did a good job in my opinion, at least by the standard of lawyers you get for free, pointing out I did not intend to kill that f***er, that he died due to injuries caused by an accident and that I was distressed by the whole situation when my life was breaking apart, I found out my wife is cheating on me and was treating me like a dirt. Thus I did not control myself, it happened in the heat of passion. However, it was also my second violent crime, so in August 817 I received a ticket to Huntsville for ten years anyway. And this time in the maximum security section. Also, I am not allowed to get anywhere close to my now ex-wife or children to the rest of my life.

*the man finishes the drink, clinking and pouring is heard yet again*

Now because my ex-wife testified at the court that she heard me yelling stuff about filthy foreigners which should be eradicated from Liberty to stop stealing our women and that I will butcher all Kusarians and Rheinlanders like pigs for ruining my life, and also because I was previously sentenced for assault on immigrant, I was marked as a Xeno supporter and ended in the section designated for them.

*another big sip*

After all those years days, I learned very well who you people really are. Terrorists? Terrorists my ass! I heard so many life stories similar to mine. People who ended desperate because some foreign f***ers robbed them of their jobs and sometimes even the lives of their family members or friends, directly or indirectly. And when they tried to get justice, they slipped and were locked up, just like me. And forced to make money for corrupted police and government which instead of protecting their own people sell Liberty like a cheap whore, because all they care about are their own pockets.

*the man finishes his drink eagerly*

I had to fall to the bottom to find out the truth, to find out who are real terrorists in Liberty and who actually really want to protect it. Who did not bend over for cash and stayed true. We were behind the bars, but we were all like brothers, sharing the same fate, helping each other to survive...

*a lot of clinking is heard, voice sounds quite drunk*

Eh, that was a lot of talking... It happens sometimes... When I have a few drinks... Huh... But we´re at the end... Don´t worry...

*sound of a bottle falling on the floor is heard*

Damn... Anyway, listen! I was released from The Wall two days ago. And I can tell you this: I came out of prison to at least one last time get laid, get drunk and get revenge. The girl left four hours ago and I finished my bottle of bourbon. Time to complete the plan, right brothers?!

END OF THE RECORDING

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