Path of Glory - The story of Gustavo Lamata / Camino

[Mímir]

"Wake up, baka. Wake! UP!"

Gustavo slowly opened his eyes, his vision still clouded. He was lounged over the bar desk in a pile of empty sake cups. God knows how long he'd been passed out. He couldn't remember much from the night before. When he finally ended his drought and won on the roulette, things had picked up fast. Drinks everywhere. New friends. All gone now. 'The Golden Dragon Casino' was heaven for a winner but hell for a loser.

When his vision started to clear, Gustavo could make out a short Kusari male in front of him, wearing a white suit and looking very upset. He must have been shouting at me for a long time, Gustavo thought to himself, and was about to put on a smile when he saw several silhouettes looming behind the man in the white suit. Gustavo quickly sat up, straightened his clothes and blinked hard several times in an attempt to sober up fast. The Hogosha were not to be trifled with, not even by a Cretan warrior. As Gustavo tried to find an appropriate facial expression, the little man started talking again:

"You have been here as our guest for three months now. You eat our rice, drink our sake. We have given you a room here at the Golden Dragon, and what do we get in return? NOTHING! We expected you to assist us, you promised you would be a valuable addition to station security, but when is the last time you undocked that Titan of yours, hmm?! NEVER! You eat, drink and gamble all night long, and you sleep all day. You don't bathe. You STINK! We had enough of you, you are OUT! Get in your ship and leave!"

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Things are looking bleak, Gustavo grumbled to himself as he headed towards the Shikoku lanes. He was back in the pilot seat of his one prized possession, his Titan. The ship had been with him through thick and thin, from marauding with the infamous Black Sails at the end of their days to the brief and violent resurgence of the Omega Pirates Guild. As usual he had been passed out in a drunken stupor and missed most of the events, but for a short time he had thrown his Titan into battle alongside some of the greatest Corsairs raiders Sirius have ever known, and lived to tell the tale.

He had named his ship 'Camino' when he first got it so long ago. In his youth he had seen a path laid out for him, a course to follow, but he had since become lost. Ronin, the Hogosha called him - a warrior without a master. For a brief moment he thought about going home to Crete, but then reminded himself how the Elders were busy playing empire. Cretans had grown soft, they had changed. There was no longer room for an old-fashioned raider like Gustavo, they said, and maybe they were right.

He quickly pondered over his options before suddenly remembering that sweet Rheinland blonde he had met in the bar at the Golden Dragon Casino four nights ago. She had just been on a cruise at the Luxury Liner Hawaii and she was telling him how the guests there would have just loved to have an exotic Cretan brute like him working on the security detail. Rich, single women from distant Houses alone on a luxurious cruise ship, food, drinks..., he thought, and his face lit up in a big grin as he plotted a course to the Sigmas.

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