Aggelos looked at this obviously curious pilot, and waked his attention to the last bit he had remaining from his inebriation and marveled at the quality of forwardness, obviously left for dead and rejected by all services he stepped onto his stool with what ounce of strength he granted himself be used,
"I am Aggelos, and i am aware my life will end in the war or by the hand of the coalition... voluntarily mind you, see the guards? I'm awaiting what the hierarchy wishes to do with me." he said like he did not care, almost like it was more of an inconvenience.
he tucked the whiskey back into his jacket and looked into a glass of char he poured himself, and pulled out a little notepad and a shoulder patch that seemed to be very old and handed it to Yue Fei.
"i was the first, that is the coalition insignia passed on to me by my ancestors from earth, i just wish to rejoin the fight i had started, even with the changes i see i am the founder and i am the only one who accepts it, if i am imprisoned or ejected out the neared airlock, i don't care, empathy is no attribute the SCRA i deal with hold in value. at least I'll know i tried and was called a fool for doing so."
he opened the notepad as if a reminiscence, then surprisingly laughed excitedly! steadying himself, he finally peered his last thought over a blank page, and said,
"here i was about to recruit a merchant smuggler until i was dry-docked in omega-49, i had just finished the book 'thus spake Zarathustra' in an archive i purchased from him. I know he betrayed me because i found my spyglass dismantled and my crew missing or dead. the irony of this is, i am like Zarathustra in that I've not the words to speak to this crowd, the only way i made my notions to comrades and kin was through my blade, my gun, and my ship... now i am a wanderer... but you don't want to here the rambling of an SCRA 'suspected spy' do you?" he laughed again, putting it down as if now speaking to the wind, or lack there of.
sitting up, he pulled out another glass and unquestioningly poured some whiskey into both, putting one in the air as if to offer.
"it seems your bar will not let me eat or drink, so will you grant an old rambler a drink to the revolution? before i cannot drink it?"
Those of freedom walk with guns in broad daylight, and as the weak are killed freedom becomes nothing but a dream.
The lieutenant commander sat down, not too aware of the relative sudden silence in the bar. However, seeing her relaxed mood, most other soldiers went back to their discussions or drinks (and or other activities, whatever they might be).
"It might be helpful if you talked with more precision instead of jumping from one subject to another."
"And might as well help my view on you if you stopped talking about your imminent death. Those speaking of such only wish for it to happen to become a martyr of some sort. It happen, I really despise such creatures."
She took the glass of whiskey and sipped a little of it, ever moderately, and put it down.
"Now, how about making some sense. Founder? Founder of what? Certainly not the Coalition, not of origin. Nor the Coalition, the contemporary one we know today. No human being lived that long, nor can we preserve a body that long either. Fairy tales are fun, but you might want to switch to something more realistic to my ears."
"true, and well spoken, i am a descendant of a saboteur that came on the Hispania, i put together the SWRA years before, as i was asked by my father and the father before him... i was the founder of the first revolutionary act against Siruis called the 'shod wraith,' but most of us died when we were found out by the zoners, they called in liberty and the outcasts... i was abandoned in the mountains of the planet in omega 49, a zoner world now."
he looked outwardly, evaluating the guise of a near by guard.
"i formed the SCRA with Aeon, Drathen, and Mcintosh... i made everything work at first, but i was betrayed and now, i am dead to the SCRA. i need to be redeemed, and interrogated if needed."
he looked at Yue Fei with a slight smile,
"i do not wish to die, i am a happy man most days! but my honor has been stripped from me, and there is much to be gained back, i say give me orders not position, i don't need a badge for that. is that not a revolutionary act??"
Those of freedom walk with guns in broad daylight, and as the weak are killed freedom becomes nothing but a dream.
Yue merely shrugged, sipping again from her glass.
"Really? It is of my knowledge, once man has grasped power, he never will release from it again. Especially, a man trying to come back at a people who betrayed him, without any need fo revenge, sounds far stretched."
"I won't believe that easily, mind you what. But I don't think I can recall back to the days of Aeon."
She played a bit with the half empty glass, admiring lazily the alcohol sparkling by the dim lights of the bar, smiling softly.
"You are a happy man most of your days, why coming back to seek trouble here among the bloodthirsty? Humanity is so much better without any bloodshed."
"which is why i tried for so many to join my cause, if this could be done peacefully then it must be a choice, it is not so, so there is revolution... i was the voice of that revolt. even if you don't believe this 'fool sounded' truth it is history. the fact that power overcomes power, that is my wordly honor, i am here for my honor alone. and my vengeance was already taken for me, time did its take on Aeon and this 'merchant.' but here i would never leave that mark on those with the coalition, you see i am a hermit as i have always been and will be. but the fight still boils in me, my father died because of this."
he looked at the shoulder insignia and put it in his pocket and strained to pop a pill in his mouth, it was a pain pill by the looks of the pharmaceutical sign on top, but obviously they must have been illegal.
"i know my fate as well as those who knew me, i picked to be here and to be in custody... i am a heretic to most, but look at me?" he turned side to side as if proof was in his appearance.
"I'm no power or war monger, i fight what is wrong and i see the house wrong, its as simple as that." he sat strait again slamming a shot of whiskey as fast as the pill,
"and its not out of pinion but question. they have lead the systems into a chaos not many survive well. I'm no Utopian but, it is still no place for our children. i will stray and rebound as i am even if it tends to be chaotic, passionate and free, as my ancestor Nietzsche, though he was also crazy..." he looked inspired to higher spirits at the madness he showed in his face as it intensified hardily, like a terrible dream one wakes laughing from.
"this i hold to all you, you will be more then human one day as i aspire.... i may say it as if i am a dreamer, but we must move on.... "
there was a silence as Aggelos poured into the glass again.
"though I'm no role-model." he chucked
"but i suppose your right, I'm a fool risking my happiness, but i leave my point, one must learn to be a fool before he can learn to be wise. *hehehe* i guess I'm none the wiser... i will leave my mark on humanity and have in some cases and it will be well, humanity is so much better growing, doing, doing with out, being, and departing as we did earth."
"thank you for your more patrician approach, its refreshing oddly. but do you see me as an SCRA see's a fellow pilot? everyone is erroring on the side of paranoia instead of airing on the side of caution, you are more cautious and this is somewhat new in this bar, others point the gun at first glance, you asked me."
Those of freedom walk with guns in broad daylight, and as the weak are killed freedom becomes nothing but a dream.
Yue again smiled softly,
"Yes, I guess I am, of those who are less agressive among the ranks of the coalition forces. Few have my... how to say, passive attitude. But, I consider myself no less revolutionary. Just in my own methods. My blade, I use it only when life truly needs to be terminated for the cause. I don't enjoy creating corpses exactly."
"Now, sir, I do not hold any grudge against you - because, to be frank, you did nothing wrong to my eyes, though it is morally... err, wrong, to pop up in the middle of this bar. For one' personal safety, really."
She chuckled slightly, emptying her glass, her face a bit blushing - her tolerance to alcohol, was indeed, very low.
"So, you intend to fly once again for the Revolution? I wonder how will the high command take this. I personally? No problems. We have people with lower moral than the wretched criminals in our rank. You have your ideologies, we had a darned alliance with a cannibal people - this world be a strange world. Unless you aren't telling me all your past, I don't see why they would shoot you down - again, except perhaps because you just landed in the middle of this place... ehehe..."
He smiled as if emmbarassed not looking at Yue, and turned to the crowd behind him,
"*heh,* shoot me down 'again?' well if they do i won't be able to call it a retirement."
he looked at Yue in the face and noticed the alcohols hit on her gut, "you OK?" he asked, clearing the almost unsavory air reminding him of his hunger... "i got a fix for that, but it tastes like boot scraps..."
Those of freedom walk with guns in broad daylight, and as the weak are killed freedom becomes nothing but a dream.
Yue shook her head
"hmr... no, I'll be fine. No more of this for the rest of the night, though" she added, pointing with her eyes at the bottle of alcohol.
"You, however, sounds like quite a sad man right now. Anything I can do for you? Certainly you should eat something by now. A man on an empty stomach tends to do reckless stuffs as far as I've seen."
And, rubbing a bit her head, cursing herself for having drank despite her personal oat of quitting drinking, ordered some food to be bought to her interlocutor.
the guard at the door looked at Aggelos and Yue from the doorway suspiciously as it is his duty, but disregarded it as he noticed Yue was a frequent Service customer. Aggelos put on his happy face and put his hands on the table as if presenting the statement,
"well i never refuse whats offered to me, especially if its needed."
he pulled out a pocket knife of shoddy quality, that of which to his surprise entered the room easily through the sleigh of hand even after a thorough search from the guard. with an almost unadulterated pride he then gloated,
"don't you love prosthetic hiding spots," and pulled out a fork from one of the quick release pockets. and as the food was brought started eating like it had been his first in 2 months! slowing down he then made a thoughtful look.
"the only favor i would ask is to have the opportunity to get revenge on the Order and the liberty navy, none of which have been given, and it is the place of high command to put me on the spot... hell, they say I'm worth an Iron Hearts communal decoration! i feel complimented! but perhaps we will meet in space, i hope when we do it will be on the same side."
Those of freedom walk with guns in broad daylight, and as the weak are killed freedom becomes nothing but a dream.
Never thought I'd set foot in here. Man how things have changed.
Alexi's first look at the new Kalishnikov's was not quite what he expected. Fresh paint adorned the walls, the booths along the outer edges were newly upholstered in Coalition red and yellow, and a giant picture of Grand Admiral McIntosh himself was hung so that whenever you entered the place, it was the first thing you saw. The bar smelled like a combination of new and old. Polished wood floor mingled with the cloying odor of stale beer, a whiff of an old cigar was melded with the scent of new linens.
But as Alexi stood in the doorway, debating whether to go in, he noticed signs of the old Kalishnikov's. The cheap plastering of the blaster-holes in the walls, a tooth under the chair in the corner, and the confident yet apprehensive look of the bartender as he spied the Coalition High Command uniform Alexi wore.
I wish those boys that came before me didn't rattle the barkeep so much. Alexi walked over to the bar and stood next to the bar, leaning on the freshly sanded Jiangxi wood grain. "I'll have a Red and a vodka. The good stuff from Mykolaiv, yeah?".
"Yes sir! Right away", said the bartender, clearly unsure about this new Captain. Is this the way it's going to be in this uniform?, thought Alexi while waiting for his drinks. Looking around, he noticed something else about the new Kalishnikov's...it was very quiet. A couple of Marines were at one table, eyeing him and quietly conversing; a grease-stained mechanic in one booth with an untouched glass and several datapads in front of her; and the bartender, just making his way back with Alexi's drinks.
Before he could set down the beer, Alexi had downed the vodka and set the glass down on the bar. "Thanks comrade," he said to the stunned bartender, and took up his glass as he headed to the jukebox. A new selection of music had been added to the old, and Alexi punched in one of his favorite songs.
Walking to a booth, letting the music wash over him, he noticed the two Marines still watching him. Alexi set the glass down on the booth and turned straight at the Marines.
"Is there something I can help you boys with?"
One of the Marines snickered as the other grinned a bit. "No, nothing at all. Eaten any torpedoes today...Sir?" The two Marines hooted with laughter as Alexi watched, clearly not amused.
First time in here, and...some things just don't change.. Alexi shook his head and turned back to the table. Grabbing his glass, he drank down the beer in one go. As the bartender watched, knowing what was coming, Alexi turned and launched the heavy glass at the head of one of the Marines. The glass shattered against the back of the laughing man's head, and he collapsed before the other Marine had a chance to even move.
"Now, I'm sorry I had to do that", said Alexi to the now standing and visibly raging Marine, "but you and your friend there need to learn some manners." Alexi nodded to the mechanic, who by now had dropped her datapad and was watching the scene with a fearful look. "There's a lady present, and that's not how we behave is it?"
"You're going to pay for that fly-boy" said the Marine as he launched at Alexi like a raging bull. As the Marine charged half-way across the bar at him, Alexi stood his ground waiting for the onslaught. At the last second, just as the Marine thought to tackle Alexi, he moved out of the charging man's way with a casual step to the side.
The Marine crashed full-speed into the side of the reinforced booth's table. Alexi heard a "pop" as one of the Marine's ribs cracked against the steel table. Alexi moved around the Marine, who had put one hand on the table he'd just ran into and another on his side, and stood with his back to the doorway leading into the back-room.
"You got lucky fly-boy. Broken ribs aren't going to spare you!" The Marine launched again at Alexi, but the short distance combine with a recollection of what had just happened made the Marine pull up short. As the Marine balled his fists, Alexi put up his hands.
"Now look, I think we got off on the wrong foot..."
"And you're not going to have any feet once I'm done with you." Alexi watched the Marine as he threw all his weight into a punch aimed squarely at Alexi's jaw. Just before the Marine was about to connect, Alexi ducked straight down, and the Marine's fist made solid contact with the support brace Alexi had been standing against. The sound of splintering bone and a spray of blood caught Alexi's uniform as the Marine's mangled hand came back towards him.
A scream of pain and anger erupted out of the Marine, but it was cut off as Alexi put all his effort into a solid uppercut that landed just under the man's rib cage. The scream was cut off as a whoof of air came out of the Marine's lungs. Gasping for breath and doubled over from the hit, the Marine looked up in time to see Alexi's knee headed straight for his face. The bone-jarring hit sent a spray of blood from the Marine as he was sent sprawling onto his back, knocked out. A tooth bounced off of McIntosh's picture and landed on the floor, the only sound in the silent bar.
There goes my knee. I'll have to ice it down before patrol now. Alexi turned to the barkeeper, and with a shrug said "Sorry for the mess." He pointed to the unconscious Marines, "Put it on their tab."
As he limped out of Kalishnikov's, Alexi couldn't help but smile.