Treacherous sides

[Goliath]

. . .Corsair Battleship "Salamanca". . .
. . .Omicron Xi. . .

"The clock was showing 13:34. Ernesto took a sip from his bottle of rum in the cafeteria, enjoying his lunch alone at that time. He browses through his PDA - goggles hanging on top of his forehead. 13:40. Two other Corsairs approach Ernesto's table, holding the the standard plates everyone gets to carry their food around. "Mind if we take a seat?" said one of them. Ernesto looked up, having the goggles fall on his nose as he stared awkwardly at them. He takes a few moments to respond with a bright smile as he puts the welding goggles back on his forehead in a clumsy manner. "Sure, hermanos! Come take a seat. Have a chat or two, a bottle or four!" he said while clumsily standing up, showing the only slightly ragged chairs. Conveniently enough, there were exactly two without Ernesto's seat. "So. A quién le debo el placer?"

"Javier. My friend here is Mateo. He doesn't talk that much, though." said the talkative Corsair, while his friend stood by silently, smiling as he watched the two conversating. "Ah! Javier! Good name. I like it. You must be a noble, si?" replied Ernesto while taking another sip from his bottle of rum. "What about Mateo here? He seems rather introvert, si...doesn't cope well with strangers or handsome Captains. Is it because of the goggles?". The silent corsair replies back by pointing at his throat, still smiling. Someone had cut it before, yet the wound was old. Probably about three to four years old. "Oh yeah...we had a previous run-in with a group of Rheinlanders. Very odd bunch. They captured Mateo and slit his throat. I saved him just in time before he bled out. They had weaponry I've never seen before! They could rip your hull to shreds only by landing a few shots. replied the Corsair while munching on his sandwich.

"Caramba...Rheinlanders with stronger weaponry than usual? Muy interesante...but do tell me more!" replied Ernesto before finishing up the rum he had. He took a moment to act as if he got wasted. In truth, he considered his options. He had a hidden stash of Blood Diamonds in his office he salvaged from a destroyed transport that tried to haul them through Crete. He had to get rid of them as soon as possible, and he may just have found his scapegoats, namely the duo before him. "Eeeergh...I ergh...maybe I rushed down the last drop of rum. Why don't you two visit Señorita Santiago over there? Celebrate your arrival to El Salamanca with endless food -within stock limit". The two brightened up, looking at the old woman holding a spatula with the grip of an aligator's mouth - if there were any in Sirius. The silent one rapidly nods to Javier before bolting out to order as much as possible before getting kicked out. Javier soon follows with hands in his jeans' pockets.

Ernesto takes his chance, clumsily leaving the Cafeteria. As soon as he was out of range, he quickly bolted out walking faster than other Corsairs on the hallways, entering his office. He quickly takes out the Blood Diamond small bag, then browses for recent arrivals, finding out that Javier and Mateo own a "Correo"-class Freighter still docked. He closes the computer, leaves the office and locks the door behind before proceeding to the docking bay this Freighter was placed in, while passing by the Cafeteria, seeing the two stuffing themselves with food.

Arrived next to the Correo, Ernesto enters the ship through the cargo bay, placing the bag on top of a crate of food rations. He then distances away from the Freighter without being seen - or rather, nearly being seen by a passing engineer. Ernesto then waits by the docking bay's exit door with a radio in his left hand and a pistol in his right."Guards to the docking bay. I need to check something." he said over the radio frequency designated for the security guards responsible for cargo checks. Two guards arrive armed with rifles. Two very guards whom Ernesto had...interacted with...before. The engineering team is lined up against the wall by one of the guards under the pretext of making sure the cargo check goes according to protocol. Meanwhile, the other guard enters the cargo bay of the Correo, while the Captain stood by the door, leaned against it. "Diamantes de sangre!" yelled the guard after a few minutes, then coming out with the bag, holding it in disgust and throwing it in front of the engineers that have been lined up, who immediately flinch in horror. Ernesto walks up in front of them. Hands crossed behind his back with a disgusted stare which shifted between the bag and the engineers. "So did no one notice these vile items owned by the filthy pendehos I can't even bring myself to name? I should have all of you tied down and thrown into space. I should. Now who owns the ship?". One of the engineers took off the safety helmet, holding it with one hand behind his back and the other holding the tablet with recent arrivals. The worker did take about one minute and a half to find out it is two Corsairs who own it, then passes on the tablet to Ernesto. "Caramba...and I offered them food." he gestures the guards to capture the two clandestine corsairs in the cafeteria. He dropped the tablet on the ground, smashing it with his boot. "The rest of you should cheer your fellow engineer here. That man just saved all of you with this tablet." said Ernesto before facing away, lighting up a cigar as he stared down the hallway leading to the Cafeteria.



The Good, The Bad, and The Light. . .



It was 20:21. Most of the crew went asleep, leaving only the skeleton-crew to operate the night shift and be prepared to sound the alarm only in case of an enemy closing in. By now, the two Corsairs have already been captured and immobilized in two separate cells. The same two security guards were guarding the entrance fiercely even though the lower cells were very much devoid of presence as no corsair in their right mind would stand around here when the lights are off. Suddenly, the entrance door opens, revealing Ernesto in his usual attire. "I believe we have already met before, haven't we?" he said, smiling at Javier as he opened the cell door which creaked worse than a rusted submarine door. The chair Javier was bound to left little room for movement in the neck, arms, legs and torso area. Javier was already tearing up. "I didn't do it...it must have been Mateo. I swear. I SWEAR". The smiling clumsy Captain had none of that, and replied with a mocking sentence, grabbing Javier's long hair, pressing his head against the metal headrest. "So much for friendship, si? Ratting out your friend to save your own skin. Tell me. Have you looked at the other cells and on the ground?". Javier took a glance on his left. All of them were empty. Doors open, yet the same chairs he was strapped in were recently used. Those who end up here usually get out better persons than what they were before. Do you want to know how? Do you want to be a better person and not be ejected in space? said Ernesto, dropping his "Clumsy Captain" cover. Javier nodded, leaving a small "yes" slip through his lips. Ernesto smiled, letting the Corsair's head free of the restraint. "Look."

Mateo was shaking profusely, trying to break free. The guard opens the cell door, dropping his rifle on the ground. He grabs the corsair by the temples, slamming Mateo's head against the headrest before letting the incubus within, rensembling a blue tentacle slowly rising out of the Guard's throat, extending in the air before facing Mateo. He tightens the head restraint, then forces the Corsair's jaw open with both hands, letting the process begin. Mateo continues his futile attempts to break free, and stops halfway through the process, as if he simply shut down.

Javier starts screaming before getting punched in the head by Ernesto, then injected with anesthetics through the neck. The corsair slowly lost his grip on the armrests he was clenching his hands on. Ernesto's eyes slowly began to turn purple, then glow as Javier closed his eyes. All he could hear was the Captain's simple sentence before going unconscious. "I'm sure you will see the world as I do, eventually."

Hours pass, and Ernesto exits the lower cells with one of the guards by his side. "Clean the security cameras" The Guard simply replies with showing the tablet linked to the camera recordings. The ones in the Docking Bay had already been deleted, and no witnesses were found.

"Good."

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