Exile

[ferono]

Exile

It was a usual day on Crete. Civilians walking all around, with the occasional troop rushing through them. The air was pleantly dry and there were no clouds in the sky. A wonderful day indeed. The spaceport was busy as usual, patrols landing and launching, troops getting ready for transport and the occasional smuggler, bartering on Food Ration or Artifact prices. In the heavy ship sector, many light transports and gunboats were landed, waiting for their next assignemt. One of them, an old M26 model, was surrounded by engineers and refueling trucks, a sign it was leaving for interplanetary patrol. The ship's name was the Kolokotronis, and it's Captain Ferono Benitez. The refueling trucks pulled away,and the engineers started closing all panels, the ship getting ready for launch.

As the ship was doing engine checks, a speedbike passed through the spaceport's gates. It started speeding, heading towards the Kolokotronis. Passing right between two large freighters, and under a transport, it reached the gunboat. The canopy retracted itself, revealing a bald man with a retinal implant in his right eyesocket. That man was the Kolokotronis' Captain, Ferono Benitez. He started carefully pushing himself with his hands out of the speedbike's cockpit. He sits on the canopy's edge, and unfolds a foldable wheelchair secured on the speedbike's side. He jumps out of the cockpit into the wheelchair. Ferono had no legs. He was injured in a previous incident, where ha was considered dead for a long time. But that's another story

He starts wheeling towards the gunboat asking the engineers on his way about the ship's subsystem status. He reaches the gunboat's ramp after a while and is greeted by commanding officer Herrera.

"Welcome aboard, Captain, senor!"

"Hola senor Herrera, is the ship ready for patrol?"

"Yes Captain. Everything is green status."

"Good. Help me up this ramp, please"

Herrera does as told, and pushes Ferono up the ramp, into the cramped interior of the gunboat. The narrow passageway is filled with all kinds of machinery and pipes. Ferono start's making his way carefully towards the bridge. He reaches it after a while and is greeted by the crew. Perez, scanner operator, Espinosa, the weapon's operator and Romero, the tactical analyst. The 3 senior engineers and their 3 assistants are all checking everything at the engine room, to make sure the ship is in top condition. Ferono wheels towards the Captain's post, filled with screens an gauges, and secures himself and his wheelchair with 4 straps. He gives contact's the traffic operator, and asks for permission to launch. After 40 seconds, the operator responds and gives the gunboat a "Good to go" signal. The gunboat starts rising in the air, helped by its lateral thrusters, and slowly starts climbing the atmosphere pushed hard by it's main engines. They reach orbit after one minute, greeted by fellow Corsairs in space, a mercenary among them. He greets them brifely and starts heading towards the Omicron Kappa jumphole, having Yaren in Omicron Delta as it's destination.

[4 days later, Omicron Delta]

The trip to Yaren was not very easy, having been attacked by a Bounty Hunter fighter wing that retreated once one of it's members was destroyed, but the ship took no damage, and it was finally in Yaren's vicinity. The ship was cruising towards the station, when Perez reported strange scanner readings. Ferono disregarded him, as that phenomenon was usual in Omicron Delta. After two hours of cruise, they finally reached Yaren. The scanner interference got worse in the meantime. As Ferono was on the station, doing his assigned tasks (fighter squadron, medlab and troop inspection) the crew aboard the Kolokotronis started recieving strange radio signals. They were inaudible, in a frequency not perceived by the human ear, but the oscilloscopes were ulsing like crazy. Ferono rushed his bussiness and returned to the Kolokotronis, not feeling safe on an unarmored station. He boarded the Kolokotronis and set course back to Crete.

[2 days later, Omicron Kappa]

The strange scanner and radio phenomena continued. Ferono was feeling sick, but he had to stay on the bridge. The bridge's crew had noticed his strange condition, but did not say anything. Suddenly Ferono closed his eyes and fell unconscious, his face relaxed and smiling. That lasted for two minutes, when his expression changed. He looked scared, in agony and he was sweating. Herrera left his post and headed towards Ferono, when he dropped on the floor. Perez left his post too, and grabbed his arms, when he noticed something red under his uniform. It was blood. He removed Herrera's shirt, and found out a large wound leaking blood. Herrera was dead.

That was the time Ferono woke up. He looked around, and saw Herrera dead, lying in his own blood. He declared a red alert, and ordered the ship to turn around, and return to Yaren. the ship's medic came and put Herrera's body in the infirmary, so it could be examined at Yaren.

[1 day later, Yaren station]

The Kolokotronis was moored at Yaren, and Herrera's body was being examined by the Medlab's doctor.

"He died from blood loss, after a blunt instrument cut through all the major heart arteries.", said the doctor.

"It can't be, he was on the ship the whole time!" screamed Ferono.

"Don't tell me how to do my job" said the doctor. "The evidence are quite clear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to inform Herrera's relatives and prepare his body for transfer to Crete."

The doctor left with Herrera's body, leaving Ferono alone in the gunboat's shuttle hangar. He was very confused. His mind could not comprehend what had happened, and on top of that, he could not remember certain parts of the returning trip to Crete. There was a black hole in his memories. Reluctantly, he returned to his post, and ordered the remaining crew to return to Crete, passing through Freeport 11. The gunboat started cruising towards the Freeport. The bridge was cleaned of Herrera's blood, but not Ferono's mind. He started feeiling guilty they did not return to Crete when the scanner started acting haywire. He believed it was his fault... If they had turned back to Crete, Herrera would still be alive... That was what he believed.

[3 hours later]

Kolokotronis was at Freeport's 11 vicinity, when Ferono passed out again, like 3 days before. His face was calm in the beginning, but his expression changed again. At first he had a confused look on his face, when later it took a very sad look, and tears started running on his face. His head started moving left and right, like trying to conceal his eyes from a horrible sight. Suddenly, his mouth opened and a scream unbelievably loud for a human being came out. "Noooooooooooooooo...". After it faded Ferono woke up. His face had a mad expression, and he started looking around the bridge. His eyes came upon Herrera's empty chair, and his face turned in a very sad expression. He started crying. The crew assumed that Ferono had a nightmare about Herrera and returned to it's duties. Everything was looking normal again, Ferono passing out and regaining consciousness afterwards every once in a while, until Perez dropped on his console. His faced had a peaceful look, and his mouth had a faint smile on it. Ferono declared a Red Alert. The medic rushed in the bridge, where he found out he was dead. There were no external wounds, no blood loss, nothing. It was as Perez had lost the will to live and simply died on the spot. Ferono ordered the ship to return to Yaren and rushed to his small cabin after he heard the medic's report. He stayed locked in there until they reached Yaren. An engineer passing outside his cabin heard him crying loudly, and Espinosa heard him crying again as he was returning from the mess with a beer in his hand. Finally, Kolokotronis reached Yaren and moored with the station

The dockmaster greeted Ferono, who had exited the cabin in the meantime, but he was looking very afraid. Two dockworkers were looking at Ferono and gossiping "You know, tha ship is really haunted. First Herrera, now Perez. Who will be next? What is happening aboard that ship and men are killed without th ship taking a single shot?"

Ferono entered the shuttle again after watching the medics take away Perez' body. He boarded Kolokotronis, grabbed a small communicator and made a ship-wide announcement.

"All ship personnel, you are ordered to switch your computers to automatic mode and pass their controls to the Captain's console. Having done that, take all your personal belongings with you, and exit the ship. Yaren will provide means of transportation back to Crete. Once you leave, tell Yaren to send an atmospheric shuttle and leave it in the shuttle hangar."

Ferono headed to his cabin. He lied on his bed, with an empty look in his eyes.

Half an hour had passed, when Ferono felt a vibration across the ship. It was the shuttle securing itself in the hangar. Ferono got on his wheelchair and headed towards the bridge. He secured the wheelchair in his post, and looked at all the screens infront of him. All equipment was under his control. The ship could fly guided by one person only.

He requested un-mooring clearance from Yaren. Once he was at a safe distance, he ordered the computer to take a random course. He set turrets to defensive mode, and fell asleep in the bridge.

[6 hours later]

The computer started buzzing, and a bright light was flashing. Ferono woke up slowly and looked at the screen. An unidentified jumphole was infront of him. The computer reported it was phase-alligned, and that it was leading to a system with 3 suns and one planet. Ferono deployed a small probe through the jumphole. The probe returned after 4 minutes with photographs of the system. Three large suns, and a dark-blue planet. Ferono started thinking... Then he ordered the computer to allign for jump. The ship started moving towards the jumphole slowly... Then, it was suddenly sucked in, and started travelling at extreme speeds through it, higher than those of any jumphole he had been into.

The ship finally reached the other side. The system... was unreal. It was pitch black, and the suns gave little light. There were no stars visible, and there was no sign of any known guiding landmarks (the Walker or Edge nebula for example). There were no ships flying around, human or alien. The scanner and radio were completely silent. Ferono started flying towards the planet. Initial scans reported that the planet could provide water and oxygen from it's atmosphere. Ferono ordered the ship to find an optimal geostationary orbit. Once the ship was orbiting the planet, Ferono turned all systems sans the life support down. He decided to stay there. Maybe in the darkness and solitude of that system, his mind could be cleansed, and maybe he could forget the deaths of his two loyal crew members.

He started thinking again. Suddenly, he takes out his military ID. The Callsign, "Ferono Benitez is written on it with large red letters, and his birth name, Ferono Bernaldez, written underneath it with small black letters. With a swift move he tears the card to pieces. He then program the transponder to show no affiliation. He was renouncing his Corsair roots. He was renouncing that blood-thirsty lifestyle and that militaristic way of life. He would leave peacefully in exile, trying to make up for the the people he killed, and his two crew members and friends whose deaths (he thought) he had caused.

He decided to stay there.

Exiled forever...