Monsieur Crux

[Corsair]

816

Something happened to Crux while he was serving on the Point de Defense. It was during a reconnaissance mission into some uncharted territory. The records of the mission show Crux's vessel being destroyed by hostile pirate forces, and Crux retreating to Gallic sovereign space in his pod. The actual story is different.

In the system GH-998, Crux piloted a small recon fighter through dense asteroids, the muscles in his neck standing out like cords as he calmly repeated into his microphone, "Gallic Recon Force Nine-Nine-Four, requesting immediate extraction. Repeat. Immediate extraction. Being pursued by multiple enemy alien vessels. Requesting immediate assistance." Scanners showed that his communications did not leave the system. Something was jamming him.

Multiple blue shaped darted after him, firing at his ship when asteroids were not in the way. His shields were waning fast, soon.. They failed. Their blasts hit his hull and began to eat away at the back of his ship. One of his engines collapsed, and he barely hit the eject button before his fighter was crushed by an asteroid. His pod jammed into the soft dust of an asteroid. His head ached, and he lost consciousness.

Something was very wrong when he opened his eyes. His hands and legs were strapped, and his throat felt raw. He licked dry, cracked lips and tasted blood in his mouth, and on his lips and chin. He looked down and blood splashed his chest. His head ached, and his vision was blurry. He noticed other human forms. Two males and a female. They were naked, he noticed, as was he. They rolled their heads in confusion. Some mumbled words in unrecognizable languages. "What the f.." One of the men said in a language Crux could not understand. The woman growled at him, "Libertonian filth. Can you not zee vhat zis is? Ein Nomad Hause!" Crux was still lost. The man and the woman began to argue in their strange language and Crux could see the other man was staring at him, with a glowing purple tint in his eyes.

Crux returned to Gallic space in his pod, his blue eyes now bearing flecks of purple. But nobody would notice. Not until it was too late.

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