William “Billy” Xae finished his work and locked his workstation. Packing his stuff for the weekend, he left the office and began his walk home. It wasn’t a long walk, probably about 10 minutes. However, it was long enough to reflect. Billy was 37 years old, originally a Libertonian from Los Angeles born into poverty. He got into fights at school and generally was regarded as average in every regard. After finishing grade school, he abandoned his home planet and drifted for a few years. Getting into fights with Rogues, Junkers, and even the odd Lane Hacker, he drifted from place to place. Eventually however, he found his place as a pirate within the Vagrant Raiders.
Originally a Cardamine Smuggling group, the Vagrant Raiders had grown exponentially, and had a vast arsenal of equipment and personnel. People from all parts of the criminal underbelly of Liberty joined the VR, some seeking riches, some seeking fame, and some just looking for a home. As usual, Billy often got into arguments with the other bandits within the ranks. That was until he met then-Raider Blain Spike. Blain Spike was a no-nonsense abrasive man, one who often angered his compratriots. By some miracle he survived the cutthroat world of the Vagrant Raiders, and eventually rose to the rank of Overlord when the founder of the Raiders John Petrucci died from Radiation Poisoning. Blain ran the Raiders with an Iron Fist, angering once-allies and neglecting his duties as Overlord. Over time, the Raiders became stagnant, disorganized.
However, for all his flaws, Overlord Spike had a deep sense of family and comradery. Where he would neglect his responsabilities as Overlord to maintain appearances and forge a path forward for the Raiders externally, he did what he could to keep the Raiders together. As time went on, Blain counseled Billy and gave him the tools for success, training him. During this time they became close, and with the friendship came power. Before long, Billy had risen to the rank of Warlord. Life was good, at least for a while. Billy remembered the day it all went sideways like it was yesterday. Blain had just found out that Taskmaster Escher and Taskmaster Kane had returned to the fold, and Blain had sent them a message. At the time he was not sure what the plan was, but Blain looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then, Liberty Law Enforcement breached their Safehouse on Barrier Gate Station. Fending them off, Billy and Blain split up, with the plan to rendevous outside Blain’s gunboat the Never Enough. However, in the chaos the persuers found Blain, and gunned him down.
Billy, now unsure what to do, made it to his Scimitar light fighter, and blasted off. As soon as he was clear of the station he received an automated message from Taskmaster Kane. The Vagrant Raiders was to cease all operations and return to the Metropolis. The Era of the Blain Spike Vagrant Raiders was over. Unsure how to proceed, Billy decided to go dark. He found a hidden message from Blain Spike giving Billy all which he owned, which included a large sum of credits hidden “for rainy days”. Using this money, Billy went underground. Deciding to retire, he bought a medium sized apartment on Planet Honshu. To stave off boredom, he educated himself in ship engineering, and took a minor job at a small spacecraft engineering firm. He didn’t need the money, but he wanted to keep busy. 7 Years later, Billy recollected on his time on Planet Honshu. It was boring, but it was life. He didn’t constantly have to look over his shoulder worried someone would stab him in the back, but at the same time there was no excitement. Just the same grind, day in day out. He missed the times when he always carried a gun, ready to get into a firefight over some angry Junker or destroying a rival pirate’s craft.
Once he got home, he kicked off his shoes and walked to his fridge. Grabbing a Liberty Ale, he sat down at his table and popped the bottlecap off. Taking a sip, he heard a small chime sound from his bedroom. Not terribly worried, he pulled out his personal communicator and browsed the Neural Net. Five minutes later he heard another chime. Curious now, he placed his communicator down on his table and walked to his bedroom. Not hearing any further chimes, he searched his room. Opening the closet he used for storage, he looked through some of the boxes. He was about to pull out the last box when something gave him pause. Etched on the side of it in Permanant marker where the letters “VR”. He smiled inwardly, and pulled it out. No way it would have come from in this box. Opening it, he shifted through the contents. A few Sirius Credit Cards, a handgun, and a couple hardcopy log books. Then he saw it, the faint green pulse of a data tablet. This was something he hadn’t thought of in a long time. It was a command tablet, to be used in emergencies. Both Blain Spike and Billy had been given access to the system by some systems engineer on Metropolis.
Activating the screen, he input his 16 digit login code, and stared at the screen. Quickly scanning the alert, a wave of guilt hit him. It was from the VCS-Nightmare. One of Blain’s favorite support ships, the Vagrant Raiders used the Nightmare as a source of fire support when pulling back from an engagement. Billy often hung out onboard the Nightmare, working on plans with Blain Spike to raid convoys and the like. He didn’t like the message details, and the timestamp on the communication was recent. Had the Nightmare gotten into a fight recently it could not win? Where the Vagrant Raiders still around? After pulling out a second datapad from the box, he typed out a rapid-fire message and sent it. Taking a quick look at the last known location listed in the emergency broadcast he walked over to his personal communicator in the living area and initiated a communication call.
“Hello, I’d like to see when the next available flight to Barrier Gate Station is. Yes, that’s correct, Coronado. No, I don’t mind shuttle hopping. Thank you.”
The shuttle buckled again as it hit another asteroid en-route to Barrier Gate Station. Billy was being bounced around like a pinball as the shuttle made its way to the asteroid-turned-freeport. Looking at his tablet, he browsed the “For Hire” section of the Barrier Gate Station archives. Unfortunately, Billy’s original plan to hire a freelancer crew where coming up short. Everyone wanted way to much in terms of commission, or were not outfitted to support rescue operations of a large vessel such as a RM-2A Cruiser. Switching to the “For Sale” section, he realized it would be just as cost effective to buy a ship, hire a crew and go look for the Nightmare himself. Browsing the listings, he identified a ship that looked like it would fit the bill. The BK-65 “Serenity” class transport had everything he needed, from a large loading door, to suitable life support systems to rescue the entire crew compliment of the Nightmare.
The shuttle docked, and Billy made himself towards the common area aboard the station. After sitting down with a cup of Coffee, he sent a communication to the seller of the transport. Within an hour, he had a response, and to meet the seller at one of the various mooring points aboard the station. Ironically, the mooring point was one Billy was familiar with, as Blain Spike had often used that mooring point for the Never Enough, a Rogue Gunboat that was operated by the Vagrant Raiders. After discussing the price of the ship with the seller, Billy made his way onboard. The first thing he noticed was the non-standard armor plating, and the slight tinge of Cardamine in the air. This ship certainly used to be a smuggler vessel. Billy’s suspicions where all but verified when took a look at the propulsion system, which was a blackmarket CNOS Engine. Besides the unique nature of the vessel, She was in good shape.
After negotiating the price down slightly due to the aftermarket engines, Billy shook hands and purchased the vessel. Now he had to find a crew, and register the ship. Sitting down at one of the command stations on the small bridge of the transport, he opened the identification screen and selected the ship ID menu. Clearing the existing name, he sat there thinking about what to name his newly purchased transport. Thinking back at the mooring point, and Blain’s old ship, he typed in the new name. The ship accepted the change. Henceforth, The Serenity Class transport would be called “More Than Enough”. With that complete, it was time to head out.
Billy secured the hatch connecting More Than Enough to the Station, and engaged the automatic disconnect software. Settling into the Bridge, he plotted an exhaustive grid search. Even with the advanced sensors that this newer transport had, the sweep would take more than a week. Since he was alone it was not difficult to store the requisite provisions, and still be comfortable.
A faint ping echoed through the small bridge of the More Than Enough. Not sure if his ears where decieving him, Billy made his way over to the bridge station handling the starboard scanner sweep. Taking a look at the display's readout, it looked like something was out there. This wasn't the first time he'd picked up a large metal object at the edge of the scanner range. A day ago he had found an extremely old Border World Transport filled with holes. However, this reading was different. Billy had been using a Magnetic Anomaly detector as conventional radar was picking up asteroids and dust particles in the Barrier Ice Field, and the Ships scanning suite was not advanced enough to clear up the clutter. Maneuvering over to the Ops station handling helm control, he disengaged the autopilot and turned the craft 83 degrees starboard to point directly at the reading. Settling on the new bearing Billy re-engaged the autopilot, and shifted to the station operating the forward scanning array.
Flipping between Narrow Beam Radar and the Magnetic Anomaly Detection system, a shape started to come into view. The automated pattern recognition software took over once it was resolved enough to identify the object, however the classification reported back as "Unknown". Getting annoyed with the system, he plugged in his old Vagrant Raiders datapad, which had a readout of all the Vagrant Raiders heavy combat assets embedded in the database. After sorting out a minor incompatibility issue, the scan came back reporting that the mass was indeed a RM-2A Storta Destroyer, identification unknown. Knowing that VCS Black Cloud, VCS Nightmare and VCS Silver Lining had identical profiles his heart beat quickened. While the VCS Black Cloud's location was never found, he knew the VCS Silver Lining was last seen in Rheinland, and the Nightmare's last known location was indeed Coronado.
Unfortunately, the Destroyer was still 15 Kilometres away, so positive identification would not be known for another 5 minutes. Easing into the chair for the Ops terminal Billy began transmitting to the unknown vessel. "This is Billy Xae of the More Than Enough. Please respond." When there was no response to the hail, Billy set the transmission to repeat and switched the console's active role to combat sensors. Being a transport ship, the combat capabilities of the More Than Enough where not good enough to get detailed readouts of the armament/weapons status, however it could tell the level of EM/IR radiation the selected target ship was emitting. Double checking the numbers, it appeared the ship was not outputting any discernible Electromagnetic or Infrared energy. While the RM-2A had a unique energy signature, the sensors could not detect anything.
Knowing he would have to wait until the ship was in visual range, he opened up a comm window and started typing a message out to the Natio Octavarium. They had been extremely helpful so far, and had sold him some ship supplies for extremely cheap and had offered support should the ship be found. Midway through his message, the Nav console pinged that the ship had reached an object, and was transitioning to station keeping mode. Billy jumped up, grabbing a handheld ship control datapad, and walked to the front viewport. Using the datapad to control the turreted spotlight, he started sweeping for the ship. Suddenly out of nowhere, as if a fog had lifted, the view of a RM-2A Storta came into view. Guiding the spotlight towards the bow of the ship, Billy quickly recognized the ship had been on the loosing side of a battle. There was extensive damage to the hull, with a gaping opening in front of the Light Mortar weapon emplacement. Slowly, the spotlight was guided to the bow, where the unmistakable burnt orange and black logo of the Vagrant Raiders was located. Next to it, was the ship's identifier in the same burnt orange.
He had found the VCS-Nightmare.
Billy drank in the view for what felt like an hour. He had found the ship that had previously been his home, and the home of many of his friends. He recollected the year and a half he spent in the Vagrant Raiders, and felt a deep pang of sorrow for what had become of the ship. He also felt regret; Regret for leaving the Vagrant Raiders, regret for leaving his family. Billy realized that the 7 years he had spent in relative loneliness "retired" in Kusari where the worst 7 years of his life. In that moment, he vowed never to let that happen again. He vowed to attempt to restore the Nightmare to her former glory, to recreate a family. Billy turned, and walked back to the Ops station. Grabbing the Coordinates from the navigation console, he re-wrote his message to Taskmaster's Kane and Escher, and punched the Send Button.
It had been a hell of a day for Billy. Between navigating the waters of contracts with the Junker Congress and the funeral ceremony onboard a rented luxury yacht, Billy was beat. As he scanned his ID badge at the hatch to the More Than Enough, he thought about the men and women that had been friends with him over the years. He could see the faces of each one of them, and every name that he read from the book during the memorial service reflected in his mind.
The Service had gone off without any problems. A few Natio Octavarium personnel had showed up, old Vagrant Raider pilots and assorted individuals, some of which Billy recognized. They had grown older, some bore scars Billy couldn't discern. Certainly the Natio Octavarium had their fair share of enemies, even in their new not-as-unlawful role. The Memorial had been simple, as the fallen crew member's name was read out, the ship automatically jettisoned the ashes. Afterwords there was a small reception with snacks and drinks, some of which where a bit more alcoholic than others. Finally, before the end of the reception, a small bouy with a plaque was launched into space. Inscribed in it where the names of all the crewmembers who had died, and an inscription of the Nightmare's unofficial motto "ut semper belli", roughly translated to "Always Keep Fighting".
A copy of the plaque was in Billy's Stateroom aboard the More Than Enough, with the intent to weld the plaque to the Nightmare once the ship was completed its long reconstruction process. As he walked down a corridor to the small bridge of the More Than Enough, pausing when he heard a small thud, and the pulsing warble of an alarm went off. Walking to the bridge, he killed the audible alarm and pulled up the damage control status page on a console. Billy sighed as he looked at the list of malfunctions. It appeared that one of the ships four drive pods had blown a seal, and violently shook itself apart. Billy assumed this was due to the non-standard engines that where mounted on the ship, and shook his head. Pulling up the Barrier Gate Station infoboard, he started browsing for an independent repair crew. Finding one, he typed out a quick message asking for a quote to repair the ship.
An hour later, he heard a buzz at the hatch, and let in a engineer wearing a exoskeleton rig and very stylized welders glasses. "The Name is Evan Baldwin. I hear you have a bent bird?" Billy paused for a second, nodding. "Yeah, the automatic damage control subroutine reported a failed seal blasted the engine clear off". Billy walked towards the bridge, motioning for Evan to follow him. As they walked, Billy could barely hear the exoskeleton articulating as Evan walked behind him. On the bridge, Billy motioned for Evan to sit at the console and look at the flashing alarm. Evan sat down, and started keying through the pages.
"Yup, exactly like I thought. These ships, as rugged as they are have a very common problem with the engine mount bolts. Whoever the genius was that designed it, made the bolt to weak. During long duration flights the vibration from the engine loosens the nut, and if a seal pops the entire engine mount is liable to pop off like a god-dang roman candle. You'll never hear about this problem cuz' the Bretonians need any industry they can get their hands on post war. That said, me and my crew have found a few fixes and such to make the whole boat a bit less tickin-time-bomb if you get my drift. You can get it done the by-the-book way or the Baldwin way."
Smiling, Billy sat down in a adjacent console. In the back of his mind, he realized that he would need crew eventually for the Nightmare, and a good competent Engineer and his employees would be a good start. He pulled up the Nightmare's detailed scans, and sent it over to Evan's console.
"Fair enough. What about this ship, can she be saved?"
Evan looked at his screen, and the data cycling through. Looking closer, he swiped between the pages, zooming in on certain parts and making mental notes. After about 5 minutes of paging through screens and thinking, he finally spoke.
"Y'know, I've been hearing some rumors. Rumors about a dead cruiser floating around the Barrier Cloud. This of course wouldn't happen to be said ship could it? But if it where, I think she's salvageable. Going to need a lot of work, and some out of the box thinkin' I bet. I've never dealt with a destroyer before, but I'm sure me and my crew could handle it."
Billy thought for a minute, and decided.
"Out of the Box Thinking is exactly what I'm looking for Mr. Baldwin. I have a meeting at Vieques to look at some tech the Junkers are cooking up, and would like you to join me. Have your crew work on the More Than Enough, and we can discuss more...long term employment for you and your boys en-route. How does that sound? "
Evan stood up, and shook Billy's hand. "Sounds Mighty fine to me. Let me get my crew started on your repairs, and I'll grab a few things. In fact, I even got a ship we can use to get to Vieques."
As the old Voyager freighter blasted out of the hangar, Billy glanced over to his new Chief Engineer, who was tinkering with a small junction box in the cockpit area. So how long have you been a mechanic? Why are you all the way out here on Barrier Gate Station? Evan turned for a second, then went back to his work. Been a mechanic all my life, I guess. But why all them questions? Billy flipped on the autopilot, and swung the chair around to face Evan. Well I like to know who I'm working with, especially if they are going to be my new Chief Engineer. When Evan heard the words Chief Engineer he stopped cold, looking at Billy for a good half-minute before speaking.
Chief Engineer, now hold up. Of that cruiser that's all banged up in the Nebula? Well I never... That's a mighty fine offer there. But I wanna' make one thing clear. If I take this job, Ev'thang is under my perview, correct? No meddlin' in the works or sayin' stuff like "I saw this on the neural net and I wanna' do it on ma ship"... Evan paused, looking for the right words. Before he could start speaking again, Billy spoke up.
That's how it works on a warship, doesn't it? I was never in the Military, but I've spent time on heavy warships before. Back in the days of the Vagrant Raiders we let our Engineers do all the technical side. Not because we couldn't learn how, but because we know they usually know better than a bunch of fighter jockeys or armchair pilots. I assure you, you'll have final say. In Fact, I wanted you with me on this trip because the Junkers want to try some newfangled tech on the Nightmare when they are rebuilding it. I'm not going to lie, I'm skeptical. But given the damage the Nightmare has taken something out of the box is necessary. It's why I hired you to come with and vet the design, but also hire you as the Chief Engineer. You'll have your own department, and have final say on any shipboard components that go into the NIghtmare. That said, I know Tactical guys like to assume control of any weapons system, so I'll expect you to work nicely with weapons folk onboard. Would that be a problem?
Evan started putting the cover panel back on the junction box he was working on. As he cleaned up his work area, he responded. Billy, I work with people all day. I've dealt with many over-confident buffoons who didn't know what the difference between a power coupling and a capacitor was. I may be an engineer but I also have people skills. On Houston, it's customary to have a drink to seal a deal.
Sitting down in the Co-Pilot seat, Evan pulled out a small flask of liquor. Taking a swig of the unknown drink, he offered it to Billy. Billy took it, and took a small sip from the flask. Wincing from the flavor, Billy capped the flask and looked at the inscription on the side. You can take the man from Houston, but you can never take the Houston from the man. Love you Darlin', Cathy
Handing the flask back to Evan, he asked Who's Cathy?
A sadness etched onto Evan's face, as he ran his fingers across the inscription. He took a deep breath, and put the flask back in his pocket. Cathy's only the sweetest lady ever to live in the Sirius Sector. A Heart of Gold, with a temper like a firecracker. Evan looked out the window, his voice getting quieter. She died. She was working in a small shop on Houston, when a thug came in and shot her. The LPI said she was standing in the way of the cash register, and the guy was high. I was off planet at the time, workin' a contract for DSE in New York. I couldn't even make it to the funeral. After that, I left Liberty. Couldn't stand bein' in Liberty after the LPI closed the case as unsolved.
Billy saw the pain and sadness in Evan's eyes, unsure of what to say. Eventually, he spoke. I'm sorry. Loosing a loved one is hard.
Puerto Rico System, On Approach to Vieques Shipyard
Given the stellar radiation the autopilot could not handle navigating Ponce Fragment field, Billy had taken over piloting from the Autopilot system. Glancing over to his right, Evan was using some grease to lubricate the seals on his exosuit. Satisfied that there was no audible signature to moving his arm, he capped the small bottle of grease and popped it into a small pouch on the hip. Noticing Billy glancing at the suit, Evan spoke up. I built it myself, y'know. Usually people with Brittle Bone Disease are stuck with office jobs or live in Zero G. While I don't really have a problem with either of those, I've always been interested in getting my hands dirty. Built my first mechanical assistance rig when I was 12, using it to get around. As I got older I found a lot of suits really don't work well in engineering jobs, or they are to bulky to work in tight corners. So I built this guy myself, out of spare parts and a little bit of ingenuity. I hate squeaks, so I use this lubricant I ordered from Gallia of all places. It's damn expensive but works wonders. Plus, it's useful when liftin' boxes of parts. Evan looked at his exosuit happily, giving it another once-over.
It's certainly impressive, I'll give you that. Certainly an out of the box solution to a problem that really sucks. Given you hadn't taken the suit off I thought you had some sort of disability, but I didn't want to ask. Anyway, we are just about there so lets get ready to meet our new Junker friends.
Billy initiated contact with Vieques Shipyard Traffic Control, and Landed in one of the various hangars. Shutting down the engines, he saw the external pressure sensor climb to 1 Atmosphere, and equalized the ships atmosphere with that of the station. Almost immediately, the smell of grease and fuel filled the ship.
Ah the unmistakable smell of a Junker facility. Shall we?
//Small Interlude as a new thread will be created for the Junker Interactions on Vieques.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Billy walked off the small transport, breathing in the stale air of Bristol Depot. He had just wrapped up negotiations and a tour of Rell Harrow's lab onboard Vieques Shipyard, and had finished signing a contract to officially begin the process of bringing the Nightmare to Vieques for reconstruction. It had been a long day, however it wasn't complete.
His next task would prove to potentially be even more of an issue, the negotiations to secure the rights to the Nightmare. He understood the Natio Octavarium was in a state of war against Kusari for their attack on Gallia, however he also knew the political backfiring of operating an Outcast Destroyer would prove difficult given the groups alliance with the Crayter Republic. He had already scheduled a meeting aboard the Natio Octavarium's home of Canberra Star City, however he had a problem with transportation.
He hadn't flown his own ship to the Vieques meet, and as a result had no transportation of his own to Tau-44. As a result, he was limited to taking commercial flights, of which there where not many. Even moreso, he wanted to avoid any stopovers in Liberty Space, given his past as a prominent pirate within the ranks of the Vagrant Raiders. As a result, he had to wait. The only routing that didn't have him putting his feet down in Liberty (and by extension, a LPI Jail Cell) would leave in 2 days. Begrudgingly, he accepted, and planned to wait it out aboard Bristol Depot, an independent station catering mostly to salvage operations in the Hudson system.
Billy walked down the corridor, and stopped at a door. He had reserved a room for 2 nights, and looked forward to the rest. Stowing his small travel bag in the small but adequate room, he left in search of the stations bar.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Billy walked into the the stations small bar. Customary of most space station bars, it was a dingy compartment filled with tables bolted to the floor and yellow lighting illuminating the space. Sitting at the bar, Billy ordered his usual drink. Sipping his Liberty Ale, he looked around the space. It was rather late, and the bar was mostly empty. In the corner however, there was a man sitting alone, looking out a small viewport.
The bartender noticed Billy's gaze, and begun to speak. I see you have noticed our resident the Captain without a crew. Sad story, if the scuttlebutt is to be believed. Billy turned back towards the bartender, and took another sip of his drink. What do you mean, what's his story? The Bartender leaned forward, and begun telling the story.
Well, scuttlebutt is he's Ex- Liberty Navy. Dishonorably discharged due to his actions, or rather inaction during the Purge of Bering. I couldn't find anything on the Neural Net, the Liberty Navy must have kept things hush-hush. Rumor is he refused to fire on the Freeport when ordered. The Hellfire Legion saw the opening and pounced on his Siege Cruiser, vaporizing it. He was the only survivor from the bridge crew, and only a third of his crew made it off before the reactor detonated. The Navy tried charging him with dereliction of duty, but without bridge recordings or corroborating witnesses they charged him with something minor and discharged him. He won't talk about it, but I'm guessing he is here in some messed up sense of atonement for his sins. I talked with some of the boys down in the maintenance shop, he works salvage onboard one of the scrap freighters. He only goes out when they are scrapping near what's left of his old command. I guess he's clinging for any memory or reminder. Not sure, but he walks like Navy, talks like Navy...hell if it wasn't for his clothing I'd say he was born Navy. As the Bartender finished his story, the mystery man lifted his bottle as if it where empty. The Bartender noticed, and reached for a new bottle in a small ice-chest.
Billy sat, pondering the Bartenders story. He thought back on his time in the Vagrant Raiders, and the second chance Blain Spike had given him in the Vagrant Raiders. Something dawned on him, something he had not thought about since he had changed his transponder to remove the Vagrant Raiders IFF from his Scimitar all those years ago. He realized that he was once in the same shoes as the mystery man, someone with no clear goal, no home, and ultimately no family.
The Bartender moved to walk the Beer over to the mystery man, Billy stopped him. I'll take it over to him. Also put his drinks on my tab. The Bartender nodded, putting the beer down and walking to the sink. Billy picked up the beer and walked towards the man. As he closed the distance, he started making out the mans features and posture. His hair was completely white, and his right half of his face was covered in surgical scars. His lower jaw on the right side had been replaced by a completely mechanical covering, and his right eye had been replaced with an artificial replacement. Noticing Billy's arrival, the man stiffened up, his posture going rigid as if expecting an attack.
Billy sat down opposite the man, offering the beer as if to offer a truce. The man looked at the beer and spoke. Thanks. The man took a sip of the beer, and put it down. It's all true. What the Bartender said. I hesitated, and my crew died. Now please let me drink in peace. Billy, stunned by the mans affirmation, followed his gaze out the window trying to think of the correct words to say. He chose to be honest.
I Buried my ships former Crew two days ago. All 250 of them. Some of them I knew by name, some I don't even remember their faces. All they are are specs of dust floating in Coronado now. Did they deserve to die? Probably not. They where performing their duties, and died with honor doing their duties. When I found the ship, I was in the same shoes as you. Alone, with nobody to turn to, with everyone I once knew gone and dead. The ship and crew I loved floating derelict in space. I sat there at the helm of my transport, staring at a relic of the past. Taking a long chug from his drink, Billy continued looking out the window. The man looked at Billy, studying his features.
How did you recuperate? How did you come to terms with it? How did you move on?
I didn't. I don't think I ever will move on. All I can do is honor their memories, and know that I will do the correct things moving forward. I won't abandon my crew...my family again. The ship that they kept running for so long will fly again, despite its damage. Billy finished his drink, and turned towards the man. I am going to be honest with you, I don't know the first thing about commanding a warship. And I certainly don't have an Executive Officer to help handle the load. If you would like to discuss it tomorrow, I'm staying on the station for two nights. I'm in room... Billy looked at a note with some numbers on it, and read off the compartment number.
Think about it. If you'd like a home, and move on, let me know. Have a good evening. Billy stood up, and walked over to the bartender. Settling his tab, he left the bartender. After watching Billy leave, the man turned back to the window, and thought about his previous command.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Billy looked at his presentation. He had to convince the Natio Octavarium to sell the Nightmare to him, but he knew as with all negotiations things can go sideways. He also knew that once he had the ship, he needed contracts. maintenance on a Destroyer would cost millions per month. He had what he believed was a foolproof plan, however it still needed multiple groups to work together and be ok with the arrangement. He sighed, and started reviewing the presentation for a second time.
An hour later, a small chime rang out in Billy's room. Billy looked up, realizing the chime was the doorbell. Closing his presentation, he stood up and walked over to the door and punched the door open button. The bulkhead door opened, and at the door stood the mystery man from the night before. However, Billy could tell something was different. The man was standing at rigid attention, with a clean jumpsuit on. Billy could also tell the man had a different demeanor, instead of a depressed sad man stood someone with a purpose. We have not been formally introduced. My name is Roy Gibbons. Roy extended a hand, which Billy took. Suppressing a small grin, Billy invited Roy into the compartment, and offered him a seat.
Billy took a seat opposite of Roy, and begun to speak. While I need an XO, I also need someone I can trust. There is a chance we will end up shooting at Liberty Navy warships, will you be ok with that? I'm going to take a guess and say you are career Liberty Navy, so are you willing to work with the scum and the illegal underbelly of Sirius?
I lost respect for the Liberty Navy when they ordered my ship to fire on Civilians. As for working with the unlawful groups, I'm willing to make that shift if it means I get to sail the stars again.
Billy, satisfied with the answer pushed a few buttons on his small consumer projector and holographic images of the Nightmare and his presentation displayed in the air. Good. Now, I need to convince the Natio Octavarium to sell me the rights to this cruiser. I'll go through this presentation, please let me know if you have anything you think I can improve on. And if you have any questions, please let me know.
Billy began going through his presentation, Roy interrupting and ask questions as needed.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Billy Xae and Roy Gibbons spent the majority of the day discussing the Nightmare, and the plan to reconstruct her. Billy also explained the history of the Vagrant Raiders, and the subsequent reorganization into the Natio Octavarium. It was not a pleasant conversation at times, as both Billy and Roy grew up with different ideologies.
Two Days Later, Barrier Gate Nebula
The More Than Enough slowly moved through the Nebula, RCS Thrusters twisting and turning, making sure to give sufficient distance between the rocks and ice of the nebula and the ship. Aboard the ship was Billy Xae, Roy Gibbons, and an assortment of Engineers from Evan Baldwin's crew, as well as some Junkers with welding gear. This was one of the first supply shipments the More Than Enough was scheduled to run today, carrying hull panels and bulkhead reinforcement parts.
The Junker Congress had formulated a wild plan to bypass the house of Liberty and get the Nightmare to Vieques Shipyard in Puerto Rico. First, some in-situ repairs would be conducted to shore up any extreme damage to the Nightmare that could cause the destroyer to break apart when the ship was moved. Then, a Congress ship outfitted with a jump drive would tow the Nightmare out of the Nebula and jump her to Puerto Rico. Then, the ship would be towed to Vieques Shipyard, where the work would really begin.
The Reconstruction of the Nightmare would happen in phases, identified by the main task to be completed in each phase. Phase 1 would consist of the removal of any components that would not be salvageable for the reconstruction effort. This included the entire Shipboard Computing environment, the Reactor Core, and the majority of the ships onboard weapons systems. Additionally, this phase would also include any main hull breaches that would hamper the re-pressurization of the ships interior, to allow the engineering crews to complete their work without wearing bulky pressure suits.
Phase 2 would mainly consist of replacement of the new Reactor Core, as well as getting basic electrical systems online and functional. This phase would almost entirely be handled by the Junker Congress, as Rell Harrow's new experimental reactor system would be installed and configured to sync up with the pre-existing engine drive units. The ships main maneuvering systems would also be checked in this phase of construction, ensuring all RCS translation thrusters, as well as the primary engine drive units where fully functional and operational. Lastly, as part of this phase the ship's engineering computer system would be installed.
Phase 3 consisted of primarily Combat Systems Integration, spearheaded by the Natio Octavarium Company Aquila Defense Systems. This would encompass the design, installation and implementation of most of the Primary and Secondary weapon control systems, from the weapons themselves to the software that ran onboard. The plans did not call for any special weapons that could not be sourced on the black market, however the cooling and power delivery infrastructure was to be installed to supply any ship armaments that could be normally installed.
Phase 4 would be the majority of the Sensor and Computer Systems installation, also headed by Aquila Defense Systems. This would include all navigational, sensor integration and heuristic analysis to be used by the ship, as well as any cyber defense systems to prevent any outside actors from gaining a wireless connection to the ship and using it for nefarious purposes. INcluded in Phase 4 would also be a series of flight tests, to validate the design and find any problems with the ship prior to leaving the relative safety of the Puerto Rico system.
Lastly, Phase 5 would include the cleanup, and "buttoning up" of the Nightmare prior to her certification as complete by the Congress, and the first long-duration voyage. Any issues found during trials in Phase 4 would also be rectified in Phase 5, to ensure all parties where meeting their contractual requirements.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Before leaving for Canberra Star City, Billy had given operational authority to Roy Gibbons. Among Roy's new tasks was hiring the crew. Starting from the top down, he quickly found a few department heads, who then filled their respective areas. Roy had hired a Bretonian Operations Officer by the name of Perry Cook to handle some of the mundane tasks, as well as function as an Operations Officer on the bridge. Perry's skills where rough around the edges, but he had a knack for making sure nothing was forgotten.
However, Roy's more important task was overseeing the salvage and reconstruction efforts while Billy was gone. Hiring a few shuttle pilots to ship supplies from Barrier Gate Station to the Nightmare's location, the Junkers quickly shored up the Nightmare's more extensive damage, and plugged the holes. It was haphazard work, however it only had to survive the jump to Puerto Rico. By the end of the second day, the ship was ready to be jumped. Slowly towing the Nightmare out of the Barrier Nebula, the Congress ships attached tow lines and their small group of ships jumped.
A Small miscalculation caused the odd assortment of ships to jump a bit further from Vieques than originally anticipated, but the Nightmare survived the journey. Towed into a drydock Berth that would be her home for the next few months, Roy watched as the scaffolding and machinery descended on the Nightmare from all sides. Quickly, junkers began cutting off melted armor plating and patching up holes.
Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
