Eugene Debs was a gallant man. Studious, immaculate, cunning, daring. A flair for the dramatic over a rather rough exterior and 'peasant' clothes made the man an oddity, especially striding the corridors of that obsidian shard of a base, Buffalo. He was a man that inspired confidence among a certain sort, but sadly for Mr. Debs that sort was notably lacking among the Liberty Rogues, of which he was a member. He coined himself a "gentleman of the lanes", a 9th century AS highwayman.
Those who were inclined to his course of robbing commerce ships blind without firing a shot (what Debs called a "civilized piracy") unless absolutely necessary flocked to him. Amongst the brutish Rogues, his crew numbered about fifteen, all loyal to their captain to the death.
Aboard the Rogue Gunboat La Villa Strangiato, they became a well-known pirate ship that traders didn't fear for his unusual and astute manners.
"Incoming fire!" the XO of La Villa Strangiato yelled as the first volleys hit the shields, not shaking the ship much. It was, however, the hostile intent that mattered.
Debs was rather upset. No warning whatsoever. A Universal transport and two escorts came out of the lane, and the escorts opened up.
He activated the comms and spoke: "Not so much as a gentleman's warning?" Nothing but the Universal transport captain frantically saying something about them being 'new'. The XO, Samuel Gompers, muttered something about that being obvious.
"Tactical, return fire!"
The ship maneuvered to avoid enemy shots while dishing out its own damage. The first target was a Spatial. It happened too fast for the sensor operator to pick up much else besides the ship type. Twin-Pulse Cannons ripped its shields asunder, and before it could respond the main guns blew it apart.
The second target was a Civilian bomber, which was more wily than the Spatial. Dodging with uncanny ability -- with what seemed to be inhuman reflexes -- it managed to stay alive for about ten minutes as the main guns chipped it apart.
Soon, there was naught but dust. The Universal transport had moved on quickly, but it came back and paid the rather upset Captain Debs 200,000 credits. A pittance, for that kind of hassle... he thought, but Debs simply ordered helms to set a course back to their port of call to restock supplies.
The next day, after spending the night on the Hacker's base in Ontario, La Villa Strangiato hit the same lane once again. This time, some Starflier pilot was interested in joining the Rogues. However, as Debs was distracted talking to him, the lane went up and a Gateway ship (the Trafalgar) sped past! Cursing his luck, he continued talking to the pilot about how dangerous a Rogue's life was.
The Starflier moved on, and then a Gateway escort came. He preemptively, and rather smartly, paid off Debs to ignore the Trafalgar on his return trip. Obliging, the highwayman found himself half a million credits richer. Some trader named Kain and Billy blabbered on about being pirated every which turn, but was rather surprised when he heard Deb's reasonable request of half a million credits. He paid quickly and ran.
That's about when Trafalgar returned, but he was caught two lanes down by a Harvester!
"You vile machine, that ship is under my protection!" Paying Debs made him honor-bound to protect the trader. The Rogue gunboat moved closer, and the Harvester let Trafalgar go as his escort (John Smith) engaged the Harvester.
Soon, a Liberty gunboat entered the fray, and Debs ordered the attack! Streaking in, twin-Pulse cannons shredded its shields as a Rogue bomber named "Lasting Damage" came to assist. The gunboat was destroyed, and the only other notable event of the morning was a Bowex trader refusing to pay and being shot down. "An unwise course," as Debs would say.
"Engage cruise and retreat!" Debs yelled as sparks flew from the bulkheads from another hit. Nanobot and shield battery reserves depleted, he had no choice but to fall back to Alcatraz. The mercenary Zero.Hour had come back with another merc bomber to seek revenge! They were the first to find him, before any traders came through the lane.
Boasting of how retreat was worse than destruction, the mercenary seemed to be quite happy with himself. Debs ground his teeth bitterly.
The next day, La Villa Strangiato was back on the lanes. Three traders appeared. One paid, commenting on the reasonableness of Debs' rates. One turned tail and ran before the Rogue gunboat was even in range. The last didn't have the money to pay, and was let go.
To show that he no longer had a vendetta against Captain Debs, the mercenary Zero.Hour passed by without firing a shot, and even suggested that the last trader pay his "reasonable rates".
Well, I must say. I never thought this would happen. When the sleeper ships came over to Sirius, the old Alliance saw to it that each had large memory capacities to preserve their old culture. Art, history, music. The like. Everyone knows it, and all the information has been cataloged (except for that stored aboard the Hispania, which the Outcasts guard jealously) and stored in the Manhattan Library of Sol, as well as a few other institutions throughout Sirius, most notably on the capital planets, as well as Cambridge and a couple others.
Some might not recognize the reason for the name of my ship, La Villa Strangiato. The shipwright that had constructed it on Terre Haute Shipyards in Cassini was one of the many who have been caught up with the resurgence of old Earth music, particularly that of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries AD. As I had no preference to name, he named it after one of his favorite songs by some band named "Rush".
Such a revival frankly confuses me. Why care so much for music that was originally composed by bands centuries dead, and not for bands nowadays? The construction of the guitar has been brought up once more, some astute businessmen seeing the trend of tastes amongst the citizens of Sirius. Bands in the present most play old music on old instruments to be popular.
Eugene sighs.
I will probably never understand it, and it will never cease to amaze me that when pirating, the trader will say "I love that song!" in reference to my ship's name.
La Villa Strangiato launched into the California system amidst some ship called "Xoria"-something spouting about paying 2 credits to see Phate destroyed. The bridge crew chuckled softly, and Debs engaged the distraught trader in light banter. They cruised to the Mojave to New York Jump Gate trade lane, disrupted it, and were met seconds later by a Rhino. It was that Xoria fellow. Demanding 5,000 credits, he retorted by offering 2 for the destruction of Phate again. Laughing, Debs insisted on his money by threat of trigger happy gunnery crew. He was quickly paid.
Later...
"Halt, my good man! Hand over 750,000 credits and you will not be harmed!"
The Rogue gunboat closed in on a Research ship, a Container transport. It stopped immediately and wired a million credits.
"Thank you, sir scientist," replied Debs with a bow the captain of the research ship did not see.
The rest of the day was characterized with a visit to Buffalo, pirating a Universal ship and Gateway ship, and otherwise chatting it up with the Hackers. And there was a Xeno somewhere in there, from the distance. Seemed like an alright fellow, though he blew up a Hacker.
Debs stood in his room, fuming and all but pulling his hair out. He punched the wall hard, and a picture frame protecting a beautiful landscape fell to the floor. Not bothering with his hand, he yelled "Traders are the scum, not us!"
It was on Alcatraz, La Villa Strangiato taking repairs. Why? Because after asking a reasonable sum (500,000 and 750,000) from two traders of average and large size, they said one word "wait" and then opened fire. A passing Freelancer Eagle, having no affiliation with either, turned around after passing in the lane and opened fire as well. A trader whom Debs made no demands of stopped and shot as well.
The lack of manners and civility of the ruthless traders pushed Debs over the edge as he ordered a general retreat, one of the trade ships being a cursed Container Transport. In his experience as a highwayman, every time a trader said 'wait', he got shot at.
Captain Debs resolved to shoot first next time a trader said "wait".
A Gateway Percheron, Zoner transport, and Junker Mammoth were all stopped. The first paid 400,000 credits and flew away rather nervously. The Zoner paid 200,000 credits in a smooth manner, and the Junker claimed he was broke after buying the ship, and was let go.
As La Villa Strangiato sat beside the lane, he pondered their situation as far as weaponry went. He remembered seeing a Razor hull breacher, which would make an excellent compliment to their twin Pulse cannons. He ordered helms set a course for Ontario, and on to Cassini.
Captain Debs sat with his first mate, Gompers, at a battered table in the mess hall of La Villa Strangiato. It was a small room, with food dispensers, a slew of tables and chairs bolted to the floor. A low ceiling and dim lighting complimented the atmosphere, created by the necessity of packing everything into a smaller package.
It had been a good day for Eugene Debs and his crew. All the traders had been well-mannered, or at least not suicidal, and had paid without a single shot being warranted.
First was a Zoner, who had tried to hide behind Zoner neutrality but in the end gave up as Debs made him see that he was in command of the situation with superior firepower. Most grudgingly he paid.
Next was a Cryer refugee transport. Taken by the altruism of the captain, and his willingness to stop and pay, Debs charged him less than he would have otherwise. It did ol' Deb's heart good to have reasonable men come along his lane.
"Mr Happy", a Zoner, was not too happy to be pirated, but understood and paid without much fuss.
A Freelancer trader came along then, and also was quite willing to pay Deb's paltry fee. Due to overcharging by most other pirates plying their vile craft of avarice, traders seemed amicable to pay a reasonable highwayman like the good captain.
The sirens sounded, breaking Debs and Gompers out of their quiet introspection.
"Captain, we got a live one!" came the voice of Terence Powderly, helmsman and acting commanding officer while Eugene was on break.
"A live one? Here?" he asked, incredulously. They were returning from Montezuma to Alcatraz, in open space. Near the sun, if he was correct. As he came to the bridge, the shaking of guns hitting the hull made him stumble into the open doorway. In the viewscreen was a slave liner opening fire.
"Have you made any demands?" he asked of Powderly, who shook his head.
"Nay sir. Cruise disrupted him and he opened fire right up."
Righteous indignation filled Debs as he responded to the wordless engagement and break with gentlemanly rules, also ordering the gunners to respond in kind.
It was a long chase on thrusters. The slave liner's gunners were cross-eyed, and their turrets were weak besides. Barely scratching the shields of La Villa Strangiato, the gunboat's turrets began a battle of attrition, chipping away at the impressive armor of the massive liner.
Eventually, after jumping to Cortez, it was destroyed. Debs lamented at being reduced to such barbarianism, but knew that it had to be done.
They returned to Alcatraz without incident and moored for the night, freeing what slaves they had been able to pick up.