Tale of the White Knight

[Ironfoot]

The barman stood while polishing a wine glass with a tattered tea-towel and looked across the almost empty room to the disheveled figure sat in the corner with at least 4 empty pint glasses on the table in front of him and the contents of a fresh one rapidly disappearing down the throat of the unshaven Zoner.

"This has got to stop", the bartender thought to himself and he strode off in the direction of the lone drinker, tossing the cloth onto the bar as he passed it. Has he neared the man he was greated with a drunken smile and a raised, now empty glass.

"More of your finest ale good man, if ya don't mind!", said the unfortunate looking drunk

"I think you've had enough don't you?", the barmen asked, "What ails you my friend? Usually when I see people sitting in a bar all alone drowning their sorrows it means they need a good listener"

The Zoner gave the barman a moments look of annoyance then sighed and began his story, "I drink for the lost crew of one of the finest ships in the Zoner fleet, a ship that has been where no ship should go and its sensors have seen sights that should not be seen!"

A sudden thought crossed the barkeepers mind, "Are you William Ironfoot, captain of the Cruiser 'White Knight'?"

"That I am", returned the weary looking captain. "Days ago I was leaving Gran fully loaded with supplies and my crew of friends and their families. Not long after when we were still in the system, my communications officer heard the distress call from a lone trader in a Whale being pirated by a Junker in a liner. Although the Corvo is not designed for combat I couldn't leave an unarmed comrade to his fate and quickly changed course to hopefully scare away this criminal who preys upon traders going about their everyday routines."

The barmen glances, quickly around the room to check for customers and then continues giving this now most intriguing of customers his full attention.

William continued with his tale,"We all know of the Nomads, the Phantoms and the Wild but what I am about to tell you will change your life forever! The day-to-day running of your megre life will become pointless and dull, in short for me the universe has a new dimension and things are not how we perceived them to be".

Ironfoot actually began to enjoy this new attention, "As my ship drew nearer to the pirate vessel, hailing for it's captain to stop the attack and leave the system; it was drawn into a new dimension of reality where a race of beings so powerful that they make Nomads cower in fear appeared to me and spoke. They call themselves the 'Ad-min-strators', a race of transcendental beings that were once flesh and blood like you and me but have somehow ascended onto a higher plane of existance. It seems from my conversation with them that they play with our universe like it is some gigantic game of chess lasting thousands of years and they said I had broken the rules and must be punished for it!"

"I do not know how long exactly I was gone, however hours later my ship and I were found adrift, only metres from where it had disappeared", the Zoner it seems had finished his story.

"Wait there, what happened to your crew? and what was your punishment?", questioned the annoyed bartender.

"My punishment and my crews fate are the same, when I returned they had gone and my ship was left without weapons to defend itself. They told me that this is my shame and this is also my punishment, to search the universe for my lost crew. If you ever see one of these 'Ad-min-strators' fear them my friend and stay away from them, do not disturb them or try to converse with them as we are nothing but pawns in their games. My advice to any that see them is run as fast as you can!"