Ikura Susakumi: The story of a street urchen

[Machelvanius]

Planet New Tokyo, The Industrial District

Ikura Susakumi scraped a living off the streets of the New Tokyo Industrial District. Her father had wanted a boy. She was the only child so he named her a boys name. He refused to name her a girls name. He was the sole provider for the family. He was killed on a routine delivery from Planet New Tokyo to Planet Honshu when the transport he worked on was destroyed. She was only thirteen when it happened . The reports were sent to the family, it was called a routine police action against the Hogosha: the transport just got in the way.

Her family lost their home, and their way of life. Her extended family didn't have enough resources to help them. She would have been treated like a street tramp anyway. Begging was for the lower class, not that she minded it, but something always felt degrading about it.

As time passed, and some of her old friends who she was able to keep in contact with got new jobs, she was able to find new opportunities. One day, her friend on Shinagawa station helped her get a invitation to the Kusari Police Academy. Once she graduated to uniformed guard, she was given a ship. It was the worst ship ever, but she loved it. The Stargazer: Barely capable of fighting, but she felt more free than ever.

Narita Outpost, New Tokyo System

They stationed her at Narita Outpost where all the recruits get a chance to learn battle tactics against some of the easier targets in the system. On one of her missions, against a fleet of Farmer's Alliance mercenaries, there was a chance encounter she didn't expect.

A Golden Chrysanthemum pilot showed up, and watched her as she took down the Alliance pilots. She didn't even see the ship, until the pilot made contact over the comms. She knew she was supposed to be afraid, but she wasn't. This pilot was not showing signs of hostility. Ikura kept destroying the Alliance pilots, it was the only way she'd get paid. During the fight, her systems accidentally targeted the other pilot. The pilot seemed unshaken, but a little annoyed, fortunately, Ikura remembered her manners and apologized.

Soon afterward, there were 3 ships, one of them quite large with many turrets. They spoke to her of a substance that could help her become far more aware and have better reaction time. They called it Shige. As they spoke, Ikura was reminded that she was working for the very organization that killed her father and got away with it. Before long she became intrigued by these pilots, who seemed to be concerned for her. No one ever showed concern anymore, not since her father died and her mother left her in the streets as a teenager.

One of the pilots gave her some, she was a little hesitant, she asked them many questions. She found out the stuff is addictive, and it kills if you stop it. Not ideal, she thought, but what would be the trade off? Is it possible that these who called each other sisters were the family she needed and craved? It wasn't long before she was convinced. She flew to Shinagawa to take one of the Shige given to her. When she flew back, she was overwhelmed by the brightness. She had to use her sun visor along with the ships normal light filtering through the hud. She was on edge, but it felt good. After some more discussion with these Sisters, she felt that she should join them.

There was a problem, the digital signature still showed as Kusari Police on her ship. "You'll need to lose those papers first if you want to join us," said one of the Sisters. Then Ikura had an idea, her friend at Shinagawa, he was a talented and promising Hybrid System Software developer. He could probably get her new systems on her ship. She went back to Shinagawa, and he did for her as she expected, but not without a few questions. He could see that her eyes were different, that she had a sort of fire in her eyes. He thought she must have found something. He got her civilian papers and digital signature on her ship. "You know, if you get caught, they're gonna come after me. Don't get caught."

The one in the larger ship seemed to be in charge, "I'm not convinced this one isn't an infiltrator." Ikura felt irked. Without hesitation, she asked, "So you need proof?" She began taking down the police ships that had gathered trying to destroy the Sisters. They were weak compared to their defenses, but she took them down quickly, and scooped up their life pods when their ships exploded.

"You don't waste any time do you?" said one of them. "Well, that's good for me." But the one in charge said, "Ok, good job, now release those pilot life pods for those police." And she did so. "Now destroy them." She did without remorse or hesitation. "Well that's good enough for me. We'll need to get you to a place where you can learn."

[Machelvanius]

Ainu Station

The world around her had become unsavory. The life ahead of her became dependency. It was a very difficult choice. Her family left, or were destroyed. This became the beginning of her new existence.

She had no choice, she had to find other things besides the Shige to satisfy her addiction. It was a severe cardimine addiction, refined to perfection. But Cardimine from the Outcasts would do in a pinch.

Without hesitation, she started trading what she could to go to Outcast space to find Cardimine. The world she knew was almost not salvageable, but in the end, there was the dream of Shige

Kyushu, Battleship Matsuda

The Shige is the only reason to live, the Shige has become the only way to recover. Shige is my entrance, it is my exit, it is my existence.
There is no other way . . . Shige is my life.