Julio was unfolding the creased document he grabbed from his leather jacket and laid on one of the dark bar desks at Corfu. Inside was a thick case that contained both the sketch of the parking slots at Corfu, a topological data set of Bretonia and some photos. Lloyd was obviously keen on minimizing the risks by providing the required intel of this mission beforehand. Yet, on top of that it was imperative for both to preserve composure at every single stage of this undertaken task.
The sketch had the exact location of the parked Manta with an indicator that smoothly aided Julio to head toward the exact coordinates and find the parked vessel. Nobody were around once he was in, except the field projectors sweeping the area throughout the mist in midnight. He activated the key pad, a mild and serious expression on his face leaving itself to a broad grin after seconds. Brad Jenkins was ready to fulfill his new bounty contract.
He carefully studied the biography of the lad as his Manta reached the designation on auto pilot. Not only landing at the institute was a quick success, but to his delight he easily evaded the local patrols under the disguise without being exposured to any kind of questioning and encountering neither Corsair nor Hessian patrols in Omega-5 in contrast to his expectation with luck on his side once again.
He slipped through the backdoor of the bar, took a seat and started to observe the faces around. At that moment a tall, skinny man with recently polished boots was deliberately staggering toward his direction. The man who was also dressed in sheer quality leaned on him slowly after tapping on his left shoulder.
Julio simultaneously turned to his back as the man whispered,
"Always looking for someone, don't you?"
This man was most probably one of the Cryer agents, Lloyd had mentioned. They had a few of them under the Gateway employee contract. Despite knowing all these, the succession surprised Julio who didn't expect to be recognized in such a short time. He thought that he was the one to find the guys, not someone to be found by the others.
"Have any idea regarding the whereabouts of Professor Welsh then?" Julio asked with a rather resolute and high tone, disturbing the silence and making some faces turn around.
"Sorry sir, but I don't have the slightest opinion about the guy you are talking about." The man answered back, in a similar tone with an amused expression, his face turning to a mask of shame and fury.
Julio understood his fault and made a quick attempt for a recovery.
"Maybe this would help you remember him?" Julio whispered this time, unfolding the document once again and handing a photo of Welsh to the amused man, watching over him with curiosity.
"Ah, Doctor Welsh? I bet one could find him spending his time with the Junkies. Lately, I suppose." The man sat to his opposite as he replied back with a whistle through his teeth, carefully examining faces round the table in order to make sure nobody was to overhear them.
"Junkers?" Julio bursted out, losing his control again.
The man stood up, without looking at Julio's face,
"Stop it, will you? Stay quiet with that." The man spoke with a voice even Julio could hardly hear.
The figure fastly departed then, staggering in the already opposite direction toward the front door, his feet disappearing away in the dark like a ghost.
Reprimanded by the man, Julio looked at the entrance with an empty expression for a while. He threw some cash on his desk before leaving the bar in a haste from the backdoor. Breathing heavily, he ran to the docking pads with an exceptional vigor as Lloyd's comm link beeped. He was having a conversation with Teresa at the same moment.
"Alright Brad, we are on standby for the next transmission. Good luck out there until then."
"Who is Brad?" Teresa asked with suspicious looks, leaving her untouched glass of Rheinland ale on the steel desk.
"Its Julio, under his fake bounty hunter ID. I knew our young man would lead us to the place wherein Welsh had been hiding himself for so long. Thats why I risked him out there, and hopefully Welsh doesn't need to hide in his den anymore. Julio definitely has his father's veins.." Lloyd whispered the last part to himself..
"Ah.. Wait, what do you mean by risking?"
"We always have the risks senorita, don't we? It is about the planning and courage to eliminate obstacles and achieve goals in my book."
"Well.. That sounds as if you already had some plans about this doctor, eh?"
"Indeed, because I need the guy badly, that simple. It would be too luxurious to lose such a talent and the entire progress his project made just because of some mere clamour related to the recent poor example of an indigence literature advocated by the Cryer management when it comes to fund hot prospect but marginal projects."
The conversation was intercepted after half an hour with an incoming transmission. It was Welsh speaking furiously. Lloyd redirected the transmit to the station channel via his pad so that people in the room would be able to hear the transmit.
"Lloyd, is that you? I have a bounty hunter in detention right now and you know what? The young lad bleeding kept nagging me that I should use his communication pad to learn the truth. Now sir, I don't know whoever you are but I hope you have a reasonable explanation for all these nuisance, ruining my day."
"Thats me, Lloyd. At last man, good to know you are still alive. What is the name of that bounty hunter?"
"I know how to stay alive, stop getting worried about me. Mmmh, lets check his ID then. Name of our pilot is Brad Jenkins, contracted under the Bounty Hunters Guild, Sheffield squad. Haven't heard of this name ever before."
"Good, he is our man, I sent him to search and find you. And that ID is fake."
"Fake? Great, I don't have the slightest clue about the person you are sending after me. What is all this mystery Lloyd?"
"Long story actually, I was planning to explain the details when you two land at Atka."
"Land at Atka? Kidding right? I have no plans to return to those bastards who backstabbed me when I needed their help desperately. How the hell did you find me and expect me to return anyway and on top of that why?"
"Just keeping the contacts alive pal, as you taught. We need you badly here as I think we found a very stable funding source for your project this time. You don't need to serve these Junkers anymore. And please free our prisoner as soon as possible, he risked his own security to find you in Bretonia. Pay him back with a detention? What a shame that would be.."
"Funding source?"
"Trust me Gordon, for god's sake! I have already ordered the required preperations, they should be ready as you return."
It had been weeks since Pedro had arrived at Atka station in Sigma 17. From the windows, the broken pieces of the late Altaneria were visible; a saddening memory, especially for Pedro.
He had regained enough strength to walk, but his internal organs had become very weak. Julio was taking too long, and Juan had to be by Pedro's side all the time. He had only gone once to Crete, to pick up some things for Pedro, and to fight the endless war against the Outcasts. Teresa had only left to bring back the heads of the Outcasts that managed to die by her guns, and information from any others who werent killed straight away.
From this information, the Cryer scientists were able to create a substitute for the new form of drug that the Outcasts had developed. It was a dangerous option, though. Most drugs, before entering the market, went through many many tests to analyse short and long term effects on the body. There was no such time to observe these effects of the substitute drug, and it had to be administered daily to Pedro.
He had tried to wean himself off even this substitute, but the same accute and very painful symptoms came again, and again. Relentlessly pushing him and his body further and further towards the grave. It was obvious that Pedro's body had developed a total dependance on the drug. Without it, he would die.
Yet, Juan and Teresa didn't lose hope. Between the scattered council meetings and the search for more information on Angelfire and the Wretched, Juan stayed by Pedro's side as much as he could.
There was hope, if Julio could just get back with whoever he needed to find, as soon as possible. The worst may have happened, but Julio was a resourceful man.
Yet another hope, Juan realised.
Many times, Juan looked at the perverbial sky, and wished that Pedro would be alright, some day. But the possibility of that, was becoming smaller and smaller as every day passed by, with no news.
Several months have passed and several things have happened.
Julio was missing. He was supposed to be escorting Doctor Welsh back to Atka Research Station. But on the way through Omega 5 they were ambushed by a Red Hessian wing and he stayed to hold them back while Dr. Welsh continued to the Omega 41 jump hole. The real stroke came later. Despite all arguments, Teresa decided to search for her love. Pedro managed to convince Juan Montoya to send a wing of best Brotherhood pilots but they lost her in the clouds of Omega 7. It's been over 3 months now and everyone was loosing hope.
Dr. Welsh's substitute drug was working rather well and its symptoms were nearly unnoticeable. But he never succeeded to find a cure and so what was meant to be a temporary solution became the daily bread and this was not good. Pedro's body was slowly fading away, although his mind remained clear. He secretly moved back to his Villa, located high in Mountains, on the far side of the Council Chamber in an uninhabited area. Only a few Elders (counting Juan Montoya, Juan Lucendez and Carlos Benitez) knew of his return to Crete.
Pedro often used his terminal to observe the progress of the Corsair Nation, he watched the daily news, meetings in the Council Chamber, the war with the SCRA and treachery of his former friend Ares, return of OPG, ongoing disputes between the Brotherhood and the Benitez Famila, raids of bounty hunter capital ships in Omicron Gamma. He never really intended to go down from his mountains and return among the Corsairs, but the news from past few weeks were very disturbing. First there were reports of Nomad presence being tolerated in Outcast systems. It continued with Nomad capital ships orbiting Malta. And last week corsair pilots brought back screenshots of nomads showing up on outcast raids...
***
Pedro reached the top of Pic de Royo, on the highest peaks in the Far Side Mountains. These daily walks were keeping him alive. He leaned on his hiking sticks and looked down on the valley. The beautiful Cretan orange sun just appeared on the far horizon, the warming shine fell on his face and Pedro Maniaco made his decision. It's time go back to his brothers. It's time to stop hiding. Corsairs have to stand united against this new threat.
Pedro watched the sunrise for a little longer, and then he turned around and started to return to his Mountain Villa. There are a some things to get ready.
Terrible headache woke him up. It was one of the rare side effects of the Dr. Welsh's substitute drug. Pedro put the injection pistol to his neck and applied the dose. The pain in his head was away in a few seconds. He went to the window and stretcher his body. It still had visible signs of outcast torturing but daily walks and exercises as well as the mountain air played their role and were the major reasons why he was still not bound to a wheelchair or even a bed.
After a short breakfast he dressed up the flight-suit and went to the barn next to the Villa. A closer look would disclose that this building served like a hangar. Pedro went to his Titan and pulled down the gray cloth covering it. A lot of dust appeared in the air and he had to cough a few times. He palmed the Red Cross, the sign of the Brotherhood and look at the ship. There were many signs of fights and the hull's and wing's plating must have been fixed so many times. He checked the pair of Tizzonas, all four Salamanca's and then the Sunslayer torpedo launcher. The ship was still in a perfect condition.
"Time to fly you again, my old friend", he said while putting on the helmet. Then he reached for a hidden hold and swung into the cockpit. After running a few system checks, he pushed the ignition button. He heard the silent buzz of the engines and felt a well known vibration of the ship. He slowly flew it out of the hangar and then engaged full throttle to get to Crete's orbit. Once there he turned the ship and watched Crete. Half of the planet was dark while the other one was full of the orange light. The scenery was so breathtaking that Pedro didn't notice and in coming eagle carrying signs of the Brotherhood as well.
"This....this is not possible! Cut your engines at once! Who are you and where did you steal this ship?", he suddenly heard a familiar voice in the comms. Miguel Sephardi used to be a centurion in the times of the Rheinland invasion, but his fighting and commanding skills quickly lead to granting him the Elder status. After Montoya's retirement he even was one of the leading Elders of the Brotherhood.
"My dear brother Miguel, it's me...", Pedro replied after cutting the engines.
"Don Pedro!? But...we thought you died with the Altaneria...", Miguel's voice was shocked.
"I was close to death numerous times, my friend, yet for some reason I was spared. But Miguel, we can talk about it later in the bar. From what I know you're busy in the Council Chamber, so why don't you go back now. I am going to appear there later on as well, let me just fly my Titan for a while. It's been so long..."
Miguel replied: "As you wish, Senor. I'll try to prepare others for what I have seen..." And he quickly turned his ship, heading directly to the docking ring.
Pedro watched his retreating ship and then took his Titan for a short ride across Omicron Gamma...
After disappearing for a couple of months, Teresa, unable to find her lover, returned to Crete to stay with her father who miraculously adapted to the new medicines Welsh had created. A strange culmination of this treatment and the toxic effects of the unique doze Outcasts had produced in order to enslave Pedro somehow increased his resistance against both the drug and Cardamine making him even more durable against both drugs than before.
However, despite two years passing by, there was not any sign nor news of Julio, save his last transmission recorded in Teresa's comm device, which she listened to every night, before praying to God, in a hope to see her lover alive again one day, and going to sleep.
It was a Friday, when a magnificient sunset had caught Pedro watching Crete's scene with mixed feelings. He was worried for Teresa and Julio more than he was for himself as it became a custom for him to witness to his daughter's desperate prayers every day.