Pedro was telling his story and those two were listening with utmost interest. And they didn't notice that he barely touched his breakfast...
***
a few months ago
Corsair flagship Altaneria was about to get the last hit in Sigma 17. Retreating corsairs already left the area and Rheinland Bombers were firing last salvo of Nova shots. The rest of enemy fighters already left the area, awaiting the final blast.
Quote:>>>Incoming Transmission from Juan Montoya
"Pedro, no! Noooooooooooooooo!!!!"
Pedro's eyes were closed, his heart was beating slowly and chunks of his memories were floating in front of him. He was awaiting the inevitably coming end. The time had flown so slowly. He thought about Teresa. A few moments ago he sent her his last message and a final good bye. How will she react? She had so many reasons to hate him. And he kept acting like a coward, even now. He simply gave up.
The main reactor was hit and Altaneria was shaking as if flying through a jump hole.
He opened his eyes. No! He's not going to end like that! Pedro jumped into his spacesuit, sealed his helmet and ran to the nearest deck with escape modules. But it was too late. The chain reaction in the main power generator breached the critical level and the flagship exploded in a massive blast. Wrecked ship parts were flying in all directions.
Pedro lost his consciousness.
Later he woke up in a cargo bay of an unknown ship. Some Junkers were cruising through the area of battle in Sigma 17 looking for anything valuable, and found him by accident. He wasn't even in a lifepod, so no scanners were able to detect him. However after all what happened in Sigma 13 (the whole Corsair battle group, partly supported from Yanagi Depot, several times endangered the station) Junkers weren't really cooperative and they sold him to a mercenary who was well known for his contacts at Malta...
***
Pedro was getting to the point where Outcast kept him in their underground dungeon, but communication pads of both Julio and Teresa beeped. Liberty security battle group ambushed a large smuggling convoy in Alaska and the Brotherhood was asked for help. Elder Raul Yanez ordered Julio and Teresa to lead the main attack.
Teresa didn't want to leave her father alone, but there was no other choice unless they wanted to reveal the truth to the rest of the Corsairs.
Pedro's condition was much worse than when he woke up but he chose to lie and said that he's okay. He didn't want to disturb them even more. At that time he still thought he did the right decision.
Teresa and Julio left together in Julio's Titan, leaving Pedro Teresa's Centurion in case of emergency. The autopilot's course was set to Crete's hospital.
More than that. His body started to shake like never before. He fell on his bed and held his head with both heads. Mind blackouts were coming and leaving quickly and he heard strange voices..
* You need it.... Get it... Get it NOW! *
The more he tried to resist them the worse it was getting. He slowly reached for his blaster and put the barrel to his head. But he couldn't continue. His brain was about to explode and he lost consciousness again. The gun slowly slipped out of his fingers and fell on the ground...
***
When he brought round, he was sitting in the Sabre again and his will to resist was gone, he wasn't controlling his body any more, some other part of his mind was. He was still in Omicron Theta and the course was set to Omicron Eta, to a hiding place in the minefield, where his package should have been located. At least according to the information in the outcast data pad...
Teresa and Julio just returned from Alaska where their wing of Titans and Centurions successfully pushed back Liberty Security blockade. That smuggling route into NY was getting really messy and Corsair presence was needed every day to distract liberty fighters and let the smugglers slip through.
They were both tired but Pedro was their primary concern, so they just passed debriefing and departed in Julio's Titan as soon as possible, heading to the Villa high in mountains.
But something was terribly wrong. As they approached they didn't find Teresa's Centurion parked where they left it. The Villa seemed abandoned and scanners showed no life form present. After they landed, Julio quickly searched the Villa and Teresa logged Tethys Locator's remote console trying to find her Centurion. Both members of the Brotherhood and ship had implanted chips of the Tethys system.
After Julio returned, Teresa said: "I can't believe it! Tethys says, the ship is back at Freeport 9. But how..."
Julio reacted more reasonably, took Teresa's hand and said: "Amado, there is no time for this now, we need to get there as fast as we can." Then he pulled her into the Titan, took off and set the course for Omicron Theta, ignoring all Crete's security rules.
On the way there they kept talking about possible scenarios and Julio told Teresa about the pulled gun laying on the floor of Pedro's bedroom. Once they got to Freeport 9, they quickly located the Centurion.
It was empty.
"What now?", Teresa asked?
"Bartender! Let's ask him", Julio answered.
They described Pedro to the bartender and told him that he came in a Centurion. He didn't remember anyone like that entering bar in the past few hours, but he told them about certain incident that happened about an hour ago. Some stupid Outcast refused to pay the parking fees, broke into the hangar, took his Sabre and left the station. On the way out he destroyed the main door on dock 3 in order to get out. He was last seen heading to the Eta jump hole.
"That must have been him, Teresa. He's probably heading back to Outcasts. Why else would he fly to Eta?", Julio said.
Teresa replied: "I have no idea, but we must stop him at all costs.
She made a small pause and continued: "Julio, if things go the worst possible way we'll have to destroy his ship and I know I can't do it. I just can't."
Julio looked worried. Pedro was not only very close to him, but he was also one of the best pilots he knew. The only advantage was that Pedro was piloting a Sabre now and hopefully he didn't have time to learn how to master it. This hope was fragile, but it was the only solace Julio could think of.
"I'll do it. For him. And for you." he gave her a sad look and she hugged him. But he stopped her and said: "We must hurry, take the Centurion, and follow me."
If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez
They directly set course to Omicron Eta jump hole, hoping to track down Pedro in his Sabre. Unfortunately, neither him nor any other life form were sighted around the jump hole. After a brief scanning..
"We must jump in Teresa, he has most probably jumped otherside. Form on me once we are in.."
"Alright.."
They initiated a successful jump into Eta where Julio actually knew quite well thanks to numerous incursions against the Outcasts.
"Strange, the scanners still didn't detect anything, where could he be?"
"Hmm.. We have no other chance but to proceed.. Be careful with the mine field, I will be evading them so stay formed on me at all costs.."
Julio engaged his cruise without wasting time and reached the mine field shortly.
"Decreasing the altitude, coordinates set.."
Shortly after they reached Palermo, miraculously without an Outcast wing on their tail..
"Do you have anything on scanners?"
"No, I fear not.. Maybe we should.."
The transmission was interrupted as a Sabre undocked from Palermo. The vessel did not have a tag but an Outcast ID. Teresa quickly scanned it..
She screamed a second later..
"It is him, Pedro!!"
Julio was being heard on the comms..
"Pedro, we know you are there.. Please turn down your engines, we will take you back home.. We don't want to make this by force.."
Pedro stood still for a moment hanged up in space. After a brief silence he engaged his cruise to evade the two and head to Alpha..
Teresa yelled out loud again..
"No!! He is running.."
Julio fired a sidewinder into his thruster disabling his cruise, and the two began to duel.
Teresa was watching the two fight in horror. She was deeply anxious for not only her father Pedro but also her lover Julio who could be retrieved by Outcasts in no time if Pedro won the duel. Only thing she could do was to pray for both..
This was supposed to be a stern test of responsibility for Julio who hadn't succeeded to defeat Pedro in a duel before. But now he had to succeed for the Corsairs.. He had to save his father from the vicious infestation..
The fight didn't last too long though. After a balanced jousting of five minutes, Pedro was exhausted being no longer able to concentrate on the duel. He was obviously under the effect of the drug's absence and attempted a last try on recharging his cruise engines.
"Stop him!!"
Julio fired the last sidewinder bringing his shields down and released a sunslayer cracking Pedro's Sabre down. A nasty explosion followed as Teresa closed in fastly to search Pedro's pod. Before she reached there, Julio tractored the pod and some materials scattered around just after the explosion.
"Got him. It seems he was carrying some sort of stuff with him.."
"Ah, I can't wait to learn what he was hiding from us.."
At that moment a Sabre wing showed up on scanners undocking from Palermo, most probably evoked upon the explosion. Every passing second, more incoming Sabre wings were being detected on scanners coming from the Alpha direction.
"We have to hurry, can't fight off all these Outcasts now.."
They had to bring Pedro back safely.
"Activating cruise engines, setting course to Theta jump hole.."
Julio and Teresa were now heading back with a horde of Sabres following them. And Pedro unconcious in his pod was being carried back to Crete..
But who could know what they would face near the Theta entrance?
The weekly check of the Tethys mainframe was scheduled for today. Juan sighed as he knew it was his turn to take the long journey on foot through the caverns and underground passages that made up the maze to the mainframe. Of course, it wouldn't usually bother him, but he had only just regained his ability to walk, and he found it exhausting to go any distance other than a short one.
He had rested many times along the way to the mainframe, and when he finally got there, he lay down on the floor panting. He would have stayed there for many more minutes if it were not for the silently flashing orange light that Juan could see out of the corner of his eye.
Juan thought to himself -
~Thats odd, I've never noticed that light before. And I need to check what it means, in that case... oh god, well, here goes nothing...
As he staggered to his feet and made his way slowly to the control panel, he realised why Tethys was at a warning stage. Two pilots, identified as Julio Ibanez and Teresa Chavez, were in Omicron Eta. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. But there were only those two pilots, no other ships. No support; nothing. Just space.
Juan fed some instructions through Tethys and tried to establish a communication link between Teresa and himself, but the hail was met with no response. Equally, Julio didn't respond either.
Even during a battle, pilots responded to a direct hail from the Tethys mainframe, so something was definitely wrong. But why in Outcast space? Why particularly in the contested battlefield, Omicron Eta? What was so special about that system? Just a large minefield, an Outcast base, and some desolate planets...
He decided that he would keep this to himself for now, and deactivated the warning alarm. But as he turned towards the exit, he stopped and cocked his head to one side.
~It took me long enough to get here through that maze.. and now I have to go back out that way? Oh jeeze, this is going to be fun! Okay, just focus, focus, focus....
With that, Juan began the seemingly endless journey back through the maze that protected Tethys, to the main landing pad, and his Titan.
Julio and Teresa jumped back to Theta. What was their surprise when they spotted a lonely Titan, belonging to Juan Montoya. There was a group of Manta wrecks, scattered around the jump hole, still smoking. Those must have been eliminated very recently.
They both heard Juan's amused voice: "Now, tell me you two. Do you really think that Omicron Eta is the right place for having dates? Isn't it, umm...let's say.. too risky?"
For a little while, there was a silence on the group frequency, and Juan continued...
"I was just joking. But leaving Corsair area without an escort is too dangerous to be done without proper reason. Not tell me the truth..."
Teresa knew, Juan was one of the Elders father had trusted most. And he evidently wasn't one of those who could be mystified by a simple lie. She decided to tell him all they knew, but their Outcast followers started to appear as they jumped one by one after them and there was no time for talking...
"No time for that now, Juan, we need to get lost. Julio, change of plans. Take him to Atka Research Station and try to contact your Cryer friend. Hope they'll let us land. They don't like criminals in general, but they hate Outcasts more. Me and Juan will cover you and as long as we finish these bastards, we'll follow you there...", with Juan's appearance Teresa realized, that hiding Pedro in the Villa on Crete is no longer safe.
Juan took down the first Sabre. Poor Outcast pilot thought that to avoid Juan's nuclear mine he just needs to pass it in a few meters distance, as he probably usually did, but a precisely timed Train Cruise Disruptor crossed his plans. His Sabre was literally blown away to bits and pieces. Pure luck, one would say, but Teresa knew Juan's fighting skills and she knew it wasn't a coincidence.
"Hmm, 'take him' you said, hermana? It starts to be interesting, I can't wait what are you two hiding from me...", Juan said and targeted another already dead Outcast.
Julio hit the 'Engage Cruise Engine' button and quickly headed to the Sigma 17 jump hole...
If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez
With luck on his side, Julio initiated an instant jumping sequence soon after leaving Teresa and Juan behind the scene busy with keeping the Outcast devil at bay. The thirst for spilled Hispanic blood would never come to an end, one could say.
Just after the access, the authentic atmosphere grasped his attention once again evoking a dramatic remembrance of the old days dedicated to Rheinland's recently failed invasion. He knew well enough though, time was of the essence not to mention spending that with emotionality.
Upon reaching Atka, several Cryer transmit emitters were signalled to his communication pads on board. It wasn't the most usual thing for these researchers, who had every right to question a stranger before letting in, to expect a Corsair land on their station.
He made the identification with a coarse tone..
"This is Brotherhood Gamma 6. Julio Ibanez requesting clearance to dock, I have been looking for Lloyd Jonhston, an old friend of mine."
Despite not being quite intimate with the chap, Julio pretended to be in case the Cryer could inflict his passage with a further doubtful case which would end up with losing a valuable period in the name of saving Pedro.
However, the Cryer board were strangely intrigued and submitted in trusting this young man's declaration of familiarity with one of the most important stuff members they had at hand which provided Julio with the passage in advance.
Soon after the docking sequence, it was crystal clear that Lloyd was the one who gave the order letting Julio in. He was standing right in front of him, hands open for a warm greeting hug at the entrance hall. This both surprised and pleased Julio.. Lloyd should be someone important for the Cryer, he thought.
"Ah, Julio.. I knew you would track me down here. But didn't expect this much earlier to be earnest. Welcome to Atka, the research station where lots of quite vital information are being processed and stored every single day. Our last conversation on Freeport was something you have been longing for I guess, heh.. Anyway, I would like to know what dragged you down here boy. Looks like you need some help this time, true?"
Julio told him about Pedro. The grim story and the details they were slowly discovering. Neither did he have time nor any other available option but to trust Lloyd.
"Pretty tragic story. We will keep an eye on your father in the medical for a while and inspect his condition progress every hour. Let's hope, he doesn't fall in a deep coma. Professor Welsh had been running a project for the survival of cardemine addicts for nearly eight months, which unfortunately was halted a month ago due to severe financial problems arising because of the increasing wage and material expenditure. Cryer were unable to fund him anymore, and he chose to abandon with disappearing oneday. If we had any possibility to avoid decease, he is the only one we could rely on at the moment."
"So he simply left?"
"He did and before doing that he left some of his ownings and documents to me.. I don't know where and when I could see him again. Heck, I am not even sure if he is still alive or not."
"Looks like a grim one.."
"Indeed. These documents mean nothing without him. According to some of our Gateway contacts he was recently recognized to be dwelling somewhere in Cambridge under a fake ID which still makes me reserve some hope for the future. Let's hope the report ain't fake as well."
"Maybe the research institute?"
"This is upto you, to search and discover the truth. If you manage to reveal his identity and bring him back, we could look for a way to get things sorted and find a practical solution until your father succeeds in enduring the first shock."
"First shock?"
"Boy, you will learn the details later on, trust me. Here is an old Bounty Hunter ID you will use to disguise yourself and the keys of the Manta parked at Corfu. It should be in docking field sector J7-AC. Just try to avoid contact with the Bretonian locals as much as you can. I fear, an intelligent officer could blow your cover off.. Get going now and focus on your quest. I need that man as much as you need the solution for a cure."
Lloyd's comm device beeped silently and he activated the speaker:
"Sir, this is Frank Dekkers, officer of Atka's control tower, we have two other Corsair ships, requesting permission to dock. They are referring to the corsair vessel that has been granted to dock at your command."
Lloyd turned to Julio, awaiting explanation...
Julio said: "It's his daughter Teresa Chavez and Juan Montoya, Corsair Elder, his best friend. I think he could help us with funding of Professor Welsh's project. And I think, above all, Pedro needs these people around, if he has any chance to recover at all."
Lloyd Jonhston activated the conversation with the control tower again and said: "Let them in, send someone to escort them to the medical bay as soon as possible."
***
Teresa and Juan approached Julio and Lloyd.
Julio introduced them and said: "These people are the only ones in Sirius, who can help him now. However I need to leave now, Teresa, as I must bring Professor Welsch here. This man was leading the secret cardamine cure project, before the funds were cut. It will take some time as we're not sure of his current location. I suggest you and Juan stay with him in the meantime. I was told that although he falls into unconsciousness frequently, there may still be some bright moments and you'll be able to talk to him. The guards will escort you to him."
Julio kissed Teresa's forehead, nodded at Elder Montoya and left with Lloyd, heading to the hangars...
Juan Montoya looked very confused while they were walking to the medical bay. His ability to walk was recovering rather quickly. "Teresa could you finally tell me what this is all about?"
She said: "You'll discover all you want to know in a few moments, Juan."
But Juan kept mumbling: "I hate mysteries, him, him, Cryer base, secret projects, cardamine cure...", until his voice died away abruptly as they entered a clean room with one bed and several medical apparatuses.
His mouth remained open and his body froze at the room's entrance.
If I die, I forgive you, father. If I live we shall see.....Teresa Chavez
The doctors looked up from their instruments as the two Corsairs appeared at the doorway. It didn't take long for Juan to recognise Pedro, even after his massive physical change from a strong, well built man to a skinny, aged figure. In fact, it took him about half a second.
"What the F...."
'Shhh, the patient is asleep!' A doctor hissed through his bacterial mask.
"Oh... okay." Juan hissed back.
As Juan and Teresa quietly aproached, the former just stared at the seemingly lifeless and weak body of Pedro Maniaco. His skin was grey and pale, and he looked like a victim of some horid disease...
Then it hit him. Like a sledgehammer.
Cardimine cure?! Outcasts! Omicron Eta! And now a Cryer base?! It all came together instantly.
Barging past the doctors around Pedro, Juan grabbed his still hand and lifted it, drawing back the sleeve as he did. Then he saw what he feared most. Countless bruises around the inside of the elbow joint, surrounding the vein. As Juan stood there like a statue, almost in shock at what his best friend had been subjected to, Teresa made her way to the opposite side of the bed. She cradled her fathers cheeks with her hands, and love that Juan had never seen in her eyes.
*So you see, Juan, Pedro is alive... he is just ...* Teresa started, a tear in her eye.
"Just a victim of this dispicable Outcast experiment!" Juan continued, an angry tone lining his voice.
"But at least he is still with us... I swear... I swear on the graves of all the Corsairs that have given their lives... I will find those that did this to Pedro and I will rip them to pieces! Using their own addiction, leave them in a cell and watch them die a slow, painful death! Every last one of those... those Outcasts!"
Just then, a feeble groan was heard from the figure on the bed, and everyone turned around to see Pedro open his eyes. Silence fell on the room as Pedro slowly rotated his head on the bed and tried to focus his vision on those standing around him....
Pedro looked at Teresa and then his sight stopped at Juan. It wasn't clear if he recognized them at first. His face was pale and there was no expression on it.
But then he slowly nodded at Juan and said to her: "Teresa, I am sorry for all this. Maybe one day I'll get a chance to talk to you and explain all what I had to go through."
Teresa was holding his arm and she felt he started to shake again. He slowly reached for her hand and put it on her plasma gun, bound to her right leg and looked into her eyes...
"You know what needs to be done if things get out of hands again, right?"
And Pedro's sight blurred and his body started to look lifeless again although his eyes remained open.
Teresa wasn't able to speak and she was glad Juan put his arm over her shoulders.
However, a few minutes later, Juan's comm device beeped, and after he read the message, he slowly released his hand and left to the Cryer's holographic room. There appeared to be another meeting in the Council Chamber that he had to take his part in.