Blue Blaze (faction)

Blue Blaze
Origin	Liberty
Alignment	Lawful
Profile
Date of founding	n/a A.S.
Founder(s)	Kaden Lane
Base of operations	Tinkers Haven, Texas
Secondary Base	Planet Manhattan, New York
Identification
Primary ID	Freelancer ID
IFF	Police
Tag(s)	Blaze)-
Primary role
Protecting Planet Manhattan from criminal influence.
Secondary role
Fighting against criminal organisations, assisting Liberty lawful forces.
Table of contents

Blue Blaze are a Libertonian Freelancer organisation who have banded together to prevent their House from crime. And because stomping the crap out of criminal garbage is a whole lot of fun.

Story

Liberty. Land of the free, home of the brave, the place where people go to find prosperity. Under the covers torn apart by two wars with Gallia and Rheinland, petty criminals along the lines of Rogues, Xeno terrorists and smugglers of all the sorts. Liberty Police are running the thinnest of blue lines and failing, with well-armed gangs punching through their defences virtually at will.

In a House so money-driven people pay to get away from trouble. And Blazers, they all come out of Needles. That's a nice part of Varience City, with plenty of private security paid to make sure it stays that way. The views of the sea and sun-baked marinas are usually enough to take your eye away from razor-wire fences and surveillance cameras. Your common gang trash can't survive in this rarefied neighbourhood. If those kids want enemies, they have to go out and make them. So that's what they did.

When everything you ever asked almost simultaneously appeared right in front of you, what is there to go? When Kaden's father took him for a fly around New York, he was nine. He saw Police patrols getting blown up by Lane Hackers and a Junker frigate full of Cardamine passing right beside them. That raised all sorts of questions. Questions he later shared with his friends when he got back. They were too young for this though. He was a smart kid, he knew there'd come a time.

Needles is where Kaden Lane grew up, in its quiet streets with well-tended lawns and gated community peace and quiet. Like everyone else in there, Kade knows they have a good thing going on here and good things have to be cared for and protected. How long would it take for the things outside Manhattan to leaking onto the planet? More importantly, how long would it take for these things to start leaking into Needles? Sure, they had private security, but how much can you trust some rentacop earning little more than the minimum wage to stick around when the bullets start flying?

No, you want a job done, do it yourself. That's what Kade - star quarterback at the private school most parents from Needles sent their children to, always the guy with the hottest prom date, always the host of the best keggers - thought, and there were plenty of people wiling to go along with him. One of them was Leslie, lifelong friend of Kade's. Kade played football for their school team, Leslie watched from the sidelines. Kade got drunk at beach parties and keggers, Leslie was the man always on hand to get him home safely. Everyone liked him, but nobody ever figured him for a cool kid or tough guy. He didn't mind.

High school rolled in and over. They were expected just to just sit around poolside, waiting for college, the moment each of them would be shot from a cannon into a future full of money and success. Their parents, most of them trapped in fractious marriages of invaluable dynastic significance nudged them in the way of one another, scoping for appropriate matches. But for some kids that just wasn't enough. They bought ships. Shuttles at first, then a couple of fighters from a guy they met in Varience.

Kade, like every good quarterback he thought in terms of offence, not defence. The strategy's been to take it out of Manhattan, confronting the likes of Rogues and Hackers on their own turf. That's how the Blue Blaze were born.

They waited for the balloon to go up, having Leslie listen on the Police comms. And there it was, one night, from out on Fort Bush. An LPI patrol was getting blown all the way to hell by a bunch of Rogues when Blaze caught their attention. They returned a volley that scared the hell out of criminals, sending them scuttling back up to Rochester.

After a while they started facing repercussions from Liberty Police, as the donut-munchers didn't necessarily like competition in their territory. Kade decided to get the organisation under the wings of Bounty Hunters Guild, as its influence in the Republic was enough to keep them floating.

Armed to the teeth with every shade of conventional ordnance, reckless to the point of stupidity, lacking any kind of moral compass they accidentally point in the right direction and the LPI let them rip, for fear of the wind changing. They perceive them as a bunch of spoilt, mixed-up kids, but there's no confusion in Leslie's mind, or Kaden's or any of the others. They do what they do for one reason, one reason only: because they like it.

"You can't just pick up a gun and call yourself a hero. But even then, heroes need to make things up as they go."

—Kade Lane

Organisation

The Blaze are a very loosely-tied group of college students, adrenaline junkies and ex-bounty hunters. They're all about pro-active violence, stupid humour and all-night parties at the beach. They all come from wealthy families and whatever one could achieve in one's life, they already did. What they really want is to protect their home area and planet from criminal influence, but to do that they need to expand beyond its boundaries.

Due to their character, they don't have a distinct ranking system but rather they listen to more standing-out people in the group. They value actions and reputation over money, and in general don't ask for credits from their contractors, and if they do get some, they usually forward most of it to a charity organisation of their choice.

Ship usage

Various Stargazer Civilian Shuttle Arrow Light Interceptor Kingfisher Civilian Heavy Fighter Marauder Civilian Heavy Fighter Raven's Talon Civilian VHF Waran Civilian Bomber Spatial Deep Space Explorer Sunburst Civilian Freighter Camara Civilian Freighter CTE Line Griffin Light Fighter Falcon Heavy Fighter Eagle Very Heavy Fighter Roc Bomber Condor Gunboat Renzu Line Saishi Heavy Fighter Sutinga Very Heavy Fighter Touketsu Bomber Anki Freighter Borderworlds Line Scimitar Light Fighter Bayonet Heavy Fighter Switchblade Heavy Fighter Sabre Very Heavy Fighter Falchion Very Heavy Fighter Broadsword Bomber Cutlass Bomber Montante Gunship