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[Major_Malfunction]

Rajyll stormed toward the Tavern, livid. After his stint in Omicron Gamma, he was told in no unclear terms that if he took another unauthorized mission like that and failed, he would be locked up for a very long time. Even though he commanded the Xiron military, he couldn't control the Tribunal that gave him the warning.

On the way he bumped into Flea. He caught a quick whiff of his breath. Through a series of coughs, he managed to say to Flea, "Have you been drinking Everclear by the gallon?" while shoving past him. At the entrance, he stuffed his mass compactor into the locker. Jim was bouncing again, and he thought he'd scare Rajyll and have a little fun with him. "Shut up and get out of my way," Rajyll grumbled, shoving him to the side with strength that didn't look possible with his size. Getting in and sitting at a table in the corner, facing the window. He slumped down in his seat and didn't even order anything for several hours.

[Zeta]

Zeta watches the little spat between Jim and this Rajyll character. Zeta could tell he was pissed, but decided he would be better off not pressing the issue. He simply called out to him, "If you want anything, just let me know."

[ALPHA WOLF]

Slaughter walk into the bar still confused about the last couple of days and what he had seen. He had 1 good friend in this world but he thinks oh well we are all getting older unlike alot of pilots that had died by his hands but slaughter is still alive.
with that Slaughter sits down and notices Rajyll sitting there looking upset or angry and he thinks ya it sucks when your kill survives and he thinks you need better aim next time. With that Slaughter orders a bottle of whiskey the strongest that they have and tells Zeta NO FOOD as Slaughter has begane to understand that Zeta just might be trying to kill him with that slop. As Slaughter sits and thinks about the last week he can't help but wonder what is next he finishes his drinks throws some credits on the bar and walks out.

[HyperBlade1]

The past few weeks had been long and I was ready for a drink. I had to meet with a few contacts anyway, so I headed to Zeta’s establishment. I had only met the man in passing, but he seemed pleasant enough. That would be as good a place as any I guessed.
Walking into the bars entrance, I noticed a large burly man behind what I assumed must be plasteel. A large sign made it obvious that no weapons were allowed inside the establishment. I knew that before setting out for this place though, and came prepared. I casually took out both of my blaster pistols, my molecular combat knife, my neural inhibitor, my electro-whip, and both thermal detonators, passing them over to the man behind the counter. I kept the lightsabers on the inside of my robe though. They could not truly be called weapons as I had modified the focusing rings and harmonizing crystals so they would deflect blaster bolts, but little else. They would most likely still register as weapons, but if forced to demonstrate, I could show that they were nothing more than a shield of sorts, and not a true weapon. Honestly, it was I that was the real weapon if it ever came to that.
After turning over my “weapons”, the burly man motioned toward the scanner for my finger print. I looked him square in the eye and said, “Make sure I get my weapons back safely. You don’t need my fingerprint.”
The man blinked but never missed a beat, “Of course, go right in.”
“Thank you.” I replied as I walked into the bar.
As expected, the alarms rang out, but I immediately looked back to the man behind the Plasteel, catching his gaze. He quickly silenced the alarm.
Where I was from, you never asked a Jedi to divest himself of his lightsaber, but this was not my real home.
I did not notice any other immediate attention beyond the usual looks, and immediately explained, “Robotic Limb” Whether any of them truly believed that didn’t concern me, but it would at least put the question in their minds.
I kept the cowl drawn up to shadow my face. I wore the dark brown tones so that it didn't scream good guy or bad guy, but could be either. I looked across the room at the strange mix of characters in the bar, then made my way to a dimly lit table at the far end, in the corner, by the view ports. Both of my contacts would arrive soon, and I am sure that neither would be too happy that I was dealing with both of them, but a favor is a favor, a debt a debt, and I was collecting tonight. Hopefully I would be able to get a “Sirius Hangover”, a drink becoming more and more difficult to find, before they arrived.....

[nobodie]

Nobodie was walking towards the tavern entrance full of excitement, whistling and shaking impatiently. Not even the latest incident with the Zoners could affect his good mood.
He passed the weapons control point, flicked through the tavern guests, and rushed to the bar, whistling "dont worry be happy".

He salluted Zeta, and said: "Ill have a Strawju".
"Strawju?" Zeta gave him a wierd look.

Strawju were small, green, spider-alike creatures, approximately of a size of the palm. They were named this way because of their long limbs, which didnt give enough support to carry their round but disproportional body. Most of the time they were just creeping on their fat belly although some of them could stand up and walk. Some people found them sweet and kept them as pets because of their natural clumsyness and those big, yellow eyes with white eyelashes.
Zoners collected them in the biodomes of Freeports and sold them away. Universal Elite finds them to be a delicacy.
The process of making a Strawju wasnt simple. To do a perfect Strawju you had to frie their limbs separately from the body, in the way the thing would still be alive and in one piece, when served. Keeping it alive was the issue, since their heart would stop after receiving too mutch pain-shock.

"Yea, and roast it so badly that i could hear that poor thing screaming like butchered pig!" Nobodie grinned and turned around carelessly to look out for Scorpion. He wasnt there yet, so Nobodie decided to take a seat.
"Damn it ZETA i though i told you to give me a frickin lifetime reservation on that table!" Nobodie murmured to himself as Zeta had already disappeared in the backrooms. His favourite table was occupied by some "Libertonian punks".

Shortly after

"Ah Here you are", said Nobodie as Black Scorpion approached his table.
"I hope you asked me to meet you not because you suddenly felt a need to argue about the decisions I made recently." Said Scorpion in rather unpleasant tone.
"Nah forget about that, i gotta tell you some story. Very very nice story..."
Scorpion noticed the wierd way Nobodie act. His speech was faster than usual, his eyes were shining like crystals, his movement was shaky, gesticulation however fast and strict.

- "Now, this guy, err.. Xavier Castillo, Ace of the Crete..." Starts Nobodie
- "Bon Appetite!." Zeta walks to the table and serves the dish. Scorpion orders some regular corsarian food.
- "Right, so he and a couple of other Corsairs patrolling Omicron Theta, k" Nobodie takes the knife and cuts off creatures leg. "-illing lone Bounty Hunters."
- "Aha"
- "SUDDENLY, they get this signal from sector 4C, " Nobodie puts the leg into his mouth and starts chewing. "rush over there, and find Outcast freighter with damaged engines, full of cardamine."
- "You know i dont like all this drug stuff" - Started Scorpion.
- "Listen." Nobodie cuts off another leg. Creature makes a squealing sound and few people turn around. "So our guys decide to have some fun and start interrogating him in the best manner of the Corsairs."Nobodie spits out overburned part of the leg on the plate. "The guy sais he knows nothing, that hes just a transport guy and bla blabla, so they start going heavy on him.
- "Yes"
- " Turns out HE KNOWS something! " Nobodie smiles turns over the creature and cuts him open. It makes a choking sound. "Not something, but SOMEONE actually. And that someone is a former LSF employee." Nobodie pulled out some organ and started chewing it loudly. "This is DELICIOUS! "
"Ok so, that LSF guy, tastes like chicken, worked in informations department, you should try it, or something like that, and had a partner."
- "Here is your dish Scorpion " Zeta interrupts him.
- "Erm... Thanks Zeta, but I've changed my mind". Replied his leader.
- "I see." Replied Zeta looking at Nobodies happy face.
- "Now, " something got stuck in Nobodies teeth so he made some effort and took it out. " Outcast told them about that partner. The guy is a total FREAK. He was telling fairytales about another world, and that he was a "JEDIAH",.
Nobodie whacked the fork into creatures yellow eyeball and the liquid spread allover his plate. Scorpion listened impatiently.
- "that he could hibernate, and that his people have some kind of FORCE field that they use to get mental powers,
"ah the best part," Nobodie took out still beating heart of the creature "- their technology - Hyper Drive. *chew*chew*chew. He smiled and Scorpion saw his teeth all go red in blood.
- "Now, that Hyper Drive was supposed to beam you from one corner of the space to another in seconds!"
- "Im not sure where are we getting at", said Scorp while he couldnt distract his look from Nobodies plate.
- "Yeah, at first i though guy was just a delusional psycho like all the rest of LSF are. Not untill three days ago. See, three days ago, our patrol in Tau-37 boarded a DSE ship. While flickering through the papers looking for possible transport routes of the company, they've found Journal of Captain Aldamere. And in that journal.." Nobodie stopped eating, he was looking straight into Scorpions eyes "- in that journal theyve found a record about a FRICKING UNIDENTIFIED SPACECRAFT FROM ANOTHER WORLD!"
- "Cut the long story short..." - Scorpion had finally lost his patience.
- "That guy is true. And he's here, right now."

[Major_Malfunction]

Rajyll woke up to the long, drawn out beep of an IV monitor. He was in a hospital room, and looking out the window he learned that he was still on Tanya's. A doctor in a lab coat and an LPI officer he had worked with on many occasions with his hat held over his heart both looked like they had just seen a ghost. Looking over at the monitor, Rajyll saw that he was exhibiting no pulse or blood pressure. "Everything's still normal," he said, grinning. He pulled out the tube, turned off the monitor, and sat up. While the doctor and the officer were still staring at him, a mortician came to the door. "What is this? Some kind of sick joke?" he said turning around, grumbling something about people wasting his time.

Finally breaking the silence, the officer tentatively stated "We thought you were dead, Major. You weren't displaying any vitals and you were as cold as deep space when we took out of the bar to medical," putting his hat back on, he continued "It's nice to have our best Xeno killer back, nonetheless." The doctor was still standing there, open mouthed. Rajyll grabbed his regenerator and began to repair the hole the IV left in his skin. "Close that thing before you start attracting flies," he said as he handed back the tool. The doctor quickly closed his mouth and left the room.

Rajyll soon got up and checked out, getting bewildered stares from everyone in medical. He guessed he was going to have to put up with those for a while, since it's not every day that you see someone walking that doesn't have any pulse. His mood was slightly improved as he reached the bar. Taking a seat, Rajyll looked around the room and saw someone wearing a brownish robe. He also saw Nobodie eating something that made very awful noises and talking excitedly to Scorp. He was curious as to their conversation, but after his last bout with the Corsairs, he knew better than to get involved, for fear that he would lose his rank.

[(-=YSP=-)]

"Here... Take these.." says a small hooded figure as he pushes a helmet and set of what looks like car keys across the bar to the bartender... "and if a tall lanky fella comes in here, one missing tooth here and there, and isnt especially happy yo see you.. give him these.." the figure turns before leaving and says... " And you tell that Tootless old Wolf when he does.. that if he needs me, he'll know where to find me." Saying that, the creature turns and leaves. "What was that all about?" one of the patrons asks.. "no clue he just left these and told me to hold onto them." and there on the bar was a flight helmet with the (-=YSP=-) Logo and the name "Ellis" etched above the visor. and inside only a set of keys and a keytag labelled "Aggememnon".

[Black Scorpion]

Scorp couldn't take his eyes of what was going on on nobodie's plate. It was strange, he had seen his share of blood, dismembered bodies and slaughtered people in the war with the Red Hessians and now against the Colonies, but seeing a defenseless creature being ripped to pieces like that made him sick to his stomach. His face assumed a disgusting look every time nobodie severed one of the animal's limbs. It distracted him from what nobodie was telling him in between chewing on the so-called delicacy.

"What?", he asked. "Where? Here?! Which one is it then?"
"Now don't look right away, but that's him right there". Nobodie pointed in the direction of the hooded figure sitting at one of the darker tables in one of the far corners of the establishment.

Barely able to make out the figure against the dark background, Scorp quickly glanced in the direction nobodie was pointing in. "That guy?", he said. "Seems like a regular dude to me mate, although I must say there is something about him. Just can't really put the finger on it..."
"Yeah that's him. I'm telling you man, that's the guy they found."

"And even if it is, what then?" Scorp asked, not really knowing what nobodie was acting so exited about. "People from other parts of the universe end up in Sirius all the time, what's so special about this guy?"

Nobodie put his knife and fork down on the table, swallowed his partially chewed up mouth contents, opened his eyes wide and said: "Don't you get it?..."

Scorp waited, but nobodie just stared at him. "Well?", he asked in anticipation of something totally unexpected...

[HyperBlade1]

After a short wait, the first of my contacts began to arrive. He was a tall slender man wearing the uniform that marked him as a representative of Universal Shipping. He seemed a little nervous at first glance of the bars occupants, but he exhaled a relaxing breath, because he was a safe place. He hoped.

Just as the man noticed me in the corner by the view ports and started to walk that way, he heard a voice from behind, "Enjoy your evening." He turned and saw a rep from DSE entering the bar. the DSE rep was looking around, obviously for someone specific. He spotted him in the corner by the view ports.

That just leaves two more contacts left.

As the US and DSE reps made their way to the corner table, two more men arrived almost at the same time. They were each giving the other a look of contempt and hate. It seemed to be some kinda ritual between them when it came time to turn over their weapons. The first turned in a dagger, then waited, eyeing the other man intently. Then the other man turned in a knife, eyeing in return. Then the first man turned in a heavy pistol, and waited. One weapon at a time and in turns, the two men relinquished their weapons, sizing each other up the entire time. After finishing, they entered the bar and began to look around for someone. Now that they had entered the bar fully, it stood to reason why they were at odds. Both of them were fairly high ranking pirates; One an Outcast, the other a Corsair. As the two spotted the table in the corner near the view port, they began to walk that way. The Corsair man looked toward the gentlemen at one table as though he knew them. One of the gentlemen was appearantly eating a creature that wasn't entirely dead.

"I will have to remember those two." I thought to myself as the pirates approached.

"What is the meaning of this?" the reps asked accusingly as the pirates arrived.

"I'm sure I don't know what your asking. We're simply five people having a conversation over drinks." I replied. I left little question in the way I looked at them or in the way I made the statement.

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The two reps both sat back in their seats, and soon the conversation between the five became very quiet, yet very intense. The only man that seemed to be confortable at the table was the man cloaked in browns.
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Suddenly one of the Reps stood up and said, "I will not deal with the likes of these two." gesturing toward the pirates.

"Same goes for me." said the other rep quickly.

The two pirates began an backlash of insults and rude comments in a near immediate retaliation.

Mustering as much calm as I could manage, I said "Sit Down!" Both of the reps and the pirates immediately sat back down, along with one girl on the dance floor and one guy who hadn't quite made it to his bar stool yet. Too much I thought to myself.

Looking all four of the contacts in the eyes, I said "You are each here dealing with me, not each other. You each owe me a favor and you will conduct yourselves in a pleasant manner while in my company or I assure you that you may run into a very nasty surprise at the end of your next tradelane jump." Both pirates smiled at the reps, "Or your next ambush." I said looking at the eyes of both pirates whose smiles quickly faded.

"I am simply asking for information from each of you concerning certain issues. I brought the four of you together at the same time to get seperate perspectives and confirmations." I stated flatly. "Now may we continue?" I asked, but none answered as they knew full well it was a retorical question.

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The conversation got very quiet once more, but the intensity was no less present.
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After little more than an hour, both the reps and the pirates, got up from the table and left the bar. I sat there for a moment concidering the information I had just gathered. I also noticed that I had attracted a little attention from the gentlemen the corsair pirate had recognized. This could be either very good or very bad. Oh well... If the price is right, it may be worth it. Just how much trouble would getting the information these gentlemen might want be? Well guess I should at least let them know where they can find me if they want me to find out anything.

I caught the waitress by the wrist as she began to walk by, "One more Sirius Hangover please."

A few moments later, the waitress walks up to the table with the man eating a live animal, and the other seeming entirely distgusted. "Here you go." the waitress says as she puts down the two drinks on the table. "Compliments of the gentleman in the corner."

Both men look to the corner, but it's empty. They turn back to the waitress who says, "If you want information, you can find me here from time to time." then she blinks away the dazed look in her eyes before returning to her labors. Then the two men notice that the cloaked figure somehow managed to make his way completely across the bar to the exit without anyone really noticing. The cowl and shadows beneath it turned in their direction until the waitress departs. Then he steps through the exit and to collect his numerous weapons before departing.

[Zeta]

Zeta was behind the counter, listening to the spider like things that Nobodie had asked for screeching like a banshee, when the hooded figure came and left a helmet and keys and walked out. Zeta had heard the name "Ellis" before, but couldn't place where. He set the helmet, with the keys inside, in an empty display shelf, shrugged, and took Nobodie's order to him, still moving slightly. Zeta looked down at the plate and wrinkled his nose a bit, but wouldn't talk it down without trying it first... "Maybe later" he said to himself, and set the plate down and took Scorpion's order. "Coming up, boss" On the way to get the order started, he heard the alarms go off at the entrance for just a second, but the event was recorded on the terminal and his datapad. Zeta heard the "robotic limb" explanation and filed it away in the back of his mind for further examination later, being that the system is designed to detect weapons only, and something just didn't sit right. Zeta sent a waitress to get his order.

On his way back to the bar after attempting to give Scorpian his meal, Zeta heard a short scuffle between a couple of pirates, one of which he knew, and shippers, and was about to step in when the man sitting at that table told them to sit down. Zeta didn't think anything of it till they actually did, and a girl off to the side did as well. Zeta also noticed that the energetic "feeling" was off for a split second, feeling the slight change in his skin. That was when Zeta decided he was going to start watching this guy closely. As one of the waitresses brought out the last drink, she completely froze up, dropping the tray, and talked like she never had before. This alarmed Zeta greatly and he started her direction in a hurry, but when she blinked back, he realized she was fine. It was then that Zeta realized that the man had up and left without Zeta noticing. Zeta stared at the table for a second, then pulled out his datapad and played back a few seconds of the security cam and saw how quick he was able to move, without a reaction from anyone. Zeta copied the feed to a datacard and set it on the table in front of Scorpian without saying a word, and went to clean up a few tables.

[Zeta]

A few days later, Zeta is sitting behind the bar reviewing the security feed video from the waitresses scare. As the video is playing, the datapad beeps with a new message. Zeta paused the video and brought up the video message from the boss, Black Scorpion. Zeta's heart sank a little as the message played out. When the message ended, Zeta wasn't sure how to react. Zeta dialed up the new boss, Nobodie, and sent a simple text message. All it said was, "Orders sir?"

With that, Zeta got up, stretched, and went around picking up empty bottles and dishes.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Return to Sirius ~
Part 1

Early in the morning, just a few days after the start of another new year in Sirius, a rare ship entered the Colorado system. It was small but its two large engines gave it extreme speed and maneuverability, and the aggressive wedge-shaped silhouette with its forward-swept wings brought up many bad memories in those who saw it. This was not a ship designed for exploration, nor was it made for escorting trade convoys or making long travels through space. This ship had been designed with only one goal: to swiftly attack any target where it hurt most, and hit it hard. Only few people had lived to recall its name: the Howler.

After quietly circling the Denver area a couple of times, the ship headed for Tanya's base. It charged its cruise engines and made its way to the docking pattern. As it flew around the base to reach the aft docking hatch, it flew past the windows of the accommodation levels at high speed, its left wingtip missing the base hull in just a few meters. The pressure wave from its cruise engines was so intense that it actually knocked over a couple of drinks and scrambled some computer screens. It was clearly against flying regulations, but the pilot of the ship obviously didn't care much for regulations or speed limits.

It also startled Zeta, bartender of the Tavern, who was cleaning up after a busy night in the tavern. He had only had a couple of hours of sleep that night, but it was a small sacrifice to make when business went so well. Nevertheless, the short night had left him with not the best of moods today.
The suddenly exploding roar of a couple of cruise engines flying past at full throttle made him knock over the bucket of water with which he was cleaning the tables. "FOR FRACK SAKE!", he yelled into the empty Tavern. "What the hell is wrong with that guy?!" He threw down his towel and wanted to make his way to the comm to report the incident to the Liberty Police. In a quick reflex he turned around to get a description of the ship, only to see it disappearing behind the base through the aft windows. Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught something that made him stop in his tracks. For a couple of seconds he just stared at the now empty windows, like he was making sure he had really seen what he thought he saw.
His jaw dropped a bit and he whispered to himself: "What the... Nah, that can't be, can it?... But he..." Then as his hand found its way back to the towel, he got back to cleaning the desks. Quietly this time, lost in his thoughts.

---

In the cockpit of the Howler the atmosphere wasn't any less tense. The ship had just entered the automated docking sequence, but things weren't moving along quickly enough for the man behind the stick. Then the comm buzzed, the sound of the base docking system sounded: "Docking sequence interrupted - priority vessel passing through. Your ship has been put on hold, there are 3 ships in front of you. Please stand by."
"WOT! Come on get a fracking move on with that old piece of scrap man!", he yelled through the cockpit window to the LPI Falcon mk2 that had just moved into the line a couple of ships in front of him. Wildly gesturing in his cockpit he continued: "For frack sake...! You government puppets might have all fracking day but I sure as hell don't! Priority vessel my ass. DOCK ALREADY you numb-nut!"
He was quite the calm guy, but when it came to dealing with anything government, he had a very short fuse. He knew it was a public secret that quite a lot of the Police, Navy and other official services often abused their Emergency Override system to be able to skip a few spots in a waiting line. It was one of many habits that aggravated the man in the Howler to no end, and had done so for as long as he could remember.
However, it was a good thing he didn't have his comm system on or it would have definitely gotten him in trouble he didn't need.

A couple of minutes later, the Howler finally glided into the hangar. It gently came to a full stop and sat down resting on its anti-gravity mount. As the dust settled, a soft hissing sound announced the de-pressurizing cockpit as the cockpit hatch opened. If anyone had been there, they might have been able to catch a glimpse of the mat black helmet through the condense fumes. After flipping a couple of last switches, the hands of its pilot moved to remove the helmet and safety belts. As the pilot arose from his seat and descended from his cockpit, his dark but slender silhouette became visible through the fumes. The pilot's eyes quickly turned to notice the security camera's in the upper corners of the hangar, after which he swiftly turned and made his way out of the ship hangar and into the main commuting area of the base.

As he walked through the crowd of people across the first level to reach his destination, he noticed the looks people were giving him. Most people had probably heard his description in stories told in the bar on late nights, and his almost completely black outfit made him quite easily recognizable. He didn't care, there was little he had to fear from them. What these people didn't realize was that they were the very reason he was here, and he was not their enemy. "If they would only know...", he thought to himself in a somewhat sad way.
Then he spotted the old familiar sign in the distance. It read: 'Welcome to Tekagis Tavern'.

As he approached the main entrance, he paused for a second. He looked up to the sign and then down to the button that would open the door, would he press it. He took a deep breath and hit the button. The doors moved aside quietly. He walked in, putting his weapons in the lockers. All except his Ancestral Blade, which he never parted from. It wasn't a problem since the bar's scanner didn't pick up on its composition anyway. Then he quietly but decisively pushed open the second door that would give him access to the tavern itself, and stepped in.

The Tavern was empty and quiet. No music was playing, and there was not one customer around. Not a big surprise, since it was still only early in the morning. The bar was quite well-lit; he never came here during daytimes. He noticed how different bars looked in daylight compared to the dark cozy atmosphere they had at night.
Then, from one of the back rooms behind the bar, he heard a racket. "Where did I put the dam mop? I'm sure I left it here somewhere!" The sound of the voice sounded familiar and brought a sense of comfort and trust over him. Zeta had always been a very likable guy, calm and a good listener. People felt at ease in his presence.
"AH! Got it!", it came from the back. The door swung open and Zeta walked out backwards accompanied by a lot of noise, dragging behind him an old mopping cart to clean up the water on the floor from the bucket he had kicked over a couple of minutes earlier.
As Zeta made his way around the bar backwards in a rather clumsy but amusing way, he bumped into the visitor. Not expecting anyone to be there, he jumped up, knocking over the mopping cart. In one fluent movement he turned around and assumed a fighting stance, ready to defend himself. For a split second Zeta glanced down to the knocked-over mopping cart, ready to burst out in another rant for being startled twice in a row and messing up the floor, but then immediately looked back up.
The visitor stood calmly, not moving a muscle. He just looked Zeta in the eyes. "Good to see you still remember what I thought you", he spoke quietly, and gave Zeta a hardly noticeable smile. Zeta just stood there, still in a fighting stance, not knowing what to say exactly.



"It is good to see you my old friend", Scorp said.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Return to Sirius ~
Part 2

Zeta looked at Scorp, really not sure how to react. The way Scorp had suddenly disappeared a couple of weeks before, had left him and some others surprised and wondering about the reasons of his disappearance.
Scorp removed his hand from Zeta's shoulder, a bit surprised about the lack of reaction on Zeta's part. "What's wrong Zeta, you're not happy to see me?"
"Of course I'm happy to see you Scorp", he replied. "It's not that. But the way you left... It's just that you left a lot of people with a lot of questions mate. There are some who think you have some explaining to do. Actually, I'm one of them, to tell you the truth."
Scorp had seen this coming, and sighed in response. "Well buddy, I can't really blame you for that can I. What do you say we sit down over there, grab a drink and talk." "Yeah let's do that. If you just give me a minute to clean up this mess here, I'll be right with you. Go ahead and grab a drink. The Sidewinder Fang is behind the bar, second shelf. You look like you can use one. Or two."

Scorp nodded, gave Zeta a firm pad on the shoulder and made his way to his favorite table in the back, picking up the bottle from behind the bar.

As Zeta finished mopping the floor and put the mopping cart back in the back room, he shouted to Scorp from the back: "Hey by the way, was that you scaring the hell out of me with that little stunt you pulled flying right past the viewing ports earlier?" Scorp looked up from his glass and grinned to himself. "Yeah that was me, figured I'd say hello before barging in here." "Well you made my heart skip a few beats with that one. And you got the Base Security's attention too for that matter. Got a call from the Base Commander, asking me if the pilot would happen to be someone I knew. No idea where he got that idea haha! I was about to call the police you know, you were just lucky you were gone before I could get a good description of the ship." "Well yeah, I figured if I'd do that, I'd better do it fast eh", Scorp replied.
"What about that ship anyway? I don't think I've seen it before, at least not around here..." Zeta asked. "Yeah it's something I've been working on for the last couple of weeks", Scorp said. "I'll tell you all about it later."

Zeta grabbed a glass from the counter and sat down across the table from Scorp. It really wasn't his habit to drink so early in the morning, but seeing the occasion, he poured himself a glass of Fang too. "Right, here we are. Now tell me what you have been up to for the last few weeks, and why you left us all so suddenly and without any warning." Having said that, Zeta picked up his glass and leaned back into his chair, giving Scorp a somewhat angry look as he was waiting for the answer. It had annoy him a bit, his clan leader disappearing like that. They had always been loyal to him and hard working, and Zeta felt they hadn't deserved a treatment like that. He waited.
Scorp knew Zeta was right and he couldn't blame him for asking. If he'd been Zeta he would have wanted to know too. It had bothered him from the first day to leave his men the way he did, and now he was dreading to explain himself. But it had to be done, they deserved no less.
"Right", Scorp sighed. "You know I'm not a man of many words, so I'll keep this brief. Being what we are, we don't have it easy, you know that. There's almost not a faction in Sirius who likes us, and those who do, don't really wanna deal with us in public because they're afraid that the factions friendly to them don't wanna have anything to do with them anymore. Most planets and bases won't even let us dock, it's a miracle I'm sitting right here talking to you now. Sometimes it's like we're a bad disease that everyone wants to stay far away from. As a result of all that, we are struggling to feed the mouths of our families and children as the Colonies are boycotting us where-ever they can. It's a lot of sacrifices to make for a cause which is denied by the majority of the Sirius population. It's a hard life buddy, and I've been living it for as long as I know. But it does eat you up at some point. And to tell you the truth, a couple of weeks ago I just had enough of it all at. I just broke down basically and didn't see why I should continue with a course of action that is overshadowed by so many challenges, and has such a negative impact on the lifes of our loved ones. I was starting to wonder if it was all really worth it you know... Then again, I really didn't wanna let the Colonies get the best of me, but I just didn't see a way out anymore..."

Scorp took a large gulp from his Sidewinder Fang and swallowed it not entirely without obvious effort. He didn't feel comfortable exposing his emotions to his men like this. They knew him as a sturdy and strong leader who never seemed to be affected by any adversity. Even though this moment was inevitable, he was afraid it would kill the motivation of his troops if they had found out about it. And he had to be honest, he wouldn't blame them if it did.
He looked up from his glass to Zeta with somewhat watery eyes. Zeta was looking back at him in surprise, and with a bit of pity, his jaw had slightly dropped in wonder of what he'd just heard.
"I'm sorry I let it get to me mate, but I'm only human too you know...", he said to Zeta hoping for some understanding. He kept looking at Zeta, hoping for a response. If that wouldn't come quickly, he wouldn't know what to do exactly.
"Well thank GOD for that!", Zeta yelled out loud. "The times I wondered if the Robots might had gotten to you and removed your emotions or something HAHAHAAA! What do you know, our leader is actually human!"

Scorp wasn't really sure how to respond, he felt a bit embarrassed after Zeta's joke. But his next remark put him at ease.
Zeta leaned forward in his chair and put his hand on Scorp's shoulder. "Seriously Scorp, nobody blames you for having a hard time, it's normal, at least when you're human. It gets to us all at some point. And you should know that each and every one of us has only had a lot of respect for the way you have always lead us in the face of so many dangers." He removed his hand. The look on his face changed from sympathy to a bit stringent. "The thing is, you're not alone. I mean all of your men have to go through the same peril you have to go through, each one of them sees the same challenges and brings the same sacrifices every single day! Following your.. well our cause. But they do it because they are loyal to the cause and more importantly - their leader, YOU! And if you then decide to just disappear all of the sudden, leaving all of your men who have been following you faithfully for all those years, behind like that, wondering what happened to their fierce leader because you didn't tell them anything... I'm telling you mate, it pissed a lot of people off. Including me."

Zeta stopped there because he realized that it was his leader he was talking to, not some school kid. But he was angry and things needed to be said. Looking at the broken man on the other side of the table, one side of him almost felt sorry for Scorp. The other side felt he should get over it and act like the man he was supposed to be. Their fearless leader.
This time it was Scorp's jaw that had dropped a little in amazement. And it were his eyes that had assumed a surprised look. He was struggling for words.
Partially holding his breath, he stuttered: "You...I mean I... uhm, well... oh god...", then exhaled in defeat. He took another deep breath and tried again. "I know", he spoke softly. "And you're absolutely right too. I shouldn't have abandoned the guys like that, and I know it. I'm sorry mate, I really am." "You better be", Zeta said with a smirk on his face. Scorp smiled a little. "You are a good friend you know that, I'm happy to know you. Thanks for being so honest with me, I really appreciate it." "Well don't mention it. If we can't be honest to one another then what good is it. Just don't do it again alright? Ever." And he gave Scorp a wink.

"Never", Scorp stated firmly.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Return to Sirius ~
Part 3

"Well, now that we have that out of the way, how about another drink then?" Scorp nodded and Zeta leaned forward to grab the now almost empty bottle of Sidewinder Fang, and poured them both another glass.

"Hey you were going to tell me about that new ship of yours. Seemed pretty fast to me, what did you do to it?", Zeta asked.
"Ah yeah that's right", Scorp said, and reached for his inner pocket to get his pad out. He hit a couple of keys, then put it on the table and turned it around so Zeta could see what was on the small display:

"Oh sweet!", was Zeta his first response. "That's a neat looking ship mate." "Yeah it is, isn't it", Scorp replied. "It's small though, about half the length of a Flammard, although its wings are a bit wider than the Flammard I believe. You wouldn't believe the speed on it. It only has about half the inertial mass of a Flammard, and it's engines are twice the size - you do the math. It only has 4 gun mounts, but not really a problem if your enemy can't hit you eh," Scorp grinned.
"Hehe no I guess you're right. Pretty cool color too, what color is that?", Zeta wondered. "There is no color on it", Scorp replied. "It's a special Titanium compound. You can't see the ship on any scanners..."

"What? Wow, how awesome is that? But how did you do it?" "Well, I ran into the ship on a Junker base. It was collecting dust in a storage locker. I took a look at it, and asked the dealer what he wanted for it. He told me that the ship had been sitting there for over three years because nobody seemed interested enough to buy it for some reason. When I asked him why, he didn't know. He told me I could have it for only 10 mill. I had never seen this model before, but the stats on it looked quite promising and it was still in good condition. So after some bargaining he agreed to sell it to me for even less if I gave him the scrap metal in my hold. It felt good so I took a chance and bought it. I took it for a spin and immediately after that I flew back to Tripoli Shipyard to see what the engineers could make of it. After not too long, they were able to reverse-engineer it, and add a couple of very interesting upgrades. The Titanium composite hull is one of those. But they also gave the engines higher specs and increased the rudder response. The one I have now is the first completed one. The original one I bought is still sitting in the shipyard for further studies."
"Quite impressive mate", Zeta said. "So you can't see it on scanners eh? Hmmm, that would give us en edge over anyone, wouldn't it?" "Absolutely", Scorp said. "I have already had a couple of fights in it, and I gotta tell you, it surprised me. Its flat profile seems extremely hard to hit, and its agility is unmatched. Just the other day, I took out a Flamberge and a Scimitar right after one another, and both without too much problems. I flew away unscaved."
"Awesome, what are the odds you can get me one of those?", Zeta asked anxiously. "I have already given the order to make enough models to equip the whole fleet. Every Brother of the Covenant will get one if they want", Scorp said.

"Wow, can't wait. Great work mate! But... one question. Why did you spend the money and effort on a new ship for CCoF when you had just decided to give it all up?"
Scorp grinned. "Well. to tell you the truth, it never felt right giving it all up. I had spent my whole life fighting for the Cause, and giving it up now would render my life useless. I wouldn't know what to do without the Covenant. Being in doubt already, I ran into this ship and realized that it had the potential to give us an edge over the rest. I guess it gave me inspiration to get back in the saddle.

We're back in business buddy!", Scorp said, and held up his glass.

[S31-Zero-Order]

After waking up again for the third time in three days, I had broken out in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Every night, it was the same thing as I lay in my bunk a meter or so above Tila's with Gonzales' across the room. He was snoring loudly enough to the point of where it was annoying, but it wasn't the noise that caused me to wake. I'd fall asleep, then slip into a dream -- more like a nightmare. I was on the bridge of a flaming spacecraft. Tila and myself are the only two left alive on that deck after most of the crew had either been killed or jettisoned in escape pods. There was one pod left, which could hold four people and there was ample space. Tila is standing in front of me in her own survival suit, facing the holoscreens, and then turns to look at me over her shoulder. I see her mouth move beneath the transparent visor, but I can't hear her or read her lips. Then, just as she had when we were sparring aboard the Mourning Star, she raises her hand, lifts me up and pushes me into the lifeboat, sealing the door behind me. I collapse to the floor, then quickly get to my feet, slamming my fists against the glass and screaming "No! Please! Don't do this!" My eyes fill with tears as the pod is launched into space. I can't make out the insignia or the name of the vessel, but from the shape and make of it, it's a corvette. A small, fast, and armored corvette. The ship had been scorched and perforated multiple times from energy weapons. The system's single ringed star was incredibly bright. The system itself was like no other. The stars that you normally see in deep space were replaced by two layers of nebulae. They were purple and seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance in all directions. Glowing purple organisms floated carelessly about as the lifeboat ignited its escape engines and launched me into space. Before I could see what had caused such colossal damage, I wake. It's always the same thing and always vivid. I can't help but feel that something will happen. Something soon.

After all that had happened, I was now the commander of the APG - Lightrider. It finished its final phases of construction after the prison exercise. Leaving my fighter behind at Tchatcha Station, I boarded the craft, taking with me First Lieutenant Kelly Morrison, Field Seargent Kafka Linx, Major Jeremiah Monroe, Special Operations Agent Jose Gonzales, and our new First Tactical Officer, Tila. Because of each person's earnings during the previous exercise, they each gained promotions and the liberty to leave the Mourning Star training frigate to join the ranks of the APOC. To celebrate, I knew of only a single place that would satisfy (provided that our weapons were off.)

As I walked onto the bridge with Tila following behind me, the crew at their stations stood and saluted. We returned the gesture and each member went back to their seats. Our pilot, rumored to be incredibly skilled when flying at the academies, turns about to face me in his chair. He looks to be about 23 or so years of age. His dark hair's cut short like mine. He cracks a smile, saying "Sir! I love my new chair! It's leather and a helluva lot better than the stuff they gave us at the academy! No more steel framing for me!" "This isn't exactly a military ship," I say with a returned smile. "We're more of a special operations and recon unit. We don't have all the annoying restrictions that the rest of the military does to save supplies." "Well, that being said, I have a feeling that we're going to see a lot of action. Meaning that you're going to need a good pilot. I guess you're lucky that I overshoot that quota." He chuckles and turns back to the holographic helm controls at his station. "The name's Adam. Adam Killian. But you can call me Ender." "You're a bit cocky, Ender," I say as I take a seat in my captain's chair and cross my arms. "What're you planning to do before we get started on an assignment?" "Well," he begins. "I'll just sit here in my seat, entertain myself with the company I have, and mainly just enjoy the calm before the s***storm, Commander." I had to laugh at that. He might be full of himself, but I've got a good feeling about this one.

As we pulled through the Magellan gate, we pulverized the usual annoying Liberty Rogue scum that hangs around and ambushes the site, then proceeded to bypass the trade lanes and move around the far side of Manhatten to avoid Newark and the LPI and LSF ships. "Time for a test drive," I say as we approach the gate to Colorado. "Not through the gate. Take the jump hole and we'll go from there." "Debris on one side and asteroids on the other? Sounds like a party, sir!" Ender says with excitement. To avoid the debris, we roll and dive to dodge the massive chunks and fire at the smaller bits and pieces with our energy turrets throughout both fields. Despite the number of objects in each field, we never hit a single thing. I was in sheer amazement. We'd found our pilot and I couldn't wait to see what he can do in the future.

We pulled up to Tanya's Base and myself, Morrison, Monroe, Gonzales, and Lynx step out of the ship through the latchpoint at the port airlock. We stroll down the various polished corridors of the station, all the while we notice as people walking towards us suddenly part out of our way when we come closer. "Is it better to be famous or infamous?" I ask myself as we walk toward the entrance of the Tekagi's Tavern. The bouncer doesn't bother to even so much as look at me now as I walk in with the group. "Is it too much to ask for both?" I finally say to myself with a chuckle.

After I deactivate my weapons and the others leave theirs in lockers to pass the checkpoint, we each take a seat at a table in the far corner. As we sit, I take a quick look of the area. There's the usual bunch of secretive pilots off in the corner, a couple of LNF pilots, random shipping reps and a handful of assorted pirates here and there. Nothing really worth taking interest in. I order three pitchers of WLB Ale and shots of Sidewinder Fang for each of us to celebrate our promotions. Before the waitress arrives, I slide a small holoprojector to the middle of the table. It's shaped like a small half-sphere containing a circular projector in the middle with four legs on the base to hold it upright. Now we just need to get our drinks and the R&R and the meeting can get started.

[Evil Brain]

Grand opening My Tail Pipe:

I know its just a ploy to try and capture me. Everytime I enter
colorado I am surronded by Liberty police that want to KILL ME.
While a relaxing drink on a bar stool may sound good I feel it safest
to stick to my stolden liberty ale and the not so willing women Ive
taken from your bases.

[ALPHA WOLF]

Alpha Wolf walks into the bar still agravated that he missed his kill on Balck Scorpion then he thought no matter I will get him when the time is right and this time it will be for good.
Alpha looks at Zeta and says well whimp your body gaurd is still alive and then states bring me the strongest stuff you have in the house. Alpha Wolf finds a table and sits down.
As he looks around the room he see's Evil Brain and how Zeta moves very carefully around him and thinks to bad I will have to kill him someday also as he respected Evil Brain.
And as Alpha Wolf is sitting there lost in his thoughts about who he was going to kill next and where his old friend Akira is he thinks is he alive or dead or did he and that wench
Get togeather and go off to raise that kid of his HMM he thinks I need to find out with that he gets up and pays his tab meanwhile thinking time to find my old friend and walks out.

[Lord Akira]

Akira walks into the bar , walks over and sits in his usual seat , zeta approachs him and says"the usual"with a smile on his face , Akira smerked and said "yea i guess its reason to have a drink". Akira pulls out his personal coms unit and starts to type in some daily entries , hmm lets see bagged a COP pilot twice , raped the liberty police of thier convicts heading to texas penal system , set them up to work at the refeuling station.. I think i had a good day today akira said with a smile. Zeta approached with his drink and leaned over to Akira and was smiling with this little kids grin. Akira looked up at him and said "whats gotten into you bud? " Zeta leaned over on said "scorp's located a nice toys for the fleet"Akira looked at him and said Do Tell brother!! i'm growing bored of my mantis.. Zeta said i cant tell you your gonna have to see it for your self. Akira reached down and put a small duffle bag on the bar , Zeta backed up a little and said " Whats in there " Akira looked him dead in the eys and said "Its my daughters new pets" PETS!! screamed Zeta , you can have them in here this is a bar!! Akira smiles and said , dont worry i wont let them lose.. Zeta sighed releif untill he saw Akiras eyes again , that evil glaze on them again "I wont let these war weisels lose if you tell me " akira smirked , Zeta smiled and said look at this!! Akiras eyes focused on this new toy of Scorps. Nice I'll have to make my way back to Crete to see it in the flesh.. and check up on my little girl , heard she was giving her teachers hell this past month. Zeta said to akira "You should do that , and stop by and see Scorp , i know you were upset with him leaving , but hes back , and 100% too . Good Akira said , because things are going to get a little crazy here soon .. With that Akira got up and left the bar ...

[S31-Zero-Order]

We sit around our table and finally get our drinks from the waitress I'd been eyeing before my hospitalization in Elohim. We each lift a shot of the Sidewinder Fang and chant "To our brothers and sisters both young and old. Long live the Children of the Apocalypse!" Immediately, we each take our shot in a single gulp. I activate the holoprojector and a green holographic display of a ship appears before us. "This is a readout of the APR - Chrome. It's a recon ship that we lost contact with over three weeks ago." "Why'd it surface now?" Morrison asks. "Wouldn't that've been kept track of?" "It was. The only problem was that the ship itself vanished without a trace somehow. We didn't get a distress signal or a signal of any kind. From initial mobile probe scans, the ship is completely undamaged," I reply. "And we're still getting nothing from the ship." "So, what's the plan?" Lynx asks, already knowing the answer. "We're to board the ship, assess the damage if there is any, and find out what happened to the crew." "So, in other words, we have no idea what we're up against, right?" he retorts with a slight frown. "That's all a part of the game," Gonzales says as he finishes his second glass of ale. He doesn't even seem to be slighty affected by the alcohol as he finishes the pitcher with ease.

"There's a catch to the mission," I finish. "It's in Raytheon. In the cloud." "That's even better. We're flying blind, too!" Lynx says sarcastically. "You were the one that signed up for this ship and the military. Did you honestly expect anything to be ideal or easy on our assignments? You're supposed to be an elite soldier. Act like one and roll with what we have to work with." I was irritated with Lynx's constant pessimism about the mission, but I didn't want to let it get to me. I lifted my glass and began to drink until I could feel the usual buzz while he sat there mulling it over. "Well, I'm game," Monroe says to break the short silence. "I'm ready to start when you are, Commander." He nods in approval as he lifts up his drink. "Thank you. That's the attitude I want to hear!" I lift my glass and we clank them together in approval, never spilling a single drop. "We'll start after we leave here. Raytheon's a good distance away, so we'll be on the move for about 10 hours or so. Getting into the cloud isn't going to be an easy feat, either. It's at least a few hundred kilometers below what our guidance projector normally reads in a system, so that'll add on an additional hour or so. On our approach, we'll just follow the coordinates provided by the mobile probe," I say.

"What can we expect to find inside the ship?" Gonzales asks. "Personally, I'm expecting a horror show of whatever's left of the crew, if there is anything left. Then again, we have no reason to suspect that everyone's dead, but their situation doesn't sound too good. From their last report, they found... something. Something in the cloud. Whatever it is, it'd have to be pretty damn important for them to suddenly go silent. The Chrome's a small and fast scout corvette. Recon crews know how to defend themselves. It's not like they'd just up and die randomly. Only a single boarding pod will be able to board the ship at a time. I'll be going aboard. I need three volunteers to go with me." "I'm in!" Gonzales calls out, smacking his fist down onto the table. He was obviously drunk at this point. "He's probably not going to remember this later, but that's one," I say with a nod. "I've got your back," Monroe says. "You'll probably need a tech marine." "And a field medic," Lynx says raising a finger into the air. He sighs and, with obvious reluctance, says "I'm in." "I'll stay behind and help Tila. Lord knows your XO will need all the help she can get," Morrison says with a laugh. "Then it's settled," I say with a smile. "Let's get started!"

With that, the holoprojector deactivates and we stand to leave. I leave a thousand-credit tip for the waitress and we head out through the door as each soldier grabs their weapons from the lockers.

[Zeta]

NOTE FROM THE BARTENDER: Hello all, I promise to catch up to all of this when I have the chance. Theres been a lot of stuff going on here at home that hasn't given me much time or leftover energy, but I'm getting used to it and I will be back to it. Thank you for your patience.