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[Black Scorpion]

~ Prologue ~

After having my little breakdown I decided it would be a good idea to keep a journal.
As the past has pointed out time and time again, the life of a member of the CCoF - let alone their leader - is quite the challenging one as peril and trials of all sorts cross your path several times a day. Any Brother of the Covenant has to go up against so many challenges in his life, it would a shame to see the story of their never-ending struggle for the Truth get lost in time. I'm hoping that with this journal, I will be able to put together some kind of legacy for future generations in case something happens to me and I will not return home from a mission one day.

I have encrypted this journal with an encryption only I know about, and am keeping it stored in the main computer of my main ship, the Flammard. I also make regular back-ups of it which I store on a location I am not going to disclose.

For our Cause, and its future.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 1 ~

It's been a few days since I got back in the saddle now. Gotta say it feels good to be back, I really have no idea what I had done without the CCoF.
Flew back to Tripoli Shipyard to supervise the progress on the production of that new ship I acquired recently. Gotta say our engineers serve up to their reputation of the best in Sirius. They managed to reverse-engineer and upgrade the original design quite easily, and we are now looking at supplying the whole clan with a new ship that will give us a real edge in combat. Can't wait. It's things like this that really give me the inspiration I need.

It's been a while since I heard from Akira, thinking about it. But just yesterday I received word that he's on his way here to catch up with me and his little girl. Can't wait to talk to him again either.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 2 ~

Last night I ran into a pilot of the brave kind you don't run into often nowadays. The encounter kept me pre-occupied over the rest of evening.

As I was on my way to Bretonia space for a regular assignment, I noticed a ship on my long-range scanners. Its callsign was unfamiliar to me, but it was tagged as a trader. He was making his way back from Bellerophon through Crypt, Graveyard and Alaska. It made me wonder what a lone trader was doing so far out all by himself, so I decided to plot an intercept course. Halfway in Graveyard, I noticed him on the other side of the system, so I decided to hold position halfway down the main tradelane, ready to disrupt it as soon as the ship would come close. As I saw the ship approaching at high speed, indicating that he had entered the tradelane, I opened the channel and compiled a quick 'welcome message' for him. But to my surprise, he had already passed me before I had had the chance to mine the lane. A bit surprised by his swift action, I canceled the comm and made a 180 to chase after him. I wanted to know more about this pilot.

The chase took the both of us through several systems. We both gained some ground on each other in turns, this was obviously a pilot that had some practice - he knew his way around Sirius. But in New York, I got close enough to get him nervous. Where he flew from the Alaska gate to the Magellan gate through the tradelanes, I took the secret jumphole that would lead me deep into the Badlands, close to the Rogue base there, and halfway to the Magellan gat. This would give me the edge I needed on him.
Finally, after chasing him all the way into Manchester, the pilot contacted me, asking whether I was chasing him. He obviously wasn't familiar with the CCoF.

As I approached him, I instructed him to shut down his engines and stand by for a scan, and to my surprise, he complied. I noticed that although he was tagged as a trader, he was flying the Mantis ship, one of the fastest in Sirius. This could get more interesting than I thought...
I demanded the 4 Bosko pilots that he had in his cargo hold, and again to my surprise, he opened the transfer.
This was not something I had seen a lot of pilots do. So despite the fact that he had followed all my instructions to the letter, I decided to provoke a fight with him, and opened fire on his ship as soon as the transfer was complete. I stripped his shield and about 10% of his hull in the first pass, but the pilot retaliated fiercely. The result was a fight that lasted for at least 10 minutes. My new experimental Howler gave me the upper hand though, and after not too long his hull was down to the last straw and he had obviously depleted his supply of nanobots.

I admired the bravery in this pilot, and did something I do not normally do - I stopped firing. I opened the comm again and made him a business proposition. I would stop firing on him if he would pay me 50 million credits in tax, in return for his life. I didn't really expect him to comply, since the fight had left his ship severely damaged and the repair bill would probably go through the roof, but he surprised me once more, and immediately opened the transfer window and proceeded with transferring the cash.
Being a man of my word, I thanked him for the business, complimented him on his bravery and went on my way, leaving the pilot with a banged up ship.

Later that evening I ran the encounter through my head again. I admired the bravery and honor in this pilot, which is why I had let him life. It was encouraging, made me wonder if there would be more pilots like him to be found. It was men like him that would fit the profile of a Brother of the Covenant.

I told myself I should keep an eye on him.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 3 ~

It's been a busy couple of long days and short nights. Didn't even have time to write in my journal. Then again, nobody really expected for things to go so fast.
When I found that old Howler on the Junker base and had it reverse-engineered and upgraded by the Tripoli engineers, I was extremely happy with the result - still am. But it got me to thinking: It must have been ages since we (the Corsairs) retired our old Legionnaire, Centurion and Titan models. Back in the day when they were first put into service they were absolutely state of the art, and technologically way ahead of all other ships they met in battle. But unfortunately the test of time also left its impact on our beloved ships.
With both financial and technological resources being spent on other projects, the Corsairs have been using ships from other factions, albeit upgraded versions of them. But we have never actually developed a completely new ship for our forces since. And even though the Howler was an improvement on the fleet, it still was an already existing ship, again upgraded by our engineers.

Now with the Navy presence in Sirius decreasing, and our own business doing quite well - although it still isn't as good as before -, I decided this is as good a time as any to spend some of those resources on developing a new ship platform. To help focusing the resources on the actual construction of the ship, I decided to co-ordinate the design it myself. With a little help from one of our best engineers, we have managed to put together a design unlike anything seen before in Sirius. We put a lot of the experimental technologies that were being worked on in the recent past by our engineers into the design, and some features that will make it superior against any opponent.

I've been thinking about putting a basic version of the new ship on the market, so we can make some good money off of it. In which case the full-spec version would be available exclusively to the CCoF. Then again, that might give enemy forces the opportunity to improve on its design and beat us with our own technology... I'm not sure yet. Luckily I still have plenty of time to think about it, since working out all of the details on the ship and fine-tuning the design will still take some time. It will probably be another few weeks before I can take the prototype out for its maiden flight. At best.
But ever disadvantage has its advantage, and it this case it will give me the opportunity to work out a completely new color scheme for the ship, which will probably even bear my name.

I can't wait to see the final result... One thing is for sure though: I'm going to sleep like a rock tonight.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 4 ~

Just recently a new clan has been established. They call themselves the 'Allied Traders of Sirius', or AToS in short. Quite interesting to see a new trader group, you never know what profits we might be able to make with them. Or from them of course...
And what do you know, a few days ago, we have managed to strike a very interesting deal with them. I think it will prove itself very lucrative, it will certainly give us the break we need to expand our forces and spread our influence throughout Sirius. And it will probably also turn up a nice regular income for the CCoF.

We will see how it will go, I am already planning a first operation with one of their pilots, to test their allegiance.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 5 ~

A few hours ago, we spotted a UHG pilot deep in the Baffle system. We wondered what a vessel from the Unicornz Honorary Guards was doing so far out in space, so Brother Maxim and myself decided to intercept it.
After we plotted a course we noticed that the vessel was headed back into our direction. So we posted ourselves near the Southern Federation jumpgate, waiting for the ship. When it jumped through, we demanded it shut down its engines and stand by for a scan. At first the vessel wouldn't comply, but after a couple of shot across its bow it changed its mind.

Scanning it didn't reveal anything of real interest, apart from a Lowlander pilot it was carrying in its hold. The ship was not well armed and would not stand a chance in a dogfight against anyone, let alone our fighters. It gave us the impression that we were being bated. Nevertheless, we demanded for the vessel to turn over the Lowlander pilot, and to pay 100 million credits in tax for its safe passage. It dropped the pilot, but refused to pay the tax, claiming it was only a drone emitting a holographic image of the actual ship. None of our scanner readings could either confirm or deny that, and after another warning we proceeded to blow it up.

To our surprise, a pilot marked as a Jedi Fighter Pilot ejected from the vessel seconds before it blew. Which would not have been the case if it had been a real drone... It would seem that the UHG was trying to mislead us, but for what reason, we weren't sure.
Besides that the reward was low, just some spare parts and the pilot. But it did give us a nice chance to test the allegiance of the AToS. So we contacted their Runner ship and instructed it to deliver the pilot to the UHG home system, Unicornz. As expected, he co-operated with us and delivered the package. At least now the UHG knows not to mock the CCoF, or lose ships and pilots if they do. I hope the message came through, or we might be looking at a new dispute, this time with the forces of the mighty UHG... Let's hope if that happens, our little contract with the AToS will come in handy...


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 6 ~

It has been a tedious couple of days. Been extremely busy with the development on the new clan ship, working long hours and only sleeping for a few hours a night. It has kept me away from regular clan affairs, but it's a good thing I have people like nobodie by my side to deal with the politics at times like this. And besides, without development and advancements in technology we will not be able to keep up with our biggest opponents, the governments and mega-corps. Seeing the fact that they all have multi-billion budgets at their disposal, we have to make put in that extra effort.
This time it's gonna be worth it, though. The ship is coming together pretty well now, and it looks absolutely awesome. I have put a lot of time in creating a special paintwork for it and I'm pretty happy with it. At the moment it's still just a platform, an empty shell resting in the support struts in dry-dock. So the next step will be to prepare the ship to carry equipment and weaponry, and I yet have to install all the internal electronics. Will be quite the time-consuming job in itself, but it will pay off. I know it will.

It's a good thing we have been able to keep this base secret for as long as we have. The last thing we need now is for our enemies to get their hands on the prototype. If that would happen, all the hard work will have been for nothing, and with the few resources we had available drained to the bottom, the CCoF will basically be defeated and lost.
Then again, except for myself, nobodie and a few trusted Brothers, there is no-one alive who knows about this base. So I'm confident we will be safe here. At least until the ship is ready.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 7 ~

Another day on Consuelo base, working on our new ship. Yesterday we pulled some extra hours in order to get it space worthy, and when it was done, I couldn't resist and took it out for a spin. The chief engineer strongly advised against it and urged for me to take a VR test flight instead of actually taking it into space, but standing in a holographic room in some kind of projected reality is not really my thing. I need to feel the ship communicate through my seat, listen to the sounds she makes when I pull her into a sharp turn. I need to hear the engines hum and the thrusters roar. That's the only way to really get in touch with her.

Good thing I still am the one in charge around here hehe.

She's a beauty, and flies like a dream. The old ships all have that nostalgic feel about them, and despite their age you forgive them for their imperfections because they have earned your trust and respect over many years of reliability. But still, it doesn't compare to taking a completely new ship for its first flight. The smell of the brand new interior and the burning sent of the paintwork when the engines heat up for the first time, the high-end pilot interface, and just the smoothness with which she responds to the controls...

Of course it's still a brand new prototype, and there's still some perfecting to be done. The running- and docking lights need adjustment as well as the gun mounts, and last but certainly not least, the engine needs to be fine-tuned. Looking forward to that one already. Then there's a couple of other issues I have to work out, but that shouldn't take me too long.

All in all it's coming together just fine. With any luck I'll have it ready for active service in a few days, if not less. Our enemies will not believe their eyes...


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 8 ~

Life has a funny way of knocking you about. Just as you think things are looking up, you get slapped back down. As though it's letting you know not to get too attached to good progress.

The ship was coming along nicely, in fact I was just maneuvering the brand new ship towards the docking ports of Consuelo base after its final test run, just seconds before the incident. The front cockpit window had picked up some slight scorch marks, thanks to me venturing a bit too close to the Gamma sun. It limited my visibility a bit so I was being extra careful. Didn't wanna get any scrapes on the fresh paint.
As I sent the docking code the hatch opened and I nudged the throttle ever so gently, silently moving the ship inside the air lock section of the main hangar. The hatch closed behind me and I could hear the hissing sound of the air lock getting back up to normal pressure. Everything was looking good so far. Just a few seconds and I could set the Scorpion back to rest on its pad and give it a final checkup.
The red light above the door to the main hangar switched to green and I could see the first beams of light shining through the opening door. When the door had opened wide enough, I nudged the throttle again to move the ship to its pad.

Then disaster struck.

My right wing tip touched the edge of the main hangar door, which hadn't fully opened yet. I obviously hadn't noticed this due to the specks on my front window. The scraping metal-on-metal sound it produced made the hairs on my neck stand upright. The touché made the ship turn to starboard slightly, and in a reflex to compensate I responded instinctively. In that split second I forgot about the fact that the controls in the Scorpion are far more sensitive than our older ships. So instead of giving a subtle correction, I gave the starboard thruster a full power burst. Producing an enormous roar and whipping up a big cloud of dust from the hangar floor, it violently lurked the ship hard to port. The tail swung around and the tip of the starboard bottom fin crashed into a power box on the wall. It went right through the casing, destroying the electronics inside and causing a massive short-circuit. This in turn created a chain reaction of overloading electronics all over the hangar. The electro-magnetic surge made one of the plasma conduits blow up, and it went downhill from there on out. Systems started to overload and blow up all over our brand new base. Fire alarms went off, lights started to flash and the automatic fire-extinguishing installation created a thick blanket of smoke in all compartments as it killed the flames.

Then all went dark and silent. It was one of those eerie silences, when you know what had just happened, but don't want it to be true just yet. A second later the emergency lighting switched on, covering the entire base in that spooky red gloom, and the main computer (thank the Hispania it survived!) reported a base-wide system malfunction, declaring a state of red alert.

Although the whole incident had only lasted for a mere three seconds or so, it seemed an eternity. The damage reports spoke for themselves - basically the only systems that had not sustained critical damage were the ones that were better protected than the rest. Life support was still running, food storage was safe and the main base computer was still operative. The grav plating was offline though, which was pretty awkward.

This happened a couple of weeks ago. The incident had far-stretching effects. The base went on full lockdown, the whole fleet was grounded until further notice and communications were not possible until the trans-ceiver array had been repaired. Waste disposal was not possible which made that part of the base crew got sick and moral took a steep dive.
But the worst of it all was the fact that we had spent almost all our technological resources on the development of the new ship. And the damage done to the base far outweighed the remaining spare parts. And with the biggest part of the systems down, repairs would proof a challenge to say the least. It was a vicious circle - we needed spare parts and certain systems to repair the damage, but the accident had destroyed most of the material needed for the repairs.

Murphy's Law had done its part once again, and had done it thoroughly.

So for the last few weeks we have not been able to fly any patrols, heck I couldn't even make log entries in my journal.
But, as so often in the past, we have been able to slowly rebuild the damaged sections of the base, but work is coming along extremely slowly and much of it still needs to be done. In times like these alliances with other clans had come in very handy, if we had had any...

I hope we can see this one through to the end. I will have to ask everything from my men to get the base and the clan up and running again, but I have faith in our capabilities and persistence. We will get back on top, I have no doubt about that. It will just take time, maybe even up to a month.
I can only guess what our opponents think has happened to the CCoF, and who knows what changes have occurred to some of the clans that were operational before the accident.

I guess we will see. We have had a setback and a big one with that, but it is not the first, and it will certainly not be the last for the CCoF. You never know what life throws at you, but what I do know, is that we will emerge from all this again.

Those who think they had seen the last of the CCoF, will be in for a surprise. We will be back, and they will know it when the time comes.


~ Scorp.

[Black Scorpion]

~ Entry# 9 ~

Last night while I was hunting down a trader out of pure boredom really, I ran into my old friend Akira. He had chosen to leave the CCoF and join the COP a little while ago. When I disappeared for while then to take a little breather from it all, the spirit in my warriors faded due to a lack of encouragement from myself and many left. And so did Akira. And although I have respected his decision, it did hurt me to see him leave. He did leave a void in the spot where he used to be. I think he must have been the most honorable, driven and loyal friend I have ever had, certainly within the CCoF. Although nobodie is still around somewhere, I sometimes feel... alone.

And now I saw his callsign appearing on my scanners. For a moment I didn't really know how to respond; it was quite the awkward moment for me. I was just about to dock with the next tradelane to follow my target, but hesitated. Judging by the rate of the decreasing distance between him and me, he had entered the same tradelane on the opposite side. Heading my way...
There had always been two sides to Akira. The best friend you could ever wish for: loyal, protective and honest, someone who would never let you down, and you could always count on. With his on your wingtip, you knew he had your back.
But then there was his warrior side. Apart from the fact that he was one of the most skilled and widely respected pilot in Sirius, he had a ruthless dedication to whatever cause it was he had chosen to follow.
This dual personality was what had me hesitating. I didn't really know whether which side of him I would face when he came out of that tradelane. Normally I would have not had anything to worry about, but this time he was fighting for another side. A side I didn't trust. If he was as loyal to their cause as he had been to the Covenant's, I could very well find myself in deep trouble in a few seconds.

The couple of seconds it took to let these thoughts pass my mind, was enough for my target to travel out of range. There was no point in continuing to chase him now; realistically I would not be able to catch up anymore. So the only thing left to do at that point in time was to wait for my old friend to disengage from the tradelane and see what would happen. So I waited...

I could see the particle trail appearing in the distance as his ship slowed down and disengaged from the slipstream. Nothing yet. Then a system-wide message appeared on my comm, and it shocked me. Akira had just offered my target to kill me in return of some credits... At first I couldn't believe what I was reading, but it was really there. Then, to make things worse, the target acknowledged his offer. I was in a hot spot now. Akira, my old friend who I had respected so highly, was now going to attempt to end my life. Here and now. In a couple of minutes it could all be over and the leader of the feared Covenant would die by the hands of his old best friend, who had now betrayed him. I could already see the headlines on the news. I could hear the noise the Government would make to celebrate that their worst threat was no more, and Sirius was no at the feet of Corruption.

I saw it all flash before my eyes. And needed no time at all to decide that I could not let this happen. I had to fight Akira, and I better be the first one to open fire and try to get an edge on him. A fight to the death was inevitable anyway.
I turned my ship and headed for him, closer and closer. For one last split second I recognized his silhouette in the cockpit, but then my mind went to battle mode. I open fired and took the best part of his shield with my first pass. As I flew past him at full thrust, I could see his ship turning about, looking for the direction of the attack. Then he engaged. At the same time he was involuntarily joined by two pilots from the Liberty Navy, who never ignored a chance to try and kill the leader of the Covenant if they got it. More problems for me, their Magnums packed a punch and I was having a hard time dodging both their and Akira's fire, who had started to fire back.
Thinking about it now, if he had deliberately not fired back on me, I would have held fire as well. The last thing I wanted was for either of us to die there. But sometimes things go as they do I guess...

In the end, the firepower of the Navy ships combined with Akira's superior skills proved to much for me. I tried everything I could but saw my armor disappearing by the second. I think I stuck it out for about 5 minutes or so, but then my hull gave way. My escape pod ejected me away from the explosion and into space, far too close to my three opponents... But when I looked out the pod window, I noticed that the Navy ships had disappeared... It was just Akira out there. He was sitting no more than 100M from my pod, the nose of his ship pointed right at my escape pod. He was so close that I could see the look in his eyes. And that look scared me. It was like he was not there, but caught up in some kind of trance or something, like he wasn't quite himself.
The seconds ticked by and boy were they long. We stared each other right in the eyes for a couple of seconds. This was not like Akira, he had always been swift with finishing off his kill. But maybe he had found himself in the same dilemma I found myself in just a couple of minutes ago...

Then his ship slowly turned to the right, and while he charged his cruise engines, he gave me one last look before blasting off. I didn't know what to think about it. At least he didn't kill me, which was good. I think... Then on the other side, I think he came awfully close to doing it. And besides, he did leave me floating in open space in my tiny pod, something you would do when you wished nothing but the worst fate for somebody;- to leave him die of asphyxiation in space. Cold and alone.


In the very end, I still don't know what to think. Was that guy I fought last night the same Akira I knew? Or had something changed him.

I didn't sleep that night.




~ Scorp.