The Black Flag
10 Jul 2015WaKKO SicK
Original Link herehttp://galnetnews.com/diarypages/black-flag/
Hi. My name is WaKKO SicK. I grew up in Federation space. My father was a Space Trucker. We lived right out of our Hauler. Always on the move, looking for our next job on the Bulletin Board. My father was a big history buff and a big fan of the Sol system. He always got excited when a job sent him to Earth. He used to say “Can you believe this is where we came from? We all grew from single cells and evolved right there.” To him it was magic. I never really felt a connection to Earth, or any planet for that matter. Growing up in space the highlights of my life was when we were dodging pirates. The grav shift when we were interdicted got my blood pumping something fierce. The thought that this could be my last day. Dad always talked about settling down but I think we both knew that was never going to happen.
I remember a big turning point in my life was learning about Earths American period. In the beginning they were just a bunch of rich men, and criminals, attempting to colonize a continent that had been previously out of there grasp because of the vast distance of the ocean. At the time they only had wooden boats. Can you just imagine trying to cross an ocean in something made out of wood? The balls they had. There was this guy Dad was always going on about that helped write these laws called the constitution that made it so every man was equal. This guy was Ben Franklin. But it wasn’t the constitution that was so important to me. It was a speech he gave once in a tavern. He said “All men must struggle at times, with the idea of raising the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” Those words stuck with me when my father died.
We were heading from an Empire system to Fed space when we were knocked out of cruise. The ship was spinning and I hit my head pretty hard on the top of my bed. I must have been knocked out for awhile When I woke up we were not moving. It was quiet and I could not see anything at the windows except the sun. It was a bright white sun. Definitely not someplace we would stop voluntarily. As I moved forward towards the bridge I heard voices. Seeing as it was just me and him on the ship, I knew we had been boarded. I looked for a weapon but the only thing I could find was an old knife. The kind that folds in half. The blade wasn’t even that sharp, little flecks of red dust had started to form on it. I think my father had won it in a poker game years ago. The door between the living quarters and the cargo bay was a standard hatch style. There was no sneaking in, so I decided to listen for minute before I opened the door and let my presence be known.
“There is no letter, no data file, no package. Its up here.” I heard my dad say as if he were proud. Almost like he thought the words protected him like a shield.
“So he just told you the coords? You expect us to believe he trusted you? A fat ugly little fed trucker?” The voice was thick, it sounded raspy. The sound of a million cigz being smoked over a lifetime. It was not mad, just puzzled. My father said proudly
“I don’t care what you believe, you are not going to get the coords.” he screamed as if hit and I could hear the raspy voice yell
“WE WILL GET THOSE BLASTED COORDS!! EVEN IF WE HAVE TO BEAT THEM OUTTA YOUZ!”
This is the point where my tiny world exploded, at this point I could have hid and listened to them kill my father and then waited and hoped they didn’t blow up the ship when they left. But dad was the only person I really knew. This ship and him were my whole life. I knew of nothing else, and the idea that one was about to be beaten to death made me so mad that I burst through the door. They were unprepared for my entrance, 2 men were standing there over my father on his knees. I picked the meanest looking one and Plunged the rusty blade into his eye. The problem came when i realized I could not remove the knife from his skull. It was stuck. The man didn’t die right away either. He was squealing at a very high pitch. It echoed throughout the cargo bay. Blood was spouting out and then lessened to a drizzle. The other man quickly punched me in the head and stunned with a security baton. As I lie on the ground I heard a pistol shot. I thought the worst at first. I pictured my father being shot. I could tell by the sudden quiet the man still standing had shot his friend to stop the pathetic squealing. Then the raspy voice said “He was my friend for a long time kid. I don’t even know you. Think about that.” He kicked me in the face and blood poured from my nose. I could see nothing but black and white masses spinning around under my eyelids. Then another jolt of electricity and my father screaming “Spare him, let him live and I will tell you whatever you want to know, Please….” Its about that time that I passed out from the pain.
—–Waking up a slave—
When i woke up I was in a cryotube. My wounds had healed but my head was still realing as if the kick had just happened. I had no time to think as a man with a security rod wearing an Empire uniform was rushing me out of the tube. As I looked to my left and right I could see hundreds of tubes on both sides of me. There were about 20 guards all shuttling us into the next room. We were given clothes and told to change. The outfit they handed us was a simple white jump suit. The uniform of an Imperial slave. One of the other slaves said “put it on quick or we may all feel the pain of your reluctance”. I quickly started to disrobe and change. All the while wondering where I was? where was my dad? was he still alive? This large white room, these all white uniforms, all these guards surrounding us, I felt hopeless. Out of the pan and into the fire. The slave who spoke to me opened his mouth again to introduce himself.
“The Names Bait whats yours?” he said in hushed voice always looking at the guards.
“WaKKO” I muttered under my breath. “where are we?”
“We are being sold to a mining company I think. From what I heard before cryosleep its a small independent mining company named SicK Industries. I do not remember you from the plantation. Where are you from?” before i could answer a guard walking close came up and kicked Bait in the chest and he fell over. Like a wave, the rest of the slaves just moved out of the way of his body and poured back into the gaps that had opened. No one looked directly at the guards. Its as if all the slaves were infatuated with the guards shoes.
“NO TALKING!” the guard yelled as he sweeped his head around the room looking for anyone else he could hit. He turned his eyes to me, the only one in the room looking directly at the guards and said “You better stop eye balling me boy, or I might just take an interest in you.” I looked away and he turned to again to address the whole room. “you are all now miners, you will wake up when we say, you will eat what we say, you will work when we say, and you will die when we allow it. Work hard and in 30 years you will be free from your debt.”
And so it went, I woke up, ate this purple slime they fed us for breakfast and dinner, there was no lunch. During the day we worked hard labor, moving rock onto the conveyors and making sure the rocks did not fall off the conveyors. I can’t even remember how many people died after getting some part of there body stuck in those damn conveyors. I also never saw anyone released. There were people who had been at SicK industries there whole lives.
Bait and I became good friends. He always seemed happy. I don’t know how he does it but the man never seems upset or angry. He always has this smile on his face that refuses to change. Eventually something changed at the mine. Something always does. Federation ships were reported in a nearby system. Then the Empire and the Federation were rumored to be fighting in the system. And then one day we woke up and there was a man standing there not in a guards uniform. His name was Nadarino Poppcock. He just came and said we were free. Like it was that easy. They offered those who had family a transport home, and those without were asked to join the Federation. Bait and I didn’t have family, when asked our names we gave SicK as our last. That is how we officially became brothers. It had been almost 6 years. It felt like the full 30. My body had turned to granite. I remember my first real meal aboard a Federation anaconda. It was chicken. It tasted so damn good. When we landed we were given a free sidewinder ship and 1000 credits and let loose. We were supposed to stay near LHS-3447 and help the federation but Bait and I decided right away that we did not want to be apart of the Govts. We bounty hunted for awhile and then met a man named Kogamei. He was known as the Ghost to authorities. A notorious smuggler. He taught us the pieces of eight.
“The Pieces of Eight”
“1 There are No Rules Only Consequences.
2 Join or Die
3 Learn and Teach
4 Loyalty is worth more then Money
5 You are only as Good as your Word
6 Actions speak Louder then Words
7 Put Needs before Wants
8 Active Leadership or Mutiny
These are not rules or laws. They are truths. They stand as warnings to the wise.”
They had apparently been created by Queen Spades in The Great Wild when they were being invaded by a large fleet. As soon as I heard these words I knew they were for me. It reminded me of Ben Franklin, all drunk at the bar, telling everyone he could that every man struggles with the idea of raising a black flag, denouncing all ties, and setting out to find thier own destiny. It was apparent to Bait that things were about to change. For the past couple of months we had been in some heavy fighting and were making some decent cash. But once I heard these words everything was different. Thats when I raised my flag.
We immediately started looking for a new home. Away from Empire or Federation authority. We heard of a small group of independent systems that had banded together to stave off the advances of the universal Govts. They were not heavily manned or organized. Which is exactly why we decided that we needed to find these people and see what they were about. And so we started looking for the Alliance. We heard only rumors and none of them panned out, but the Milky way is a big place. We decided to save up enough money hauling and mining to pay for a cloning service in an independent system and then head out exploring. We had become immortals. We had become free.
This is my first time writing for anything official. I really hope you enjoyed reading this shorty story as I look forward to writing about my exploits in Elite Dangerous. The Black Flag is actually a very small orginization of gamers dedicated to doing what they feel like doing and not being forced by politics to side one way or another in any conflict. We were created in The Great Wild section of New Eden universe and go by many names. The Sons of Slaves, The Big Dirty, and The Rifter Rebellion. Please post any comments or suggestions below.”