Pyrat King Homecoming 3 of 3: The Throne
06 Feb 2016Monolith Preacher
So this was it. Six months since I'd first left home, I was coming back to claim my kingship. When I first left the bubble, I was Mostly Aimless. Now, I was a Ranger and an Entrepeneur. Heck, I'd finally even managed to make myself a Competent fighter pilot. But to become a king, even when the Empire already tells you you are, you must still kill the king.Springheel Jake. I'd been waiting a long time for this. I used to call him ol' one-eye, until my Mentor taught me that was actually an epithet for Odhinn, and I refrained from using it. The main reason I had done so, is even before he sent me off to boot camp, even before he beat me for drinking with Hammer on the weekends with the rest of the lads, I had wanted to make him blind. Ever since I was a child, I had been living under his one eye, and I had wanted out. Even now, it seemed, the only way to do so was through him, in a manner of speaking, and I hated it.
Funny story. I petitioned the Archon to invade and have him removed when I first signed up. The idiot I was, I assumed it would go straight to him. Looking back on it, if the guy that sent the wire wasn't bribed, the guy that got it would have been. I was naive. That's something I couldn't afford to be today. Luckily, I'd formulated a plan with the help of Scarlet and surprisingly no-one else, and I was sure I had enough savvy to wing it if things started to go awry.
What could have been a messy exit from LYR turned out to be rather easy, thanks to Scarlet. She saw to it that the money from the sale of my ships went to clear the debt I owed for not making him any money in the interim. To cut out a long-winded coding monologue, she caught the transaction at the point he signed the deed to himself to sign over, and changed the records to show he gave it to LYR instead. When his people were made aware of this clerical error by a concerned third party, they sent him the bill and I took my Fer-de-Lance back home with her aboard.
Now, as much as there's no requirement for a pyrat to have one spouse any more than it's a problem if xe has eighteen, a preacher must hold to their faith. That means there was no uncertainty as to our relationship when I entered. If anyone wondered whether she owned her own craft, they didn't say it. I was sure Springheel Jake was aware a red Fer-de-Lance was parked on a planet, but he was here and that was as far from Kent Station as the central star.
He was there to greet me on the way out. I was expecting him to call me out in the old way, threatening to run me through in that terrible parlance of his, but instead he just stood there, watching. I wasn't carrying any electronics, and I'd already warned Scarlet to do likewise, so there was no problem there. But the man was silent. Sure, the salt circle was out on the docks traditionally, and the standard statement of intent was wavered due to the fact everyone in the system had trended it on the way there. I wasn't expecting anyone else to speak. But giving up a monologue, in front of a lady? Why, it's just too radical a break.
I walked forward through the pyrat column, friends to port, enemies to starboard. Scarlet stayed by my ship. As I got three paces from the salt circle, I stopped and presented my flick knife. Every pyrat has his own knife, but mine's got a urainum tip. Springheel Jake moved forward slowly, and finally, at the last juncture he was allowed to speak without incurring mutiny by default, he shouted.
"You!"
He presented his knife, a Jambiya with a Bastskin handle, and stepped into the circle before giving me time to reply. It was audacious, but not unheard of. CMDR AJRimmer had allegedly once recited twelfth night in twelve minutes during a pyrat duel, but it was still considered bad form generally. He just managed to pull it off. This wasn't the best thing to be thinking when entering into a duel for kingship, but it's what I was thinking none the less.
"You!"
I stepped into the circle and drank a shot from my hip flask, as is tradition. He had forgone his shot to repeat himself.
"You!"
I took stance, wondering if he had deliberately decided to repeat himself in order to annoy me.
"You!"
He finally stopped poking his Jambiya at me. He turned it upwards to his temple, and cut the leather thong holding his eye-patch in place. I shan't describe the socket, but I've got a stronger stomach than most of the congregation had. Scarlet actually chuckled, as I recall.
"I SEE YOU!"
He finally took stance.
"From the beginning of your time, I have seen you!"
His hand spun his grip on his blade as he thrusted towards me. I grabbed his hand at the wrist and pulled him onto my knife. He fell to the floor, dead. But i was happy he had been blind as he fell. At least, it sounded like he felt himself hit the ground first.
"Be seeing you." I said.
Everything moved pretty quickly after that.
He was taken to be buried as a Pyrat King, for his tales to be told in full one year from now, once everything is said and his body sent in his ship to the embrace of his home star in Pandius. Because in pyrat tradition, your morals are what you make them, it's the stories that you leave that matter at the end of the day. And as much as we hated him, he lived quite a life.
But what of my life? Well, it's certainly changed quite drastically. I've been asking myself a lot of questions today. Kingship's a big thing to take on, and as much as the title's been there, taking the crown solidifies things somewhat. Well, in Gcirthi tradition it's an eye-patch, but you get the idea. I've been wondering why life has taken me away from the light of the Monolith.
I had converted a small city's worth of people, and now I'm embroiled in tertiary concerns. Yes, people are important, but isn't faith more important to a preacher? I suppose a shepherd must tend his flock, but there's a whole galaxy out there that needs saving. Then it hit me. I'm asking the wrong questions because I'm not the same person I was. I can't ask the same questions anymore. I must trust that the Monolith has plans for me, and instead focus on the how instead of the why.
So my priorities in kingship of Gcirthi are thus:
1: To promote the interest of the Pirates of Gcirthi, long may we rule the system for the better of all who like the pyrat life!
2: To promote the cult of the Monolith within my system, and via pilgrimages to holy sites that others would be unable to make.
3: To somehow save up enough money to buy a Beluga when it comes out, whatever the cost.
Three's enough for now. A pyrat doesn't need a code, a mere guideline will do. That last one might seem a bit odd, but it's something Scarlet said to me that made me think in a larger sense and a smaller scale that got it on there. It also has the possibility of completely changing my methodology of conversion.
When I had my Python, I was trading in Imperial slaves to convert people, assuming that I'd get a higher chance of them being people who might have some say in court. Now I'm a King, that doesn't matter. I can get Hilary on the line to sort out any paperwork I need and get the ball rolling to ingratiate myself enough in the Macmillan Terminal Charity Concern that I can get some preachers on the staff. Saud Kruger representatives literally called me today offering me contracts to be a patron, and if I can make enough money before it comes out to buy the Beluga they'll seal the deal.
But wait, you say. You're a preacher, not a businessman! What's all this talk of corporate shenanigans? Well, you see, Gcirthi is a corporation, and if I'm the king, I've got to run that corporation. However, if I can pull this off, then I can go one step further, and make it a Monolith Pyrat Corp.
How? Simple. Once the Beluga comes around, how much do you want to bet tourism season's finally going to start? How long ago did I buy my Orca? 13th October last year, two weeks before I left the bubble for the core. I've known this is coming for a while. If I can work out how to get a load of famous people on to one of my ships and go on pilgrimages, well that'll be good exposure for my people and a lot of converts for the Monolith in high places. And if I've got to kill a few Thargoids to keep them safe, well...that's all in a day's work. Who knows? there's a vague chance the rumours about them being friendly are true, and we could have Alien Monolith Preachers, but only time will tell.
So now that I have killed Springheel Jack and taken his place, tradition dictates I must take two things from him. The Gcirthi Eye-patch is our take on the traditional "Crown of the Pyrat King". The first crown of legend was a tricorne hat which would scalp the user on the first wear to allow full interface with the brain. Although it is no longer necessary, it has been dictated by tradition that "A Pyrat King must be crippled". Apparently it links back to old pyrats always having peg legs or one eye or hooks for hands, and that somehow this gave power to the rest of them. Yeah, we're a superstitious lot, don't yarr know?
I had to choose which eye to lose in order for the eye-patch to engage fully with my neural cortex. I chose the right eye. There was only one more thing for me to take from Springheel Jake: his name. In Gcirthi, you don't have a name. You get a nickname if you're exceptional enough to have a unique trait, but if that's being a slow runner you're out of luck. CMDR names are again, just that: pseudonyms. Anyone you see in Gcirthi with a name is either not local, or is trying to impress outsiders that don't understand our customs. If it's the latter, let me know, but for now, I've just been told that my new name has been chosen.
Wow.
How cheesy.
Jake the Knife.
Well, I guess when you can't choose it, you're stuck with the obvious. Maybe it'll be catchy....I just hope it doesn't put off the tourists...and speaking of putting people off, It has come to my attention that I still need to name my Fer-de-Lance. Well it's obviously a Very Light Picket class, but as for the name...well I think Revelation 8-11 has a nice ring to it. And if Scarlet thinks it doesn't have any gravitas, she obviously hasn't read he scripture as much as her Culture...