Figurehead
17 Oct 2019Flikre
So it's been a few weeks, me and the guys have been relatively successful in our hauls, pulling in several million at a time. It still fells a little strange, getting back to piracy. After all, most children know that stealing is wrong, it's drummed into us pretty much from birth and then all the way through childhood, adolescence and even when you're an adult.But why?
The galaxy is vast, the universe even more so. For billions of years its spun on regardless of the tiny specks running around like they own the place. It'll also continue to exist for hundreds of trillions of years after, until the last stars die. Even then it'll exist, just very cold and dark.
It doesn't care about us.
Nothing matters except the rules we create for ourselves, the morals we choose.
Right and wrong are figments of the imagination, a lie we tell our children to create order and make sure everyone acts in a predictable manner.
To keep us in line.
To control us.
That's my view of the universe anyway, it wasn't always like that, but being 'joke of the week' for the cosmos does tend to alter your opinion of things.
I told a few of the guys this, albeit with much more slurring. To my surprise, most of them agreed, one or two looked at me as if my face was upside down. They saw themselves as anarchists, rebels, and it's hard to rebel against something that in the strictest sense doesn't really matter.
But for whatever reason the gang chose to elect me as the face of our little crew, first in the fight whenever booty was to be had.
Of course they decided that if I was going to be the first thing our unwitting donators were going to see, then a new ship was needed. Arkadia is certainly a tough ship, and can pull her weight when needed in a fight, but facing down a T-9 or T-10 with it results in a fair amount of laughter from the pilot.
It's not something I'm particularly bothered with, it's all fun and games until the lasers and missiles start flying then they quickly decide to cooperate.
However, something bigger, more imposing, would help cut that time down, plus it would have a bigger hold as well.
So after much discussion, shouting, a few punches and nearly two thousand credits worth of drinks between us we came up with the perfect ship for me.
Only problem, I had to get in the Empire's good graces.
So that's what I did, I put Arkadia in storage and loaded up the Argo.
To be honest, it felt wrong working for a superpower, all my life I've been independant of the Empire, the Federation too. They might have claimed to own HIP 16607 at some point in the past, but for me thats always been Red Dice Systems territory. And they've (nearly) always treated me right.
It took a while, lots of courier missions, finding supplies for the Navy, delivering VIP's, but I finally did it. worked my way through the ranks until I had the permission to sit in the pilot seat of the Imperial Clipper.
That ship is a beast, not a lot of difference in terms of outfitting options to Arkadia, but it's just bigger. Turns like a ballet dancer for a massive ship like that too, easily outperforms the Phantom in both speed and manouverability.
Only difficulty was coming up with a name, I refuse to not name any ship I've flown, (I know I've bought a Type-7 for mining purposes, but in my defense, I've bought it, but never flown it yet).
If this ship is supposed to intimidate people, then what better name to give her than the name of the flagship of the most fearsome and infamous pirate in history?
I'd like to introduce you to Queen Anne's Revenge.