"Smitt?" asked LeberMac weakly, standing in the doorway to Smittens' small rented appartment on Jallik E-15. He stared blankly down at his speech, hurridly prepared by a secretary back on Divinia. It had been sent over to his ship as he rushed from Deneb to Jallik, in order to attend the funeral. He had spent the time since attempting to memorize it, but could not get past the first line in his numbness. We are gathered here to remember one of the most influential Itani since Eo himself.
"Smitt?" pressed Leber again, though not in the impatient and angry voice he usually used when addressing the Commander. "I need to get my bit ready, will you make it out of here in time without me?"
"We are gathered here to remember...to remember..." whispered Smittens without acknowledging Leber's question.
"Smittens...?"
"Yeah, sorry...uh, yeah, I'll be alright..." he muttered, snapping out of the trance. LeberMac tried to smile, but it was a tough thing for anyone who had known Mogul to pull off.
Five minutes passed and Smittens still could not get past the opening line. A comm line beeped; he had to go. Standing up, he shakily stepped to the door, and took a breath. "Mogul..." he said softly. Exhaling, Smittens exited the room and strode towards the podium he would be speaking at.
Camera's flashed, reporters buzzed. They probably wanted to make a fool of him, but it was one thing he would not allow. This was about Mogul. "About Mogul..." he whispered to himself again. He stepped to the podium, set his speech down, and placed in the ear piece where the secretary would alert him should he lose his place.
For a few moments, Smittens was silent. Down to the right, at the front of those seated, where the members of Itan who had been able to come. Behind them were pilots who had known Mogul. Seeing all of them... Itani, UIT, pirates, even some Serco had shown... but not as many people appeared as would have before Mogul's stunt with Lecter. Gazing into their hard, sad faces, Smittens began to speak.
"We are, uh...we are gathered here today, to...uh...to re-remember..." Smittens glanced down hurridly at his papers, trying to read while listening to the angry voice in his ear. "To remember a, er, one of the..." he stopped, and looked up at the faces of those who were waiting for him. "I will not do this to you Mogul..." whispered Smittens away from the microphone, and he crumpled up his speech, and handed it along with his earpiece (from which the angry voice was growing in volume) to an assistant nearby.
"I'm sorry about that...but my secretary in Divinia did not and does not know Mogul as I do. He was a pilot who faced much hardship throughout his life. He had to deal with the loss of his son, with the loss of his," Smittens' voice cracked, "brother..." He paused for a minute, gathering himself. "He had to face the hate of those who had once sworn alliegance to him, after doing his best to protect them. He was betrayed, and exiled, and driven to insanity. Mogul did not deserve this. He slew many an enemy, and lead Itan with honor I will refuse to consider blighted. We did not get along when he first joined the ranks of Itani pilots, but we became friends, and closer than many who I've known since childhood.
"But he was definitely more than a pilot, and more than my friend. Mogul was a good person who was kind to many, and his life was more meaningful than half the monks we have large statues of. He ended this life the same way he lead it, attempting to do the right thing. Mogul has always acted out of selflessness, and with the good of his nation at heart. When the Itani spat on him, and forbade him from returning to their space, he continued to try to serve them as best he could. Many new pilots will be able to afford ships with working escape pods because of Mogul's generous donations. He gave millions so that others may live a better life. These pilots will always remember Mogul, for his good actions. I only wish I could say the same of those Mogul had fought beside for years.
"His death was an attempt to end the war, and many of you will view him as a pacifistic hippie," Smittens' choice of words created a ripple through the audience, which caused Smittens a moment of hesitation. He caught the eye of Itan's one newest recruits, who went by "upper case." The recruit refused to be desturbed by the talk around him, and he gazed intently at Smittens with a single tear on his cheek. Seeing upper case, Smittens continued with renewed confidence. "These...people...are ignorant fools. Mogul left this universe trying to save lives, as he always had. His methods may not have aligned with your Akanese fantasies, but he did his damn best.
"Mogul will likely be criticized for his actions, both long past and recent. He will likely face everything from direct defilement of his grave to whispered insults. I will do my best to stop this, but I am one pilot. So instead, I ask one thing of the members of my nation, of Mogul's nation. Remember the Mogul who slew legendary Serco. The Mogul who took Itan from a sloppily merged guild to an Itani powerhouse. The Mogul who donated millions to new pilots so they may live in peace. The Mogul who faced expulsion, and still swore loyalty to his nation. The Mogul who..." Smittens' voice died, and he whispered the last frase. "who was my friend."

As his speech ended, the reporters surged forward, shoving microphones in Smittens' face. He blinked, reflexivly taking a step back, then tried to push through.
"In taking such a pro-Mogul stance you risk sharing the criticism he could receive, how do you feel about this?"
"'Pro-Mogul?' He was NOT some bill being voted on, this was a person who gave his life to help his nation, as he always had! If my name is WHISPERED in the same sentence as Mogul's, I will be deeply touched."
"You're leaving the funeral after giving such a speech?"
"I have paid my respect to Mogul in the best way that I can. I am confident he would not be displeased if he were still with us."
"Sympathizing with Mogul so deeply because of the loss of your brother as well?"
Smittens halted his escape, as the events that had taken place so recently rushed back into his mind. He glared at the reporter, and muttered so quietly they all stuck the microphones even closer, "My loss is not Mogul's." The reporters, obviously confused, held still as he pushed past them. Almost at the exit, one more reporter got in front of him to ask a question.
"Mogul allegidly stole the avalon used in his death from an old INM weapons cache. Do you still stand by what you said?"
Smittens roared with anger. He grabbed the reporter, threw his microphone to the ground, and shoved him up against the wall. "It is scum like you that will keep Mogul from being praised with Eo. It would be so easy to kill you and remove that obstacle..."
"Do it..." choked the reporter, as the cameras and microphones closed in on them, not wanting to interrupt such a potentially good story.
The reporter closed his eyes, and Smittens gazed at the cameras swarming him. He would not let them make this day about him. Throwing the reporter to the ground, Smittens turned to face the cameras. "I will die with the utmost respect for Mogul in my heart. You disgrace the nation, as do all who consider Mogul anything but an absolute hero. He was more dedicated to this nation than any I have ever known." Smittens glared at those surrounding him one last time, down at the reporter cowering on the floor, and exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

I sat in my ship watching the live feeds from the funeral as Smittens stormed off leaving the mass of screaming reporters behind him. I won't say I did'nt feel bad for him but I did know what it was like, at least the media. In truth it was the reason I was still my ship floating around after the death of Mogul.

As I piloted my way back to Sol II I reflected on the past month. I had been away from the public lime light for some time during that month telling many I was off on a vacation some place and did not want to be disturbed. The truth was the information I received from Screwball had sent me on a long search for more information in grey space. I spent much of my time as a dock worker in Odia, with the right paper work I was able to get placed where I wanted working the dock that was receiving the goods Screwball thought where odd.

It did not take to long to see he was right, the Serco sent in goods and the Itani sent in goods and they swapped hands at the station. The war was being fueled there in front of my eyes. Itani and Serco pilots working together to keep their nations warring with one another. It blew my mind. And yet there it was.

I stuck around for a few weeks longer trying to find out who was doing this. What it the Serco high command or just some underpaid guards trying to make a buck or maybe a hidden faction working for their own gain? Regardless all my work came to an end one day when at the bar a trader asked if I would like to make some money. I was very pleased with the job doc had done to my body when I realized who I was talking to.

He had heavy clothing on and had done something to his face to make it look a little different but there was no hiding the fact that he was Screwball, he must have mistaken me for the guy I was suppose to be, which was no great surprise I knew the guy well and he made it his job too know important people and "help" them in strange ways. Though from what I was seeing the pay at the docks here must have been enough for him to take some time off the other life and get a "real" job. Lucky for him though my pay and vacation home where even better. That how ever did not take any thing away from the fact that Screwball was offering me a large amount to some how show him what was in the cargo crates we where going to load up the next morning.

I did so and enjoyed the irony of him sending me money for a job. It would help pay for the radio ads. At least I knew he was really on my side and not setting me up but all that aside I knew he should not be there, and decided to end my "vacation."

Sure enough as I got back to my home there was a message from Screwball. I would have to deal with that later for I knew more pressing matters where at hand. Highest on the list was Mogul.

My bank accounts, at least the ones he had access to where almost drained, hundreds of millions of credits gone. I did how ever have one thing to show for it. A single Avalon missile.

His plan was simple really, he thought that a large ship loaded with samo would create enough power to remove a worm hole from the face of the map. Sadly he would seem he was wrong. How ever if there was a fall out over Sedina or not will remain to be seen. That said back to my money. I don't like giving stuff away so I had Mogul followed very closely, and as far as I can tell up to his death he never knew. He did many odd things during his life one of them was to buy two of those over sized illegal and over priced ships, on my tab... Not that I blame him, he knew he was going to be dead so it's not like I could do any thing to him about it.

He told his Smurf buddies not to be to hard on me because I did not know I would be ending the Serco CtC route and such like that. I'm no going to wast time trying to figure out a dead mans allegiances it's really quite pointless and I felt the same way at the time. Besides, based on the current information I was getting ending that route would be a good thing.

He thought it would give the Itani an edge, he thought it would give them a quick win, he thought that after all these years we would finally see peace, and that he would be a hero. I his accomplice? His "friend" what did I think? I donno. I had been there before, nothing left, wanting only to end it all thinking it would help thinking there I would die for a greater reason. What happened?

I died well tried to. Am I a hero? No. Did I save any one? No, the group I tried to end only came back just like a weed. What good did I do in the end? Nothing. I how ever had to live and find that out. Pulled at the last second before blowing up in a suicidal blaze of glory and shielded from the effects of the blast to my vitals I was kept from the death I so craved. Left to see more horror that is life. Oh how I miss the innocence he died with.

Sure it was possible his death could do some thing, sure it could have helped end the war, and sure we could have been heros. But then maybe Akan was not such a bad guy. So after days of my techies pouring over the Avalon saving every last bit of intel they could on it I loaded it on to my ship, and set out to B8 where I knew I would kill Mogul that night in an attempt for peace.

Things went odd at first he set out in the first ship and then promptly blew it up, I can only guess he was hoping to make every one think things had gone poorly and that it had ended with little fanfare. How ever he had only escaped the explosion and jumped into the second ship, the real one loaded to the gills with samo and purexith.

As the ship slowly made it's way to B8 I made a big show of not being anything other then every one else, just another sector there to stop Mogul from blowing up the worm whole. Secretly I gave orders to the guild to keep me alive as I armed the bomb and took careful aim at the ship.

Opening up the comm to Mogul I informed him the shot was coming and waited, it was really the first time we had said any thing to one another in over a month both of us so busy with our sides of the mission.

(group) [Sedina B-8] <Mogul Velaio> let's kill it now...
[100] <Mogul Velaio> Farewell. Orun... Toine... I join you both.
<Mogul Velaio> Borb... my friend... thanks for helping me ...

I had wondered about him, who side was he on really? I'll never know. But we did share some thing, we were friends. This was now confirmed. And sadly after all this time we two men, two enemies, in a war that should not be fought, ended it.

<Borb Sarken> Farewell friend

I fired, watching in a trance as the missile left the tubes of my ship, slowly making it's way to his hull.

<Smittens> BORB DONT FIRE
[100] <LeberMac> NOOOO!
<Sembei> Mogul, PLEASE.
(guild) [Sedina B-8] <Liddy> stranger is getting close

ITAN fighter piloted raced towards my ship to slow in an attempt to stop me before I could start they where far to late, but I was not going to miss seeing my friends death, and ordered my boys to kill them all.

Borb Sarken destroyed LeberMac
<Smittens> NOooo
[100] <Mogul Velaio> it ... it jolts ...
<Jayce Sanders> It's going down!

The missile finally impacted as my boys finished off the greatly weakened ITAN attackers.

<Borb Sarken> Stand back!
[100] <Smittens> NoOoOoooOOooOOoooOOoOOoo!!!
[100] <Mogul Velaio> Farewell...
[100] <Mecha Touriuas> gaaaah
[100] <LeberMac> Mogul NO.. You CANNOT
[100] <Stranger> where is he?
[100] <GRAIG daOne> OMG that was awful
[100] <Jayce Sanders> Find that mofo and waste him!
[100] <Mogul Velaio> Toine!
<Obsidian> firework.
[100] <tumblemonster> thats incredible

And with that I turned off all but guild comm and gave the order.

(guild) [Sedina B-8] <Borb Sarken> Mop up the smurf's

Nothing had changed the war was still as hot as ever. What good came of his death? It was meaningless. A needless loss. All that money gone like that and for what?

I like to believe this is not so. I may be a hard callous man, I may hate most every thing, and show or even have little emotion, but I am still human and as such I still have dreams and hopes.

I like to think that men like him and like me, men that are willing to give up every thing for an idea, will maybe one day become more common. No one bomb or one man will ever stop a war. And no military will ever keep man from warring. Only man can help man, and it is my dream that men like Mogul can keep this idea alive. If they can give every thing maybe we to can, and then maybe these legendary men will become more common. And when that day comes and we out number the men that are greedy, evil, and power hungry, then maybe maybe on that day we will see peace.

But until then evil will flourish as long as good men do nothing.

It was with this thought in my mind that I left my thoughts to be greeted with pounding on the sides of my ship. As was to be expected they already knew my flight plan and the media was waiting for me at the dock.

The hearings had gone badly for LeberMac, as he had expected. The Itani High Council had placed the blame for not recovering Mogul Velaio and the avalon on his shoulders, and it seemed that the more days went by, the more recent events he got blamed for.

He watched the funeral from the bar. No reason to show up, people wouldn't understand why he was there, after hounding Mogul until his death. It did not seem... right.

He fumbled for the tequila bottle and raised his shotglass to the holovid screen showing Smittens about to strangle a reporter at Mogul's funeral.

"Here's ta you matey..." He took the shot and fell off the barstool, landing awkwardly on the floor, knocking himself unconscious.

The Pelatus barkeep motioned to the bouncers, who threw the disgraced [ITAN] member out onto the station's promenade like yesterday's garbage.

Sitting at a corner table by himself, Stranger is lost in thought. Another empty bar and another glass of merlot. Having watched the initial news briefs on the funeral, tribunal, and other associated BS, he got feed up with the talking heads and left his apartment and found himself sitting in the bar.

Turning off the screens involved a little damage but he would make it up to owner in the morning. No more news, no more opinions by idiots that don't know what they are talking about. "You weren't there. You don't know what it's like." It seemed that everyone had an opinion and thought that someone else should take the blame.

Stranger jumped to his feet and forcefully threw the half empty wine bottle against the wall, shattering it into thousands of wet glistening shards. "God, I'm a fool. He was a better man then I ever thought."

"Damn it, I liked that wine too." Walking over to the bar, crunching glass under foot as he went, Stranger grabbed another bottle of merlot. Sitting back down at his table, he poured another glass. Holding up and looking through his glass, "For all his insanity, he was a good man. Loyal, honorable, and understood duty. Why the hell didn't I see all this before? I should have been trying to save him, not take him down."

"What am I going to do? I haven't done anything. There's got to be more then this. I've seen great men fall. Fools and incompetence rise to high standing. Brave deeds go unnoticed and selfish glory hounding praised. The weak grow strong and do amazing things. The underdog win. Sacrifices, victories, and losses. And yet the war goes on. The serco still hate us and want us dead. Does it matter? Does the heartache and pain even matter? Are we getting anywhere?"

"I've got to do something but I'm not sure what. I've got to make a difference. I just can't let it go."

"Got to stop talking to myself. Someone is going to think I've lost it."

Stranger reaches into an inside pocket on his jacket and pulls out an old creased and folded sheet of hard copy. Carefully he unfolds it. Reads over it slowly, even though he memorized what little that sheet said years ago. Refolds it just as carefully and places it back in his pocket. Drinking off the last of the wine, Stranger drops a credit stick on the table next to the wine bottle and glass to pay for the damage and walks out, crunching across the wet glistening glass.

After the massive battle in Sedina B-8 wound down, Moby Dick returned to TGFT Headquarters in Dau using the same wormhole that Mogul Velaio attempted to destroy. As he jumped out of Sedina, a small part of him wondered if he would actually end up in Latos. He did, and he proceeded to UIT space without incident.

The mood at TGFT Headquarters was light. Everyone was relieved that the Sedina/Latos wormhole was still functioning, but there wasn't much discussion about the day's events. Allowing himself to forget about the battle and the subsequent destruction of the cap ship Mogul acquired, Moby Dick joked with his guildmates and carried on like any other evening.

However, when Moby awoke the next day, the previous day's events weighed on his mind like 2cu of samoflage. It has long been the policy of The Guild of Free Traders to stay out of the Serco/Itani conflict. The only concern of TGFT is free trade. Mogul Velaio's intention of destroying the Sedina/Latos wormhole flew in the face of everything TGFT stood for. Moby Dick understood that TGFT had to react the way it did and join the rest of the universe in opposing Mogul.

Moby Dick knew that TGFT did the right thing, but something still bothered him. There were still questions as to whether Mogul failed or succeeded. Was he able to destabilize the wormhole in a way that was not immediately visible? Moby was concerned about the future of the gray space corridor.

While Sedina and Odia have always been dangerous, thanks to the pirates and unnies, this was the single biggest threat to free trade in that region that Moby Dick has ever seen. The destruction of the Latos/Sedina wormhole would not only affect the Serco/Itani conflict, but it would forever change the landscape of UIT and gray space. Sedina would become a shadow of its current self, becoming virtually cutoff from the rest of the universe. Edras and Pelatus would see an unprecedented increase in activity. The UIT would no doubt become entangled in the Serco/Itani conflict. The relative stability that the region currently enjoys would be replaced by chaos.

All Moby can do in the meantime is wait and see.

upper case was alone in the funeral assembly room. the last of the reporters had fled the scene along with his commander and the hum of the station's air ducts was the only audible sound in the room.

he sat there, reflecting on recent events, all the way back to the time he first met the pariah. the picture of mogul on the pedestal seemed to look at him. had he moved aside, the result would have been the same. that was something eerie about holo-pictures that upper case disliked.

"not a particularly good picture eh?" he whispered. upper case felt like he was talking to him. that eerie picture was working him quite good.

"you never told me about your grand plan" he said aloud, this time. "you know, i wonder if anything you've taught me and all the people you had me meet has much value?"

upper case stood up and walked towards the picture frame.

"everyone seems to play their own game in this universe and you, my friend, are one of them" he said while pointing a finger at the picture.

"i bet you knew the wormhole wouldn't collapse" he muttered as he pulled out a time-delayed capsule out of his pocket, waving it at mogul's face. upper case rolled it in his fingers a moment, and then pinched it open. the content fell into his hand. but he knew full well what it was all about.

there was a credit stick. a whole 5 credits. and a note. it read:

"There my friend. You have won our little bet. The wormhole has NOT collapsed."

upper case laughed silently for a second and then shouted at the picture frame "bastard!".

he stood there wondering if any sucking up he had done, any dangerous trips down to disreputable stations, any mildly illegal acts he had committed, any insubordination done to his commander, all in the name of mogul's great plan, was worth anything. a station guard walked into the room and asked

"Everything ok here?

-yeah... it's just me...

-Please keep quiet in this room sir." the guard cautioned him.

as if the commotion had woken up every courrier in the station, one rushed in and handed out another message capsule to upper case. this one was from the itani high command.

that alone explained the courier's uniform and upper case felt obliged to salute him.

upper case waited to be alone again and, looking at mogul's picture frame, pinched it open by pressing his thumb print on the capsule side. a message fell out in his hand.

upper case read the message and then turned to mogul's frame where the picture seemed to grin at him.

"you sly dog... i bet you knew this would happen too..." he muttered.

upper case dropped the 5 credits credit stick on the floor and stomped it, breaking it in the process.

"you won that bet... master puppeteer..." as he walked out of the room, tossing the itani high command message over his shoulder.

a flash of red light above mogul's picture frame and the itani high command message was no more, disintegrated by the time-delayed chemicals on the print.

the ashes rained down around the last of the velaio family.