The situation looked grim. Several master alarms were sounding accompanied by sparks jumping from the shorted out control panel. Looking to starboard he saw the Corvus Marauder piloted by the little green man who just a few short weeks ago recruited him into CLM.

“Arr Cowboy!” crackled over the com as another salvo of flares slammed into his Corvus Vulture. Space Cowboy answered back with a staggered spray from his Neutron III’s with some good hits. Yoda’s Marauder was damaged, but Space Cowboy’s Vulture was in far worse shape.

The Marauder spun around spitting flares that ripped off the port wing. Cowboy’s controls went dark followed by a robotic voice repeating “eject… eject.” He grabbed the yellow and black striped ejection lever and pulled up.

There was a jerk and a roar as the ejection seat rocked Space Cowboy away from his burning wreck of a ship, which exploded in short order. Cowboy wasn’t really sure what was going on here. The only thing he knew was that the CLM recovery team never was in a hurry to rescue their downed pilots. This would give him some time to reflect on the rather dubious situation at hand as he drifted through Sedina B8.

A shovel would've been helpful with the amount of digging Ghost had needed to do in order to find Borb. After paying off several contacts and calling in a number of favors to no avail, it turned out the information he needed came from those he didn't need to pay to get it; the Itani. News of a prisoner break on a high security barge had been filtering down through the ranks. Reports of a deathly agile Serco with a disregard for life in general leading the break left Ghost just interested enough to check on a prisoner list. Sure enough, one of Borb's many aliases was there. With the new found knowledge that Borb had just gotten out of prison, Ghost knew there was only one place he would visit as soon as possible.

The atmosphere in the bar was less than hospitable. A musky Serco odor filled the place. This was definitely one of Borb's hangouts. Ghost adjusted one of his facial prosthetics. Uncomfortable, but well worth it; a few of them had been necessary to conceal his appearance as Geira wasn't exactly the most friendly location for an Itani pilot.

Sure enough, he found Borb seated in a dark booth by himself, roid rammer in hand.

"You look like you've been in prison," said Ghost. A tense pause filled the space between them.

"Almost," Borb replied, taking another sip. Ghost moved his hand to his pistol. "Dangerous place for a Ghost."

"Mortis, mate. Mortis." Ghost corrected.

"Ah, I remember that name. That's what you used to call yourself before you became a pansy." Borb said with a straight face as he moved his hand to what Ghost assumed was a concealed weapon. The two of them stood there for a moment, both ready to draw. Finally, Borb cracked a smile. Ghost let out a breath and began to grin as well.

"You had me goin," he said.

"Yeah well," Borb grinned. "What would life be if I didn't fuck with you?"

"Relaxing." Ghost replied.

Borb chuckled. "So what's got you back in your pirate hat?"

"It's Yoda," said Ghost. "I'm not sure if you heard while you were detained..."

"My ears aren't always on my head, mate." Borb said. Ghost wasn't quite sure if he was speaking literally or figuratively. "These are strange times mate. Old friendships falling apart. Lots of new blood in the universe. Things aren't like they used to be."

"Tell me about it," said Ghost.

"I haven't spoken with him," continued Borb. "But there've been some interesting rumors in the Serco ranks lately. Talk of a new breed of Serco pilots. Some scary stuff, man."

"What do you mean?" He inquired.

"I can't tell you all of my secrets mate," Borb grinned. "Don't forget, you're still on the wrong side of this war. My not killing you is somewhat of a courtesy." Borb let this last comment hang in the air just long enough to make Ghost nervous again. In the pilot seat he could get the edge on Borb, but in hand to hand combat Borb was not someone to tangle with. "But from what I've heard, it sounds like yoda's found his Serco blood again... too bad for you."

Ghost's heart sunk. "That's what I was afraid of."

"As you very well should be," said Borb. "You Itani have been enjoying the luxury of numbers for far too long."

At this, Ghost heard some commotion coming from just outside the bar. It could just be the usual ruckus, but in this place he was much better safe than sorry. "I think my welcome has been worn."

"Sounds like it. Always a pleasure, mate. You should stop by here more often," Borb said as he raised his glass.

"Well, you know, work and such," Ghost said rising from the table. "Anyhow, looks like I've got some more work to do. Time to get back to grey."

"I'll be right behind ya," Borb grinned again.

"I'm sure you will be," said Ghost as he made a B-line for the door. The commotion outside was becoming louder. Upon reaching the entryway, he turned back. "Hey Borb," he said. Borb looked up from his mug. "You take care of yourself."

"You too," Borb replied as Ghost disappeared through the doorway.

When Yoda hung up his eye patch and parrot and put his Serco uniform on, that was fine with Roda. Roda was at odds with Yoda's previous employer, and the change looked to be in Roda's favor.
Roda was running short on cash, and had sunk to extorting pirates. Strange how a pirate had perfect logic to explain to a trader why he should get paid, but suddenly had a different set of logic when you asked him for credits. They got downright offended. Roda had "explained" the situation to more than a few pirates, but was still having trouble getting paid. With the cost of numerous ongoing conflicts hitting his credit balance pretty hard, he started keeping his eyes open for profitable opportunities. Thats when he got a call from an old Serco contact...
The offer was curt. Ordinary convoy escort work, except for the employer, and the extra dangerous route. The pay was at least in the reasonable range, and Roda needed the credits. Roda knew his "employer" was no stranger to gray, but it was obvious that he hadn't been to gray in quite some time. When the deal went smoothly, and the employer offered extra work, Roda made suggestions how to tighten the operation up, and ended up walking away with at least a decent days pay. He was a tad upset later to find out his employer had fallen in league with the very pirate organization Yoda had just left. What bum luck, and just when Roda had thought things where looking up.
And then to top things off, pirates started popping out of the wood work. Not your usually run of the mill rookies. There where plenty of those too. But there where some old pros putting the open sign up, and two in particular where giving Roda hell. Martin was giving as good as he got, but obviously had the funds to maintain that far longer than Roda. And then Mortis came out of no where. In the last round, Roda had banged up Mortis' vulture several times, but that streak of good fortune was more the exception than the rule when it came to dealing with Mortis. Roda was used to being the best around, and these pros where throwing the whole scheme of things out of whack.
Roda had been avoiding conflicts with pirates (other than "offering" "protection"), in order to focus his efforts against organizations that he considered outsiders of gray. But all these pros coming out of nowhere was changing the landscape fast, and Roda was starting to reconsider where he should be directing his efforts... That is, if he could even continue to afford any efforts. Roda checked his credit balance again...

Martin stretched his arms. He'd grown rusty over the last few years. Careful investing of funds ensured a lovely degree of pleasurable excess. He'd spent a long time relaxing on an isolated planetary paradise in a grey space backwater. However the urge to return to see what was happening in the wider universe had grown to strong.

He met up with old friends, most of whom seemed to be exactly how he remembered them. Piracy was easier than it used to be too. Profits came quickly as there were more traders in grey and less Vipers.

It was strange seeing so many BLAK's back in game. For a moment he pondered whether the guild could be reborn but decided the commitment was too much, and there were too many members still missing. Commitment and responsibility was a thing of the past for Martin. He was now completely free with no rules other than the grey space ethic of "your word is your bond". He wasn't sure if that stood for much these days, but decided it was worth sticking to.

He remembered the joy of the fight, and the hunt. The hunt strangely enough, felt like riding a bike. He quickly fell back into his old habits, but fighting wasn't so easy. Rocket chucking was a skill that needed to be relearnt. Typically less than half of his expected impact volleys were hitting. He could see what was wrong, but rocket slinging isn't something to be analysed, it's something that has to come from that instinctual hunting level of the brain.

The Yoda/Mystic CLM thing was a strange one, but Martin didn't dwell on it too much. He'd seen some strange alliances in the past, and also strange opponents. He just decided to keep out of the furore until it settled. He'd never been too interested in guilds and couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

Of greater interest was a couple of bounties people had offered him. Piracy was fun, but bounties really tickled his funny bone. In the dark days, when the governments sponsored bounties on rogue players, he'd claimed 42 scalps and at least that many personal bounties. It was even better money than piracy most of the time too. There's something very rewarding about tracking a player through 10 systems and detonating them when they think they've got away.

Yoda woke up after a rather strange day. After looking around and seeing the mess his apartment had become in Initros Border Guard (apparently there has been more that one party thrown there in his absence), he decided it was time to get himself back to grey space, but this time for a different reason...

..."Wow, after being without my Valkyrie for so long, this Prometheus MKIII flies like a dream" he thought as he headed towards Bractus. His thoughts were quickly disturbed as he heard his flight system inform him there was an incoming transmission from Roda Slane.

"Hey Yoda, whats up with you and CLM?"

Yoda contemplated not replying at all, but after remembering a few recent encounters with Roda, he decided to humour him. "Not much, what's up with you and errm, people that don't like you?" I asked, he replied simply with "Prom jock?" and left the sector. A few moments later Roda was back, I expected him to attack me the first time we met, but this time I was not quite ready for it.

"I need money, give me some or die!"
"Never!"

The fight lasted for quite some time, Roda had gone to get a heavy ship, and returned in a Centaur MKIII. I laughed to myself as I engaged "This is going to be easy" boy was I wrong, the battle lasted forever in my mind - but I saw Roda Slane dodge in that 'taur like I never seen him in space before - he almost made me start my journey all over again, I was so scared of having to take care of things in Initros (man, you gotta see my apartment!) that I managed to walk away with 1% of my hull plating left.

I have a new respect for Roda Slane this day, and would be glad to have him on my wing. Alas, for now, my mission continues...

It felt like home with so many BLAKs in the same sector. Holden, Martin, Mystic and himself held their ships in a loose formation.

"So what happens now?" Mystic asked.

"Yoda's made his decision. We have to respect that," replied Ghost.

"It won't be the same without him," said Mystic.

"Yoda will always be BLAK at heart, no matter what side he fights for," Ghost answered. "But if anything that I've heard in this last week is true, I'll be needed back in blue very soon. Yoda has a cause to fight for now, and that's going to make him more dangerous than he's ever been."

The following silence seemed to agree.

(OOC) Hey, Holden is dead (RIP)! It was Nekkid :D that was in B8 with you! On the other hand, Nekkid is "me", so it's really a not an RP alt, just my play-shooty-shooty alt.

I plan to resurrenct old HC for the DR100, but that is strictly a one-time.(OOC)

[edit : I do have an RP alt, a couple even, but don't go guessing now :D]

Holden's nekkid. How wude!!!

The journey back to Itani space was always boring, but this time it was just a little bit depressing. Floating along in Sedina, Ghost plotted his course for Deneb.

Without warning, a red blip appeared on his radar. Figuring it to be another pirate of grey, he punched up the target on his display. What he saw there made his gut drop.

The targeting display read: [SAF] yoda

The Serco armed forces had been reformed.

Ghost swung his ship around to engage, but before he could even get him in his sights, yoda was gone.

"Shit," Ghost swore. The Itani weren't ready for this. If the SAF were really coming back, they would decimate the Itani in their "relaxed" state. Ghost plotted a new course for Bractus.

"Looks like there's going to be some work to do in grey," he thought.