The Bleeding Rose | The Wandering Druid of Tranquility

A long time ago…

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…it was so simple.  Each morning came to light the day, just as the last one had.  The sun would slowly rise over the horizon, the house would begin to stir and the call of the forest would drift through the window into the room.

His sleeping mind would be awakened by the smell of the trees, that musty freshness that sweetened the air from the morning dew.  It would greet him with the hope that one day, he would be far from this place and living in peace.

The sensor alerts echoed in the distance and moved closer to the front of Ga’len’s mind.  His daydream of memories past was cut short.  Another ship was coming into his hunting area.

Revenge, for my friend, Ga’len grinned his evil grin in his mind, alas, it is afoot now.

The An Bealach an Vaga decloaked quickly, locked it’s weapons and began to open fire.  As the shields of the incoming rifter melted away, sensors dectected more ships appearing in range.

Blast, they were waiting for me this time, Ga’len’s smile was detected by his sensors in his pod.  No matter, to it then!

First was the Rifter frigate.  It closed on his ship quickly, spewing rounds into his shields as it’s warp scrambler locked him down.  Ga’len turned his ship and aligned out to a planet, trying to put distance between him and the closing frigate.  Sensors had detected something unexpected in the rest of the hostile gang.  A Loki and it was closing fast.

As the Loki closed range and engaged it’s warp disruptor, the rifter’s hull gave way to the vacuum of space.  Suddenly, Ga’len’s ship began to move faster, but not as expected.  Yes, the microwarp drive was working, but not as it should.

So, webbed me as well? No matter, I can still outrun you.

The engines of An Bealach an Vaga overloaded and Ga’len lurched forward, moving away from the Loki.  By this point, the Loki was deep into it’s armor and for a split second, Ga’len thought about staying in the fight, but the lack of shields and armor made that decision for him.

As Ga’len moved out of range of the Loki’s warp disruptor, he willed his comms to life.

“Nice trap my friend, well played.  I would taunt you, but I can see from my sensors the 2 interceptors closing in on you and the 3 battle cruisers who just fired on you are more worthy of your attention than I.”

Ga’len warped off towards a planet as the Loki fell prey to the other roaming pirate gang.  All that he could hear on his comms were the threats of revenge from the doomed Loki pilot.

Sometimes, it pays to not be the biggest fish in the pond, Ga’len pondered.

Continued…

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Fiction, The Bleeding Rose August 25th 2010

“So, we meet again…”

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Slowly Neresa’s eyes opened and the blinding pain coursed through her body like a flooded river in a rainstorm.

Am I dead? Oh dear lord, please let me die, this is unbearable, Neresa thought.

“Neresa,” a familiar voice rang in softly in her ears, “Can you hear me?”

Neresa slowly, painfully opened her eyes. She gasped in shock, pain and joy. “GA’LEN! YOU’RE BACK!?”

Ga’len stood bent over to look closely in her eyes. Breanne was at his side, clinging to him as if she was drawing in fear of loosing her mother. “Yes old friend, I am back. You took quite a beating out there, good thing I came along when I did.”

“Mommy!” Breanne threw her arms around Neresa’s neck. She choked a bit and Ga’len managed to pry her arms away.

“Now, now my little Acorn, you need to be careful,” Ga’len continued, “Your mommy is hurt pretty bad, but she will be okay soon. Why don’t you go grab your book from the table over there and read to her so she can rest.”

“Ga’len, thank you,” Neresa’s eyes filled with tears, “I thought I would be in a new clone by now or worse.”

“Don’t you worry, let the doctors fix you up. I’ve taken care of your ship, it will be as good as new in a few days,” Ga’len smirked his evil pirate booty filled wallet smirk, “It was a good trip. I’ll be by later to check on you.”

As Ga’len started for the door, Breanne called, “I’ll take care of mommy Uncle Twig, see you later!”

***

Elsewhere, in the station hanger, the ground crews were organizing the new arrivals for Ga’len.

“This pirate is nuts, flying such an expensive ship like this,” Murray mumbled as he moved more crates of Republic Fleet EMP ammo into the cargo hold, “This guy is a badass, but he’s just bonkers for risking a ship like this one.”

“Ahem,” Ga’len cleared his throat, “Murray, I thank you for your concern.”

Murray stopped cold in his tracks.

Ga’len continued as he patted Murray’s shoulder, “Of course, you do have a valid point my friend, it is risky to fly such a ship. I’ve lost a Proteus and another Loki already. It hurts, but these ships can do some very useful things. Is the An Bealach an Vaga ready to go?”

Murray relaxed a bit, “Yes sir, it’s fully loaded as you requested, repaired and the rust has been polished.”

Ga’len grinned, “Very good Murray. After you load that crate, call it a day and have a round on me in the bar.”

Ga’len tossed him a isk card with a few thousand isk on it and smiled, “I’m gonna have a little party of my own now.”

Murray chuckled, “May whatever divine being they believe in have mercy on their souls. If I may ask, why head out so soon? Why not stay and join the party?”

“Indeed,” Ga’len agreed, “Indeed, it’s party time, however, I need to stop those who are attacking me and mine. It’s time for me to party Vagabond style!”

Continued…

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Fiction, The Bleeding Rose August 11th 2010

Perfect Timing

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The station had been quiet when Neresa undocked and began her patrol. All was well in the world. Her daughter Breanne was safe and finally in a happy place. She spent her days on the station, going to school with the other children and finally experiencing one of the greatest luxuries in New Eden, having a mostly normal childhood.

Neresa’s thoughts stopped wandering as she approached the next stargate on her patrol. The gate begun to activate as she approached and her comms gear began to show more and more activity.

Damn, she thought, local spike and I am too far from the gate. Time to cloak up and wait it out.

As she willed her cloaking device to activate, one of the incoming ships appeared off her starboard bow. Unfortunately it was too close to her and her cloak shorted out against the other ship’s shields.

Alarms in her mind informed her that she was being targeted by her new neighbor in space. She willed her engines to life and engaged her micro warp drive, burning as fast as she could towards the star gate.

More alarms in her mind let her know that her shields were gone, her armor was almost gone and she was now webbed and warp scrambled. It would seem that she would be using that hat Breanne gave her a few days ago, her new clone with be without any hair. Such is the life of the Capsuleer, constant conflicts between practicalities and fashion.

As her armor continued to evaporate, she saw the stargate flash as another ship came into the system. Suddenly, all the incoming fire on her ship stopped.

The Buzzard class covert ops frigate she was flying was badly damaged and only one of the external camera drones was responding. As she willed the view to rotate around towards her attackers, she could see why her death was delayed.

Flying at high speeds and firing all it’s guns was a lone Vagabond class Minmatar heavy assault ship. Explosion after explosion rocked the view from her camera drone as each of her attackers simply evaporated away into the inky black void.

Soon, the only things on her scanner and in the camera drone’s view were numerous pieces of ship debris and this Vagabond as it came about and closed in on her wounded ship.

Neresa feared the end. She was helpless as this menacing ship closed the distance. Her scanner alarms went off as her ship was again target locked and she saw a single drone launch from the Vagabond and close in on her.

So, a slow death it is to be, eh? Neresa closed her eyes in her mind and waited for the end.

Suddenly, her ship’s status reports showed that her armor was slowing increasing in integrity. Neresa felt as if she snapped her head around in attention in her pod. She checked and double checked the status of her armor. Slowly, ever so slowly it was being repaired.

Then, her comms began a slow crackle and they tried to will themselves to life.

“Neresa? Are you still there?” The voice was distorted from all the damage to most of her internal ships systems, she was in bad shape, “I only have one armor repair drone, it’s doing what it can for you, but you need to get out of here. Approach the gate and hold until I send you an all clear, I will scout you through and back home.”

She still could not identify who this kind person was, the signal distortion was too high due to the damage to her ship. Slowly, ever so slowly, her wounded frigate inched towards the stargaze. She could see the Vagabond jump into the next system. A few moments later, her comms sprang to life again, “All clear,” said the voice.

She jumped and soon found herself in space in Lisbaetanne again. On her port quarter was the Vagabond, deploying it’s armor repairing drone again.

“Warp to the CAS station, I’ll meet you in the hanger,” again, this mystery voice echoed in her mind. As her ship began it’s acceleration into warp, she saw the repair drone again return to the Vagabond and his ship joined her in warp and soon they both approached the docking ports on the CAS station.

After she docked, the automatic systems in the hanger extracted her pod and upon disconnection from the internal systems, Neresa promptly blacked out.

Continued…
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Fiction, The Bleeding Rose July 28th 2010

“…where do we go from here?…”, Part III

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“YARR!  SURRENDER YE BOOTY OR I WILL SLAY THEE!”

“How was that Aunt Leainati?” Breanne asked.

Leainati laughed out loud, “That was very good.  We will make a pirate out of you yet, but you need to sit down and finish your lessons first.”

Frowning, Breanne too off her pirate hat and eye patch.  Slowly, dragging her feet, she walked back to her chair, sat down and took up her data pad.  Witihin minutes, she was hard at work on her lessons again.  Life had settled down for her.  She had a caring aunt, her mother Neresa was close by and “Uncle Twig” as he had become known, was ever true to his promise.

“I will come back my little acorn.”

***

On the other side of the Essence region, Ga’len was sitting quiet in space.  Well, sitting was not really accurate.  He was of course suspended in his pod and his pod was in his ship.  So, Ga’len was willing his ship to hold position while cloaked.  He had been waiting many hours for something to happen.  Finally, his comms system sprang to life.  In his mind, he could hear Neresa’s message.

“Hound 12, Cat 14, package alone, three-seven wrapped and departing.”

It happened.  The message Ga’len had been waiting for had arrived.  Transport three-seven would undock any moment now and would begin it’s journey towards the outgoing stargate on autopilot, just as Neresa had programmed.  The package would never make it to the stargate.  The package was unaware of it’s fate.  The package, Taren, would receive her justice for what she had done.

Just as Ga’len had finished his thought, transport three-seven undocked.  He willed his Vagabond to move towards the ship and uncloak.  A few seconds later, his targeting systems did their job, locked the target and the warp scrambling module was willed to life.  It would only be a few moments before the sentry guns from the station would identify his threatening actions and fire upon his ship, but a few moments was all he would need.

Again, Ga’len’s comms sprang to life, “ATTENTION HOSTILE VESSEL, CEASE FIRE OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!”

Hid mind commanded his guns to open fire on the transport, “Not before Taren dies“, he thought.

As Ga’len’s Vagabond received blow after blow from the sentry guns, he continued to fire on the transport.  He willed his comms to listen in on the local transport vessels signal.  He could hear his heart sing as he listened to the sole person about the ship, Taren was terrified.

“HELP! SOMEONE! THERE IS NO ONE HERE! STOP THAT PIRATE!” she screamed into the comms systems.  A moment later, there was some static and then silence as the hull of the transport ship simply evaporated away.

Ga’len began his evasive maneuvers, willed his ship into warp towards a planet.  He would then warp to a point in space and cloak up for a few more hours.  He turned his mind to his scanner and examined the debris behind him as he warped away, a single corpse was floating in the cold of space.  So cold and alone in the void.  Such is the way of revenge.

His comms obeyed his mind and opened a secure channel.

Cat 14, Hound 12.  Package confirmed eliminated, quietly exiting when able, out.

***

Karled was struggling to get free.  Neresa had done a good job of securing him in the chair with the sheets from his bed.  There would no escape for him this time.  He strained and strained and then he stopped.  He saw the security officers come in through the open door.

“So, you are Karled,” one of the officers spoke.  She seemed to be in a very bad mood, “I hear that you tried to kill your wife and you ran away with the child.”

“I WAS FRAMED!” Karled yelled and be began to struggle again.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before, take him, he will be dealt with.”

Neresa remained hidden in the hallway, all she could hear was his screams.  Her delight was interrupted when her data pad signaled in incoming message.  She read the words from Ga’len and again, she was filled with delight.

***

She was curled up in her bed, fast asleep.  From her breathing, Ga’len could tell that she was in that cuddly warm kind of sleep that only a child knows.  On the floor beside her bed he could see the pirate hat and eye patch he had given her.  He smiled.  Neresa came up behind him silently and joined him looking through the door.

“She’s a wonderful girl Neresa, you should be very proud” Ga’len whispered softly.

Neresa smiled as she continued to watch Breanne sleep, “Yes, she is.”

From behind them a quite “Aww!” reaches their ears.  Leaniati quietly walks up, “This is such a site.  The three of us watching our little piraty acorn sleeping.”

Breanne slowly opens her eyes.  She looks up at the three people standing in the doorway and with a voice heavy with sleep says, “Heeelllloooo.”  Sleeps takes her back into a warm slumber.

Leaniti askes, “So, now that Karled and Taren are ‘settled’, where do we go from here?”

“Well”, Ga’len continues, “to the lounge for a drink.”

“No, I mean after that.  What do we do with out lives?”

Neresa looks at them and simply says, “Live our lives, one day at a time.  We do what brings us happiness and we have fun doing it.”

The three of them noded to each other, turn and walk towards the lounge.

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Fiction, The Bleeding Rose April 21st 2010

“At long last we come…”

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Last night at the rallying point station…

For many of the Ushra’Khan, it’s been a long time coming.  Unity Station was a place of honor and for these past years a taste of the bitterness of betrayal still lingered.  It was a beacon of freedom, a beacon that fell to treachery.  The time was upon them now, the time that had restlessly stirred in their hearts.

Everyone was in their hangars, preparing their ships.  Dreadnaughts, battleships, cruisers, we would need them all.  It had been many years and a long road, but the end was near.  It was time to come home.

“Uncle Twig, what’s going on?”

A small child was standing in the hanger, looking at an Amarrian man dressed in the uniform of a Warrior of the Ushra’Khan.

“My little acorn, you should be in bed sleeping,” Ga’len responded.  He walked over to the child and scooped her up in his arms, “It’s bed time for you.  We have much to do.”

“Are you leaving?” she spoke with a tearful voice, “I don’t want you to disappear!”

Ga’len walks over to her and kneels down as he speaks softly, “My little acorn, I will be back soon.  I have work to do,” he continued, “Do you see those people over there, the Capsuleers from -A-?  They are going with us too.  We have the honor of standing and fighting at their side.”

“I don’t understand what is going on,” she spoke as she buried her head against Ga’len’s chest.

“Breanne my child, tell me, what do you know of Unity Station?” Ga’len asked.

Breanne looked up at his face, her eyes grew wide with wonder, “My mommy used to tell me of it, tell me stories.  It was a beacon of hope for us, you know, the Minmatar.  It was a symbol she used to say.”

“Yes, my child,” Ga’len continued, “a symbol of strength, fellowship and defiance in the face of Amarrian oppression.”

“My dad said it was lost to the Amarr in a horrible defeat long ago,” she continued, “he used to cry when he talked about it.  He lost many friends who were trapped when everyone had to flee.”

“My little acorn, tonight we return to Unity Station, ” Ga’len lifts her chin so he can see her face, “Tonight we go and free our people.”

Breanne stands with a look of shock on her face.  Slowly a look of understanding crosses her face.  She smiles and raises her right arm, making a fist with her hand.

Ga’len smiles, leans forward and kisses her softly on her forehead, “I will return to you and Aunt Leainati soon,” he motions to his sister as she walks toward them, “but I must go and help my brothers and sisters tonight.”

“Be careful my brother, ” Leainati speaks with a smile, “Fight with courage, fight fierce, we will hold the line here.  Free our people.”

Many years ago, a strong few took it upon themselves to join together.  With fists raised high, they struck back at their oppressors.  With fists raised high, they beat back the storm.  With fists raised high, they planted the acorn in a field of hatred, a field that would reject them and try to push them into darkness, back into the storm.

Through blood and fire they fought.  Through humble honor, they sought friends in the storm.  Together with honor, together in strength they fought hard.  Never yielding, never waning, they took back what was theirs.

They were the ones who planted the acorn so long ago, the acorn that grew into a sapling of hope, the sapling that grew into a tree a freedom.  A tree that was hacked by axes of betrayal, a tree that bears the scars of oppression, a tree that now stands free in a Forest of Unity.

Oak and Ash, Birch and Yew, together they stand among the burned fields of hatred. Oak and Ash, Birch and Yew, together they now stand blinding the darkness with the light of freedom.  Oak and Ash, Birch and Yew, together they are the shelter against the storms of oppression.

At long last, the saplings grow free again.  At long last they stand under the branches of the Tree of Unity.  At long last, we have come….for our people.

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Fiction, The Bleeding Rose February 9th 2010