The Black Light Pirates
| The Black Light Pirates | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Motto | We are the lurkers in the dark. Glimpses of the Blue and Black give rise to our legend. |
| Status | dissolved |
| Leader | Chokk Ovin Jix |
| Headquarters | Moonlight city, Dominion of Vahaba |
| Historical Information | |
| Founded | Year 16 |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation | none |
| Industry | officially manufacturing |
Contents
The Black Light Pirates - The Beginning of an age
Year 16, Day 288 In Deep Space Outside Asrat
| A Lambda Class Shuttle was on a return route from Minos carrying a Galactic News Service field journalist who had been reporting on a developing story there.
The shuttle was rocked by a hard, concussion like impact on the hull. The lights went out. Communications went dead and they heard the crew banging on the cockpit door, apparently unable to get out.
A sudden series of thermal explosions left the passengers deaf and dazed. A section of the exterior hull fell inward, it's edges glowing molten red. Through the breach came four assailants. They held blaster rifles and were all dressed in mechanised matte black armour and uniforms that carried only one identifying mark. In grey, imprinted on the rubberized armour at the collar bone was round emblem that contained a wide arrow like device pointing down. The head of the arrow had been stylised to look a maliciously grinning skull.
The most frightening aspect of these attackers, however, were the transparisteel plating of their vacuum masks. Instead of them showing the face of the wearer, each mask reflected a different holo-image, in an eerie glowing shade of blue, of a skull. One was human, the next a Whipid, then a dragon, and finally the triangular skull of an Arcona, with giant empty eye sockets.
It was the 'Arcona' that spoke.
"We have a bad news/good news type of situation here."
The captives wisely waited for him to go on.
"The bad news is that your ship appears to be too severely damaged to continue its journey. The good news is", he said pointing through the breach, "that our Breach Pod doubles as an escape pod."
The men behind him started backing through the breach, one grabbed a female human reporter, ignoring her screams, and dragged her into the breach pod.
"Unfortunately, the leader continued, there is one more tiny spot of bad news...we can only take one of you."
Keeping the remaining passengers at bay with his rifle, he backed into the pod behind his fellows and slapped the control for the blast door, which slammed shut. There was an eerie silence while the shuttle passengers stared at each other. Just as the realisation of their fate began to dawn on their faces, the Z-A Breach Pod withdrew its outer seals and fired the retrograde rockets. The pod raced back to the waiting YV-666 A Kingdom's Demise, leaving in its wake a dead ship surrounded with the debris of rapid decompression: datapads, data screens, luggage, stim-cafe cups, random decorative bits, parts of chairs, and various ice cold corpses.
Year 16 Days 291 to 325
(Note: The following is an unbiased, eye witness account of events taking place between Days 291 to 325 of Year 16 as reported by GNS Journalist D'Orra Y'port Zia who had just recently survived a freak hyperdrive malfunction aboard a GNS shuttle.)
Day 291 of Year 16, An Undisclosed Asteroid far Outside Ficta Prime.
The Grand Admiral, and assumed leader of MLT, Acelin Dominia greeted and shook hands with his longtime friend and advisor, Chokk Ovin Jix. This was not unusual. What was unusual was that they met fully armed, with each leading their own Arrest and Pacification Squad.
"Great minds think alike, it would appear, mate." said Dominia with a slightly nervous laugh.
"It does look like we have something to discuss, Grand Admiral," retorted Chokk Ovin Jix. Dominia visibly stiffened at the ironic tone used to emphasize the word 'Grand.'
"If I could recommend The Grand Conference Room..." began a 3PO droid, stepping towards the pair.
At this second use of the word "Grand" Dominia pulled his blaster and shot the droid point blank in the face.
The two rivals watched the smoking droid fall backwards with a loud clang as it hit the stone floor.
Not phased a bit, "The...Conference Room it is." said Jix.
That was the last of the pair, that anyone saw for the next 34 days. Witnesses did notice, however, that during that time, the Asteroid MLT complex became much busier. Strange and unexplained occurrences became the norm.
The Embassy wing, housing the Visitors Suites, two kitchens, a digital holographic Library & Archives, and several conference rooms, including huge Grand Conference Room and Auditorium, was put under heavy guard. At first, the Station Chief of Security, his team wearing their standard issue white and grey MLT flight suits, stood guard.
Seven hours later the first of two explosions occurred in the Embassy Wing. The first must have been hushed up as no details ever leaked about it.
The second, occurred less than thirty minutes later in the personal quarters of Chokk Ovin Jix who, according to leaked reports, barely escaped with his life.
Not ten minutes after this four sentients, possibly of different races, dressed in identical mechanized matte black armour over black uniforms arrived. Each of their faces were hidden behind blue, skull-like, holographic masks projected onto the glass or transparisteel face plates of their full helmets.
The leader, whose holo-mask was the skull of an Whipid, approached the security chief and informed him that he had been charged with 'Aiding an Attempted Mutiny' and was being summarily executed.
The Security Chiefs was replaced by a Falleen leading a combined unit of soldiers picked from the personal guards of both Chokk Ovin Jix and Grand Admiral Acelin Dominia. Their orders were to work with the MLT security detail to tighten up security and prevent any more accidents. Some wore blood red armor and uniforms, some wore grey and blue.
The situation on the Asteroid seemed to stabilize for the next few weeks, though strange events did continue to occur. Sentients were ordered to report to the Ambassador wing, and were not heard from again. Others, with with injuries major and minor were rushed from the Ambassador wing to the Med Center.
On Day 318 rumours started coming out of the Ambassador Wing. The Grand Admiral was barricaded in his temporary Quarters with his security detail. The mixed group of soldiers responsible for overall security and for restricting access to the Ambassador's wing became less organized. Arguments broke out amongst them. The red suited soldiers and those in white and grey had a brief melee in one of the corridors. Those in blue interceded.
Day 319 saw more of the same, with the blue suited soldiers not fighting amongst themselves. During a shift change, half of the white suited MLT guards were said to have deserted, stealing an old YT-1300 belonging to the Admiral himself.
Day 320 began with to the most fantastic of developments. An entire fleet of various classes and styles of ships, many having the appearance and markings of pirate ships, surrounded the asteroid base.
Soon the place was swarming with black armoured soldiers of the same appearance as the four that showed up following the explosions. A type of martial law was declared. Visitors were restricted to their quarters. The next five days were calm and still, which had the affect of making sentients more nervous and frightening.
On Day 333 rumours began again. The Grand Admiral had come out of his quarters and negotiations had resumed.
Day 334 was a busy one. The Ambassadors Wing opened up to visitors and the press. The Grand Conference Room was still locked, but aides and soldiers of both camps came and went
The seemingly endless closed door meetings were characterized by aggressive negotiations, coercion, and threats both verbal and violent.
The officers, pilots, medics, and other Moonlight Transit and Co. members nervously waited to hear the fate of their company.
Even the more hardened veterans among them seemed unsure of what to be prepared for: fight or flight.
Year 16 Day 335
When the door finally opened the two parties exited the room, shaking hands and smiling, though a certain tension was still visible in their movements and expressions. Later that same day an agreement was made public.
Grand Admiral Acelin "Ace" Dominia and the outlaw extraordinaire, Chokk Ovin Jix, presented a drafted document.
Referred to as the 'Vahaban Entente' and ratified Year 16, Day 325, the document went on to declare, as read by the brand new protocol droid:
"Let this document, this Vahaben Entente, be the foundation from which arises a revised societal organization, The Principality of Vel Nigrum Lux Praedonum. Otherwise known as The Principality of the BlackLight Pirates."
A round of raucous applause, mostly sincere, some of it forced, was brought to end as the droid pleaded.
"Excuse me! I say Excuse me. There is one last but very important announcement. "
The crowd grew silent as a serious looking Chokk Ovin Jix stepped up from behind the golden droid, resting his right hand, almost reassuringly, on its shoulder while leveling a reptilian cold stare at the noisy crowd. When they suddenly fell silent, he gave the droid a slight nod, an indication to proceed.
"Thank you my Magistrate." Those sentients with eyebrows raised them in surprise or expectation at this word of address, "Thank you, everyone." continued the droid.
"It is my honor, my privilege, and my extreme pleasure to present to you, here, for now, and forever, The Enigmatic! The Self Declared Scoundrel! The Majestic! and now the Magistrate, Chokk Ovin Jix, the Robber-Baron of Vahaba."
Immediately black clothed soldiers moved through the audience of visitors and employees, arresting sentients known to be enemies of Jix and any that might resist his reign.
At that same moment the asteroid shook with the vibrations of distant explosions as the collected pirate ships outside fired their various cannon and missile launchers in celebration of the announcement.
The Dominion of The Black Light Pirates had been born.
In the BLP fridge
