Silver Falcons II: Warrior's Legacy

[Sando138]

No.... This cant be happening... why? is it my fault? is it my commander's fault? is it CDLs fault? This pretty much summed up the feelings in Sando's head as he stood by what he knew was most likely a closed, empty casket. the name on the grave:
---------------------------------
Lt. Major AztecWarrior
Fighting to his last breath,
still hailed despite his death.
Pilot, K.I.A. behind enemy lines.
He died alone, but he died a hero.
----------------------------------
He's gone, and the future looks bleak. on all grounds we are loosing territory. we lost all continental locks and almost all our bases outside the sanctuary. We're in worse shape than we were when he was captured. Terran Morale is soaring, Heck, even Vanu morale is reaching an all-time high... and ours is worse than ever. we are losing the will to fight. we cannot let that happen. when we declared our freedom and independence from the Terran Republic, we made ourselves and all our supporters traitors. I- no, WE- are in this to the bitter end.

As the casket sank into the ground, and soil covered it, Sando did something he hadn't done since before he became a New Conglomerate pilot. He felt tears spring to his eyes; eyes cold and hard as chips of ice, that could watch him kill his enemies without mercy; and he cried behind his helmet, as he and 20 others performed a classic 21-gun salute.

Rest well, friend. you bore your burden. i now bear mine. helping put NC back together again.

---------------------------------------------

That night, Sando and the Silver Falcons sent their regard's to Aztec's parents. Sando felt sorry for them. in a world where death had been thwarted, once and for all, chance stole their son from them.
---------------------------------------------
While the Silver Falcons experienced limited sucess in deployments against Terran forces, the Terrans fought back with incredible ferocity, with renewed vigor. while the Falcons could fight them and win, NC forces broke under the onslaught. NC leaders disagreed about what to do. many wanted to try and develop a nuke, but had no isotopes in any sufficient quantity to create a substantial reaction. others wanted to try biological agents, but those ideas were shot down immediately. someone suggested chemical weaponry, and that idea was rejected too. Sando made a suggestion.

"This is a last resort. a Neutron bomb."

Neutron bombs were non-conventional nuclear weapons, unique in that they had a clean detonation, emitting only small ammounts of radioactive particles. it did not destroy anything with it's reaction, which also generated sub-par heat, light and sound. what made the weapon lethal is that it released deadly neutrons into the air. the neutrons destabilized the cellular walls of living tissue and caused massive celular degeneration on a full-body scale, releasing more neutrons from the tissues, until the neutrons are absorbed by non-organic matter. what you end up with is a base with little external damage and nothing living for a mile around. if anything, Sando wanted to drop it himself, if they could develop the thing. after all, as he said before, paybacks are indeed a bitch.

[Sando138]

Every time he was on the field, Sando savoured the fight. it took his mind off how badly things were going for the NC. he was fighting like a machine, destroying his targets whenever he felt like it, playing with their minds. once, he even let a CDL think he was getting away before he put a rail through the Mosquito. He didn't care anymore. he just wanted revenge. he could care less about how the Terran pilot felt while a large piece of metal impailed him like some kind of freakish hours'dovure, compiled with having his ship explode in a ball of fire. all he thought before selecting another victim: That's gotta ruin your day...

he had been hardened by hatred. he no longer cared about the collateral damage he did to TR civillians. if he saw a convoy that wasn't blue and gold, he threw everything he had at it, civilian, military, it no longer mattered. he hated the Terran Republic and all it stood for. anyone who got in his way recieved a warning... right after missile launch. the weapon was halfway there before they finished reading. He only acted like this because of one thing. all that the Terrans had charged him with rang false to Sando. How could they charge him with a 'warcrime' of attacking TR troops when we are engaged in a declared war?

--------------------------
Manitou was quite content with life. he had just had a major thorn in his side torn out of the ground by the roots. Now, to the buisness of eliminating some other pains in his side. close to the top of the list:

Staff-Sergeant Sando Kaltoon
Affiliation: NC
Weapon of choice: 'peregrine' custom Reaver
Current Bounty: 10000 credits, alive.
Reason: Was instrumental in the development of the enemy's new Reaver Mk. II assault gunships, hence is extremely valuable if he can be captured and convinced (or forced) to assist us in gaining their technology. capture by any means nessisary.

[starrider]

dnag CDL when will they stop killin people for good.

[Sando138]

"Pull the trigger! do it!"
"There has to be another way!"
"Dont be such a Panzy, Sando!"
"Pull the ****ing trigger! thats an order!"
"I'm not firing a missile into a civilian structure!"
"You are going to pull that trigger or you are going to be charged with disobeying an officer!"
"I am certain that shooting heavy ordinance into this building will result in high collateral damage and innocent civilian casualties!"
"FINE!"
A balled fist struck Sando in the back of his head, the red and black armor buckling under the blow. the Decimator missle system was dagged from his grasp.
"No!"

Strong arms restrained him, and a man in large, bulky Terran armor aimed the missle launcher at a window and fired. the big warhead streaked into the building, and exploded with enough force to shatter stone. afterwards, he heard screams. high-pitched, child-like screams. then silence.

Sando stood up. never mind the five melee-booster-stregnth-enhanced terran soldiers, he stood up and shook them off. he drew his Repeater, and pistol-whipped the sneering officer. the man collapsed on his side, and unclipped his cycler from his back. he used the butt of the rifle to try to stop the young recruit, but he nearly had it taken from him, and decided to stop playing around. the officer raised the rifle and fired. the large muzzleflash from the twin barrels obscured his view of what he was shooting, and when he stopped firing, a lot of Terran soldiers were dead. but the man with the dented helmet was standing slightly to the left of the gun, outside the cone of fire, aiming a repeater.

Sando woke up, still wishing he could go back and pull the trigger more than the three times that he remembered. the reason he was certain there would be casualties was because it had been a kindergarten-elementary school. the one where his brother was going to school. his squad had decided to say that it was his desicion to fire the missile in the first place. he was courtmarshalled and convicted, and was not sentenced to death. his brother was sentenced to not respawn. He was disqualified from pilot training. he was unable to advance. he was given a rifle (of course they 'forgot' to give him any ammunition), rations(well past Expiration date), and a jumpsuit (in bright red, almost pink, that screamed 'SHOOT ME!'), and all but thrown from a dropship onto a Vanu base. he was basically given a suicide scout role.

The terran attack the next day not only freed him from the worries of Vanu capture, but from Terran oppression. a stray bullet had hit him in the life-tracer, deactivating it and rendering it non-functional. he was dead to the world, and would not respawn. he had been lucky to come across a New Conglomerate scouting party who escorted him back to their sanctuary. He became a pilot for the cause, a warrior for freedom.

"Hey Sando!"
"Yes, Snowwolfe?"
"I have a 'Jorge' here, says you met at Aztec's funeral. sounds excited."
"Hello?"
"Nosotros Tenemos la ADN de Jorgito!"
"Excuse me!?! err... no habla espanol."
"No, excuse me, Im too excited, and am not thinking correctly. what i am trying to say is that we have recovered my son's DNA!"
"You're kidding me!"
"No joke. terran defector brought it in. He should be respawning in five minutes or so."
"Where at?"
"CDL-AGO base, or something like that."
"Thanks!"

Sando flew as fast as his reaver could take him, which was pretty dang fast for a reaver. It was the first time in days he had not felt somehow responsible for the death of his fellow pilot. he arrived not a moment too soon. Aztec was just now regaining cognitive thought. as soon as he left the tank, Sando said very little.

"Welcome back."

[starrider]

i love how yours and Aztec's storys go together its soo cool

[Sando138]

Sando was in some serious trouble.
*Ten seconds to impact* chirped his computer, sounding as 'glee club'ish as ever.
Dangit, i knew that that lone Terran Prowler would have a fighter escort... I should have known that when I reoriented on the fighters that the tank would give me the full attention of it's twin-cyclers... so why did i go for it? was it the CDL logo on it's side that drove me to rage, or was it that my advanced targeting identified a passenger as a high-ranking CDL member?
*five seconds. engine failure. Auto-Ejecting...*
He was thrown clear of the vehicle, and his dampeners activated (partially).

He landed in a heap, breaking his right leg and getting a concussion. his 'Peregrine' supersonic-Reaver crashed not 10 yards from his position. as he lost conciousness, he saw a smiling armored figure standing over him, and he cringed, slightly delusional from pain in his leg. then all faded to black.

As he slowly regained conciousness, he wondered aloud, before opening his eyes.
"Where am I?"
"You are at a Medical Facility, and we are fixing your leg."
"God, it's good to hear a New Conglomerate voice after that..."
"You arent. My name is Manitou, and I believe I have a use for you, so you are still living. for the moment."

Realization sank in, and he opened his eyes while a curse escaped his lips. the room was outfitted in red and black. he felt pains in his head and leg, so it was obvious that this wasn't a nightmare, as much as he wished it wasn't real. he looked to the man talking to him, a high-ranking, apparently very skilled Terran soldier. he had numerous medals, and one of them was a symbol of rank. a blackened steel fusion of a Dragon and a Wolf with a red ribbon. The commanding officer of Clan Draconis Lupis, none other than Manitou. Two silent others stood on either side of him. one Sando recognized fom recent memory, Hamma. another he recognized from AztecWarrior's description, eMaGyN. Sando began to chuckle, and he couldn't stop.

The CDL members looked at him like he was crazy, until he was coherent enough to explain.
"You tortured the living hell out of aztec practically the first time you had him secured, and you are letting me heal first? What do i have that Aztec didn't? he's definetely a better pilot than me, i simmed against him once."

"You havent guessed? does the word 'Reaver Mk. II' bring anything to mind?"
"So, let me guess, you think i'm going to give you people the tech that has brought the NC near air-supremacy?"
"You are going to give it to us of your free will. or we are going to MAKE you tell us. it's your choice. either way, once your leg is healed, you are going to a tech facility that we captured, and you are going to duplicate rail-driver tech, the smart-missles that Mk. IIs use, Omega-lancers, the works. or you are going to be forced. we have already secured funding via the bounty on your head. I am in direct communication with this facility, and when you are ready for transport, we will come to get you."

They turned to leave, but the downed pilot asked one more question.
"And if i don't cooperate?"

"We show you all the 'ammentities' that Aztec experienced on his first luxurious stay with us. and this time, eMa, it's my turn to play with the electro-shock device..."- Hamma said over his shoulder.

[AztecWarrior]

Oh, boy, you're in for it.

[Sando138]

(Long one this time, a lot of conversation.)

Didn't take him long to see just what kind of 'hospitality' these terrans were good at firsthand, considering how long med-nanites can repair damage. predictably, he had resisted. they had decided not to use the shock torture for the moment, and were just attempting to brainwash him. but whenever the thought that 'maybe the terrans are right' entered his head, memories of his reasons interrupted his thoughts, reminding him why he defected in the first place. it was through this he had maintained his silence, as to components of the craft that made the Falcons among the deadliest things to fly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manitou walked in and turned off the machine spouting propoganda like a fountain, and punched the exausted Sando in the face. it really doesnt help you sleep much when you are hearing 80 decibels of 'Loyalty untill Death!' at random intervals. Taxing, but a bit mild for much of CDL's taste. He had brought the Electro-shock rig with him, and attached the electrodes.

"Hope this is less humiliating than what eMa was doing earlier. she kicked me in the groin when she thought i was lying during questioning."
"Funny, You'd think an NC wouldn't feel that. Anyway, I won't be doing that. This is much worse."

starting off slow, 10 seconds of medium voltage. Screams tore the air as pain seared every nerve, and before he knew it, was gone. Manitou had his attention.

"Lets start off simple, shall we? What is your name?"
"You know what-"
Screams ensued here, as this was obviously not the response Manitou wanted, and he turned up the voltage to its 'high' setting, leaving the interval the same.
"What is your name?"
"Sando Kaltoon."
"Your rank?"
"Currently staff-sergeant."
"Base of operations?"
"Pele Tech Plant, cyssor."
"Role?"
"Pilot."
"I'm going to be honest here. i dont care if you live or die. i just want the info. you are doing a good job of this, and you are being honest. but if you become a smartass, i promise that i have no qualms about cooking you in your own juices here. next question, What unit are you the leader of?"
"The Silver Falcons."
"What is their next target?"
Silence. As this didn't please Manitou, a 30 second burst of high-voltage forced all breath from the prisoner's lungs in screams of agony.
"Next Target?"
"Kiss my-"
"Wrong answer."
a fifty second burst brought him to new heights of pain.
"Since that vein of questioning would get you killed, lets reajust focus. Where are the Reaver Mk. IIs produced?"
"New Philadelphia, NC sanctuary."
beep.
40 seconds at high-voltage.
"Where?"
"I don't remember."
beep.
50 seconds.
sounds of that day, seemingly so long ago, echoed in his head.
"Pull the ****ing Trigger!"
53 seconds.
"That's an order!"
55.
the sound of his brother's deathcry, screaing in agony... then silence.
60.

Unable to take the pressure any longer, Sando shifted his weight, throwing himself bodily (and the chair he was bound to) at the grim, determined Terran. Manitou had been sitting close enough to increase the time of the shocks when his query went unanswered, and was bowled over by the unexpected move. Terrans practically poured into the room, ready to pacify the captive, but Sando's head had slammed off the floor, and he was rendered oblivious to the world. he was thrown back in his cell, to be interrogated, probably tortured again, tomorow... but this time in a chair bolted to the floor.

[starrider]

cool, horendusly painful, but cool

[Sando138]

The last 48 hours had been a living hell for Sando. CDL wasn't happy. Manitou had gotten a black eye to go with his goggles. Electro-Shock was no longer being used since the chair incident. instead, it was much simpler. concentrated acid dripped on the exposed skin of his arms, then basic substances applied before much damage was done. An injection of neurotoxin, and an antidote not long after the first effects. Severe beatings, followed by medical attention. exposure to Flamethrowers, then emergency skin-grafts. once that failed, they shifted tactics. they offered to give him back his brother. they offered him a chance to reconcile his past. they left him to think it over.

[starrider]

sooooo... is he gonna crack??

[Sando138]

we shall see...

[starrider]

i'm tried of sayin the plot thickens so im sayin somethin else.....

the milkshake must thickin before it is worthy of my drinking

[Sando138]

(This part is supposed to happen the day/night that 'Freedom Corps. Spec Ops' gets me out of here.)

I can have everything back the way it was, before it happened. i can go back, and live how i had planned. i can forget all this ever happened. i can defect. i can go home to my family... And i can... Wait a second... Why did they never petition the terran government for their son back? why did they not show any emotion at all when I was declared dead after they sent me to Forseal? why did they not care- much less celebrate when CDL shot me down? they don't care. my brother is innocent, though. is it worth going home to a family- a FACTION that hates us both just to save him? what if i can negotiate for his freedom to go to the New Conglomerate in exchange for my cooperation?

This thought went dep into the night. that morning Sando announced that he had made his descision. Manitou walked into the interrogation room, looking quite pleased. Sando had been allowed to not wear restraints, for once.

"So, Sando, i hope you made your descision wisely. You may soon see the dawn of an era. our new Schopenbulb virus will weaken the New Conglomerate to the point where a light prod with a branch would topple it. Corporal, Bring it in."

without a word, a CDL officer walked in carrying a small sealed vial. The Lieutennat by his side drew his pistol and took careful aim. if he pulled the trigger, the contents of the vial would be all over the wall.

"Lieutennat, count aloud to ten once I leave the room. if you finish counting before Sando starts to pledge alliegance to the Terran Republic, destroy the vial and shoot him. then requisition a DNA sample, so we can brainwash him while he respawns."
"Yes, sir."

"One."
I have to act.
"Two."
No turning back.
"Three."
Ok, get ready...
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
"Seven."
"Eight."
"Nine."
NOW!
"Ten!"

Right as the Lieutennant pulled the trigger, Sando threw himself onto his arm, knocking it up and aiming it straight into the face of the other CDL officer. Sando wasted no time for a shout of victory; he planted a boot in the Lieutennant's gut and snatched the falling vial. he placed it in a pouch in his flight suit, which they had simply removed the armor from, and pistolwhipped the living terran in the temple, killing him. the escapee picked up two Repeaters, a few clips, and some generic supplies, and began to plot his escape.

As he left the room, the terrans outside assumed he had changed his mind at the last second, and that the single shot had been diverted barely upwards by the one shooting in order to miss. they never expected him to raise twin pistols and start shooting.

Pretty soon, the entire base was aware that there was an escape in progress. a lockdown took effect and a special-forces unit was sent in. CDLs elite soldiers, battle-hardened, and trained to kill without question. Sando couldn't fight them. he was a fair shot for a pilot, but nowhere near skilled enough to take them in any number over 1 at a time, and even 1-on-1 was risky. So he just ran, and hid whenever he could. even running wouldn't keep him alive forever, because in every encounter with a terran, he had been at least hit with a flesh-wound. he had med-paks, but it would not take the terrans too long to improve their aim.

Dear god, if you can hear me from this hell-hole, get me out of here!

[Sando138]

Sando heard the galaxies and ACK fire. He finally knew: rescue was here! He went to the nearest window to help however he could. Then he saw Aztec from a high-window.

What the hell is he doing here? Watch out, it's a Prowler! get out of the way! Take- oh crap...

A terran AI MAX had just shredded the NC soldier at his side. Aztec was in serious trouble. A burst of Gauss fire confirmed that Aztec has dealt with the max, but he now had no escort. and from the look of those bandages, he was injured before he even came to the fight...

Sando had hacked a computer terminal and downloaded a schematic, and knew that he was near the high-security prisoner deck. so he took off running, looking for NC forces in the area. He heard voices down the hall. he drew the two repeaters he had managed to keep this whole time, and checked the clips. almost empty.

"...really have to stop respawning. I hate having to kill you again, and again, and again..."

Oh hell... Aztec got cornered. i can't help. eMa is one of the best shot's the TR has... If i make a move, i'm dead. they'll catch me and- pull yourself together! it's either Aztec dies or you both maybe die... but I have the element of suprise. oh well... here we go again....

Sando peeked around the corner to glimpse a red and black armored figure entering an interrogation room. And it was talking with eMa's voice... Then three TR commando's ran smack into Sando.

they were in such close quarters that the didn't have room to use knives or rifles. they just picked him up and threw him down the hall, right past the interrogation room, getting eMa and Aztec's attention.

Sando's head registered Melee boosters! just before he hit the ground, dazed, with maybe a fractured rib.

"You're going to be spending a very long time here for all the trouble you caused us before you are executed and your DNA archived, Sando."

Before he was aware of it, he was being dragged towards the interogation room. but the Terran grunts had failed to remember something important. when taking a prisoner, don't forget to relieve him of his weapons.

Trained to kill without thought, Indeed!

The twin pistols were dragged from their holsters by the Pilot and used to create several decorative holes in the helmets of the commandos. He tried to get up asfast as he could, which wasn't that fast at all, when a heavily armored knee slammed straight into his chin, knocking him back to the ground. the pistols skidded from his grasp across the floor.

Sando shook his head to clear his sight, and found himself looking straight into the eyes of Manitou, who had pesonally administered 90% of the torture. while Sando tried not to let his fear show through, the no-nonsense officer that stood before him noticed the quickening pulse and increasing tension of the pilot on the ground before him.

"You're afraid."
"No shit."
"While eMa put's paid to Aztec, i get to deal with you. sounds like fun, huh?"
"Lots. a guy in full body armor with stregnth enhancements versus a guy in a flight suit. sounds fair."