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[ICFW NOTE: WHY ARE SOME OF THESE FILES STORED AS PUBLIC DATA? THESE LOGS AND MEMORY FILES CONTAIN SENSITIVE DATES, PLACES, AND NAMES WHICH ARE OF STRATEGIC MILITARY AND POLITICAL VALUE! --COUNCIL.]

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[CAPTAIN'S MEMORY LOG NO. 1093311]

[DATE: 029-169-7553 (INTERGALACTIC CALENDAR),

** [09 FEBRUARY, 2069 (EARTH CALENDAR)]**

[LOCATION: K'OL ASTEROID BELT, T'ERIAKK-OCCUPIED SPACE]

[SHIP-STAT: CLASS IV HYPERDRIVE-EQUIPPED DUAL-CANNON "RAIDER," (RECENTLY REPURPOSED), DESIGNATION: "FORTUNE AND GLORY"]

[CREW COUNT: 2 CO-CAPTAINS, 3 NAVIGATORS, 2 MECHA, 88 CREW]

[MAIN SUBJECT: RE'ISEKKO I'ANII, MASTER CE'RUNAE. (CODE NAME: "REDD"). SPECIES: KO'TARI RED-SCALE. (SOLE SURVIVOR. TRIBE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS EXTINCT.) AGE: UNKNOWN.]

[NOTE: ICFW HAS CONFIRMED MAIN SUBJECT TO BE ONE OF THE SEVEN KO'TARI LIVING GODS; THE GOD OF WAR. REMAIN CAUTIOUS AROUND HIM AT ALL TIMES. --"COUNCIL."]

[SECONDARY SUBJECT: JOSEPH B. ABEL, (CODE NAME: "COMMANDER.")]

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** ------------BEGIN CAPTAIN'S MEMORY LOG------------**

"You alright there, kid? Should still be in the med-bay, by the looks of ya."

The young human was obviously in pain. He wore a grimace of agony, rubbing the freshly-cauterized sugrical scar on the back of his neck as if it were driving him insane.

"Oh, no, I'm totally fine, Redd; thanks for asking. But, just for future reference, you could've said something about this fucking pain before you recommended that I have my skull split open!"

"WHAT?!" I scoffed loudly, shaking my head, "YOU were the one who asked me how I could speak so many languages while I was recruiting the crew, and so I told you about the NTI! You were the one who insisted on getting one implanted!"

"Well, if you'd told me that the benefits of having a neuro-translation implant would involve a month of living hell, I might've reconsidered!" He shot back, groaning slightly in pain. "Damn it, my head feels like it's splitting in half! Where the hell is this ship we're supposed to be chasing, anyway? I just want to get it over with so I can knock myself out!"

Heaving a sigh, I reached into the folds of my coat and pulled out a thick, heavy flask. "Here, drink some of this; it'll help." The amber-colored liquid reminded me of gold, and it was worth more than its weight in such. I almost thought against handing it over, but still... This young human had agreed to lend me his ship.

"What is it?" He asked curiously, removing the stopper andd taking a deep sniff. As I'd expected, he immediately recoiled in horror, coughing as the fumes nearly overwhelmed him.

"SHIT! What is this, like two-hundred proof?!"

"Hey, that's damn good k'vota right there! You want the drink or not?!"

He shot me a momentary glare, mulling over his options.Then, with this devilish little smirk on his face, he tipped the entire thing over his mouth and drained it completely in three gigantic swallows.

"Oi! HEY! Do you have any idea what that stuff costs?!"

"Do YOU know that your translator makes you sound like a British Navy sailor?" he shot back, cackling mischievously. "You were right, by the way! It's great stuff!"

"Selfish bastard! Damn... Well, if we can pull this one off, you're buying me another bottle! We'll see how you like that price tag!"

Josh was about to open his mouth for a retort, when suddenly, the blue core-stone lights on the walls began to flash white, and a long, low alarm began to blare over the comm system. The sounds of a panicked crew began to filter up to the bridge from the decks below. I turned around to face Josh, my mind already steeled for the task at hand.

"Well, Mr.Abel? Are you ready for your first pirate raid?"

"It took you three months to fix up this heap, and another six to find a crew that was willing to board it! You're asking ME if I'm ready?! Lead the way, Captain!"

His thin, bony fingers gripped the handles of the twin blades on his belt tightly. The young man's eyes appeared to almost glow with their bizzare, golden-brown tint. For his safety, and my own, I only hoped that the former Lord Koda had trained this young human properly. To me, he just seemed like any other cocky little shit!

"Very well," I half-muttered under my breath, as I reached out a claw to activate the ship-wide comms, "Let's find out what these scags are made of, shall we?" Leaning forward, craning my bearded muzzle over the holographic consoles, I cleared my throat loudly and began to roar loudly into the transmitter, in Southern Ko'tari.

"RIGHT! YOU SCUZZY BASTARDS! OUR TARGET IS NEARLY IN SIGHT! RAISE OUR SHIELDS, LOAD THE BOARDING CREWS, AND PREP OUR PLASMA CANNONS ! I WANT US READY FOR THEIR FIRST SHOT!"

The metallic sound of the small docking crafts locking into place along the inner hull sent waves of shaking and clattering throughout the ship. The shouts from below decks quickly turned from panicked desperation to roars for war and blood as the crew scrambled about the ship, stacking rad-shot rounds near the fore and aft cannons as they prepared for a pitched battle. Satisfied with the result, I tugged confidently at the flaps of my thick, heavy coat, smiling widely as I turned to face Josh once again.

"Is it weird that I actually understood most of that?" He asked, appearing slightly shocked at my sudden change in demeanor.

"Aye, that means the implant has already properly taken hold," I informed him, nodding towards the navigation consoles nearby. "Let's check the visual mode, yeah? Take a look; can you read it?"

The young human quickly stepped past me, a curious smile drawn accross his face as he leaned between the shoulders of two navigators in order to get a better view.

"According to this screen, there's three ships approaching us from hyperspace, I think... Five; no, four... ne'tsoah? What does that mean?"

"Ah, yes," I began to explain, peering over him to see the console for myself, "That's the Ko'tari and ICFW's standard unit of measurement concerning distance in space. A single one could be nearly... ten to twelve thousand of your metric kilometers? I may be a bit off."

"So, they're still pretty far from us?" Josh asked, still studying the symbols as they scrolled vertically down the screen in front of him. I huffed slightly, letting out an exasperated sigh as I slowly shook my head.

"I'm afraid not. In space, where every ship's equipped with a faster-than-light corestone engine, that kind of distance could be covered in less than a few seconds. Now... See that, there?" I pointed a single claw towards a patch of shimmering light on-screen.

"That's their exit point for the hyperjump. No matter how hard you try to hide it, there's always a sign that something's about to come through. As you've said, there are three ships about to come out of it. The lead craft will likely be a smaller, lesser-armed escort, with a following craft taking up the rear. The one we're after is the ship that lies between them..."

"A convoy?" Josh quipped, amusedly. "We're hitting a space convoy? What do you think they're carrying?"

A soft growl passed my lips as I felt the scales on the back of my neck begin to rise. "Oh; I don't think, my young friend; I KNOW what they're carrying. The ship we're looking for is a Class IV, Tri-cannon Destroyer. She's been on my hit list for quite some time now..."

"Your 'hit list'?" Josh repeated, confused. "How do you know so much about these guys, anyway?"

I sucked in a harsh breath through clenched teeth, clutching the folds of my coat even tighter as I weighed my possible respnse. Finally, I decided to just space it all.

"Before we left Ko'tari, what exactly did Lord Koda tell you about me?"

Josh shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head slowly. "Not too much. He said you used to be one of the best pirates in the Ko'tari system, taking over ships loaded to the gills with gold, platinum, slaves, and cores. At least, he said you did, until your last raid about three years ago..."

The mere mentioning of it brought the taste of bile up to my throat.

"Yeah; the mutiny... did he ever elaborate on it?"

The young man shook his head 'no.'

"Well, then, allow me to fill you in, so to speak. Three seasons ago, I was the Captain of a Class III vessel; much like this one. I'd just landed us on Xionn, the fourth registered planet in the Intergalactic Coalition of Freed Worlds. That's what we call the ICFW, by the way. Think of them as the equal and opposite to the T'erii. In fact, the two societies are fairly bitter enemies, so I thought I'd be safe enough, recruiting a new crew for a raid on an incoming T'erii mining vessel..."

"What happened?"

"Treachery. You should know by now that us free pirates, although we live our lives in the shit and the shadows, follow a certain set of, shall we say, 'rules.' To start with, we never steal from the Ko'tari , the ICFW, or any other free trade vessels or merchant ships. We don't slaughter defenseless crews and unarmed citizens; that goes without saying. And we never... NEVER let our greed consume us. No matter how big the prize is in the end. Still... There are some of us who don't exactly follow those rules..."

"So, you're saying it's more like a kind of honor amongst thieves; a sort of mutual respect. I can understand that. But what happened? They broke the rules?"

"Oh no; it was much worse than that. The entire job actually went off without a hitch, if you can believe it! We stripped the vessel to scraps and filled our holds with so much gold and core-stone that we barely had room for the crew! It was only after I gave the order for us to take off that the truth of the mattter started to become apparent--"

"Captain!" one of the navigators interrupted from behind us. "The escort ship is preparing to exit!" The tall, bird-like creature seated at the console met my gaze with a look of determination.

"Then keep an eye on 'em!" I yelled back, "And let me know when our target emerges!"

Turning back to face Josh, I let out another sigh, before clearing my throat to continue my story.

"I'd started celebrating early that night. I must've had at least six bottles; drank myself into a stupor. The original plan we'd agreed upon was that we would carry out the cargo to another recently-freed world; a place where nobody would ask too many questions when we offloaded it. So I left my Vice-captains in charge, and I passed out early, yeah? And when I woke up, instead of finding a rowdy crew, drunk and celebrating their latest haul, the first thing I see is no less than a baker's dozen of those grey and green-scaled bastards, all with knives, plasma blades, and core rifles pointed directly at my head. And then, almost as an afterthought, my two Vice-captains; pirates I'd flown with for many seasons, stepped in from behind them, to look me in the eye and tell me what they'd done..."

I let out another loud sigh, scratching the scales on the back of my neck with one hand as I took a moment to catch my breath. "The T'erii, it seemed, had placed a rather large bounty on my head after my last few raids. And they'd told these two; my closest friends, that not only would they be allowed to collect the bounty for my head, but that they could keep the stolen cargo all to themselves. Needles to say... I may have let my rage get the better of me..."

"You killed them?!" Josh exclaimed, his eyes going wide, "ALL of them?"

Chuckling halfheartedly under my breath, I shook my head sadly as I lifted my tail and pulled away at the straps of my coat. My red-scaled body now stood bare before all who would see it; a map of scars and cuts which covered my arms, chest, legs, and back. almost immediately, every other voice on the bridge grew deathly silent. Even the loud, annoying proximity alarm was quickly silenced by some crewmate's unseen hand. This crew, it appeared, held no fools. I'd imagined that many of them would've heard the stories about me, back on Ko'tari...

Josh's jaw dropped open as he took in the sight of my beaten and mangled form, his eyes tracing the deep scars which ran from my throat down to my waist, the ones on my legs hidden only by my thick leather 'pants,' as he referred to them.

"Do you know why I wear this coat? I asked him, stretching it out so that he could fully examine it, the sleeves and back pockmarked with slashes and cuts which almost mirrored my own.

"Oh, holy-- Is that... from them?" He stuttered the words slightly, backing away in shock.

"Aye. After I killed those bastards who rose against me, along with every smooth-scaled, vomit-colored piece of shit in my room, I went out onto the decks, where I found their leader. He was a dark-grey scaled Slaver Captain, who'd answered the call to collect the bounty on my head. You should've seen the look in his eyes when he finally caught sight of me, all cut up, with blades still dripping the blood of his soldiers. With the last words he spoke to me, he told me that he'd ordered my crew members into the hold, before sealing it off and opening the outer doors. He didn't even show a hint of remorse; he knew what he'd started. All T'erigai know the punishment for killing the crew members of a seasoned pirate, not to mention the former students of a Master Ce'runae..."

Using both hands, I flung the coat back around my shoulders, slipping both arms through the sleeves before reaching back to secure the strap around my tail.

"I skinned that bastard alive, over many days. Made him watch as I removed and tanned his scaly, grey hide. I'll admit; even for me, it was painful..."

"So... You killed their leader, and you made him into a coat?! That's some serial killer shit, Redd..."

"Oh, I never said I killed him..." The words passed my lips in a snarl.

"I skinned him and left him at the foot of the steps leading up to the _T'eriakk _Senate, in the Capital city of their home world. The most humiliating defeat for their kind isn't death; that's almost considered an honor. No; to be stripped of their scales and their dignity, and left alive to suffer; THAT is the worst thing that we can do to them. And so, I gave him what he deserved. His worst nightmare, come true..."

"Wow..." Josh breathed out, shaking his head incredulously. "Whatever ended up happening to that guy?"

I could feel the laughter building up in my chest before I could stop myself. Nodding my head towards the nearby consoles, I offered no further explanation as the young human began to take it all in.

"They gave him a promotion?!" he exclaimed, finally understanding my meaning. Now, I could tell, he knew why I had been waiting so patiently to attack this specific ship.

"They put him in charge of the main shipping routes for cores and slaves coming out of the T'erii-occupied K'ol System. Lately, he's been in charge of something called the Z'ekitoma Project. I've been keeping tabs on him ever since that time."

"And you only thought to tell me about this NOW?!" Josh shouted angrily, stomping around the navigators' consoles to stand in front of me. "Shit! I knew you Ce'runae Masters liked to keep your secrets; hell, it took me a year and a half of studying under Koda, and I didn't even know who he was until I met you! This isn't a pirate raid; it's a fucking Ce'runae vendetta! Just what the hell are you getting us into?!"

That was it. My anger, which had been bubbling beneath the surface ever since we'd left Ko'tari, suddenly erupted. With a load roar, I snatched up the skinny human by his throat, slamming him forcefully against the metal walls of the bridge. I was about to increase my grip, to crush the life from his body, when I noticed something that made me pause. He wasn't scared of me; he wasn't struggling at all. In fact, he was smiling... He was smiling at me.

His eyes seemed to glow with a resolve unlike any I'd seen before. In that moment, it was as if the atmosphere around us had changed. Gone was the curious, kind-hearted young human who'd been eager to learn about the pirate's life. Here was someone different. Someone... Darker.

"Are you sure you want to die here, I'anii-Kessrii?" He spoke calmly, using the formal honorific given to a Master of the Ce'runae tribe. "Master or not, if you aren't willing to see me as an equal; as someone worthy of your respect, then I'll happily end you where you stand."

He had to be bluffing. His feet weren't touching the ground; and I was sure that he couldn't draw a breath. I'd never seen someone so determined in the face of such certain death. Still, something about his confident smile unnerved me.

"And how, might I ask, would you do that?" I growled through clenched teeth, sightly increasing my grip on his windpipe.

His smile appeared to grow wider as he opened his mouth, revealing two rows of crooked teeth. At first, I thought he was going to speak. But then, with a sudden burst of strength, he exhaled forcefully, sending a gust of air into my face. I didn't notice until it was too late. My eyes barely had time to register the small dart as it flew from his mouth, before burying itself deep into the flesh beneath the soft scales on my throat. Suddenly, it was I who was gasping for air, as my grip on his neck began to quiver and shake, before my entire body went completely rigid, and I found myself face-down upon the cold, steel floor.

I knew, in that instant, that it was all over. The dart, I'd realized too late, had been coated with a powerful paralytic; a very specific poison, which could only be harvested from a single plant found on Ko'tari. I'd felt it before. Almost immediately, it became impossible to move, as every muscle and nerve ending in my body went haywire and locked. I could only breathe and watch as Josh wasted no time in reacting, clenching my jaws shut by wrapping an arm around them, and holding me against the deck.

When he was sure that the poison had taken full effect, he released his grip and stood silently above me, rubbing a hand on his throat as he looked down at me with a disappointed expression.

"Damn, Redd... That actually hurt."

Reaching a hand into a pocket on his waist, he removed a small glass vial filled with a scarlet-colored liquid. Kneeling over my immobilized form, he held it out so that I could see it.

"Now that I have your attention, 'Captain', allow me to set a few things straight," he began, rising back to his feet. "First, I may not be a 'Master,' but I am a Ce'runae, the same as you. And according to the Seven Laws, unless I happen to be one of your students, I'm free to kill you, or any other 'Master' who tries to force their will upon me. After all, that's why we train as assassins, right? Now... Second thing... That stuff I just injected you with; that was a present from Lord Koda, made especially for you. He said that I should use it on you if you ever tried to attack me. He also said that if I ever had to use it, I was to say something to you..."

Josh paused to clear his throat, before delivering his message in a perfectly-accented barrage of Southern Ko'tari:

"My student is not your plaything. You, of all people, should know the power of true resolve, and what purposes it can bring one to. While he has yet to find that purpose for himself, I can assure you that this one is different. This one is Ho'itaa."

"I still haven't beeen able to figure out what that last word means," He ended in his own language, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

But I understood. I understood very well. I had not only underestimated the former Lord Koda, living God of knowledge, and the exiled King of the Xitoli Ce'runae, but I had shamelessly broken one of the seven key tenets of the Master's Laws, myself... By rights, the human was correct; he could, indeed, have ended my life at his pleasure for my disrespect. But could it be true? I had only ever heard stories, whispered throughout the centuries. I'd never met another one in person, aside from Koda and myself.

"Ho'itaa." That word was not often used in conversation; it had lain dormant for hundreds of seasons. It had several known and accepted meanings, but it was most commonly used in reference to the deified figures of the Ce'runae religion, the Seven Living Gods. It was a term used only to describe the most enlightened; the most powerful, among the Ce'runae tribe. Without regard to species, sex, age, or planet of origin, As it was written in the laws, and is practiced by those who still live by them.

"Greater." "Awakened." "Pure Ones."

And, of all people, he had to meet with me. I began to wonder silently how long it would take him to figure out the full truth about me, about Koda, and the other Five... My mind was swimming with the possibilities. The paralytic, although it had ensared my body, had left my mind relatively intact. I'd been so focused on his message, in fact, that I'd nearly missed it when he leaned over my still form to deliver his final ultimatum.

"-- But I do know this much: the laws of our adopted tribe supersede the laws of all others. That includes the seven Laws of the Masters, which Lord Koda was nice enough to fully explain. I KNOW that you're entitled to your revenge; hell, I also know that I'm supposed to help you get it. But while I am willing to help you, I'm not going to just stand by and let you treat me like anything less than an equal. If we do this job, we do it as one, or we don't do it at all. And you, Captain Redd, should probably remember the Fourth Law, and treat me as you would a brother, Master or not. If you keep secrets like this from me again, or you attack me in any way, we're going to revisit this conversation. Got it? Blink once if you can understand."

I did as I was told, closing and opening my eyelids as I traced my gaze down his thin form.

"Good. Now, are we working together from here on out? Or do I just let the poison do its job? Blink once for yes, or twice for--"

I didn't let him finish before blinking my eyes once. Lord Koda had, indeed, trained this young human properly. And, as promised, he was absolutely unlike any other Ce'runae student I'd ever laid eyes upon. Not only had he handled my outburst of rage with serenity and precision, but his response had been swift and unyielding, from the dart, to his well-worded ultimatum.

To think that someone like me, a seasoned pirate, Master Ce'runae, and the respected Ko'tari living God of War, could be overtaken so quickly, by someone so frail and small... It almost seemed impossible to consider; and yet, I was the one lying flat on cold steel. I began to wonder to myself how many hundreds of years it had been since the last time I'd felt this way...

My thoughts were still swirling as he knelt down before me, using his hands to pry open my locked jaws before dumping the contents of the vial down my throat. As I waited for the antidote to take effect, I still couldn't fully believe it... Was it possible? Could Lord Koda have been right?

Gasping and choking as the bitter antidote worked its way into my bloodstream, I pushed myself up to a sitting position, drawing in deep lungfuls of air as my muscles slowly began to return to their original state. From my head, to my arms, to my legs and my tail, every single muscle in my body felt cramped and torn. Still, I nearly managed to pull myself up, before my knees suddenly buckled and I found myself once again upon the floor.

I was about to try again, when I felt a pair of bony hands grip my shoulders. Before I could react, I was pulled forcefully to my feet. The shock of rising so quickly sent the blood and antidote rushing to my head, spreading it so quickly that it felt as if my veins were on fire.

"Oh... DAMN! Couldn't you have taken your TIME with me, at least?!" I blurted out, not realizing that I'd regained control over my vocal cords.

"Sorry about than, I'anii-Kessrii," Josh replied with a smile, bowing his head slightly as he once again used the honorific given to a Master Ce'runae. Staring at his thin form now, I could barely recognize the human I'd spent a month getting to know. Before I could stop myself, however, I began to laugh. Slowly, at first, but then, howling cries of boisterous laughter began to fill the bridge at my expense. When I was finally able to stop myself, tears had already begun to roll down my cheeks, turning my scales an even deeper shade of red.

Still chuckling slightly, I wiped away the tears on the sleeve of my coat, before standing straight in front of him, and offering my right hand.

"Josh B. Abel, was it?" I asked with a smile, this one genuine and unforced.

"It is," He nodded in response, clasping my wrist in his own, before giving it a single shake.

"As a Master Ce'runae, and as Co-Captain of this vessel, I hereby agree to your terms." I spoke clearly, so that all could hear, "I also... apologize for my earlier behavior. It wasn't personal; I hope you understand. And finally... Once this job is over, you and I are going to sit down with a few bottles and have a serious discussion. From what I've just seen and heard, I think we could go a long way together if I was your next--"

"CAPTAIN! She's here! The target ship is just starting to emerge from the portal!" The bird-like navigator shouted excitedly. "We're racked and stacked! All crews and cannons have been loaded!"

Turning to face Josh, I noticed that he was smiling brightly once again. All traces of his earlier malice had seemed to completely disappear.

"That's a deal, Captain," He sounded out with a curt nod of his head. "To tell the truth, I'm actually interested in learning a few things from you myself! How about we start with ship-to-ship boarding procedures?!"

His casual smirk brought a smile to my face. There was definitely something different about this human; that much was obvious to me. Regardless of how angry I'd previously felt, my current thoughts had become a strange mix of curiosity and wonder. I wanted to know more about this human, who had escaped from hell, and so quickly taken to the ways of the largest and most deadly of tribes. And still, he maintained about him an aura of calmness; of peace. Even now, he seemed to radiate with determination and sincerity, as he released his grip on my hand, and reached for the blades at his sides.

"Ho'itaa..." I breathed out, almost a whisper among the chaos of the bridge.

"What?!" he called back, confused.

"It means 'greater!'" I muttered distractedly, turning my head to face the targeting consoles."Awakened! Pure Ones!"

"That's what he said about me?" The young human whispered, almost to himself. "But there's really nothing special about me..."

"On this issue," I deftly interjected, "You and I are going to have to disagree! I'm actually starting to think that Koda may have been right about you. Perhaps you are different. Now..."

I turned my full attention to the consoles before me,

"Let's take us a fuckin' prize!"

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----END CAPTAIN'S MEMORY LOG----

Well here's the third of many entries. Be sure to comment, if you'd like. Criticism is always appreciated