FanFic - So I had a little trouble with Sysdef the other day...

[lazloarcadia]

So here is what happened: My girlfriend Sarah and I were taking our ship on a resupply run for LIST out to Tau Cetti II. The colonists there were nice enough folks and were working hard on getting their settlement all up and running. Although our time with them was brief, it had been pleasant and everything had gone smoothly.

That is, until we were coming back to Jemison. Halfway back we had to stop to refuel and immediately on coming out of hyperspace I find that I've jumped us right into the middle of a fight between the Crimson Fleet and a group of Spacers. Fortunately I'm not a half bad pilot and I was able to avoid most of the fighting while they were busy killing each other, and then as a final cherry on top was even able to capture one of the Crimson Fleet ships that had been damaged in all the fighting.

After patching up my newly acquired ship I take the helm and head for home while Sarah follows in our old ship. Now you would think this was pretty much the end of this story. Take the ship back home and decide if I wanted to keep it, or sell it. But no, nothing is ever that simple....ever.

On entering into Jemison space I am told the ship is being scanned for contraband. So what? I've done this all about a thousand times before, nothing new. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with bringing home a pirate ship back to Jemison and claim salvage on it? As it turned out, what could go wrong would be the motherload of all rookie mistakes. I knew better. I did. This would be the day that I didn't bother check the ship's cargo hold and make sure these clowns weren't flying around with alien bio weapons, or a hold full of Neon's finest Aurora or something equally as crazy. Yeah, I REALLY should have checked the hold. Truth to tell I still don't even know what the scanners picked up but man did they ever have a fit about it!

Instead of being hauled off in front of some judge on Jemison for hauling contraband however, I found myself taken into custody by some special branch of the UC Navy called "Sysdef". I vaguely remember hearing something about them being formed when I was getting out of the marines a few years back. Why they would be involved in this whole thing however I had no idea. Maybe it was my newly claimed Crimson Fleet ship itself that had caught their attention. Or whatever they found in the hold. Or who knows what?

Either way, Sysdef showed up, takes me into custody and impounds my new ship. So much for my salvage rights! Fortunately Sarah had been piloting our old ship during all of this which had passed the contraband sweep no problem, so she was not charged with anything and they simply let her go. The fact that they didn't hold her is most likely what saved my hide that day, but more on that later.

So I get thrown into a holding cell on board the Sysdef command ship, the UC Vigilance. There I have these two guards watching over my cell as they try to decide if they are gonna keep an eye on me or just kick the crap outta me to pass the time. I get the impression that they actually think I'm with the Crimson Fleet because, well you know I WAS flying a Crimson ship when I was stopped and I guess these Sysdef guys have a real serious issue with the Crimson's.

A couple of hours later I get called in front of the Vigilance's CO, one Commander Ikaba. Fortunately the Commander was a really nice guy and we spent hours swapping stories about our time in the service and....well ok, no. That is not how it went down at all. In fact this guy was a royal ass hat from the word go and started giving me this big speech about "Join me in my crusade to crush the Crimson Fleet or I'll screw over your whole life!!".

Yeah well, that didn't sit well with me. Nope, not at all. So I told him to go throw himself out the nearest airlock and deal with the Crimson Fleet his damned self! He definitely did not like that. After screaming and foaming at the mouth for a bit he tells his people to throw me in some black site prison hellhole on the far side of the galaxy until the end of time.

My marines guards dutifully drag me off and throw me back in my holding cell where I cool my jets and wait to be shipped off to God only knows where. I guess some other stuff must have been keeping their attention because about a week goes by and I'm still on the Vigilance, until one day the door to my cell opens and in walks this Sysdef lieutenant with a couple of big Marine bodyguards. I gotta hand it to them, these guys looked tough as nails and any thoughts I had been entertaining about making some heroic effort to overpower them and make a run back to my ship vanished the instant I laid eyes on them.

"Well this is it," I found myself thinking. "They are here to cart me off to that prison cell. Man I'm so screwed!" Instead they tell me I'm being released. What!? Just like that?? Yep, just like that. They even gave my ship back and then escorted me back New Atlantis on Jemison. Good God what a turn of events a single day can take! I don't mind telling you the first thing I did when I touched down was I walked straight over to the Viewport (a local bar close to the shipyard) and got raging drunk with Sarah and a few of our friends she called to come over and join the party.

I would later find out that Sarah had been busy during the week I was being held aboard the Vigilance. Ya see Sarah and I had met when we were both in the service. She had been a naval officer and had apparently been quite close with Admiral Logan, old family connection or something I guess. Now you see the problem is Sysdef is a specialty branch of the UC Navy, and you'll never guess who they ultimately have to answer to? You guessed it, Admiral Logan!

I'm betting that Commander Ikaba was quite surprised when he suddenly found himself having to explain this whole mess to the Admiral and was told he had to let me go. Oh that look on his face must have been priceless!! Too bad I was still in lock up at the time and didn't get to see it for myself. <chuckle> Oh yeah, good times.

With the way that all of this unfolded it did however leave one unfortunate piece of unfinished business. Ya see, Sysdef isn't the only one's with a axe to grind with the Crimson Fleet. In fact I want them at least as bad as Commander Ibaka, however with the way all of this went down makes any idea of actually joining Sysdef to take on the Fleet pretty much impossible.

It seems to me like the only other real option to take them out would be to join up with the Crimson Fleet itself and try to take them out from the inside. That would not be such a bad idea were it not for the simple fact that I had more than enough of guys always yelling at me, making threats, talking s#*&#33;, etc during my days as a marine. I'm just not gonna tolerate that sorta garbage from a bunch of asshole pirates. Yeah...not happening.