- DorkLord54
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This work was inspired by:
Joss Whedon's Firefly
Star Wars
Chapter List:
Prologue
Prologue
The year is 2596. 43 years after the armistice created between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the Covenant Empire (simply referred to as the Covenant by most before, during, and after the war) with the shaking of the hands of UNSC Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood and 20th Arbiter in the line of Immaculate Succession Thel 'Vadam. The galaxy has since turned into a hell-hole, where liberty, freedom, and independence are only ideals. The Human-Covenant Alliance has a large foothold over most of the galaxy, enslaving races and destroying planets they deem hold either Insurrectionists, Separatists, Heretics, or sympathizers of the Smuggler Freedom Association (SFA).
After the assassination of UEG/CAA supporter and leader of the UNSC Sir Terrence Hood and of the High Prophets of War (Rtas 'Vadum), Unity (Usze 'Taham), and Peace (Thel 'Vadam) in 2559, Vice Admiral Leonard Klebitz and Imperial Admiral Hyta 'Zamam became the official autocrats of their leading governments and soon formed the totalitarian Human-Covenant Alliance. Hated by all other factions in the galaxy, they control the majority of human and Covenant space. Still, however, they are not the only government in the galaxy.
Around March 3, 2573, a band of Kig-yar, Sangheili, and Human merchants decided to "celebrate" the 20th anniversary of the end of the Human-Covenant War by making the Treaty of Independence, which denounced the Human-Covenant Alliance as an "empire whose genocidal ways are an affront not only to smugglers galaxy-wide but as well to freedom everywhere." It here as well that governors of a minority of the re-terraformed Outer Colonies signed the document as they were fed up of the Alliance bureaucracy, much like they were with the UEG years before. And thus, the Smuugler Freedom Association was born, and would fight against the Alliance for years to come.
The SFA was not the only government fighting against the Alliance. The Jiralhanae who were not caught up in the civil wars on their home world of Doisac, one of the few planets not in Alliance control due to the Jiralhanae's utter brutality, rejoined the San 'Shyuum in rebuilding their once-cherished empire. And so the Covenant Remnant continued to scour far and wide, recruiting other races to its cause. Kig-yar continued to do trade and provide mercenary services with the Covenant even as the Remnant, and the Unggoy, Yanme'e, and even some Lekgolo returned to the Covenant once the Alliance enslaved their races. Their hatred for the Alliance as well allowed the Jiralhanae and San 'Shyuum to continue their genocides against the Sangheili and Humanity. The Remnant is still controlled by Ministries, with the Chieftain Cerberus and High Prophet of Intellect as its leaders.
There is one party, however, who is a myth to the Inner Colonies and among most high-ranking Alliance and Remnant officials, but a reality for the Outer Colonies and the SFA. While the Covenant Loyalists were able to efficiently recover from their defeat at the Battle of Installation 00, the Flood Scourge was not so lucky. Barely escaping to the unknown regions of the galaxy, the Scourge is made up of not only veterans Combat and Pure Forms of the war, but as well, surprisingly, the Gravemind was able to survive, though he was fairly downgraded to a "minor threat" due to his poor physical and mental shape. For the last 43 years, the Scourge and its Gravemind have continued to grow, even to the point in which they are now able to produce a Pure-strain of organic starfighters. Still, the Scourge has little power against the Alliance or Remnant as they still use either civilian freighters in which they have boarded for food or old H-CW vessels, including older model CCS-class Battlecruisers and UNSC Halcyon-class Cruisers; however, they are an admirable threat to the SFA and to the Outer Colonies, asking for human sacrifices every four months, lest they consume the entire planet. And now, the Scourge has grown large enough to gather a large fleet strong enough to crush the Alliance, Remnant, and SFA and consume the galaxy like they had a hundred thousand years before.
With the SFA now on its last limb, with world after world either glassed by the Remnant, occupied by the Alliance, or consumed by the Flood, smugglers continue to take on new crew to take on the threats to freedom. One of these vessels which is in the phase of recruiting is the Problem Eliminator, who is currently docked in New Utgard in Harvest. And this is where our story begins...
[Edited on 12.31.2009 2:05 PM PST]