Unknown Heroes: The Pirate - Chapter 5 ( + brief summary to the rest of UH added)

[Warenwolf]

IMPORTANT:

Due to the real life issues I will not be able to continue writing this story for much longer. If anyone is interested in “taking over” this story and continuing to write it instead of me, please do contact me.


As mentioned above this will be probably one of my last posts for very long time. This chapter was started before I realized that it would be probably one or of the last chapters I wrote so I started a mini story arc instead of starting to close the old ones…
Anyway here is the first part of the Chapter 5.













The Rivals










Another raid done right, Gina Wolfer thought as she surveyed the remaining wrecks of the latest victims of the hunter killer team of the two Q-ships, “Cutpurse” and “Highway Robber”. She began scanning the two wrecks. Good, plenty containers of water had survived the attack. Not very valuable goods measured in Credits but invaluable to the Black Gang pirate clan as the clan couldn’t resupply drinking water reserves at planets without compromising the security too much. The raids on convoys such as this one, the Paranid resupply convoy heading from Trinity Sanctum to New Duchy systems, were vital to the continued survival of the clan. Although not as exciting or profitable as strikes on Nividium carrying convoys they were generally much safer. After the Q-ships had destroyed the escorting fighters in matter of few seconds, the Q-ships have demanded the surrender of the water containers the convoy was carrying. Despite having no prospects of victory, the Paranids had refused to surrender the contents of the water carrying freighters. Q-ships’ captains had not hesitated spraying the cockpits of the mentioned freighters with plasma fire. The rest of the freighters had quickly scattered and that was it. The salvaging team, commanded by Gina, could move in.
“This is “Space Babe” to salvage teams – you may proceed. Escort – we’ll patrol in pairs, in three lined “orbiting” pattern around the site. Over and out”
The direct channel to her wingman came to life with voice of the Split sounding, “This is “Drat’kpr” to “Space Babe”: Shouldn’t we place a scout team further out? Over.”
“No, “Drat’kpr”. Teladi will not interfere with our operation,” she responded. The aptly named sector Bad Debt had no police force to speak of. Gina suspected that local governor considered that there was nothing valuable in system for Teladi to protect.

Salvaging proceeded in an agonizingly slow pace. When the Q-ships had fired on the cockpits, some of the plasma fire had literally washed over the entire ship when shielding field projectors had failed. The heat had then wielded shut the airlock doors. As result the salvaging teams were struggling to open the airlocks leading into the cargo hold of the disabled freighters. If the freighters cargo had been Nividium, Gina’s solution would have been simple – fire on the hulks until something gave away. The Nividium could easily withstand heat and energy from laser fire. With water it was different. If water canisters were heated up, the water inside boiled and expanded, rupturing the container. If that happened the transport of the water would be a difficult task. The only remaining option was for salvaging team to use drilling machines that were difficult to work with in vacuum. A non-optimal solution but it was best Gina had. Already, the pilots had few laughs when one of the members of salvaging crew had began to spin around when her magnetic boots proved too weak to withstand the force the drill exerted on her.
Just as Gina checked the chronometer for probably the hundredth time, her sensors gave an alarm. It had picked up a ship with fighter configuration. Gina glanced on the tactical display, not being overly concerned. She expected it too be another pilot trying to obtain some free loot. Already the patrols had chased away few Teladi transports trying to pick up some freebees. The newcomer was a Buzzard coming in with full speed. Then the sensors announced another signature. And another. The short loud pings continued until there were 17 fighters approaching the salvaging team, including one Vulture type freighter, staying well behind the advancing swarm of fighters.
Gina did not waste any time warning the others about the incoming threat.
“Attention all fighters. Those guys are not here to play nicely. Prepare for combat,” she said while she switched off the safety on the missiles’ warheads and opened the missile tubes. As the rest of the escort fell into the “fire line”, the incoming ships sent a message,
“Attention all members of Black Gang clan. You got no chance, we outnumber you almost three to one. Leave the loot behind and we will let you leave.”
They don’t know that captured cargo was only drinking water, Gina thought. They think we hit a Nividium convoy once again. Obviously the word has spread around. Gina weighted her options. She had to ensure that freighters could leave the area unharmed. There was no way of knowing whether the other pirates would let them retreat with freighters. Probably not… The freighters could leave the area using the jumpdrives, but the Master had insisted that the energy readings from jump events could be analyzed and then the ship that had jumped could be traced. Still she didn’t see any other option.
“This is “Space Babe” to big boys – retrieve the salvagers and jump out. Lock on Light Water South gate and then proceed out of sensor range for a gateless jump to Nebula.”
“Big Boy 1 to leader – we need mizura or two for retrieval.”
“Alright, “Big Boy 1”, we’ll try. Leader to escort – we need to provide cover for Big Boy 1 and 2 for one mizura. Heavy missile fire on my command. Target the heavies.”
The targeting software that the Master had provided enhanced the fighting capability of the rather mediocre pilots that piloted the escorting fighter; soon every pilot was provided with his target, suggested missile type to be used and number, along with the optimal firing solutions.
“Leader to the group – make them suck vacuum! Launch missiles!”
Six missiles, Silkworm type, were ejected slowly out of the launching tubes, being propelled by low thrust until they reoriented direction towards their intended targets. Then the six missiles accelerated towards their targets that were 4 km away by now. After them six more missiles followed. The enemy pirates flew towards their target in an uncoordinated tight swarm. They launched their missiles too but as they had to evade incoming missiles themselves, their fire was uncoordinated. Even before they managed to launch their missiles, eight sensor readings disappeared from Gina’s tactical plot, their readings merging with missile sensor readings before both blinked out of existence.
The Black Gang clan had managed to launch two waves of missiles counter to the enemy’s one. As the escorts started evasive maneuvers themselves the enemy pirates’ uncoordinated fire started to show. Most of the missiles appeared to have been aimed at two fighters in the escort. Both disappeared under missile onslaught, being hit several times. Both were men that Gina knew well. Good buddies both of them. There would be time to mourn them later, Gina thought while cycling the missile loadout to the new type of swarm missiles, Wasp missile package. It was not a missile suited to close combat but in close dog fight she relied on her four beta particle accelerators anyway. The closest of enemies were already coming in energy range. She launched one Wasp package, keeping the other one in reserve. The missiles separated at once, each of them proceeding to their target, a Buzzard with halfway depleted shields. Gina did not expect much effect from the Wasp missiles but she knew that nine remaining hostile pirates would be rattled from so many missiles being launched from one ship. Just as expected, half of the enemy force immediately started flying evasively, allowing the remaining Black Gang pilots to turn into their tails. Gina smiled. Perhaps we would chase away these guys after all and freighters would not need to jump out.
But one Mamba did not turn away. It came straight at Gina’s Mako, from left and below, with six plasma throwers blazing. The pilot had never targeted Gina’s Mako with targeting computer and she got no warning from her tactical computer before the high energy plasma started hitting her ship. The plasma splashed her front, overloading the front shield projector, eating its way through cockpit glass and killing Gina Wolfer instantly, not even giving her time to notice that the freighters had just jumped out.





“Freighters got out but we lost all but one of the fighters,” Ni Lan reported. The Boron had used communication laser to contact the communication buoy that had been placed outside the nebula and then linked with 2400 meter long wire to the “Nebula Import/Export” station, enabling the communication between the station and the outside world. Still Ni Lan struggled to maintain the laser beam centered on the communication buoy’s dish and the communication link was disrupted with annoying regularity. Sometime it would be the drift of the ship that broke the link or simply some space garbage blocked the beam. Whoever claimed that space was empty had never tried to use laser communication when target was 26 000 meters away. Fortunately the link had held for entire mizura now, allowing the Boron to make his report.
“Alright, await at your current position four light fighters; I am sending them for your protection. Then contact the remaining Q-ships and salvage teams. I want them to get back to Mother and await further commands,” Erich said. He had to repeat himself two times until the Boron had confirmed that he had received the message.
“Should I contact the human Suad?” Ni Lan wanted to know.
“I don’t see what he can do about this. We’ll need to gather more information before making contact with him”
“Your message had been received. Ni Lan over and out”
Erich and Otto exchanged glances. The new development was expected one – the clan had prepared itself for the unavoidable day when other pirate clans tried to muscle themselves into Black Gang’s territory. Nividium was too valuable for clan’s successful and profitable raids to go unnoticed. So in that perspective the attack from a rival clan was not surprising. However the manner it had happened and what it implied did not go unnoticed by the two men. While the practical reasons and distance between gates had dictated that traffic and stations concentrate in areas rarely larger than 50x50x50 km, the Known Universe was too large and communication between systems too slow for an efficient scout system to be set up by rivaling pirate groups that could provide accurate information about Black Gang’s raiding groups. This meant that in order for attackers to have been able to have accurate information about the raid and at same time be able to attack salvaging groups in the most vulnerable moment, a mole had to exist within the clan’s ranks.
“I don’t suppose that you believe that attackers were just lucky to have stumbled upon the salvaging team?”
“And happen to have 17 fighters including a freighter coincidently at right place at right time? No, I believe that we have a spy or two onboard Mother…”
Otto spoke a curse that would have made a brothel madam blush.
“Had to be close to the top too,” Erich added after a moment of deliberation.
“Yeah, but when the word spreads around it will be bad blood between mercenaries and pirates”
“I doubt that some mercenaries are involved – none of them are in key positions where they could have had access to such information”
“The average dockworker is not going to think that far…”
“I know… We have to double the guards.”
“Which mostly are by now recruited from mercenary ranks. It may potentially increase the level of trouble. Besides nobody, me included, don’t think that guards wont side with their own once trouble starts,” Otto pointed out.
“Well, then we two have to remind them where their loyalties are. On the positive side, this trouble may give us relief with questions that may arise from our stop on raiding convoys because of the NSM’s new countermeasures. As long as we concentrate on fighting the external enemies nobody is going to ask why we have stopped raiding the convoys in first place.”
Otto used his PDA to bring up the capital the clan possessed, “There is enough money in our pockets to cover the expenses of booze and brothel’s services for the next two mazuras”
“Right. Still the question of spy, or spies, remains.”
“How many may have had the access to such information?”
Erich thought about it for few moments, “At least twenty people. Including their drinking buddies and whores they are bedding, probably”
Otto snorted, “Running a pirate clan isn’t easy…”
Otto was right of course. Even Erich’s constant training and ruthless enforcement of the discipline had not improved the Black Gang pirate clan’s efficiency much above that of a never ending drinking party. It was the crack crews of the Q-ships and a core of veteran fighter pilots that Erich relied upon. The rest of the pirates could be best described as diversion units. Concepts of security discipline, self control and esprit de corps were concepts that were foreign to the average pirate. In many cases he or she was even hostile towards those concepts.
“Comes with the territory, I guess.”
“Yeah. But back to the original question – how do we deal with spies?”
“That is a subject I have no experience with. If this had been a military unit where information follows a rigid and constant path, I could feed different information to different people and see what happens”
“Provided there isn’t two spies in the chain of the command who can compare their stories and then realize you are up to something”
“Well, that is right but the point is moot since we are not commanding a military unit. The spy can be in the brothel or someone’s friend. Or it can be someone we have worked with from the very start. The fact is I have no idea of how to run a counterintelligence operation”
“We could try to figure out how the information could have been passed to the rival clan”
Erich shook his head, “With so many leaving the Mother and visiting the stations and planets in systems we pass? Unless I force a prohibition against leaving the station there is no way of controlling the movement of the individual clan members”
Both Otto and Erich realized that such prohibition was not possible to enforce. It would only lead to men deserting when they are next time assigned flying a patrol.
He paused, thinking for few moments, before continuing, “Let us first find out who attacked us and then start from there”
Erich had no better idea but at least it was something.





Otto flew the fighter through the remains of the battle between the salvaging party and the rival pirate clan. The small pieces of melted metal were everywhere, floating around. Fortunately the scavengers had not yet had the chance to clean this spot. What he looked for was the piece of plating that had markings of a pirate clan on it. So far he was having no luck. He turned the Perseus around, deciding to visit the nearby smuggler station. He had his doubts that anyone would share any information with a human they did not know but he was tired and bored from searching the metal pieces for something that was probably not there. After all, the majority of the pirate clans flew in unmarked ships.
The station was some distance from the industrial cluster but Otto had no difficulty finding it. The local authorities probably knew precisely where the smuggler station was but they chose to ignore it for reasons they and the station’s managers only knew. The docking was automatic, another surprise. The bond between the local authorities and owner must have been very strong when a smuggler station could afford to chose an automatic docking system instead of the usual docking tunnel that forced the ships to fly through scanner fields and defensive arrays. Once outside the ship, he proceeded to the local bar. He was not challenged. The two guards on the docks gave him only a cursory glance before turning their attention to a triskele game.
The bar, as was usual for the stations of this type and size, served also as the marketplace. The tables were full of Argons, Split, Paranid and Teladi that haggled over the prices. Teladi were the majority, as was to be expected in a station placed in a Teladi sector. Otto walked over to the barman, middle aged Teladi with dull colored scales that were cracked on few places. Her eyes were foggy, in the exact meaning of the word. Index claws were soft. Probably from mistan shell consummation, Otto thought. The Teladi was not an addict probably, more likely a dealer that had through years tasted her wares many hundred times to check their quality. The cumulative damage from the mistan shell powder was cause for her grotesque appearance.
Perhaps she was the local info broker too, Erich hoped when he placed 100 Credits chip in front of the Teladi.
“I want to know about participant of the fighting that occurred here in sector one tazura ago, 2 km from North Gate.”
He waited for Teladi to answer. If she refused to answer him, he would know that there was a link between this station and the attackers. That would be a lead too, a good one. But it would also place Otto’s life at risk. Owner or owners of the station may object to his continued existence.
Teladi looked around moved his hand above the chip and picked it up quickly. To someone looking at them it would have appeared as if the Teladi was cleaning the table. Otto relaxed. He gambled and succeeded.
“The first group I know nothing about. The sssecond of the groupsss are charted by Paranidsss. They act asss a pirate clan but are not a clan…”
“Privateers you mean?” Otto asked after a moment of deliberation over what the Teladi had meant.
The Teladi looked confused and then repeated himself, saying as before, “Act asss a pirate clan but are not a clan… I cannot explain better”
Otto understood. The translators worked wonderfully most of the time but a translation offered only approximation of what a person had said. And if a word existed in one language but not in the one the word was translated to, the translator would offer an approximation that did not always convey the precise meaning of the word. In this case the word privateer did not exist in the Teladi language and culture, so the translator put together “chartered” and “pirate”.
“How do you know that they work for the Paranid?”
“I don’t know for sure,” the Teladi said, “But it isss the mossst likely sssince they entered the sssector from the Trinity Sanctum syssstem traveling in a large group, fightersss and freighter together. Besidesss there have been rumorsss of “chartered pirate clan” ssso I linked the two together”
Otto thought about it. Trinity Sanctum was a Paranid territory; in fact it was one of the most important Maja snails producing sectors, major component in the Paranid exports. As such, the system was heavily defended and the paranoid Paranid would have challenged any large group of fighters traveling through their system. Still it was not in any way solid evidence of Paranid involvement.
Otto nodded to the Teladi and pushed another credit chip over to her. He left the station without any incidents. The Teladi might have been wrong, Otto thought as he went through undocking procedures. The Paranid might have been simply little less paranoid the day when the pirate group that attacked the salvaging team went through Trinity Sanctum system. Rumors about major powers using privateers were abundant but Otto had never met any privateers in his life. News services would from time to time come with the “exclusive” stories from the “secret sources” about such things but according to the same news services every pilot was part time pirate too so Otto did not put much trust in what news services were saying.
Still, Otto did get one tangible fact – the pirates that had attacked the salvaging team had traveled through Trinity Sanctum. That system was under E.Y.E coverage and Suad Khan had access to the spy satellite network system.

[KiwiNZ]

Great read again, mate! Sad to hear you won't be able to continue but I know just too well how quickly real life can cross plans. Best of luck to you and I hope you may eventually be able to answer all these questions that have suddenly opened up with the 'ending' you chose!

[collins50]

I liked the story and am sorry to see you quit,
thanks for the entertainment while it lasted.

[Warenwolf]

As mentioned in my last post, I cannot continue writing the Unknown Heroes story. It is sad that the story would remain unfinished but the real life makes it impossible for me to devote proper number of hours necessary (for me) to write a decent chapter. I spent less and less time on each chapter posted, so I figured out that instead of ending up posting new chapter every six months or posting few lines and calling it a chapter, I would rather discontinue entire story.
I had one small hope that someone would pick the story up and continue it so it could get decent ending but as expected nobody stepped forward during last two weeks (not surprising since people that have the will (and sometimes the skill ) to write , would rather work with their own creations).
Therefore I have decided to summarize the rest of the story with each story arc getting few short sentences. Obviously some details in UH will remain unexplained because if I tried to explain everything in detail, I might have as well continued writing the story. If you see a concept or name you don’t recognize, check out the glossary (link to it is provided with every chapter)






- Main story 1:
When Erich Campbell, his unit and settlers were left behind on the planet (chapter 1, book 1) by Boris Gellar (at that time the admiral that commanded entire operation), the corporal that convinced Erich and Buck (his buddy) to kill the captain that was leading the unit in order to “save” the survivors from captain’s deranged actions was in fact (as it was already hinted in book 1) in league with Boris Gellar, Max Rudel and McCarthy. At that time McCarthy was also serving aboard the “General Donahue”, the carrier Boris Gellar commanded. As we find out in chapter 2, seven years later, Erich Campbell got out of the planet and is surviving as an assassin. Coincidently his latest job is to kill Max Rudel part of the “Syndicate”.



What happened during the seven years between the “Argon Pride” tragedy and the assassination?:
Max Rudel, McCarthy and Boris Gellar got rich. Overnight and we are talking some major capital. NorthStar Mining with the majority stock holder and its CEO, Max Rudel, turn from a struggling, small time mineral extraction company to a major player in Nividium trade. How did the three of them get rich? The key is Vaasa station that was mentioned in chapter 1 (lots of clues are given in chapter 1).

Vaasa station story:
The station was meant to be a forward outpost in Argon Federation’s search for Xenon homeworld and generally a resupply point for forays in Xenon held sectors. It is constructed with great secrecy inside a nebula (Xenon Sector 597). The nebula allowed construction droids to operate in secrecy from Xenons operating in the sector since their sensors cannot detect objects under certain size within the nebula. There is another reason why the station is being built inside the nebula – large swarm of Nividium rich asteroids for some unexplained reason is stationary within the nebula and a station built from Nividium cannot be detected by a gravidar no matter what mass it has. Unfortunately, just as the station was finished, Xenon detect the supply convoys entering and leaving the nebula and initiate a total blockade of the nebula, isolating it for long time. Finally, a scout detects that Xenon has left the area and rescue mission is sent to extract the survivors. Few are found. Most succumbed to starvation but those that turned to cannibalism survived…
As the rescue ships leave the nebula, they find a large Xenon battle group that is waiting for them. A single freighter manages to jump out and survive. Aboard that ship is the captain and corporal (mentioned in the chapter 1). The Vaasa is forgotten but one man cannot forget the rich deposits of Nividium inside the nebula.



Main story 2:
The intel officer running the rescue operation is no other than McCarthy and he sees a opportunity in Vaasa tragedy. His old friend Max Rudel and his company NSM provide a perfect cover for selling the Nividium. Boris Gellar is brought into the plan because of his ability to command Navy resources for their needs. Then the captain that survived the Vaasa disaster is removed. The non-planed retreat of the fleet from Xenon force during Argon Pride operation, which left 80.000 stranded on the planet provided perfect cover for the killing. Unknowingly Erich Campbell helped his future enemies.
As the weak links are removed from the conspiracy, the money made from Nividium allows McCarthy to make his and eventually his daughter’s way into the world of politics. His ultimate goal is the presidential office. Unlike Max Rudel, who wanted to preserve the family company and his glamorous life style and Boris Gellar, who wanted the money to give him a glamorous life, McCarthy’s goal was the reform of Argon society which he sees as a decaying empire. He wants to bring in the fold of Argon Federation every human settlement (despite the fact that Independents, humans from outside the AF territories, very much resent that) and enhance the military capabilities of the Federation in preparation for what he sees as an unavoidable war for supremacy among the major powers in Known Universe. He is also firm believer in technocracy as the best government form.
For seven years the NSM extracts Nividium from the nebula in Xenon Sector 597. They created huge hall inside the now abandoned Vaasa station that allowed freighter ships to use gateless jumpdrives to jump inside the Vaasa station, bypassing the Xenon patrols entirely. When the freighter is filled with extracted Nividium and station hull panels from the parts of the station NSM has no need for, the freighter jumps out to a coordinate where another freighters are waiting for Nividium to be loaded into their cargo holds.

When Erich Campbell does what he is paid for, killing Max Rudel, the conspirators are panicked. In their mind Erich Campbell is in league with the now deceased captain and is back for revenge. Nothing is further from the truth but Erich Campbell isn’t in position to explain his actions.

[Above I have explained motives behind the main characters in UH. The Syndicate (McCarthy and Boris Gellar) want a perceived threat to be removed. Erich Campbell wants to survive]


Pirate clan story arc:
The inital idea behind the pirate story arc is to put Erich in position where he can fight NSM on more or less equal terms. It also opens up for the Navy Intel story arc. Being a pirate opens up new avenue of both opportunities and problems for Erich. Being a pirate, make him an enemy in eyes of every law enforcement and navy in the Known Universe. To survive Erich is forced to juggle between wants and desires of the common members of the clan (which basically are scum of the universe) and his desire for elimination of his enemies, the NSM. His clan also becomes a piece in the power game between Major Powers in Known Universe. This was meant to be a major theme in the book 2. His clash with Korttal, the Split Battlemaster, also means that he is declared mortal enemy to Rhonkar family and all of Split, which as time passes means that members of the pirate clan have to engage more and more often in combat with Split warriors that seek honor and favor of Rhonkar family. In addition to these freelance attacks, the Split military establishment regularly stage offensives against the clan.
Of all the Major Power’s intelligence communities, the Paranid Truthseekers (their intel service) have pieced most pieces in the puzzle of the struggle between the NSM and Erich Campbell. Because of their own interests (as revealed in the main plot of X3 game) they are start supporting the NSM’s efforts against Erich’s clan. On the other hand, the PTNI (mentioned in the game as the holders of the monopoly on Nividium trade) are upset about NSM’s gains in their market and they start supporting the clan. Eventually Erich has also to oppose other pirate clans that want to take over.

Navy Intel story arc:
Agent Jane Freedman and Colonel Mark Forsyth become interested in Erich Campbell first as a fugitive and later as leader of a pirate clan. However, Senator McCarthy, through his position on the intelligence committee, start increasingly to use the Navy’s Anti-Piracy section (where Mark Forsyth is executive director) as his own personal tool in his struggle with Erich Campbell. He evens forces the agency to have a RDF team on standby for assistance to NSM convoys under attack. At same time any investigation of Erich Campbell is obstructed by the senator who doesn’t want anyone digging deeper. When he discovers that Colonel Forsyth is covertly gathering information about the Erich, the senator makes arrangements to transfer the colonel out of the anti-piracy section to the Navy’s military intel section, specifically the department dealing with Xenons. The colonel is put on a project that had been gathering the dust for years – search for Xenon homeworld. In order to avoid complaints from the Senate about resources being drawn from the Khaak war (which is major election issue at the moment) he arranges covertly for Jane to go on recon mission to Vaasa station. Jane and Forsyth recognize that safest ship for recon would be a Xenon ship that gives away identification signal that is equal to unique ones belonging to the Xenon patrols patrolling around the nebula where Vaasa is positioned. In order to construct such ship they ask for assistance from departments expert on xenon technology – Suad Khan.
Main story 3:
As the Suad Khan research the Xenon forces around the nebula he stumbles over the details about Vaasa story. Immediately he understands how everything hangs together and he contacts Erich Campbell.
When Jane reaches the Vaasa she is confused by the activity around the station. What more, a message warning her to stay out of the sight of the NSM pops up on her HUD. She observes and tapes everything that happens around Vaasa. Then, staying out of sight she returns to AP5 station. There on her desk, a DSD is waiting. On it, Suad Khan had placed every piece of evidence he could gather against the senator McCarthy Senior, including the money transaction, evidence of rigging the vote in several sectors and tax evasion. McCarthy and his henchmen are arrested the next wozura. Erich and Co. are watching the TH (TeleHolographic) broadcast about the arrest when the broadcast is interrupted by news of a major battle against Khaak in Heretic’s End system. Obviously excited news anchor reports of the contact with Earth. Otto groans and comments that now the Goners will never let him in piece (Otto views Goners as a cult with too much time and money on their hands. His favorite tactics against Goners that are trying to convert him is to simulate a missile attack on the Goner ship).



Well this is a very compressed summary of the rest of the UH story. Some story arcs are omitted because simply I haven’t developed much on them (A89.0001 story and the reason behind the title “Unknown Heroes”). This summary does not replace a properly written book but at least I have given you a quick superficial insight in what would have happened if I could devote more time to the story and continued writing it.

[KiwiNZ]

Thanks for zipping this all up, mate. It is sad to see you go but it is nice to have some sort of conclusion. I wish I could say the same about me.

Best of luck and say hello every now and again.