Biography - Jimmy Rogers

[DocSocrates]

( I originally posted this in the wrong area, and the format is completely off. I'm sure this still works, though)

Born to a Mr. and Mrs. Rogers on the Sol Augustus trading platform in 2519, Jimmy enjoyed a career of piracy and a brief spite of renown following the plundering of the NTV Lockhart. His downfall came at the hands of Nanotrasen after an event known throughout the pirate world as the "Raids." Jimmy was forced to give up the location of his treasures or face execution. After his booty was seized, Jimmy was mind shielded and hired by Centcom due to his past experience.

 

Life aboard the Augustus was dull, except for a child. Within every maintenance tunnel was an adventure, and Jimmy and the other kids led expeditions into the dark unknown, inspired by their child-like wonder. This was fun for the time, but as the children grew to be teenagers, the imagination was lost, and work for their parents begun. The quiet nights brought Jimmy into the company of books; Treasure Island in particular was his favorite. In the station's mess hall (or the Galley as Jimmy often referred to it as), the crews of the trading vessels would gather around and share stories of their time traveling the cosmos. The Augustus was a hunk of metal to Jimmy, but the stars were a wealth of adventure he sought to plunder.

When Jimmy grew to be a man, he signed onto the Tiberius, a cargo vessel that docked at the Augustus from time to time. What was a milestone for Jimmy soon turned to disappointment as he learned that the Tiberius was on the forth year of a ten year shipping contract between two separate ports, with the Augustus being in the middle. Adventure was tedious, as the same two ports grew familiar to Jimmy, so he decided to embrace the pirate life. He began talking to the crew, sharing the story of Treasure Island, and romanticizing the idea of space piracy. The crew didn't take his words well, seeing as Jimmy sported a pirate hat. They thought he was crazy, but Jimmy's words grew on them. After a dispute between the Captain of the Tiberius and the crew, a fight broke out, which evolved into a full scale mutiny. Afterwards, a quarter of the crew were killed, and the only lad willing enough to take the control was Jimmy.

The Tiberius was then renamed to the Walrus, due to it's bulky size. Jimmy and his crew managed to arm themselves by looting a wrecked patrol vessel that had malfunctioned in an asteroid belt. From this point on, Jimmy and the Walrus went on to piracy. Rather then go into detail about every encounter, here are a few highlights.

Alliance with the McClain Twins

Being a cargo ship, the Walrus was slow and bulky, which made for a good weapons platform, but couldn't outrun authorities in a pinch. So Jimmy had to pick his battles carefully; any ship outside of the safe Nanotrasen patrol routes and government borders was fair game, but there wasn't much to be earned. 

At a free port on the outskirts of the Tau Ceti system, Jimmy ran into the McClain twins, Ethan and Owen. Their family mining station had been bought out by Nanotrasen, or stolen by, depending on who you asked. The McClain twins took one of their small drill ships and outfitted it with cannons, now fit for a fight.

Over rum, the McClain twins and Jimmy agreed to work together. The McClains ship, the Nessie, was just small enough to fit within the Walrus' cargo bay. The Nessie could harass the prey, disabling their engines and allowing for the Walrus to engage at long range. Overall, this had a huge impact on Jimmy's efficiency, allowing him to reap riches along with the McClain twins, who became the first captains of Jimmy's fleet.

Establishment of New Clew Bay

As Nanotrasen's dominance over the Plasma trade grew, new innovations for FTL engines came about, effectively making Trade Platform pit stops obsolete. The Augustus shared a similar fate, and went derelict as the last employees left for work at Nanotrasen. Discovering this left Jimmy in a depressed state, but over a drunken night at sail, Jimmy realized the potential of his old home.

The Augustus orbited outside of a nebula, which disrupts scanners. With engines mounted on the sides, the Augustus could be drifted into the nebula and thus hide the station from anyone looking for Jimmy. Navigation would be difficult within the nebula, any ship willing to dock at the Augustus had to either wait for the station to come out of the nebula, or attempt docking without their computers.

Jimmy used most of his treasure at the time to fund the revival of the Augustus, later to be renamed to New Clew Bay. With the hideout complete and operational, word got out among the pirates at the free ports, who flocked to New Clew Bay in hopes of a free haven. Pirate lords far greater than Jimmy soon made the station their home, effectively making the bay a headquarters for pirate activity. More hideouts would be built within the area that Nanotrasen soon referred to as PS17, a no-go zone ruled by independent pirate station-states. 

Plundering of the NTV Lockheart

Years after New Clew Bay was established, there was a shortage of plasma to fuel the ships. Despite Jimmy's wealth, Nanotrasen had barred the sale of plasma to anyone identified as a pirate, and the black markets run by the Syndicate would raise the price unless the pirates signed on with their contracts. Jimmy and his fleet (now encompassing about ten vessels altogether and referred to as 'The Rogers') devised a scheme regarding a shipment of Plasma heading towards Mars. After gathering support at the taverns within New Clew Bay, Jimmy rustled up an estimated fifty ships to help him raid the NTV Lockheart.

The plan was simple. The NTV Lockheart was a huge cargo ship sent to deliver an emergency ration of plasma to mars. They would be accompanied by two patrol vessels and maintain a route closely guarded by the Nanotrasen Epsilon Eridani fleet. In order to steer the Lockheart off course, a diversion would be sent to send up alert signals, essentially cutting a path for the Lockheart to be ambushed if she avoided the alert zones. 

Jimmy, The Rogers, and the rest of the accompany fleet awaited the Lockheart, which arrived with her two patrol ship, but the Lockheart was also joined by the NCV Neptune, one of the battleships of the Epsilon Eridani fleet. An intense fight broke out as both sides jammed each other's FTL capabilities. The pirates sported light craft which could maneuver, but couldn't take a full impact of the Neptune's cannons. The Walrus was the largest ship within the pirate fleet, and kept range with the battle, but was a primary target of the Neptune. The Nessie was harassing the Neptune as it dealt a critical blow to the Walrus, breaching the cargo bay and cutting the power. With the Walrus now a sitting duck, the crew began abandoning the ship until they saw the Nessie speed into the Neptune, crashing into her starboard side and flipping the vessel altogether. The patrol ships scattered, leaving the Lockheart and the Neptune at the mercy of the pirates. 

At the cost of the McClain twins' lives, the day was won for the Rogers. The Neptune recovered, but sped out of the scene before the pirates could board. The Lockheart held enough plasma to last New Clew Bay a lifetime. Jimmy was received back at the station as a hero, and half the galaxy learned his name as his face appeared on the evening news along with a major bounty. Most of his crew had been killed, and the Walrus had to be retired since she was now an engine and a ruined hull. She was docked at New Clew Bay one last time, and was built into the station, reconverting her interior into a tavern, and the home of Jimmy Rogers. His fleet split up, and Jimmy became the renowned Mayor of New Clew Bay, but this era of pirates was coming to a close.

The Raids and the Capture of Jimmy Rogers

Pirates had always been a concern of Nanotrasen, but the pirates of PS17 weren't a major threat relative to the Syndicate, who waged a war with Nanotrasen on a daily basis. PS17 was on the outskirts of anything important, and trying to maintain any sort of defense base would've been a waste of resources. Most of what the pirates stole was negligible in regards the grand scale of the corporation, but the plundering of the NTV Lockheart was a wake up call, however. It was the largest attack by PS17 in the longest time, and it couldn't happen again. 

Raids had always taken place against the pirates, and their decentralized style of governance was thought to be their weakness, but the pirate captains maintained a communications channel that made aware of any Nanotrasen or government activity. If a station were to be raided, a signal to hide would go out, and a once bustling zone of pirates would go quiet. This contributed to the general success of New Clew Bay and the surrounding areas, but Nanotrasen discovered this, and planned accordingly.

Operation Blackbeard took place 2560, and is commonly referred to as "The Raids" by the pirate and Syndicate community. Nanotrasen's plan was simple, but massive in scale. 

Three artillery strikes rocked New Clew Bay: the engines, defense deck, and docks were all wiped out in one move. Panic ensued, followed by the pirate lords trying to evacuate or gather their crew for a defense. Screams over the comms were followed by explosions all across PS17. No one could hide if they were all attacked at once. Jimmy and the Rogers had become a security force for New Clew Bay over the past few years, and had prepared for this kind of reality for some time now. However, the shear scale of the attack couldn't be bested. Once the boarding by Nanotrasen began, all Jimmy could do was hold off within the Walrus, which eventually fell after Mechs breached the airlocks. Jimmy and his crew surrendered after a firefight wasted all of their remaining ammunition. 

Aftermath and Jimmy in the Modern Day

Jimmy and his crew were interrogated in a hidden Nanotrasen base. Not much is known about what went on within those metal walls, but a tortured Jimmy was given a choice, reveal the locations of his treasures, or face execution. In the face of death, Jimmy chose life, and told the officials about his treasures. Cutting another deal for himself, Jimmy was given a contract at Nanotrasen, along with a mindshield to ensure his loyalty. His old experience as a captain would prove useful as his assignments range from Captain to Blueshield. He walks now around NSS Cyberaid, fit for duty but a shell of his formal self. He's kept his eccentric attitudes as a memory of his fallen crew, and the spirit that drove him towards a life of adventure.

Rumor has it that one last treasure remains hidden, and Jimmy lives to one day leave Nanotrasen and retire to an island to live out his days in a paradise he read about in a book once.

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by DocSocrates
some underlines for the headers