William S. Cole tells the story of Okami
From The Pardusian Chronicles
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Part 1: Entrapment
Heya! Name's William S. Cole, and I've spent a great deal of the past few years as a trader for the Federation, mostly doing runs in good ol' Neutral Zone. And boy could I tell you stories about this time, 'cause, ya know, the Zone sure is a strange place. But today I want to tell you something else. Listen, I'll tell ya about how I came to know a guy called Okami, and how this meeting should change my life in ways I never would've expected. Now young lad, just sit and back and listen, 'cause old Bill is gonna tell you the best story you've ever heard!
't all started when I did some trade runs in the area of Tiacken. You ever been there? 'Cause if you've been there, you'd surely understand how, after a few weeks, old Bill couldn't stand this darn sector any longer. I mean going back and forth between a fucking lump of ice where, you freeze of your best parts, if you know what I mean, and this radiating rock sure gets to you after a while. B'sides that the whole area was still recovering from the all the misery Nathan Forrester and his OSN have brought over the system. So I just needed to get out of there fast, and started heading towards Usube, a nice Class M where I know a pretty nice bar where one always finds some of the other old freighter pilots. B'sides that they have cheap booze and the ladies are just too...ah, well, let's not get sidetracked here.
Flight was okay, and after the usual formalities I head over to this tavern to help myself to some cold brew. 't was after chatting to the bar keeper for a while, catching up on the latest gossip, when this guy approaches me and says: "You, Mr. Cole, are goint to buy me a drink, and then I'll tell you the best story you've ever heard!". Now, normally old Bill here likes to drink on his own, but this guy had something about him, that made me curious. Not only did he know my name - which I maybe didn't even really realize back then - but he also had the aura of a person who has gone through quite a lot of shit already, despite being not much more than 30 human years of age. How I know that you ask? 'cause there's something about this kind of people, that I can't really specify. It's more the way they act, how they act in this confident manner, giving you the impression that nothing that can possibly happen they'll not be prepared for. B'sides that this guy just had a way of checking the room, assessing everyone inside it. But let's not talk about this guy to much, at least not for the time being. Let's continue with the story he told, which went like this:
"You see, Mr. Cole, I have a friend, whose life changed so rapidly in such a short time, that it's hard to believe. I'll tell you the story of this man, whom most people only know by his call sign, Okami. I for one know his real name, and there are not many people left who still do, so I will continue to use the name Okami for this story...
When I think back of this young pilot in his early twenties, there's nothing special at all that comes to mind. Being a promising young federation pilot, Okami found himself and nice job at a trade alliance called "The Triad", doing trade runs that never took him farther than Alpha Centauri or Hoanda. For a little extra income he owned a brewery and a med lab and also was making modest progress through the Federation's ranks. Only about a year before what I'm going to tell you soon happened, he bought a nice piece of real estate on Eridani, where he lived with his wife and their baby son. As you can gather from this, Mr. Cole, this guy called Okami was like most of the other young Federation pilots, with maybe just one little exception: He always was a man of principle, willing to fight for his beliefs until the bitter end. I guess that is why, after his superiors noticed this facet of his personality, our young friend was appointed responsible head of the Bounty Board for the sectors of Epsilon Eridani and Faexze. This new position filled him with pride and Okami more than lived up to the expectations people put on him. If you had met him around this time, he definitely would have assured you that he couldn't be any happier with the way his career and private life are shaping up.
This however was about to change pretty soon, as young Okami placed a federation bounty on a pirate, who was part of an organisation that didn't take such things litely. But as I've told you before, my friend always has been a man of principle, so after rejecting a substantial bribe, he went on to ignore each and every threat he received, instead bountying the private organisation as a whole for attempted bribery of a Federation official. After some months some of this criminals really got caught and sent to jail, and Okami considered the case closed. I'm pretty sure he didn't even remember this whole incident when he got arrested a year and half later on Sol, where he landed with a Babel filled with 160 tons of drugs. How this "special" cargo came onboard of his ship is still subject to speculation, but most people suspect that the aforementioned pirate organisation did bribe someone on Alpha Centauri station, where Okami picked up some cargo to take to good old Earth. This way they managed to dispose of the real cargo, replacing it with the drugs that were about to ruin my friend's career. When facing a trial the judge and jury didn't believe in this story though, and sentenced Okami to five years of jail. In a way he was pretty lucky, because usually if you get caught with such a huge amount of drugs and are no merited Federation official, you won't see the stars again for at least 20 years. Nonetheless it was exactly when the judge announced the verdict, when something inside my friend broke. He, a man of principle, who always tried to live a peaceful and honest live, sentenced to jail for a crime he didn't commit, separated from his famil for five whole years. I knew from this moment on, that Okami will never be the same guy I came to knew so well again, and back then I didn't even know about the horrible things which were still to happen."
Here I just had to interrupt this strange guy, 'cause how could the story of this Okami ever get worse than that. And you know what he answered? He just said, "This, Mr. Cole, I will tell you next time we meet." before he left without saying another word or looking back at me. Can you imagine how dumbstruck I was? And how I was longing for more, desperately wanting to know how the story of Okami continues. If you can't, you soon will my young friend, 'cause old Bill is tired now and will leave after this last sip from his beer. The good news is that you don't have to wait as long as I did for the rest of the story. I'll have to finish a...ahm...job over the next few days. Then we'll meet in this bar again, and I'll continue with my story. I'm leaving now, the beer's on you lad...
Part 2: Vengeance
Heya, young fella! Old Bill's back in town, which means I'll continue with the story I started to tell ya last time. And as I see, you've already ordered for me...
Remember how it started out? 'twas in this bar on Usube, where this strange man approached old Bill and started to tell me a story 'bout this guy called Okami, who messed with the wrong group of pirates and got sent to jail for 5 years after those bastards smuggled tons of drugs onto his ship and tipped him off. And after that the strange fellow just left, leaving me longing to hear the rest of the story. Well, what should I say? Some weeks later, after a pretty boring cargo run to Epsilon Eridani, I treat myself with some beers in this bar I know over there. It was just then when I feel a hand on my shoulder and hear this familiar voice, saying: "Good evening, Mr. Cole. I take it you are ready to hear the second part of my dear old friend Okami's story? Well then, make yourself comfortable and let me tell it to you.". Here we go:
"As I've told you already, Okami was pretty lucky to only get sentenced to five years of jail for this crime he didn't commit. Astonishingly enough, his fellow inmates left him alone most of the time, which is about the best a former Federation officer can hope for in a prison. It seems even the scum of the universe had some respect for this broken man and his tragic story. Nonetheless it was a really hard time for my friend. Being separated from his wife and baby son, he felt lonely as never before in his life. The only consolation he had were the weekly visits, which lasted for 3 hours. Despite still living on Eridani, his family dutifully made the trip to Earth every week, and in all of the 5 years of his imprisonment, Okami's wife hadn't missed a single opportunity to see and talk to her beloved husband. Knowing my friend, Mr. Cole, I surely can tell you that without this visits, he probably wouldn't have left this prison alive.
But then the day came! 60 months after the fateful drug incident, Okami was released from jail. In all this time he never really harbored feelings of revenge. As he saw it, he'd just done his job, fighting for the things he believed in. He just happened to mess with the wrong guys, who took defending their business very serious. But he knew, if the same situation would arise again, he would act the same way any day, despite already knowing what consequences might arise from such a decision. Guess that tells quite a lot about my friend's character, don't you think Mr. Cole?
However, his release from prison wasn't perfect. In fact it had a real flaw. Because when Okami stepped out from the prison, his family wasn't there to welcome him. His wife definitely wouldn't forget such an important occasion, so my friend instantly had a really bad feeling on all this. That's why he started to look out for the nearest long distance call center, phoning his home on Eridani. To his most unpleasant surprise, it wasn't his wife who answered his call. Instead it was a man's voice, which sardonically whispered the following into his ear: 'Oh, Mr. Okami! I take you now have finished your rather long vacation? That's good to hear, but I have the unpleasant feeling that your Coming Home Party may not be to your liking...' After the mysterious stranger said those words Okami wouldn't forget for the rest of his life, he ended the call and my friend was struck with horror. He rushed to the next space port and got himself the next flight to Eridani. Those 30 minutes of waiting surely seemed like an eternity back then.
Last time, Mr. Cole, you didn't believe me that my friend's story could get even worse, but now I suppose you do. During the whole duration of the flight, Okami expected that the worst had happened. Unfortunately, as he was soon to find out, this apprehension was more than justified, because when he arrived at his house he found the doors open. When he rushed into the living room, he almost tripped on the puddles of blood that were to be found everywhere, and when he finally entered his bedroom Okami found his wife and baby son slaughtered on the bed. I'll spare you the cruel details Mr. Cole, but it sure wasn't a nice sight my friend had to bear with. Going down on his knees, all he was able to do was sobbing, being too shocked to really cry. Although it was only 5 minutes, it seemed like hours he spent on his knees in front of his horribly killed family, when suddenly someone started laughing. Turning around, Okami faced the suspected leader of the very same pirate organization that already was responsible for his five years of imprisonment. With a weak voice, my friend asked: 'Why? Why did you have to do this? You've already had your revenge on me, sending me to prison for the last few years? Why did you have to kill my family?' - 'Revenge, Mr. Okami, is like a good wine, it gets better with time. When you started messing with our business, I could just have get you and your little family killed in no time. But that's too simple for my liking, because when it comes to revenge, I'm a connoisseur of sorts. What's better than putting you into jail for five years, where you have nothing but the hope to live a happy live with your family again when all is over, knowing all the time that you won't be able to do so. How does the old saying go? Hope dies last, but apparently it has now. Seeing your face in this very moment, Mr. Okami, was well worth five years of waiting.' And with that, he left. My friend, being to dumbstruck to fight or even chase this man who'd ruined his whole life, just stood there, being unable to even think.
After this incident, nobody really saw Okami for the next two years. The rumor was that he set out out on a crusade to destroy the pirate organization that had killed his family. But then, suddenly, I met my old friend in a bar. Knowing him for such a long time, we skipped the small-talk and I just asked what he'd been up to lately, knowing the answer well in advance. Here's what he said: 'After the things that happened to my family, I was ready to die, because everything that made my life worthwhile was gone. I was close to suicide, when a surge of rage washed over me, and I knew that I can't rest in peace until each and every one of those responsible for my wife's and son's death had tasted revenge themselves. I therefore started a mission to not only destroy those pirates, but also their money sources, families, friends, pets, and even neighbors. I won't go into any details, but during the first one and a half years I was gone, I've killed quite a lot of people.' Despite expecting something like this, I was shocked to hear about my friend's killing spree. But then, suddenly I remembered that he hadn't said a single word about the leader of the pirate group or the last 6 month of his journey. As Okami told me later, he had a really hard time tracking down the man who almost singlehandedly had destroyed his whole life, but after several month of playing cat and mouse, he found him on some lonely planet in the Neutral Zone. When my friend was about to kill his arch-enemy, this strange man started to tell Okami a story, which went as follows:
'So we meet again, Mr. Okami, and apparently this time you are about to enjoy the great taste of revenge. Before you kill me however, I want to tell you a nice little story. During my travels through the known universe, I've visited lots of strange worlds. One time I came to this strange Class D planet, where the somewhat primitive natives told me a story about their judicial system. Now listen closely, Mr. Okami! If you kill someone on this planet, the family of the victim is given 6 month to grieve. After this time, they have to decide if the murderer of their loved ones gets executed or not. And you know what? Most families choose to let the murderers of their family members live, because common believe is that only forgiveness will allow the bereaved to get over what happened. If you choose to execute the murderer, you may get revenge, but your soul won't be able to ever be happy again. This, Mr. Okami, is the reason why I have won in either case. When you choose to let me live, all the mayhem you've spread over the last years had no real purpose and will trouble you forever. If however you decide to kill me, you too won't be able to live happily again. I told you I'm a connoisseur when it comes to revenge, and I surely enjoy this last sip of it!"
'twas then when old Bill here had to interrupt the strange fellow from the bar: "How did Okami decide? Did he kill the guy?". And you know what he said? "I understand your curiosity, Mr. Cole, but I'm afraid I have to go now. You'll hear the last part of my friend Okami's story when you are ready." And once again he left without further ado, ignoring my questions as to what I should be ready for. You surely can imagine how I was desperate to hear the end of this thrilling story. But life's a bitch sometimes, and I had to wait a pretty long time until I should meet this stranger again. You my young friend are a little more lucky, 'cause old Bill here only has to do two cargo runs before he'll come back to this planet. See ya next time lad, the tap's on you again...
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