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The Chronicles of Faust
By: Nez

Part 5

(Click here to skip to the chapter beginning)

Author’s note: Here is where the GM had a plot line handed to him by another character and ran with it.  In the game, about 15 years in game time past this point, it has just been resolved, permanently.  This section also demonstrates that our GM isn’t good at coming up with names on the fly.

Lexicon:

The Scorpion:  An assassin that seemed to be a sort of Robin Hood type figure at its debut.

Cell:  A character from the normal DBZ series that our character sense, but don’t see at this point.

Beauty:  One of the squad commanders in Faust’s ‘army.’  Becomes the love-interest for Laucon. 

EGPF (Eastern Galaxy Police Force):  The preeminent governing body of the Eastern Galaxy.  Maintains a large standing ‘police force’ (army) and makes the maintenance of law and order its business, whether its presence is desired or not.

The Scorpion Saga

 The business with the emerging "scorpion" was put on hold for a few days when many massive power levels were detected coming from the north galaxy.  As we were later to find out, these were the "Cell Games" in which several powerful fighters fought against the "Perfect Being" otherwise known as Cell.  It was noted by Faust and Jerani that the Prince Vegeta had a hand in this fight as well.

 During the onset of the fight while most of the Saiyans were still stunned by the power levels being put off, Laucon walked into a pair of…well, women have two of them, and she ended up holding onto him during the rather alarming events that took place.  The Saiyan female was one of the captains, named Beauty.  Apparently Laucon made quite an impression on her, since she was acting…girlish…for the first time that Faust had ever heard of.

* (The Game Master's slightly less than smooth introduction of a love interest for Laucon.)

 In the following weeks, several assassinations were made on suspected shady corporate leaders and suspected drug lords.  Faust took note of this, but since his interests weren't affected he just filed it away for later use.  Eventually an assassination was made on the leader of a suspected slaving ring on Huba.  That made it his business and he started to pay a bit more attention.  He also noticed that Laucon was having difficulties in figuring out what to do with or say to Beauty, so he gave Laucon some pointers on that front which helped his situation immeasurably.  Unfortunately Carolyn heard him mention "replicated roses" which put her off for a bit.  Faust was able to handle matters though with something that wasn’t replicated…and Zaru was taking notes the whole time.

* (The whole "replicated roses" deal was just another assumption.  Knowing women in the future, they'd probably be offended knowing that their significant other got them replicated roses as opposed to real ones.)

 The assassination caused a bit of civil disorder, which Jerani had to deal with (and not very well, at that).  After a few failed PR initiatives, the problems on the planet grew large enough to attract the attention of the EGPF (Eastern Galaxy Police Force), who sent a cruiser (filled with 100, 000 "investigators") to "investigate."  Jerani granted permission for the first ship to land and begin investigations, but only limited numbers of troops would be allowed off the ship.

 Matters went smoothly for a few days; no civil disturbances were reported as a result of the EGPF.  Faust began to get curious as to the nature of the EGPF, so he sent Ziganto to do a bit of digging.  The results that he turned up were alarming.  The EGPF was known to occupy planets whose leaders were unable to maintain control over their populace.  Everyone knew the disturbances on the planet below were temporary, but they could take advantage of this temporary disorder.

 Naturally, at the worst time, three more EGPF cruisers decided to show up.  Faust denied them permission to land after they spotted the "cloaked" station (blast those Tsufarajins) and called Faust on it.  Faust denied them permission to land, citing "uncertain motives," and about 200,000 other reasons in the form of "police forces."  After that, matters got messy.  An automated drone with a scorpion insignia on it fired on and destroyed one of the approaching cruisers.  The cruisers reacted negatively and blamed it on the orbital planetary defenses and began to fire on the station.

 The vessels also launched fighters, which were matched by a squadron of station-based fighters; the station fighters were victorious after a pitched battle in which half of their number was destroyed.  After the orbital fight, the fighters entered the atmosphere to chase down some bombers that had been sent down to wreak havoc. 

* (The fighters were a new addition to the station, added in response to the assault vessels used by Kreichek to board the station earlier.)

 Meanwhile, the station and the cruisers exchanged shots, with the station gaining the upper hand on account of the remote orbital weaponry arrays.  One of the cruisers managed to fire off a "planet destroying beam" an instant before it was destroyed, which was miraculously deflected by some sort of "deflector shield"…

 With the last of the cruisers destroyed or fleeing, Faust led his crack team of Saiyans to the planet surface to deal with the remaining EGPF troops.  The team contributed a fair amount, but not nearly enough as the "Golden Haired" one who showed up on the scene and ripped apart many EGPF troops with hardly any effort, including a Namekian that showed his face briefly and then fled (after getting pummeled). 

* (This "crack team" is otherwise known as Crimson Squad, and of course we wouldn’t recognize the Super Saiyan’s real identity immediately)

 After clearing out as much scum as could be found, Faust and his team returned to the station relatively undamaged and having sustained no casualties.  It was later reported that Beauty had perished in one of the bombing runs near Laucon's palace.  Laucon also turned up missing but showed up after a few hours.

 Since Jerani's palace had also been heavily damaged in the fighting, it appeared that the whole group would be staying on the station, once again.  Sprout was granted permanent quarters as a resident of the station and taken under its wing.  Laucon was pegged as the "Golden Haired" one after scaring the crap out of Carolyn following a training session (appropriate actions were quickly taken by Faust to calm her down…).  It was later noted that the training room was blown out into a spherical shape and the rooms around it had convex indentations in their walls.

 At this point Faust was getting completely fed up with all of the enemies having the "technological jump" on his station that was supposedly "up to date."  After snapping on Joe, Joe confessed that the Tsufarajins had been withholding their more advanced technology because of Saiyan combative "tendencies."  It also had something to do with the fact that the Saiyans had booted the Tsufarajins off of their mutual home planet millennia ago along with inflicting massive casualties.

 It was to this end that Faust decided to "give himself up" to the Tsufarajin ruling council, surprising even Joe, to beg for their assistance and to bury the ages old hatred borne between the races.  In a council with his senior staff, Faust requested that Joe summon an official Tsufarajin courier vessel to bear him to "trial."  People were shocked, Carolyn especially, but everyone performed with their usual efficiency. 

* (This was me getting really annoyed by spending obscene amounts of money in the game to keep the station upgraded yet still having things getting by due to GM fudging.)

 Laucon also sought transport to Namek in order to wish Beauty back to life, apparently the Hubian dragon balls didn't have the power to resurrect her and only the Namekian dragon balls could do it.  Laucon was smuggled aboard the courier vessel and shot off in a light speed cargo container towards New Namek.

 Faust was brought before the council, much to their confusion, since there had been no precedent of Saiyans giving themselves up to the justice of their council.  Joe, Ziganto and Zaru had gone along on the transport to provide character witness during the tribunal.  During the tribunal, Ziganto was called a half-breed by some and at last Faust found out Ziganto's true heritage:  ½ Tsufarajin, ¼ Saiyan and ¼ Protogean, which would explain his unusual strength and some odd dents around the station. 

 Unfortunately bigotry won out and Faust was thrown in prison for a sentence of 20 years.  Ziganto offered to break Faust out of the prison, but Faust refused on moral grounds, and because of the fact that he didn't want to become an ACTUAL criminal in the Tsufarajin's eyes.   If twenty years in prison would vindicate himself and his race, then he would gladly pay it.

* (Another character point about Faust:  He detests suffering, but is quite willing to suffer for a reasonable cause.)

 Faust spent the next year in prison, doing pushups and basic training exercises.  After that year he was once again brought before the council and told that they had reconsidered his statements and position.  They had a change of heart and set Faust free, with the promise of future technological support and improved relations between Tsufarajins and Saiyans.  Along with Faust they sent Ima, a crack engineer/grease-monkey.

* (This diplomatic break through wasn't the result of Faust's noble example, which he still doesn't know; it's a result of a wish Laucon made with the Namekian Dragonballs.)

 Upon returning to the station, Faust found that Beauty had been wished back to life and that Laucon had returned from New Namek.  Faust also returned to find Carolyn and an assault team suiting in black body armor, preparing to break him out with force if necessary.  That night, Tango music, among other things, was heard from the Faust quarters…(Zaru was also taking notes via telepathy).

 While the horizontal tango was occurring, a message was sent to Faust's terminal, informing him about the activities of the true scorpion and indicating the sending terminal as Ziganto's.  Faust, having implicit trust in Ziganto, ruled that to hacking and called in Ziganto, upon reading the message in the morning.

 After being informed of the situation that had developed over the past year of his imprisonment, Faust ordered Shayla (the culprit) imprisoned in the brig.  Joe was noticeably shaken by this revelation, and sent back to New Plant for some R&R to get his thoughts in order.  Ima was immediately promoted to Chief Engineer and put to work undoing any possible damage that Shayla had done. 

 Following Faust's return to the station, Laucon and Beauty announced that they were getting married and that they wanted Faust to perform the rites.  A date was set and invitations were sent out.  The same swing band that had been at Jerani's party earlier was also present to provide the music.  Shayla would be given a piece of cake.

 Of course, during the dance, Faust cleared the dance floor and along with Carolyn, dazzled everyone with a 100, 000 power level tango (another entry in Zaru's book O Love). He didn't even manage to lay a kiss on her at the end of the dance, as Carolyn dragged him out, with a bewildered expression on his face, to the "Captain's wife's yacht."  Faust and Carolyn spent a few lazy days cruising around the system with the yacht on autopilot, "James Bond" style.

*(In case you didn’t pick it up, the whole “Captain’s Yacht/Captain’s Wife’s Yacht” is a reference to the Captain’s Yacht in Star Trek:  The Next Generation.)

 A few days after returning and resuming normal duties, Carolyn informed Faust that she was pregnant in a quick walk-by manner that inspired a classical "What?!" and a double-take.  It was later found out that they would be having twins.  Carolyn made some comments to Faust about "grand children" which gave him pause.  Upon Carolyn later finding out that Sprout was "dating" a girl he met at the wedding reception, Carolyn made a comment to Faust about "Soon our kids will be dating…" which also gave Faust pause.  Later that first night, when they were laying idly in bed, she looked over at Faust and softly said:  "I've reconsidered."

* (Carolyn’s last line is referencing the couple’s earlier commitment to not have any children until they had a stable lifestyle.  The funny thing about this whole situation is that all three couples (Faust/Carolyn, Laucon/Beauty and Jerani/Shakar managed to knock up/get knocked up that same night.  I don't know what the GM was thinking but it did seem kind of sloppy doing it this way…)

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