Aloft Red Wings [Red Ravens / The Mirage]

[Danny]

https://soundcloud.com/raavetapes/k-bye

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in,
he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”​

Yeah, Danny remembered those holy words. The Red Ravens preached it, lived by it, it was their holy gospel. They died for that single sentence, and now, Danny would make sure of it. Tens years ago nestled on the streets of Nar Shaddaa was a small diner called Frida's Spaceport Cantina. A roguish upstart criminal who went by the name of Lysle of the Hydian Way dragged a Black Sun crime lord by his teeth out into the middle of that cantina and shot that thug right between his eyes. It had been an official declaration of war between the Red Ravens and Black Suns. Ultimately we won, but they were the good ol' days.

The water wasn't so clear these nights. Chiasa had forcefully taken over the Ravens a few years back, Lysle tried a coup and was ousted. Dark days. He'd fled with his small posse into the Unknown Regions and for a time we thought he was gone for good. Svel Droma, The Last Raven as she called herself, continued to try and keep the old gang together but it was never enough. Julian Valentine started his bounty hunting career and became well known for a time. Spook? Damn kid was a great slicer but made a mistake. The boys in blue busted into his hideout and shot him dead. Choden Yonten had overdosed at a party after too much spice. Jen was probably still in hiding, and Isaac, he was either dead in a ditch or he was by Lysles side as he had always been.

With Chiasa at the reigns of the Ravens our galactic dominion shattered and collapsed, she had let the Ravens fade into obscurity once again. It was a good five years before Danny got a message from Lysle, he'd cultivated a mysterious city on a planet called Neos far in the Unknown Regions and from there premium production on spices were being produced by the enigmatic Mirage. It was almost a secret society, such was its status as myth. But the man had a grudge to settle and he was pulling in favors.

Danny lit his cigarette and took a long drag. A holdout blaster hidden up his leather sleeve. To his left was Julian Valentine standing tall on his cybernetic legs, his imposing helmet sending a shudder down Dannys spine. It was hammerhead-esque in appearance with no discernible eye-slits. He had a recycler over his shoulder and twin blasters at his hips, a real gunslinger. To his right was Svel Drama and her small flock of loyalists, none of them particularly mean looking but they'd do the job.

They were out the back of Frida's Spaceport Cantina, where it had all started all those years ago, and where it would end. What remained of the Ravens loyal to Chiasa were a tattered bunch, stretched too thinly across the galaxy. Really, the Ravens were dead, these were just a bunch of nobodies keeping to the name. Lysle wanted them gone, so we'd be his 'tourists' and take them out. As Danny finished his cigarette and snuffed it out under his boot Svel gave them all a nod. It was go time.