Hai Jun
The Pirate Lord of the Spike Reavers and one of the most powerful figures on Oziri.
Profile
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Sex | Male |
| Ethnicity | Chinese |
| Age | 93 |
| Profession | Pirate Lord of the Spike Reavers |
| Social Class | Upper |
Residence
Associates
- Mai Fujimoto — Wife
- Karl Schneider — Head of Tech, longtime friend
- Badia Naser — Head of Security
Biography
Jun was born in the Tiān Cylinder to a family of middle social status. He was a boisterous child, but intelligent, when he could be coerced into focusing. His father was obsessed with having his family climb the social ladder, and as a result was quite strict and harsh with his children when they disappointed him. His mother was wiser and kinder than her husband and showed Jun a great deal of support and affection. Due to his middle social rank he was allowed to become a pilot for which he began training at 12. He showed unusual aptitude and earned his wings at 17, 1 year before his peers. Wanting to see his brilliant student excel, his teacher was able to pull strings and get Jun his choice of first posting. He opted to fly as an escort fighter pilot, but to do so he would have to take another couple years of combat training. Fighter pilots were not poorly regarded, but his father wanted him to someday become a convoy captain. He felt that becoming a fighter pilot would make advancement more difficult, so he refused to pay Jun’s tuition. Furious, Jun looked to his mother for tuition money. Against his fathers will, his mother paid his tuition from the family accounts. Upon hearing this, Jun’s father flew into a rage and struck his mother, causing Jun to attack and beat his father until his mother managed to restrain him.
His father disowned him, but he still had his tuition money, so Jun left Tian and went to Nuilea, where he enrolled in a private school that trained merchant fighter pilots. As with his boyhood training, he excelled. Despite his skill, he was unable to join any Hànzú convoys as his father had blacklisted him, so he was forced to find work with a contractor that provided fighter escorts to freighters.
On his third mission, he was added to a 3 fighter squadron tasked with escorting a Helium-3 freighter from Mesulea to Atruna. En route, their communications and sensors were restricted by an Abecean flare and they were waylaid by pirates. The pirates heavily outgunned them, having 8 fighters and a corvette. Jun tightly skimmed the freighter as he spiralled around it, using it as cover as his training had taught him. He managed to shoot down three fighters before his fellow pilots were overwhelmed after only destroying one. In desperation, Jun attempted a run at the corvette’s bridge. He flew a tight trajectory down the length of the corvette, so their point defense systems would have less time to react and more angle to sweep. He launched his remaining missile complement, but all were shot down, except one, which hit the hull next to the bridge. As his craft flew past the corvette, a sentry gun blasted a hole through his engines. With just seconds until his reactor went critical, the computer ejected him from the craft. Having been in the middle of an evasive high g spin, his body spun rapidly as his body translated forward and outwards from the corvette. With the blood flooding into his legs he passed out, but his suit computer fired the RCS and arrested his spin.
Jun woke up with his limbs strapped to a medbay bed. An older man sat near him. He wore a silver pin on his chest. His mouth twitched as if he was about to laugh, but his eyes pierced Jun with a penetrating stare.
“Welcome to my humble ship.” the man said. He paused for a moment and looked at Jun inquisitively. “You killed 3 good pilots.”
“I did my job.” Jun said tersely.
“Yes, you did. And you did it exceptionally well.”, the old man said, amused. “I have some recent openings for pilots if you’re interested”.
“You’d hire me even after I killed your men?” Jun said, shocked.
The captain gestured at himself, “They weren’t my men, they were their own men.” He glanced away, “They followed me looking for wealth, knowing they might find death, and they did.”
“What if I refuse?”
“I could always put you back where I found you.” he chuckled.
Jun thought for a moment, “What’s it pay?”
The old man laughed, “Well now, you truly are right for this job.” He rose from his chair and walked to his side, “You’ll split 30% with the other pilots, after expenses of course. First you’ll need a ship, and those aren’t free. But fly well, and you’ll have it paid off soon enough.” The captain paused, smiling, and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Soon we will win much wealth together”, his face turned severe, “But never forget, betray me, and you will find nothing but death.”
Having successfully overcome the helium-3 barge, the pirates set a course for an unmarked asteroid in the belt, roughly a radian away from Alucorp Station. There they would rendezvous with a freighter who would buy their stolen helium-3. Oddly, none of the crew seemed bothered that Jun had killed 3 of their pilots. After a few nights of carousing, he fit in easily with the rest of the crew. The pirates rendezvoused with the freighter and traded their cargo with no complications. Then they made for their base, at another unmarked asteroid, about half a radian from Alucorp Station. They anchored their ship in a small drilled out hollow and transferred to a shuttle. From there they made their way to Alucorp station where they purchased fuel, and found new pilots and fighter craft.
Over the next few months Jun flew on numerous raids with his new pirate brothers. After a few missions, he had earned enough to own his fighter. He had always had a love for flying spacecraft, but now owning his own, he indulged in his thirst to learn everything he could about how spacecraft worked. He often frequented shipyards during shore leave and chatted with technicians in the bars. Through his socializing he grew a network of ship techs with whom he would talk shop. He met a tech named Karl, who was talented and shared Jun’s enthusiasm for pushing spacecraft beyond what was sometimes considered legal.
Between missions, they would spend hours in Karl’s hangar working on Jun’s ship. After every mission, Karl would press Jun about how their latest modifications performed. In addition to improving the speed and maneuverability of Jun’s craft, they added modifications that gave Jun new tactical tricks to use in combat. They added a plasma blower that would scatter the drive plume over large angles (at the price of some speed) confusing enemy sensors. At great expense, they retrofitted the hull with stealth tiling. They installed illegal hydra missiles which just before being struck by a point defense weapon, would blow apart, splitting their payload into a multitude of smaller explosive beads, confusing point defense systems.
Jun’s comrades began clamoring to have similar mods installed and Jun and Karl began turning a tidy profit selling illegal tech to them. Among the trading barges, the reputation of the pirate flotilla with the jet black stealth fighters became known and feared. When the first mate died in a raid, the captain appointed Jun as the new one. For a while, life was glorious. The trading corps lacked the ability to appropriately defend the multitude of freighters and barges, so loot was easy to come by. Hundreds of pirate crews now prowled Abecean space looking for easy riches.
It was not to last however. The Mesuleans and Atruneans ramped up production of military spacecraft. Freshly minted cruisers began sweeping the belt, rooting out pirate outposts. Space was vast and there were many trading vessels, so piracy was still lucrative, but it was becoming riskier. Jun spent all his time planning ambushes, locating new hiding spots and tracking down safe fences, but ultimately he knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught and destroyed. The belt around Alucorp Station was no longer unpatrolled, and they were running out of places to hide. The only places left were in the outer system, but since their craft lacked the striking range, the only way they could operate from the outer system was with longer-range drives. These were extremely expensive, and required permits to procure. Their production and sale was vigilantly tracked, so they were nearly impossible to find on the black market. The only spacecraft equipped with such drives were military/government vessels and the odd private shuttle of an extremely influential and wealthy corp. Jun concluded that stealing one was their only chance to continue pirating. Jun spoke to the captain and advised that if they conducted a raid on a corporate shuttle, and stole its drive, they would be able to strike and retreat at will. Believing this to be foolhardy in the extreme, the captain firmly refused.
Jun knew the risks as well, but he didn’t care. He spoke to his fellow pilots about their home, the void. He told them that if they followed him, they would rule it, and be the richest men in the system. Some believed him mad, but others chose to follow. He and his new comrades pooled the money they had earned looting and bought a corvette. With no convincing required, Karl outfitted the corvette with hydra missiles and stealth tiles, and joined on as the ship’s engineer.
With their new flotilla assembled, they conspired to capture an advanced drive from Alucorp’s VIP shuttle. It was common knowledge that the Alucorp shuttle would regularly take the CEO to Alucorp Station on business. It was impossible to intercept a high-speed spacecraft in transit with slower ships, and there were always military cruisers docked at Alucorp station, along with a vast complement of fighters. Jun’s crew were able to bribe an employee to divulge the next time the Alucorp CEO was arriving at Alucorp Station. It was not a well kept secret, no one expected anyone to be brazen enough to conduct piracy right on the doorstep of Alucorp Station.
When the shuttle docked to Alucorp station some weeks later, Jun’s flotilla came gunning in from interplanetary space. Having begun their acceleration a week earlier, when the fighters appeared on radar, they were already hurtling in at a sizable fraction of the speed of light. Hardly believing it, Alucorp fighters attempted to scramble as they came in. Atrunean and Mesulean ships on patrol were called in. The two Atrunean cruisers docked at the docking ring cast off with minimal crew complements. Unwisely, the tunnel between the fighter hangar and the pilot barracks had been constructed adjacent to a public hallway. Charges deployed beforehand blew a hole in the tunnel, evacuating the air. The pilot suits that could have allowed the pilots to proceed through the vacuum were situated uselessly in the hangar itself. While runners rushed backup suits to the pilots from the inner stores, but a fraction of a second later the fighters were upon them. In an instant, a swarm of hydra missile fragments appeared on radar before slamming into the cruisers faster than the point defense systems could react. Not even requiring their explosive payloads, the hydra swarm vaporized the cruisers into a seething storm of plasma killing everyone on board instantly.
Close behind, and unable to slow down, the fighters hurtled past the station at tremendous speed. A minute later, a shuttle-born pirate boarding party completed their deceleration burn, coming to rest right beside the Alucorp shuttle. Pirates in vacuum suits launched themselves out of the shuttle’s airlock onto the docking ring. Breaching charges blew open entryways in the docking ring hull on either end of the shuttle hallway. A couple Alucorp mercs that had been posted at the door screamed and were silent when they were ejected into the void. The pirate squad split and took position at both ends of the hallway while two pirates with plasma cutters began cutting through the shuttle door, and another two set up a vacuum barrier. Some seconds later, the door fell away, just as Alucorp security reached the end of the hallway and engaged them. Flashes from magnetic rifles lit up the hallway in an eerie silence. The pirates’ engaging security scrambled back to the door as the others entered the shuttle. Inside, they found a few terrified crew members, along with the equally terrified pilot. At the end of a gun, they convinced the pilot to guide them away from the station.
Two minutes later, their new shuttle was flying beside their fellow fighter pilots, currently hurtling towards the inner system at high speed. Having claimed their prize and unable to recover their fighter craft, the fighters boarded the shuttle and together they set a course for Oziri.
Some hours later, they landed their prize next to their stashed corvette in the frozen Oziri wastes at the equator. Over the next few days, Karl worked tirelessly to extricate the advanced drive and install it in their corvette. Having trained in simulations at the academy, their captured pilot was able to quickly instruct Jun how to use the new drive.
With their new ship they had unlocked a new class of prey. PT Boats patrolled the belt, small military ships whose primary job was scouting. In the past, if a PT boat had encountered a superior pirate force, they could retreat. But no longer. Jun’s corvette flitted around the belt, striking again and again, catching multiple PT boats off guard on the first day. It took a week for the green Mesulean and Atrunean militaries to adjust to the new strategic reality. By that time Jun had already acquired 14 new advanced drives and a wealth of military equipment. By selling off their excess military equipment, they were able to acquire new fighters and retrofit them with plundered drives. The militaries attempted to increase their patrol strength by reducing the number of patrol groups in favor of larger ones, but the damage was done. Where a pirate flotilla might have been able to raid a ship every couple weeks if they were quick, Jun’s Flotilla could strike multiple times per day.
They grew wealthy, very wealthy. With their funds, they were able to refit an Oziri hangar deep beneath the surface. The hangar was protected by massive metallic doors in the planetary hull, operated from the inside. They set up a base in the tunnels, stocking it with weapons, parts, food, everything they needed.
News of their exploits grew quickly, and with it, the jealousy and greed of the other pirate groups. Following Jun’s example, pirates grew bolder. They banded together into larger groups and began assaulting military ships. As they grew wealthier, planetary criminals scrambled to find a way to procure advanced drives for them, so that they may share in their fortunes. Soon, such drives were available for exorbitant prices, but prices the pirates could nonetheless afford. With so much available space, other pirate clans began seizing pieces of Oziri for themselves, but none were more powerful than Jun. Acts of piracy increased dramatically, reaching a crisis point for the wider Abecean System. And so began the Oziri Conflict.