Posted - 2006.11.15 21:49:00 - [1]

 

Edited by: Falcione on 15/11/2006 21:54:46
Edited by: Falcione on 15/11/2006 21:49:24
Siblings

Prologue



Applause… there in the Grand Hall of the Military School there was thunderous applause from the thousands of attendees for the recent Valedictorian graduate. The tall thin man standing in front of his delighted superiors grinned widely thinking of the great accomplishment he had just achieved, and those yet to come. Valedictorian was a prestigious rank and with it came great benefits. The praise from teachers, officers, family, and fellow students alone was a sufficient incentive to overachieve, but there were other, more significant, benefits that awaited such a student. Implants were expensive commodities. More expensive then most could even hope to afford. A pilot’s implants were even more expensive than that. A student who excelled in his field in the Republic Military School and graduated with top honors might hope to garner enough influence to procure such things. Such were aspirations of Kada Ceebo. Valedictorian.

There was one in the audience who did not share in the goodwill of the school however. A jaded Brutor man who’s achievements had been passed over due to reasons beyond his control. Reasons the very core principles of the school should have made immaterial.

Spirit to fight for our heritage. Strength to cling to our values.

That passage of the school’s charter rolled over and over in the man’s head. Drowning out the speech Ceebo was making as the ceremony drew to a close. The man’s heart was beating slightly faster the normal as he tried to calm himself. His grades and scores were always on par with the best students in the school. His ranks and achievements numbered into the hundreds. He was in the top 3 percentile of the students for that cycle. And yet, there was only one Valedictorian. His thoughts turned to the obstacle that held him back for so many years. He knew he had gotten lucky to be where he was in the first place. Even though many of the Republic’s officer’s were Gallente trained and had diplomas from the Federal Navy Academy, all personnel were required to go through basics at the Republic’s own school. The entrance requirements were lax for basic training, and generally student’s moved from there to a Navy school somewhere. But to get the advanced courses needed for pilots in the RMS took an unusual aptitude. He knew he was destined to fly in space, and threw every ounce of hard work and sheer will he had in him into achieving that goal. Yet, standing right before him on the platform delivering the closing remarks for the cycle was the prize for all his efforts. Another man, Kada Ceebo was going to space. And it was all because of one thing. His heritage. His values.

Spirit to fight for our heritage.

This man was a social outcast. His father, being a former slave, was common enough. But his mother, was the daughter of an aide to an Amarrian Holder. She was a true Amarrian who freed a slave, married him and later escaped to Republic space. And though she turned her back on a life of comfort in Bashakru with the Empire, she and her husband never found a true home in the Republic territories either. This was his heritage. This was his curse. Always viewed as a half-breed, enduring insults all throughout childhood, this man could never shake the stigma of an “Amarr lover” or a “slaver’s son”. This was the sole reason he was passed over by the Republic’s eyes. The prejudice of his own people kept him from excelling. The man managed to calm himself as he shook the hand of his classmate Ceebo, and smiled at the euphoric Sebiestor. Thoughts began to form in his head about how he was going to get into space now. There were few options available for a man in his position. Leaving the Grand Hall, he pulled his sunglasses from a fold in his leather robes, put them on and took a moment to stare at the orange sky. Exhaling deeply, he started on the road home.