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It goes like this...
Following first contact with the Gebberoth in space, the Spades were forced
to leave their firstborn, Jonathan, with a clan of friendly Tivaak
because someone may have been after them. They went to work at the
UNISTAR base, code name Paradise near Paris, France, and raising
their two other sons there, Willie Jay and the youngest, Virgil,
but were killed by unknown hands before they could retrieve him.
He was raised by the Tivaak until his early adulthood, when the clan was wiped out mysteriously. Finding them dead when he returned from a scouting trip, he went to Earth, looking for his real family, bringing a Seraph Delta with him. Eventually, he found Paradise and his two brothers. By then, having grown up without their parents for most of their lives, the somewhat badly adapted Willie Jay had joined Research and Design and drove his father's Diamond X and Virgil, calling himself "Ace", became the best, though insubordinating, elite mecha pilot with his Stormhawk. Jonathan's goal thus became to reunite his family and keep his brothers out of trouble. Previously... When Simone Lorcquet came to the base, she shook things up, and not just with her karaoke singing. All three brothers found her interesting though it would be Ace who would court her more actively. Not that it was all fun and games! Ace had to deal with a rather untrustworthy mechanic by the name of Oily Pete, and Jonathan had to contend with the suspicious Head of base Security Vaugnharvey. And what of Jeremiah Dark, whose DarkCorp had a hand in mech designs and knew their parents and seemed to be hiding something? It sometimes seemed like their only friends were General Thorndike, who was a friend of their parents, and young Jesse Waylons, Johnny's manga-addicted deputy. They were never able to prove that Dark was behind the hijackings of multiple convoys bringing equipment to Earth by Gebberoth in yellow mecha, and when the supplies ran too low, the brothers went (not all voluntarily) to a nearby Tivaak outpost, Osvos, to trade for some. After some techno-knight challenges, they had the stuff, including documents and a crystal dagger with a strange inscription. This clue led the brothers on a quest to find its owner, a Del karva who may have stolen and hidden a power source of great value. But before they follow up on it, the Tivaak that helped them now attack Earth because they've fallen victim to a disease from something traded to them. The planet is defended, and in the process, Ace makes friends with one of Oily Pete's crew, sympathetic armament expert Jimmy "Da Gun". Now following their leads, they travel to a number of nearby outposts, all the while disturbed by dreams of tigers come to revenge themselves on the owners of weapons used to kill the Tivaak, which turned out to be "micros" smuggled on them to affect their thought patterns. The power source will be found in a starship cemetary that allows the brothers to at least pay off Ace's debts. On this trip, they meet Lupita, a Dal Karva explosives smuggler Johnny has to bring to justice, but she gets away (without her merchandise). Willie Jay seems interested in her, but he kinda smells, you know? Back home, Ace decides he'll go to Australia soon to compete in UNISTAR's pilot exravaganza, and then there's another attack on a convoy. Johnny goes out to stop them and his mech takes a dive and isn't able to help. Deep questions as to the effects of this first Shift are explored, but no answers come up. Investigations into the convoy hijackings turn up nothing even with the help of the one Johnny calls Matante Mayhem, his last remaining Tivaak friend. When Oily Pete forbids Ace to take his mech to Australia, Ace does so anyway, but still gets his ass kicked by guest Dal Karva pilot Lupita who may be cheating with unknown technology. The event will end in a fireball when a mech crashes onto the strip, gravely injuring Simone and Dark, who mysteriously pulls through very easily. The brothers visit Simone in the hospital and again mystified by a Shift, they try to collect their wits before they are sent on an expedition into the Ural mountains to survey for Gebberoth activity. On the way, they find a clue to the identity of the convoy hijackers - a piece of spacesuit with some writing on it similar to DarkCorp's logo...? The brothers come across a damaged Gebberoth drone that attacks them, and which they must neutralize. Following its steps leads to a cave in which they find a half-dead Del Karva of unknown origin! As they reach the surface with their prisoner, they learn via subspace radio that a tac-nuke has hit the already sick Tivaak colony, and destroyed it completely. Upon their return to base, the base is attacked by Deathstriker Wolves, and Dark claims someone has tipped the Gebberoth off as to the location of the Paris base. The brothers volunteer to prove it wasn't them despite their frequent off-world trips. They find the true culprits, Gebberoth holed up in Africa. They also discover that they are working with Dark and are most probably the hijackers that have made their lives difficult. They beat the bad guys, but also confront Dark, who shows his hand by admiting he killed their parents, as well as hinting that he too, shifts. The confrontation turns violent as... SHIFT> Recently... Dark squares off against the brothers in his Deathstriker. The Eiffel tower is badly damaged in the battle, sending the city into martial law, and then Dark is finally killed, his protoplasm leaking into the Paris underground - he's a shape-shifting Gyre! Through this, UNISTAR gets wind of a secret Tostag (a Gebberoth gang) operation to kidnap hotel patrons for their brain matter to make biocomputer circuits. Investigating, Johnny is kidnapped as well. He's rescued, of course, and UNISTAR approves an attack on the far side of the moon, where these Tostag are apparently set up, an attack and rescue, as it turns out. The damage and very public mess of the last few days leads to a court-martial (of course called by Vaughnharvey) in which Oily Pete tries to frame the brothers. Ace proves him a traitor instead and kills him during an oily escape. The other fallout from this is that Willie Jay is offered an R&D position at the Canadian base to further keep him out of trouble (outside his brothers' influence). He leaves by... SHIFT> |