Strombanni : "So many memories"
- Details
- Created on Sunday, 06 March 2011 16:06
- Written by Talvieno
It was a dark night, and as I stepped off the ferry from Harry’s and onto the shores of Pleasant Meadows like a similar reporter had done not so long ago, a blast of cold night air hit me, as did the full and sudden realization that I had a long, long journey ahead of me. With that in mind, I climbed into my Yalm, and set out for the east. The onboard computer spoke, voicing the time for me as the thought entered my head. I only hoped I would make it before the double suns of Rubi-Ka broke over the horizon.
Flying past cities, over valleys, rivers, forests, I made my way towards the location where I was supposed to meet him – Primus Camp, in Eastern Fouls Plains. I finally arrived, only to find the former three-term president teamed with a small raidforce attempting to kill Peter Lee. Apparently I’d taken a little bit too long… I knew I should’ve accepted Minx’s offer of Gridspace Freedom before I left Old Athen.
- It was mindblowing
Exiting my yalm, I jogged over to the fight. “Talvieno!” General Strombanni voiced as I approached. “I have been waiting for you – where have you been?”
With an attempt at a grin, I replied, “On my way here. I’m not very fast…” Laughing somewhat nervously, I took out my shiny new Quasar220 Holopad and checked my notes. I walked up to him, ready to begin, yet somewhat timid of being unarmed and unprotected so close to a mercenary.
Stromb laughed at what I'd said as he healed some of his teammates, still firing at Lee. “It’s all right, I found a small group to team with while I waited for you to arrive, we’ve been having quite a good time!”
Hesitating a bit, despite his good demeanor, I inquired, “Is now a good time to start the interview? Or should we wait a bit, until you’re done? I don’t want to interrupt anything, and it looks kind of like you have your hands full…”
He shook his head, laughing again. “No, no – not at all! Not at all! Go right ahead and ask.” As he spoke, he finished off Lee with a burst of bullets, sending him crumpling to the ground. The other teammates all gathered around the body, stripping it of its gear, and it wasn’t long before three of them were yelling over a piece of armor. Turning and walking towards the bridge, he motioned me to follow and continued, “We’ll go somewhere where it’s quieter! How does that sound to you?”
Nodding, I followed, asking my first pre-prepared question. “Why here? Why did you pick Primus Camp as a place to be interviewed?”
Stromb sighed contentedly, looking up towards the sky, reminiscing. “I have so many memories from these raids, and it’s always a special atmosphere here. This used to be the toughest raid on Rubi-Ka, and the most sought-after loot dropped here, and several orgs used to work together there. This was also one of the raids we did during our Org’s turning point, and was one of the mandatory raids I started. Just imagine the first time we managed to kill the mercenaries by ourselves, it was mind-blowing!”
- It's an ongoing, everlasting job
As we approached the towering walls of the camp, I asked my second question, whilst keeping an eye out for enemies. I knew the inside of Primus was a deathtrap for less-than-powerful individuals, especially those that had chosen to arrive unencumbered by weapons and armor, for the sake of the interview. It was indeed quieter here, though, so I was glad of that. "You've been running TRBbot for quite a while. How did you get started on it, and how difficult of a job is it?"
"Hmmmm..." he began, thinking. "It started right after I joined TRB. There was this girl - I think her name was Mhiina - who ran our org bot back then, and didn't have the opportunity to run the bot 24/7. Since I was able to do that I took the responsibility to run our dear org bot, which now has had many changes and upgrades. Her function and her tools are incredible important for our Org’s activity level, and most people don't think about that until she's offline for an hour or two." He walked beneath the archway entrance of the camp and stood tall, searching for enemies before continuing. "It's not a difficult job to run her, but sometimes you have to spend a lot of time on things that aren’t working or things that have to be upgraded. Right now, there is a big upgrade coming up soon, and I'm not sure if I will be able to keep the alt lists and the quotes et cetera. Even after we cleaned up our member list 1-2 years ago, we are still climbing towards the 1k limit, which gives another challenge as our current system can only manage 1000 members. There is always something like that which has to be looked into, so it's an ongoing, everlasting job." He leapt lightly up onto the statue ahead of me with a laugh, looking around us and striking a pose. It was clear he truly enjoyed it here, as dangerous it might be.
As if on cue, a horde of criminals sprang from the shadows, with me as their focus. They had seen Stromb to begin with, but it was apparent that to them, I was the far easier kill. One raised a gun, and instinctively I ducked and blocked, holding my hands in front of my face. With a loud crack I was sent tumbling backwards – my brand-new holopad destroyed, having taken the bullet for me.
Suddenly, with a warcry, Strombanni jumped from above, landing in front of me with a force that made the ground shake, and pulling out his guns he began firing into the enemies around us, drawing their fire. He turned to me and laughed, yelling over the din, "So much for silence! Go on with your questions, I'll take care of these!"
I was still somewhat in shock over the loss of my equipment, but I shook it off as best I could and asked, "How did you get started with making holovids?" He apparently couldn't hear me, so I yelled the question louder.
Reloading in a fluid motion and continuing his defense, he shouted back, "I actually have to give Snake the honor for getting me into making holovids on Rubi-Ka! He sent me one he had made while fooling around in Nascense, and I still remember the text he added at the top of the vid: ‘Look at the possibilities!’" A well-aimed bullet took down yet another felon, which brought six more from the shadows, but Stromb continued unfazed. "I think the first one I made was 'The Red Parade' we did together with The Red Tigers – it was actually the Red Tigers who started the tradition of the parades - and even after trying a lot of different angles, it was hard to make the holovid interesting and fun to watch. However, it turned out to be a very nice memory from our very first red parade!" With this, yet another enemy fell, and he motioned for me to follow him to higher ground.
- It still warms my heart today
Slowly I was realizing that Strombanni was having no trouble keeping them from killing me, and I was gradually feeling a little safer, despite the hail of bullets coming at us from all sides, and I yelled my next question. "What, in your opinion, is the best change you've made in The Red Brotherhood?"
In the midst of the gunfire, he seemed to grow almost thoughtful. "When I joined The Red Brotherhood, we were still in our ‘dark age,’ and the org was trying to heal the wounds from when many members left and our activity level was almost down to zero. I wanted to go back to our roots and our traditions, and I was searching for our pulsating heart and the mythical TRB spirit. So, when Reshertr promoted me to General, I was left in charge of our raids, and I think the most important change I made there was to make a mandatory raid day. Finally we had something that gathered the whole org no matter how powerful we were, and it was a day everybody looked forward to. We did raids we never thought we were able to do, and nothing builds up an orgs spirit more than accomplishments like that. There was a high chance of dying for all and especially for our weaker members, but even if their chance of winning loot was very low, they kept coming back from reclaim. It was very touching, and it still warms my heart today. Because the message behind it is so very strong..." He paused for a moment, looking his gun over in his hand as if it was some portal to the past, and I wondered if he even noticed the enemies around us, so lost he seemed in thought. After a minute or so, he reloaded his weapons and continued. "I also started something called Duty Assignments which actually are jobs inside TRB, like recruitment officers, raid leaders, events etc. This boosted the activity within the org a lot, and had a very positive side effect by letting more members participate in where the org was heading. I suddenly noticed a new passion and a willingness to make TRB the best place to be: our home."
- The future looks very good
He yelled for me to continue my questions, as he cast a nanoprogram on the last bully, who simply refused to go down. "Is there anything you'd like to see happening in TRB in the future?" I shouted out to him.
Laughing as the heavy-built criminal crashed to the ground before him, he replied, "The future looks very good, I have to say. Life on Rubi-Ka has changed a lot, and we have to adapt to it all the time. But our core still stands there, and it's more important than ever that we keep our focus on org activities. No matter what kind of activities, just as long as it brings us together." He paused for a moment and went on, checking some settings on his belt. "It was easier to gather the whole org some years ago than it is now, so that's where the main challenge is right now, I think. It's everybody’s responsibility to take initiative and try to join in on most of the org events!"
- Being one of the leaders of TRB is never boring
"That appears to be the last of them!" he said, looking around. I nodded, glancing around as well, sure there must be someone else out there. "Any other questions?" he asked.
"Just a couple more," I assured him. He walked up the ramp to the arena where the mercenaries stood talking, and I followed. "What’s kept you from leaving Rubi-Ka and TRB?"
Looking down at the mercenaries, he replied, "
Beside that I love Rubi-Ka, the main reason for staying so long on Rubi-Ka and with TRB is without doubt the friendship. Without TRB and other friends, I wouldn't find inspiration and motivation to improve myself and continue the fight against Omni-Tek. I would probably sit and rot in a small, smelly apartment in backyard 20, or fly off to my home world. Another reason is that being one of the leaders in TRB is never boring, there is always something to improve, and you always have to think of new ideas and present suggestions to the other leaders and the org. There is also always some administrative work to be done and both TRB and rest of Rubi-Ka is going through changes all the time, and all that gives an extra dimension to the whole experience. Of course, sometimes you need to charge your batteries, but after a nice vacation, it's always nice to be back again. Still crazy after all these years!"
He stood there for a moment, seeming to consider whether or not he should take a shot at one of the mercenaries. I most certainly wasn't equipped for anything of the sort, so I asked quickly, "Any last comments?"
Having co-written all of the interviews done previously, he knew that question meant I was wrapping everything up, and as we walked back to our ships, he replied, "I'd like to thank all the members of TRB, from the bottom of my heart, for all the thousands of good memories - for making our org so alive, fun and unique. And it's not even over yet!" And with that last he jumped into his Charon. "See you at the statue, Talvi!" he said as he flew away, leaving me alone in the midst of the camp. All that was in my mind was getting out of there before more reinforcements arrived, and I lost more than just a holopad. As I flew off in my Yalm I took one last good look at the camp, and it began to dawn on me that it wasn't so much the camp itself or the raids that General Stromb loved, it was the people he did them with.
- Talvieno
Date : 03.06.2011
