It had been several months now. Darius still replayed the events over and over in his mind. Watching them unfold like some kind of sickening ballet. If he did the math, he would know exactly how long it had been since that fateful day, but he cared not to. It would do him no good to know such details. He knew what had happened, and that nothing could change that now. He still remembered the feeling in his gut when he warped towards the co-ordinates his agent had given him when he was hired to do her bidding. The money was good and the risk was acceptable. He was to engage and destroy several pirate cruisers escorting their employer who was, by all accounts, a professional thief.

No sooner had his ship come to a stop, and he was waiting for his sensors to engage and the camera drone to steady itself, his ship suffered a critical systems error that caused him to lose all current visibility of the outside of his ship and he had lost the use of all modules. In fact the only feed back of the outside world he got was when the first laser beams sliced through his Ruptures shields and began to scorch the armour. This was followed by a concert of missile strikes of varying power, shaking the ship to its core. By the time he had systems back on line, his shields were nearly depleted and his warp core was being disrupted by the powerful electronic warfare systems of the enemy cruisers. Even with his modified afterburners, he could not get away in time to keep his ship from being destroyed.

This was to be his first real loss of a ship under enemy fire. And of all ships to lose, his beloved flagship and pride of his fleet, the Barbarosa. Despite the few occasions where he would return to base with some armour plating buckled and burned, the ship had never failed him to that day. In the days that followed, Darius tried hard to come to terms with the loss. It had affected him more than he ever imagined losing a ship would. It was not a matter of the money he lost. Not even the dent to his pride as the loss was not down to his own shortcomings. Something inside felt empty, almost like he had lost someone he cared for. In a sense, he had not felt this way since his mother died many years ago. Maybe it had something to do with the manner in which the ship was destroyed. It didn't seem right, somehow.

Times had moved on now. He had not given this much more thought in recent months. He had bought a new Rupture, the Minotaur, and she had lived up to her predecessor's achievements and then more. He was content with this despite the minor set back it had caused to his funds. It is these funds that had set his mind stirring again this day. Long before he lost the Barbarosa in battle, he was saving for something much bigger and much grander. Darius was becoming well known to the criminal elements that enjoy ruffling the feathers of his beloved Republic. But on occasion, even his reputation would not help him if he was out classed and, much to his distain, he would have to withdraw or use lengthy tactics of engage and retreat.

Darius' train of thought was interrupted by a light beeping noise from the console in the office. He swivelled his chair around and turned to the unit that was built into the desk and tapped the screen. The image flickered to life on the old faded thin film screen, showing the usual excited face of his younger brother, Kordan. A kid-like grin began to spread across his face as the flickering stopped.
"Kordan." Stated Darius. "Any problems?"
"Bro it's awesome. You have to come see it."
"It's ready?" replied Darius as he sat upright in his seat, attention focused.
"Come down here, it's awesome!" continued Kordan giddily. With that the screen cut out as Kordan terminated the link.

Darius rose from his seat and quickly exited the office, heading in the direction of the output hangar adjacent to the factory section of the station. This station was deep in the bowels of Heinmatar where one of his more remote corporation offices was situated. As he made his way through one door after another, Darius realised something. He was running, and he had a stupid grin on his face that he expected to see on his brothers face. We all have our moments when we act like a kid on their birthday. Though for Kordan that is nearly every day since he never really mentally evolved past the age of 13.

Somewhat out of breath, Darius reached the door leading to the Factory hangar and pressed the pressure pad to open it. He stepped into the hangar, and immediately realised it was rather poorly lit. This was not usual, in fact it was a safety hazard. Anyone could trip over something and do some damage to… He cut that thought short of completion when he gazed upwards. Floating high above the hangar floor in the gaping wide docking bay, a monster of steel, dotted with dim pinpoint lights loomed above him several hundred meters tall. It's very form blocking out the lights above. His brother, Kordan, was standing further down the hangar, directly underneath the huge monstrosity, talking with the factory charge-hand. He had seen these beasts in space, and pictures of them in various places. However, as Kordan caught sight of his brother and came dashing over, he quickly came to realise that camera shots barely did this thing justice.

"Isn't this great Dar!" yelled Kordan as he reached him. "What a mean machine!" Darius did not respond. He was still in awe at the sight of his new… toy.
"Oh man I can't wait until we get out there and kick some major butt!" continued Kordan, giddy as ever.
"We?" replied Darius as he started to step forward towards the dark form "You, dear brother, are not qualified to fly it. In fact, I am somewhat uneasy just having you look at it." The charge-hand of the factory started to walk towards Darius with some data pads.
"Oh, come on Darius, that's just mean." Kordan retorted with a childish grin on his face.
"You want something to do? Go back to the HQ station and have them prepare the hangar for my arrival. I will take it back to Pator once the modules and weapons are fitted."
"Yes sir." Kordan said mockingly, punctuated with a comical salute before he dashed off and out the door. Darius could swear that Kordan was always so upbeat just to get under his skin. The charge-hand approached Darius with a smile.
"Mr Shakor," he paused a second, no doubt for cinematic effect, "your Tempest is ready."

Darius beamed with delight and, not taking his eyes off the ship, pressed his thumb against the data pad confirming delivery.
"Thought of a name for it yet Mr Shakor?"

Darius paused at that. It's not that he hadn't thought of one, in fact he thought of one long ago, when he started gathering the funds for this ship. But Darius had also thought of another name too. He thought of it days after he lost his Flagship. It was not his custom to rename lost ships, that's why he named his replacement flagship the Minotaur. But the way in which he lost his old Flagship was not a worthy one. It seemed a shame that such a great name died in that way, when it could have been something much more.

The hangar bay doors slid open before the behemoth, exposing it to the light once more as Darius carefully guided the ship into his private hangar space back at his HQ. The trip had been longer than he was used to due to the slower nature of the Battleship compared to his Rupture. None the less, he did not care. Every moment of the trip was a pleasure to experience. In a way, he almost wished for some action to test his new Flagship.

As he opened the hatch door and stepped out onto the platform high above the hangar deck, the station crew and his brother Kordan were all gathered on the gantry and cheered the arrival of the latest addition to the Anubis Inc. fleet. Darius waved down the applause as he walked forwards. For once he could see his brother was thinking one step ahead as he had a bottle of spirits in his hand. Darius reached out and Kordan handed him the bottle of fine Matarian Whiskey brewed on the islands where he grew up. He had been saving this bottle for a long time, for this very day. Darius was not one for long speeches and inspirational rhetoric. He simply turned to face the ship and took a few steps forwards. With his left hand, he yanked the cork free of the bottle neck, and with his right hand he raised the bottle slowly to the ship.

"To the Barbarosa." He said as the crew fell silent. "May the ashes of the old bring forth the fire of the new." Darius took a gulp of the whiskey, then hurled the bottle at the ships hull shattering it across the armour plating and soaking it with the strong liquid. The crew cheered once more as Darius looked on in pride at the new ship. In a way, giving it the name of his fallen flagship made this new ship more familiar all of a sudden. This may not be true of his enemies just yet, but it would be. Soon.