The Annual Celebration of Captain Montgomery 'T-Bird' Ozark Tradition / Ritual in The Delta Space | World Anvil

The Annual Celebration of Captain Montgomery 'T-Bird' Ozark

Captain T-Bird and the Blaze Hawk

Montgomery 'T-Bird' Ozark, was one of the most infamous pirates of his age, coming to influence in the early days of Delta Space charting. Travelling the skies, stealing from the rich...and also stealing from the poor. He was beloved by his crew and envied by all others. He was elusive, brazen, and crass, avoiding authorities in dozens of systems leaving behind a string of colourful expletives that could be heard even in the void of space.   Before he became Captain T-Bird and began pillaging the stars with his crew aboard his Space Galleon - The Blaze Hawk, Montgomery Ozark was apparently a normal, and boring man that worked for an unknown corporation. Not too much is known about his past, but the common myth holds that one day he grew sick of his corporate-sponsored job, which he had held for years, and decided to steal a company ship and set off on his merry pirate ways. And soon afterwards he would emerge as the premier Pirate Lord of the burgeoning and expanding regions of early days Delta Space.   During his years as a space pirate, Captain T-Bird would become known for his colourful ways of doing business. He wouldn't just destroy and steal, sure, that was a huge part of it, but he always did it with panache and style. Conducting elaborate schemes, and not just using smash and grab tactics like many of his cohorts. Though smash and grabs were still a fun occasional pass time even for the infamous captain.
The Bolerian Ice Diamond Heist
One such scheme was the theft of the Bolerian Ice Diamond, being held on a transport ship on its way to being returned to Bolerian royalty after years spent off-planet in a former rival planet's possession. But this wasn't any old transport or trip across the stars. No, for mid-way through the trip several Bolerian and associated nations ships arrived, each docking with the larger transport. On each ship were delegates of each nation, including the Bolerian royal family, there was to be a celebration held and an exchanging of the diamond from nation to nation in neutral space - and a show of renewed effort towards peaceful communications continuing in the future.   But, unbeknownst to the congregation, another ship arrived to attend the party. Captain T-Bird and some of his crew had forged documentation stating that they were a political delegation from a nearby moon colony. Somehow nobody noticed the barely disguised Space Galleon docked to the side of the transport. Dressed to the nines, along with their convincing documentation they strolled right into the party. From there, they partied it up with the rest of the attendants, awaiting the right moment to spring their plan. Suddenly the lights went out, and along with it the Artificial Gravity Engine suddenly cut out.   This, of course, caused quite the unexpected stir, with bodies bouncing and colliding with each other in the sudden darkness. Meanwhile, the captain's crew, outfitted with dark vision eyepieces and gravity bracelets dispatched the guards while the captain himself snatched the Bolerian Ice Diamond. Of course, not one to leave without at least a little bit of bragging Captain T-Bird reactivated the lights and cut one hell of a promo in front of the furious and still floating royalty, bragging about easy pickings from the lazy elite. They then escaped back to their ship and flew off in a string of obscenities. Though this getaway wouldn't be as clean as they would have hoped.  

The Death of T-Bird

Captain T-Bird would end up having a fairly short career as a pirate captain, despite his numerous exploits he was only active for under five years before his death. The pirate captain and his crew had just finished absconding with the Bolerian Ice Diamond when disaster struck. Apparently, the various delegations who had attended the party had sprung for additional protection, and despite their late arrival were comprised of a formidable force of Corporate Fighters, and The Blaze Hawk was severly outnumbered. After a quick skirmish, Captain T-Bird called for a retreat, and the crew obliged and set off in their attempts to lose the attacking force.   Sadly, this chase would end in the apparent demise of the captain. After hours of being chased, the Blaze Hawk had taken significant damage and its systems were failing. The captain's final command was forcing his remaining crew to take the Blaze Hawk's escape pods while he led their assailants away in a distraction tactic. His crew fought this command but eventually gave way to their captain's orders but only after he promised to reconvene with them, and that he wouldn't perish. He promised.   The captain had lied. And after his crew had successfully escaped The Blaze Hawk was shot down while passing by one of the moons of Therapis. The moon, with a surprisingly strong gravitational pull, grabbed onto the ship's remains and pulled it down to its surface at an unknown point. Both the Corporate Fighters and eventually his own crew would conduct searches for the Blaze Hawk's remains, but neither could discover its location. T-Bird's remains and the Bolerian Diamond were never recovered.   

Annual Celebrations of a Lost Lord

This celebration occurs once a galactic year and is held in honour of Captain Montgomery 'T-Bird' Ozark. Each year, on the third rotation of Therapis around its dwarf sun, hundreds of pirate ships, some of which are captained by the again former crew of the Blaze Hawk, gather to celebrate the name of their forefather. The celebration isn't focused on the planet Therapis, instead, the festivities are held in orbit of its moon. This moon, unnamed according to official galactic maps, is commonly called T-Bird's Rest by those pirates that visit during the celebration. It is called such because the captain's remains along with his ship, The Blaze Hawk, are said to still be located somewhere on the moon's surface.   Ever since his death, in his honour hundreds of ships come together and link up, each conducting their own scans of the moon in the hopes of picking up any signal of the crashed ship so that they can give the remains a proper send-off. In the meantime, however, the linked up ships party it up conducting a weeks-long rager. Each ship is physically linked with each other via connection tubes, creating a ramshackle impromptu pirate space station, that haphazardly floats in the upper orbit of Therapis and T-Bird's Rest.   At the culmination of the party, and the search, which has never found any signs, each ship fires off its weaponry in salute of its lost captain. Fun fact, many of the ships are outfitted with Ionic Canon Loaders, which ionize and propel actual cannonballs at high speed allowing for them to move at ridiculous speeds even through the void of space. Believe me, you've never seen anything like a 100 lb synthetic iron cannonball propelled by 100 plus tons of ionic force sail silently through the voids of space before tearing a small transport craft completely in twain. Ole T-Bird would be proud.

The Shout Caster

Many pirates and storytellers believe, and heavily support, the legend that Captain T-Bird was actually the proud owner of an Abnormality Object lovingly called "The Shoutcaster", an old generation-styled voice amplifier called a megaphone. The Shoutcaster, allowed the user to amplify their voice, much like an old megaphone does, only that it works in any environment and is able to penetrate most materials.    Captain T-Bird apparently strapped it to the side of his ship, and hence, was able to shout obscenities at any passing ship even when in the void of space. This ability was likely not appreciated by authorities left chasing the pirate captain to no avail, while also having to listen to his proud and colourful rants on why they would never catch him.


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