Resistance: A Storm Hawks Story

Chapter Two - The Resistance

After the death of Johns, Rourke began making his way back home. During the long trek home, he reflected on the words of his late friend. They had a bigger impact on Rourke than he realized. He soon began to realize of the injustices perpetrated by the Cyclonian Loyalist Government. They ruled over Terra Skavis with an iron first. As he reflected on all that had happened, Rourke soon saw his home being raided by Talons. Upon seeing Rourke, the Talons raise their weapons at him.

Talon Captain: Drop the weapon!

Rourke: What, you guys are afraid of a hammer?

Talon Captain: Drop it, smart ass.

Left with no other choice, Rourke complies and drops his sledgehammer. He then approached the Talon captain.

Rourke: What right do you have to trash my....

Talon Captain: You were an associate of Johns.

Rourke: Yeah. Was. He's dead.

Talon Captain: This trailer and it's contents have been confiscated by the Cyclonian Empire. We're placing you under arrest.

Upon hearing this, Rourke was shocked.

Rourke: For what?!

Talon Captain: Don't play dumb with me, miner. Your Resistance.

Rourke: I've got nothing to do with the Resistance! 

Talon Captain: Is that right? We found these detonators in your possession. Care to explain that?

The Talon then presents the detonators to the explosives Rourke uses in his demolitions job. Rourke quickly tried to defend himself.

Rourke: I'm a mining engineer! I have a permit for those!

Talon Captain: Well it just got revoked. 

The Talon then shoves Rourke to the ground. The Talon then turns to his men and nods at them. They then move towards Rourke and aim their weapons at him. In that moment, Rourke felt as if he was about to meet the same fate as Johns. Suddenly, one of the Talons is shot in the head. 

Talon Captain: Shit! We're under attack!

As shots rang out, Rourke took cover behind his trailer as the Talons are pinned down by Resistance fighters. 

Talon: Stop these bastards!

One of the Talons soon pinpoints one of the Resistance fighters and guns him down. Rourke looks to the Resistance fighters ambushing the Talons along the valley overlooking the trailer. Among the fighters was the woman who was talking to Johns just before his death. 

Talon Captain: Stop limping around and call for reinforcements!

As the Talon moves to call for reinforcements, he is quickly gunned down. As the Talon squadron is picked off one by one, the captain maneuvers around his Skimmer and takes aim at the woman leading the attack. Without hesitation, Rourke picked up his sledgehammer and kills him with a strike to the head. As the battle ended, Rourke was processing the fact that he had just killed someone. He soon looks to the captain's holopad to see a wanted poster for him. He was soon approached by an older man and the woman.

???: They'll hunt you down all across Terra Skavis. 

Rourke: He said I was in the Resistance....

???: Like it or not, Rourke. You are. 

In that moment, Rourke found himself past the point of no return. He had just killed a Talon and aided the Resistance. That made him a wanted man. Whether he liked it or not, he was now a member of the Resistance. 

Rourke: Who are you?

???: My name is Havelock and this is my daughter Callista. We worked with Johns. 

Rourke: Why did he get involved with you? 

Callista: Because like us, Johns became tired of living under a puppet regime that bows down to the Cyclonian Empire. He was tired of the brutality and injustices of this regime. 

Havelock: We've been at war against the Loyalist Government ever since the Cyclonian Empire established control over the Terra. They treat the people like slaves and kill off any who oppose them. The Resistance is here to fight against this tyranny. 

As Havelock and Callista spoke of the Resistance and it's goals, Rourke wondered how long Johns was a member of the Resistance. 

Havelock: I understand you're upset, but we frankly don't have the luxury of taking the fight straight to them. They have the money, the resources and the firepower to wipe us out. We need to rally the people to our cause. 

Rourke: You think people are going to rally behind the Resistance? They're scared. 

Callista: We have to show the people that they don't need to be scared. We need to show them that the Resistance fights for them. If we can do that, then we can win this war and drive the Cyclonians off Terra Skavis. 

Rourke had his doubts about the Resistance. The firepower the Loyalist Government had at their disposal was immense. Fully backed by the Cyclonian Empire, the Loyalist Government had more than enough resources to wipe out the Resistance. Despite this, Rourke had no other choice but to join them. 

Rourke: All right. I'm in. 

Havelock: Let's get back to the safehouse. It won't be long until the Loyalists send Talons to investigate these Talons. We have a long fight ahead of us if we're going to liberate Terra Skavis from the Cyclonians. We have work to do. 

With that, Rourke became a member of the Resistance. Though he had his own hesitations about it, there was no other choice. But what Rourke didn't know was that he would soon become an invaluable member to the Resistance's fight against the Cyclonian Loyalist Government that ruled over Terra Skavis.