EXILES: The Interstellar Gunslingers/Part II

―Official description

***Part II: Interstellar Jive*** is the upcoming second instalment of *EXILES: The Interstellar Gunslingers*. It will consist of eight episodes.

Set five years after the events of *"Paint It, Black"*, *Part II: Interstellar Jive* follows John Astro and his efforts to reunite the fractured Exiles, as well as confront the mistakes he made in his previous life, all while attempting to put his selfish gunslinging past behind him.

## Plot

*Everybody do the...Interstellar Jive! Do the INTERSTELLAR JIVE! INTERSTELLAR JIVE! Ooh, Interstellar Jive!*

*Five years have passed since the fateful duel on Dark City. The galaxy has moved on. In the ashes of metal's triumphant return to the music scene, a new, funky hit is gaining ground in the nightclubs of the Federation: the Interstellar Jive.*

*Civilization may have moved on, but the past will never die. Brought back from the edge of death, gunslinger and rock legend John Astro awakens to a galaxy he no longer recognises. Where corporations were once hated, they are now worshipped. Where nanowave and nanorock once flourished, the interstellar jive now rules. Faced with a fractured squad and a reminder of his painful past, John has two choices: adapt or die. And legends...never die.*

## Synopsis

### "Bored to Death"

Earth, 4408. A young hooded man jumps and climbs over the rooftops of a densely-packed city, the sky darkened by smog and soot. Shortly after arriving home, he is confronted by his father, who beats the boy despite his wife's pleas. The boy fights back, causing his father to knock him and down and use his pistol as a club, beating the boy black and blue. His wife grabs his arm, but the father throws her back; the boy seizes his chance and grabs his distracted father's arm, wrestling the pistol from his grasp. The boy holds his father at gunpoint while his mother calls out his name: "Francis". The father taunts the boy, who pulls the trigger. The gun unexpectedly fires, hitting the father square in the chest. As his mother cries, the boy presses the trigger three more times, sending his father to the ground. The father demands that he finish it and the boy fires a final shot in his father's head.

In shock, the boy drops the gun and comforts his mother, telling her to call the authorities. Within minutes, a black transporter arrives at their home; instead of police, however, the boy is met by two suited men, who inform him that they are representatives of H&H, largest corporation in the Settled Systems. The enforcers inform the pair that the father was a worker for H&H who had accrued a significant debt to the company; with his death, the debt now passes to his son and wife, who must work off the debt. Francis, unwilling to see his mother slave away for H&H, demands that the debt be placed solely on him. The enforcers tell him that the debt can be wiped, on one condition: Francis serves in H&H's corporate military. Agreeing to the terms, Francis says goodbye to his mother and asks the enforcers if he can say goodbye to just one more person. They agree; taken away on their transporter, Francis arrives as a crumbling shack. Entering, he meets a young woman and kisses her. He says his goodbyes to both her and her family, promising that he will return. Francis is then carried away by the impatient enforcers and enlisted in the corporate military. Within a few weeks, the Sixteenth Corporate War begins.

Francis, nicknamed "Furious" Frank, serves well in his unit, acquiring a reputation as a fearsome sharpshooter and quick learner. After finding an old guitar, he plays covers of the 20th century music provided to his unit by H&H. During a routine patrol, Frank and his unit are laced with a red cloud: the psychostimulant known as "Ladder". Frank suddenly suffers flashbacks of his father's abuse, during which he would cover his eyes so he would not have to watch. He suddenly gets the urge to gouge out his eyes, scratching them until they are bloody. Before continuing, he forces himself to stop upon hearing the screams and cries of his dying comrades.

After five years of service, Frank is discharged; a medic gifts him a pair of red sunglasses to filter light and shield his damaged eyes. Returning to Earth, he is confused to find his name and service number wiped from any official records; searching his mother's name, he discovers she has died since he left and his father's debt has not been wiped as promised. Angered, he returns to his old neighbourhood and sees his girlfriend in the distance, a child by her side. Unable to approach them, he looks at his own reflection before turning away and leaving Earth for good. Frank wanders the Milky Way, taking the name "John Astro". He meets a fellow veteran named Teddy Valentine and becomes the lead guitarist for the nanorock band POSSE before the band's breakup in 4418. Becoming a gunslinger, he becomes friends with a group of fellow outlaws and forms the Exiles. His life comes to a close as he sits beside the corpse of his friend-turned-nemesis Valentine, passing out from arterial bloodloss, his eyes unshielded.

John suddenly awakes in a murky, grey liquid. The liquid drains away and a tube is painfully removed from his throat. A door opens and John tumbles out onto a cold floor. Shocked and confused, he realizes his sunglasses are missing but his eyes are not throbbing; his wounds are healed, and his mangled arm repaired. A woman with smooth skin approaches, asking him if there is anything he needs; John replies that he wants a cigarette.

Inside a white-walled office, John smokes a real cigarette and demands to know where he is; the woman, an android, informs him that he is at Lazarus Solutions headquarters in Saturn's orbit. She reveals that his friend Jax Dupree paid for him to be fully healed down to the cellular level: his eyes have been repaired, and a new arm cloned and attached. However, Jax was unable to pay for John to be released until now; she adds that John has been in stasis for five years.

## Characters

### Main

* John Astro: a rockstar-turned-gunslinger who wakes up from stasis to a galaxy he no longer recognises, and seeks to amend his selfish ways
* Celeste: a cyborg assassin who abandoned the Exiles following Astro's supposed death, and is dragged back into the Exiles' adventures
* Jax Dupree: a former ISSS detective and Astro's closest friend
* Jar: the perserved brain of a genius scientist kept in a jar that communicates and acts through various inventions
* Starman: a dog with bioenergenic powers and telepathy
* Chishi: a master assassin with a connection to John Astro
* Vikki Limelight: a former punk rocker and ex-lover of John Astro
* Royce Highwater: an ISSS detective and Jax's former partner who is called to investigate a resurgence in cyberpsychosis cases