Coyo Pagal

Coyo Pagal
The Man Who Killed the Moon, That Crazy Guy
Captain Pagal's notorious logo
Character
Date of birth:	Unknown (age 41?)
Date of death:	3509
Nationality:	Stateless
Language(s):	Belter Creole, Commonwealth English
Gender:	Male
Height:	7'5"
Occupation History
Occupation(s):	Pirate Captain
Affiliations:	Belter Pirates
Service history
Rank:	Captain of Captains
Commands:	Bhargavastra
Fought in:	Luna Raids
[Source]

“	They kill us by the millions every year with sheer neglect, men, women, and children dying without the means to survive in the Belt and beyond. How come we have to be "non-violent" when that just means more of us die and they win?	”
–Coyo Pagal talks to a Jain Belter, 3499

Coyo Pagal was a Belter Pirate and the Captain of Captains during the Commonwealth Wars. He rose in prominence while the Solar System was in chaos, and in spirit at least, he served as a symbol for many Belters of a hero fighting for their cause. During the height of the Commonwealth Wars, he initiated two raids on Commonwealth shipyards by raiding Luna on May and September 3506. The Luna Raids became Pagal's greatest legacy and his doom, as he was eventually hunted down and killed by the Commonwealth Navy.

Under Pagal's leadership and brutal direction, Belter Pirates killed almost twenty million civilians in their raids on Luna. That made Pagal one of the most prominent mass-murderers in recent history and a controversial figure due to his idolization by many Belters, with the logo of his ship Bhargavastra becoming its own part of Belter culture. Contrasting views of Pagal as a butcher or a patriot are muddied by lack of solid documentation on the man's life, largely due to the efforts of the Commonwealth to stamp out any trace of the man following the Commonwealth Wars.

History

Early Life

Coyo Pagal's early life is shrouded in mystery with there being doubt if indeed that was his birth name. Many small asteroids in the Main Belt claim to be Coyo’s birthplace, but the man himself claimed to be from Ceres, which is disputed due to Pagal's reputation for being an unreliable narrator to his own life story. Regardless of where Coyo Pagal was born, he lacked documentation as many poor Belters did at the time and was therefore technically stateless. Growing up poor and orphaned on Ceres, Coyo was soon able to leave in his teenage years on a smuggling ship and spent much of his adolescence in space between asteroids and space stations. This took him across the solar system, and Coyo learned much in his travels. He was known to have traveled to Jupiter, Saturn, and Luna during his days as a teenage smuggler while the beginnings of the Commonwealth Wars raged in the background.

In his time as a young smuggler, Coyo also witnessed the many hardships endured by Belters who purchased smuggled goods often out of desperation. Even before the war started, things had been hard for Belters, and they only became more difficult after their home was caught in the crossfire of the war between the Commonwealth of Earth and the Martian Federation. Although Coyo was far too young to remember it, the memory of the dead and missing Belters on zeros hung over his head like many other Belters. The Inners saw him and his people as little more than pests, and they could do nothing about it.

Commonwealth Wars, Pirates, and the Captain of Captains

Coyo's life suddenly changed in 3488 when his smuggling ship was boarded by Belter Pirates, and he was press-ganged into joining them. Coyo was captured by Captain Yvonne del Pozo, a Belter Pirate whose ruthlessness and harsh beauty was known throughout the system, starting her pirate career after the Eros Incident. In his short autobiography, Coyo claims that she kept him as a 'sex toy' for three years before giving him any sort of respect while most reputable historians allege he was just another part of the crew. Irregardless of these conflicting stories, Captain del Pozo did take Coyo under her wing at some point, and he became a sort of protege to her.

With the Commonwealth of Earth enforcing it will over the Main Belt as Mars withdrew into itself, Captain del Pozo increasingly came to blows with Earther patrols. Coyo observed the parallel rise of Belter self-determination groups and the general feeling of frustration among Belters about their lack of agency in the Solar System. However, these Belter groups lacked strong leadership and most were crushed before they got very far. Captain del Pozo often mused to Coyo that the Belters were God's most unloved children and would suffer for as long as they existed under rule of Inners. However, she and most other pirates did nothing to support their fellow Belters, seeing it as a lost cause that would only get them killed.

Things finally changed for Coyo in 3495 when Captain del Pozo was killed during a failed mutiny when the ship was docked at Eunomia. This led to a slight predicament as the pirates stopped to elect a new leader, and Coyo was narrowly elected captain due the remaining crew's good feelings towards to the deceased captain. Upon becoming captain, Coyo brought a new paradigm to his Belters. He fully embraced his Belter heritage and swore to specifically fight the Earthers who desecrated the Main Belt for centuries.

Coyo Pagal's rise to power was immediate and shocking. Unlike many other pirates, Pagal actively supported numerous Belter self-determination groups and even funneled money into supporting common Belters. This and his many aggressive attacks on Commonwealth convoys made Pagal the face of piracy in the Main Belt. He became hunted by the Commonwealth but at the same time became a freedom fighter in the eyes of millions of Belters.

Pagal's profile only rose as the Commonwealth made more concentrated efforts to find him and his growing following of pirates. Rumors that the Belters were being secretly supplied weapons and supplies by Mars only heightened the Commonwealth's efforts to catch Pagal. At the same time, more pacifist elements of the Belter determination movement began to clash with Pagal's more violent direction. Many Jain Belters in particular objected to Pagal's piracy and frequent use of violence, refusing to aid him to the pirate's frustration. This came to a head in 3796 when a rival within the Belter determination movement trapped Pagal on Eros and contacted the Commonwealth to pick him up. This trap ended with Pagal making a narrow escape after killing his rival and his infamy only increased.

As he raided convoys and remained on the run, Pagal began formulating a grand plan to make a strike against the Inners, something they would never forget. He wanted the plight of the Belters to be broadcast to the universe in a way no one could ignore. At first, Pagal planned upon striking the weakened Mars, but he was persuaded to instead go after the Commonwealth of Earth, a more direct enemy. This gave Pagal multiple options for a target including Ceres, Luna, and Earth itself. Ceres, being within the Main Belt, seemed like the most obvious candidate for the raid due to location and a large number of sympathetic Belters. However, Pagal was not looking to liberate anywhere with this attack but to simply make a strike against his enemies. Luna and Earth were much more attractive options, and Luna seemed like the easier target, less protected than Earth while still having things worth destroying or stealing.

Pagal spent years preparing for the raid on Luna, accumulating manpower, ships, and weapons from across the Main Belt and beyond. This was all done under the upmost secrecy with the Belter fleet accumulating in various parts of the Main Belt, never to join together until the raid began. The Belter fleet also gained covert support from Saturn, who saw Belters as a good way of weakening Earth's control of the system. Pagal also had to spend years uniting the various pirates and Belter self-determination groups under one effective banner, his. He would be surprisingly effective at this, with no defectors from his fleet ever surviving long enough to warn the Commonwealth of the impending attack. Becoming known as the Captain of Captains, Pagal's name became whispered throughout the system in tones of fear as a sense of unease fell over the Main Belt.

Luna Raids

The First Luna Raid occurred in August 3506, the culmination of all of Pagal's efforts. It was specifically performed when the military presence around Earth was at its lowest and the Belters were at their peak strength. Pagal's ramshackle fleet came from all directions and converged on Luna, emerging from various asteroid, stations, and pirate dens to join the fight. The Commonwealth forces around Luna spied the Belters, but they were utterly unable to stop the approaching fleet. Pagal and his fleet descended upon Luna like locusts and finally began to take out their latent frustrations on Earth upon the Lunarians. In the space of three days, Lunarian civilians were killed in a massacre unseen in centuries. Pagal streamed himself killing Lunarians for the entertainment of millions of Belters who watched with bated breath as they vicariously took revenge on their oppressors. At the same time, Belters seized anything that was not nailed down with the most notable prizes being ships from the Luna Shipyards. Pagal himself seized a Commonwealth cruiser which he renamed Bhargavastra and used it to help him blast his way out of the Commonwealth reinforcements that attempted to stop him from leaving. The whole raid went over without much cost to Pagal as the Commonwealth of Earth reeled in shock.

The raid propelled Pagal to legendary status among Belters as they finally felt they had a hero against the Inners, someone who actually bloodied the nose of the Man. The Commonwealth also became highly interested in Pagal, sending hundreds of ships from their posts in other parts of the Solar System to the Main Belt to root out the Belter terrorists. The Belter fleet, now concentrated, was forced to stay highly mobile to avoid being destroyed by the Commonwealth.

As the Commonwealth searched the Main Belt, Pagal decided to use a decoy to draw the attention of the enemy in order to perform another raid on Luna. This decoy worked to draw the overwhelming attention of the Commonwealth Navy, who thought they would be catching Pagal. Instead, Pagal took an even more risky raid on Luna with his ship Bhargavastra spearheading the attack. This raid killed less Lunarians than the less but still killed many civilians, more than any other group fighting the Commonwealth in the Commonwealth Wars. This led to further admiration from Belters and further fear from Earthers. However, there was definitely a change after the Second Raid of Luna. Now, Pagal stood as the Commonwealth's number one enemy and would hunted for the rest of his days.

The Hunt for Pagal and Legacy

For three years after the Luna Raids, Captain of Captains Coyo Pagal remained on the run from Commonwealth authorities, his fleet splintered after many battles. Nevertheless, Pagal managed to elude hunters for three years thanks to sympathizers as the Main Belt was torn apart by the Commonwealth looking for him and his accomplices. As time wore on though, the Captain of Captains' supporters were either arrested or killed in increasing numbers, leaving him isolated. In this isolation, Pagal made mistakes, mistakes that would bring about his downfall.

In particular, Pagal calling after an old friend on Ceres tipped the Commonwealth Navy to his location, leading to his last stand near Psyche. This last battle was overwhelmingly in the Commonwealth's favor, but Pagal refused to surrender or retreat, choosing to instead fight to the death. That was what happened as the Bhargavastra was skewered by multiple torpedoes and exploded. Pagal's body was never recovered, and neither did the Belter self-determination movement. Still, Pagal is held up as a hero by many Belters, who use his logo frequently as a general yet controversial symbol for the Belt. The Commonwealth of Earth attempted to wipe out all mention of Pagal after his death to suppress any more Belter risings, but their attempt was less than successful, only making Pagal's story more hazy. Captain of Captains Coyo Pagal remains one of the most famous pirates in history and a hero to his people despite his status as mass murderer.

Personality

Little concrete is known about Pagal's personality, but there is a lot of mythos and legends associated with Pagal. He is remembered by Belters as a brilliant strategist, a capricious trickster, and a lifelong patriot with an immense love of the Belt and its people. Meanwhile, Earth remembers Pagal as a mass-murderer who callously butchered millions of innocent people in service of his 'cause'. The image constructed by contemporary historians through limited sources paints a picture of a charming and somewhat clever man who was also overly impulsive, quick to anger, and borderline sociopathic. However, that picture is incomplete due to the Commonwealth's efforts to destroy any trace of the man after the Commonwealth Wars.

Appearance

Captain Pagal was known for his somewhat flamboyant appearance, contrasting sharply with his monotone logo and the mostly monotone uniforms of his crew. Displaying a style best described as 'baroque', Pagal had a unparalleled love for old fashions from Earth and Mars, and he wore very ostentatious clothing even in combat situations. Pagal's tall sleek androgyny was also a large part of his image as it gave him an eerie sort of beauty even to non-Belters, resulting in him becoming something of a sex symbol during his time.