Posted July 19, 2009
We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Juan Juanson, whose callsign was "H4xx0r M4N" and was known to most of you as "Alpha 3."
I remember the first time we met was at his first court-martial, where he stood accused of blowing up a GTA freighter after he stopped it for speeding. I'll never forget what he said to the judge... "But it was red on my targeting thingy!" That was just the sort of person Juan was...
Juan was a man whose bravery drove him to do tremendous things. He was the sort of chap who'd fly into fly his bomber right into a group of interceptors and fire a clusterbomb from point-blank. We always wondered how he didn't die, but time and time again he'd come back into the hanger with his hull at 3 or 4% integrity, with more kills than the rest of his squadron combined. His wingmen might all die following him, but Juan always made it back no matter how many explosions he had to plow through. He was the only man I ever met with a Triple Ace at ensign rank....
I remember well the occasion, back in the Great War, when he tried to attack the SD Lucifer using nothing but a couple interceptor missiles and his disruptor cannon. We all told him he was crazy, that he should pull out, but we stopped trying after we saw him try to ram the Lucifer's engines. He came back to base eventually, saying that the Lucifer had jumped before he could finish it off. It was then that I first realized that I was looking at the most audacious and daring pilot in the whole Fleet.
When I think about it, the way he died was well suited to his nature. For those of you who haven't heard the story, he was attacking an HoL Aten-class cruiser, running at it head-on, the way he usually did, with his afterburners on full blast and drowning all com channels in battlecries. The last I saw of him was when he'd just managed to crash his fighter into the Aten's nose and was still firing his missiles into it from that range. But then the Aten jumped, and Juan was crushed by the warpspeed impact. It's the way he would have wanted to go, I'm sure...
Juan, we'll all miss you. I think the amount of money that your squadmates paid for this funeral shows how much they cared about you. I hope that, if you can hear me wherever you are, you'll realize just how much you meant to the GTA.
I remember the first time we met was at his first court-martial, where he stood accused of blowing up a GTA freighter after he stopped it for speeding. I'll never forget what he said to the judge... "But it was red on my targeting thingy!" That was just the sort of person Juan was...
Juan was a man whose bravery drove him to do tremendous things. He was the sort of chap who'd fly into fly his bomber right into a group of interceptors and fire a clusterbomb from point-blank. We always wondered how he didn't die, but time and time again he'd come back into the hanger with his hull at 3 or 4% integrity, with more kills than the rest of his squadron combined. His wingmen might all die following him, but Juan always made it back no matter how many explosions he had to plow through. He was the only man I ever met with a Triple Ace at ensign rank....
I remember well the occasion, back in the Great War, when he tried to attack the SD Lucifer using nothing but a couple interceptor missiles and his disruptor cannon. We all told him he was crazy, that he should pull out, but we stopped trying after we saw him try to ram the Lucifer's engines. He came back to base eventually, saying that the Lucifer had jumped before he could finish it off. It was then that I first realized that I was looking at the most audacious and daring pilot in the whole Fleet.
When I think about it, the way he died was well suited to his nature. For those of you who haven't heard the story, he was attacking an HoL Aten-class cruiser, running at it head-on, the way he usually did, with his afterburners on full blast and drowning all com channels in battlecries. The last I saw of him was when he'd just managed to crash his fighter into the Aten's nose and was still firing his missiles into it from that range. But then the Aten jumped, and Juan was crushed by the warpspeed impact. It's the way he would have wanted to go, I'm sure...
Juan, we'll all miss you. I think the amount of money that your squadmates paid for this funeral shows how much they cared about you. I hope that, if you can hear me wherever you are, you'll realize just how much you meant to the GTA.