The Freedom Fighters

Samuel Freeport

An eighth generation rancher, the Longhorn Ranch has been in Samuel Freeport's family for over 200 years. As one of the top providers of beef for most of that time, the ranch maintained the modernization of each decade. Sam has maintained this tradition, seeing both horses and branding irons used in conjunction with jet packs and laser fences.

Sam was born and raised on the ranch, being the only home he has ever known. Eight generations of Freeport's are buried in the private graveyard on site, including his wife, who died of a brain hemorrhage while giving birth to Christina, their only daughter. With Sam likewise an only child, and being very old fashioned in his thinking, his biggest concern was who would run the ranch when he passed on. But that was before the invasion.

When word of the invasion hit, Samuel and his ranch hands set out to fortify the ranch. In less than a day, all electronic equipment was inoperable, but they continued to push forward. They had a week's worth of work done before the first V-heads showed up and attacked. While the Longhorn Ranch managed to win the battle, it cost Samuel the use of his legs and all of his employees except Alexander Shultz, Luke Sands, and Daniel Thunderfoot.

Since then, Sam has taken to running things from a wheelchair. With an excellent mind for strategy, he not only coordinates the ranch's defenses, but also the strikes against the V-heads and the underground supply exchange with the other freedom cells. While he maintains a strong leadership, Sam is also prone to depression in his private time. He feels the weight of the world on his shoulders, knowing that if he and his people fail, the earth will be doomed.

Christina "Chris" Freeport

Being raised the only daughter of an old-fashioned cowboy was difficult on Chris, torn between being the ranch princess - expected to act the part of a young lady - and the natural tomboy attitude that comes from growing up with men as her only role models. The tomboy effect proved especially strong with Chris ale to rope, ride, shoot, spit, cuss and fight with the best of them by the age of eleven.

Things got complicated, however, when she entered her teens and things began to change. The ranch hands began treating her differently, discouraging her from getting into wrestling matches, breaking horses, and swearing like a sailor on shore leave. The older cowboys also began being very protective, often "persuading" the newer hands to be cautious how they treated her, on threat of dismissal or dismemberment, depending on who was doing the talking. Likewise, her father decided that she needed to start acting like a young lady, despite the fact that neither of them had a point of reference besides memories of her deceased mother. While all of this had been incredibly annoying to Chris, she has done her best with the situation.

When Chris turned seventeen, her father hired a new ranch foreman by the name of Luke Sands. Chris fell instantly in love, much to the annoyance of Samuel, Shultz and Thunderfoot, her three primary "protectors". Fortunately - from their point of view - Sands seems somewhat oblivious to her advances, focusing more on his job and own personal problems. This was the status quo for the next year, until the invasion began.

After the initial invasion, life on the ranch changed dramatically. Between workers getting killed off, hired help fleeing to try and reunite with family, and Samuel put into a wheelchair, Chris found herself in charge of the house. While willing to step up to run the ranch, Samuel's over-protectiveness kicked into high gear as he banned her from leaving the house.

Upon the arrival of Becky Sloan, Chris will become both relieved and frustrated at the same time. While it is good to have another "inmate" to spend time with, Becky is more uncomfortable with housework then Chris is and must be taught how to do everything. Chris will prove to be reliable in her chores, but will also show a stronger level of rebellion in her attempts to help defend the ranch from the invaders and romance Sands.

Alexander Shultz

Alexander grew up in a rough area in New York City, learning to defend himself as the only Jewish kid in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Between gang activity and a poor school system, his chances at success were low. Fortunately, he worked hard and gained a scholarship to college, majoring in accounting.

Managing to remake himself into a professional image, Alexander relocated to Chicago, working for a large investment company. He worked hard for the next five years to build a name for himself and credibility. Being post-Enron, it was hard to believe that another large company would pull such a hoax. Unfortunately, Alexander's company did just that. Before he knew exactly what was happening, he found his reputation ruined and himself behind bars, sentenced ten years.

Once in prison, Alexander was once again forced to fall back on his childhood knowledge, scratching and clawing to survive. After serving his three years, he emerged changed once more, this time as a disgruntled, sour man. Unable to find work as an accountant, he was forced to start hunting for any work he could find, traveling across the country. It took two years for him to find his way to Texas and a backwater bar a few miles from the Longhorn Ranch. By coincidence, several of the Longhorn ranch hands were also there with Samuel, celebrating a birthday. Before long, a stereotypical bar fight broke out, with Alexander finding himself coming to the aid of Samuel. When the sheriff arrived to break things up, Alexander thought he was headed back to prison again, but instead was vouched for by the Longhorn owner and was offered a job as a ranch hand.

It was a particularly difficult time for the ranch, with more money apparently going out than coming in. After three months of watching business, however, Alexander figured that something was going on and began to investigate. It took no time at all for him to learn that the accountant at the time was skimming large amounts of money. Once the perpetrator was turned in, Samuel offered Alexander the job.

That was fifteen years ago. Since then, Alexander has become Samuel's closest friend and confidant. Although Alexander is in his late forties and has a diminutive stature, he is still just as wiry and tough as in his youth, often causing others to underestimate his physical capabilities. After the invasion occurs, Alexander becomes the self-appointed bodyguard of his friend and protector of Chris.

Luke Sands

Not much is known about the mountain of a man known as Luke Sands. A year before the invasion, Samuel had gotten a call from Sheriff Andrews, asking if there was a position open at the Longhorn. The former foreman had just retired, causing an eventual opening in the payroll. On the sheriff's recommendation, Samuel hired on Luke. The big man proved an incredible adeptness at the work and was put in charge days later.

In actuality, even Luke himself doesn't know his history. Four years before the invasion, he was found stripped naked and half beat to death (an incredible feat for a man his size). When he came out of his coma, he was suffering from amnesia, unable to remember anything about himself but still capable of conducting even the most detailed of skills with little explanation. After two years of continuous searching, no trace of his identity surfaced. He was not logged into any database, yet another oddity in his mysterious story. Accepting his new fate, he applied for a new identity and set out to continue his life.

Luke is bizarre in his perfection. His strength borders on superhuman, tall, well built, attractive and incredibly smart - a genetic perfection. Even he is thrown off by how easily things come, and therefore is intensely cautious of the feelings of others, not wishing to alienate his co-workers. The attraction received from Chris is an added burden, for while he is attracted to her, he is unwilling to pursue a relationship with all of the questions of his past in place and the crisis of the invasion causing questions of a future.

Daniel Thunderfoot

Daniel Thunderfoot is a rarity within the 21st century; a full-blooded Cherokee Native-American. While a large percentage of the Indian bloodline was thinned through multi-racial mating through the past two centuries, both of his parents able to track their lineage back to the Cherokee nation. As such, Daniel was not only raised to prepare for his future, but also with a clear understanding of the past and traditions. Unfortunately, this tended to lead him to an air of superiority and fighting.

The skewed embrace of his warrior heritage led him to pursue a career in the military, finding him in a black ops squad. Often riding adrenaline rushes and craving battle, he had become an ultimate weapon to be released on potential third-world would-be dictators. This type of attitude will only carry so far in the military before he was dubbed a risk and given an honorable discharge.

Released into the world without a war to fight, Daniel soon found himself ready to snap. Rather than take the stereotypical route of mercenary-for-hire, he instead returned to his cultural roots, focusing on the naturalistic peace of the land. Within a year, Daniel had found his inner peace and had begun working for Samuel Freeport at the Longhorn Ranch. Thunderfoot soon excelled in cattle and horse care and became the ranch's blacksmith. Seven years later, when the foreman position opened, Daniel was the first choice, but his pass on the position opened the way for Luke Sands to take over. As such, Thunderfoot is one of Luke's most trusted advisors and the second-in-command by default.

After the invasion, Daniel is forced to merge both aspects of his past as a warrior when fighting the aliens and as caretaker on the ranch. This transition is a difficult one for him, going to extremes for a while on both avenues. It will take his friends (Samuel, Chris, Luke, Alexander, and Carlos) to reel him back under control and instituting a balance between the two.

Daniel holds a great deal of respect for Samuel, Luke and Alexander, and receives respect and friendship in return. He is also a strong guardian of Chris, and in turn Becky upon her arrival. Seeing a great deal of the anger he felt inside Carlos, he takes the young man under his wing as an anchor, a mentor and a friend.

Carlos Pierce

Martin Pierce had begun his career on the less-legal side of firearm distribution laws, running guns across the boarder to Mexico. It was during these gunrunning days that he met and had an extensive affair with Luisa Montoya. This affair resulted in the baby Carlos, which immediately caused martin to abandon the relationship. Though poor and having made a moral indiscretion, Luisa attempted to raise Carlos to be a contributing member of society.

When Carlos was fourteen, however, Luisa was diagnosed to be in the last stages of lung cancer and passed away. Rather than stay in Mexico with his maternal grandparents, Carlos left for America to find his father. Struggling on his own for the next year, Carlos finally found Martin in Dallas. He had gone legitimate and opened a gun shop and firing range. While hesitant at first, Martin finally accepted his son and brought him into his life.

Over the next six years, Pierce and son expanded their business to other cities in the area, as well as gaining a few government contracts to cover transportation and distribution of higher-end firearms. While Carlos never received any further formal education, he did inherit naturalization (citizenship) from his father and showed great aptitude for all things gun-related (history, repair, scientific developments). While Martin dealt with the bookkeeping and contractual aspects of the business, Carlos preferred the hands-on duties of sales and delivery.

He was out on one of these deliveries when the global pulse wiped out all electricity. His truck stalled out ten miles from the Longhorn Ranch, causing it to be a natural sanctuary. It is Carlos that forms the first excursion from the ranch after the blackout, leading a group back to his truck for the weaponry. This trip also brings Becky into the fold as she collapses in front of the group. Having provided the largest cadre of weapons, Carlos clashes with Samuel and Luke over resource priority, wanting to return to Dallas to check on his father. This becomes negligible, however, when the alien invasion party attacks the ranch.

Carlos is forced to accept the fact that he is probably an orphan once again, knowing that his father - like him - would fight and die rather than be taken prisoner. Once he makes this acceptance, he adapts to being a foot soldier rather than a leader more readily, reinforced by the belief that he may die, but willing to take as many of the aliens with him as he can. With such an attitude, Carlos tends to be the hothead of the group, wanting to charge into battle first and ask questions later. This personality will gradually decrease, however, once time passes and the emotional wounds begin to heal. At the same time, Becky will be maturing as well and their "friendship" will form. He refuses to act on this mutual infatuation due to her being underage and the six-year age gap (this may change, however, if the series lasts more than two years). Carlos also learns to make himself useful around the ranch through ammunition construction, firearm repair and helping Thunderfoot as an assistant blacksmith.

Rebecca "Becky" Sloan

Becky Sloan had been born into the lap of luxury. Her father had inherited his millions from his father, as had the generation before. In fact, due to the nature of investments, it was never quite clear to Becky where the family fortune had originated, not that she cared. For her, the most tedious activities in her life entailed picking out the perfect gown and the boring flights traveling between the condo in New York, the summer home in Key West, the villa in Paris, and the resort in Switzerland.

For her sixteenth birthday, her parents took Becky and twenty-five of her closest friends to Mexico to experience the "culture" of the Hispanic people. This translated into the parents going out to the bars every night while the teenagers threw tequila-based parties of fornication at the townhouse with some of the locals, truly living the "indestructible" lifestyle of youth.

It was on the flight back from Mexico that the global attack from the aliens took place, crippling their private jet and sending it crashing toward the ground. When it was over, Becky as the sole survivor, stranded on the open plains of Texas. Wandering for the next two days, she eventually was found unconscious by a search party from the Longhorn Ranch, sent out to recover the weapons from the Pierce truck.

Becky begins her new life very bitter, having lost everything that she has known (family, friends, wealth, independence), only to gain a life of hard work and danger. Expected to pull her own weight on the ranch, particularly doing things formerly done by servants, and answer to Chris causes her to want to rebel; only to run into the stronger will of the Freeports. While her relationship with Chris will start out hostile, their friendship will eventually grow when they find they only have each other and Becky grasps her new position of poverty and orphan, the latter of which is a situation Chris is personally familiar with. As time progresses, Becky will become a useful member of the new society and a respectable adult. Where once she was a "free-spirited" party girl, she matures into a proper young woman. Relationships with the men on the ranch will reflect this, beginning with her flirting with everything in pants upon her arrival to a respectable "friendship" (she is still under age, after all) with Carlos.

Sheriff Macarthur "Mac" Andrews

The position of sheriff in the mid 21st century had grown to be far more political than law enforcement. While most towns and cities had their own police force, this left the sheriff's department only needed for the outlining ranches and farmland, which rarely needed or wanted outside enforcement. As such, the elected sheriff usually had only two or three deputies and could usually hold a position as long as he wanted. The biggest difficulty would come at election time when law enforcement officials would crawl out of the woodwork to try and win the easy job. The longer you hold the job, however, the easier it is to keep the position.

As such, Macarthur Andrews had been sheriff for the past fifteen years, having originally won the position after his predecessor and boss had retired from old age. Unlike his boss, however, Mac took an active interest in his constituents, making his name known and face seen by the voters. It was because of this contact that, when the amnesiac Luke Sands was brought into his office, Mac not only knew who to contact to run the tests needed, but also to call the Longhorn Ranch when the young man needed a job.

With the biggest crime being the occasional cow tipping, Mac and his men were little prepared when the power around the earth was stolen and aliens began attacking. Caught off-guard, Mac was forced to retreat, doing his best to avoid death or capture as he searched for help. He arrives at the Longhorn after several failed attempts at other ranches, mere minutes before the first attack on the ranch.

Upon his arrival, how much of a politician over policeman Mac had become became evident in his shooting skills. Between lack of necessity and use of stun guns, he is unaccustomed to firearms. He does, however, show a desire to pull his own weight around the ranch and in the field, spending a good deal of time trying to improve his aim. It isn't until it is realized that his cyber-optic implants (an experimental vision correction therapy) are failing - thus returning his poor eyesight - which corrections to his shooting are made.

Spawned from the same general generation as Samuel (the elders of the ranch), the two men may often be found reminiscing over "the good ol' days." Mac also works to bond with the younger people as well, especially with Luke - who owes him his job - and Carlos by illustrating a willingness to learn. It is this and a no-job-to-small attitude that makes him a strong filler man on the ranch.

Vincent "Doc" Hartford

While the Hartford family wasn't Fortune 500 material, they weren't lacking for anything either. Therefore, when Vincent made the decision to become a plastic surgeon, they considered it suitable profession financially. They also provided him with the necessary bankroll to set up an office in Dallas upon graduation. The family investment was a sound one, as he proved successful, building a strong clientele and reputation over the next five years.

Realizing that he had chosen the "cowboy capital of the world" for a home, Vincent decided to celebrate his fifth professional anniversary by attending an old-fashioned cattle drive through the Dorado Ranch (fifty miles southeast of the Longhorn). They had gotten through the training period and were almost through their trip when the power loss occured, leaving those on the drive unaware of what had happened. On the last day of the drive, Vincent decided to take a "detour" to extend his return a couple of hours, insisting that the others continue on and he would meet with them before dark.

Sticking to the plan, Vincent approached the ranch shortly before sunset, welcomed by the sight of the ranch in flames. Burning bodies armed with firearms strewed the landscape, and before he knew what was happening aliens were surrounding him. His horse getting spooked provided a moment of hesitation on their part, providing Vincent with an opportunity to run. While the aliens were able to move faster than the typical human and were capable of firing fireballs at him, the horse plus a rudimentary knowledge of the area gave Vincent the advantage.

Moving by night and hiding by day, Vincent stumbled upon the Longhorn Ranch the next day. From his vantage point, he watched the battle between the ranch-hands and the aliens, surprised when the ranch proved successful in its defense. Riding in after the fight was over, Vincent arrived in time to provide rudimentary medical attention.

With the focus in plastic surgery, Vincent's practice falls outside of the emergency area, not to mention the lack of modern technology. As such, his qualifications for ranch doctor are very low; however, he is still the most qualified of the bunch. He also proves to be the liberal voice among the very conservative minds around him. Most times, he will prove to be the arguing voice in most decisions. Likewise, he maintains his strong belief against handguns, refusing to fight because of his medical oath. The only viable use he brings to the group is his medical training, making the group tolerate his presence for Samuel's well being. All of these contribute to him being the least liked but most needed member of the ranch.

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