Libelnon wrote:To help you contain your excitement, though, here's another tale from Huritas' past, about three years before Kirlack's Fujin bounced off the Elysium of Light gate...
Tut tut...read the prelude again mate
Sorry for the delay folks, but it was my birthday last weekend and playing + writing this chapter has taken longer than I'd planned.
Without further ado....
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Chapter 12: Perks of the job
The trip to Shinzo's anarchy port is uneventful, and to be honest after the madness of the last couple days I'm glad of the reprieve, temporary as it may be. This cortical stimulator is doing an amazing job of keeping me on my feet, but I know full well at some point I'm going to have to take it off and sleep, and from what O'Leary's told me that sleep is going to be
epic. This presents me with a problem. What do I do when that moment comes? Do I allow myself to sleep and trust in my 'crew' to not take everything I own and leave me for dead? They might all come across as decent guys, but I'm not, and trusting people has never been my strong suit. Against my better judgement something tells me I can trust O'Leary, maybe down to the way he handled himself in that bar brawl in Company Pride, maybe just because we've hit it off well. But still, he's from Earth, and the general feeling amongst the commonwealth is that the Terrans are not to be trusted.
(sigh)
Then there's Baritone. Him at least I understand. Admittedly our working relationship started off a bit rocky, but I know where he's coming from. The man's got nothing to his name except what I give him, but does that mean he's loyal? Somehow I doubt it. I think the only way I'm going to find out for sure is to put him through his paces on my wing and see if he does what's expected of him.
I hate second guessing myself.
By now I've docked at Shinzo's station and find myself thinking about Thane and Sam as I make my way from the docking clamps towards the lifts. Honestly, I like them both, Thane would be an excellent asset to me, both as a pilot and maybe as a bodyguard. He doesn't say much and keeps his past to himself, which I can't really take offence at all things considered. The man clearly has a temper, but he keeps it under control...mostly, when we're out of the cockpits, even if he does cut loose when we're in space. Sam....well, Sam's just frakking nuts. The guy knows how to cook, he says he knows how to brew his own beer and for the most part is easy to get along with. Like O'Leary he doesn't complain about being stuck in a scout and in every situation where I've had to count on him as part of our missile screen he's done me proud. Should I trust him?
Hell if I know. I wonder if this stimulator is making me paranoid? Gunne....I hope not. I'd hate to bug out and shoot one of my guys without good reason, or unless I'm getting paid for the privilege. Yeah, that's right. I'm the bad guy. Comes with the job.
I step out of the lift onto the stations main promenade. Music from a half dozen bars assaults my ears, all different kinds, jazz, metal, blues, electro pop...I hate electro pop. The scent of weed and sex fills my nose as I pass a brothel, two of the hookers making to proposition me as I walk. I'm tempted, but I got business to attend to first. That redhead was cute though. I might have to try my luck on the return trip. Assuming this doesn't go sour and Shinzo winds up killing me.
As I'm reaching the lift that leads from the promenade up to the station proper I get accosted by two of Shinzo's security apes. I say apes, one of them is actually a security lizard, who looks quite comical next to his counterpart due to the two foot height difference.
“I'm here to see your boss.” I growl at the man. I imagine his eyes are narrowing at me under that visor he's wearing, but it's the Teladi that pipes up and replies.
“Not armed you're not.” He hisses at me, motioning with his rifle. “You'll have to leave your weaponsss with usss.” I'm in no mood to play power struggles with a pair of security guards though, and reach for his rifle, yanking him in towards me and letting his momentum carry his face to my waiting fist. The security ape moves to raise his weapon, but a swift kick to his groin drops him next to his mate, moaning in agony.
“Stay.” I hiss as I move past the pair of them. If this is the best Shinzo's got I'm amazed he's managed to stay in a position of power this long. I step into the lift and after making sure my two would be antagonists aren't getting up to make my day any more interesting, key for the upper levels. As the door slides closed I draw my pistols. If those two manage to radio to whoever's waiting at the top of the lift shaft I might have t shoot someone. I live in hope.
The lift beeps at me as I reach my destination, the stations core level. The door slides open to reveal no less than seven more of Shinzo's security guys and suddenly shooting my way through them doesn't seem likely. Bugger. I was looking forward to that. Slowly, so there's no mistaking my intentions I lower my pistols and slide them back into their holsters.
“He's waiting for you, Mister Kirlack.” Says one of the apes outside the lift. Well I'll be damned. 'Mister Kirlack?' Seems my day is about to get a whole lot more interesting. “We will have to take your weapons though, sir.” I swear that's the most condescending tone anyone could possibly use, especially when calling me 'sir' is tacked on the end like an afterthought. Cheeky frakker. I'm clearly outgunned though, and trying to fight through this lot is going to result in my being shot if not killed. I don't like it, but I surrender my weapons, both pistols, my rifle and the jatra at my belt.
“I'll be having them back when I leave brother. Don't be getting any ideas about permanent confiscation.” I grin at the ape taking my gear, before being led down a short corridor and through a set of double doors into Shinzo's personal club.
The club is filled with writhing semi naked bodies, all grooving to the beat of yet more electro pop. I can't see them in the dark, but I expect there's booths full of sad old men all weakly jerking off at the sight of the nubile young women. Only Shinzo could surround himself with this much indecency and make a living from it. His apes lead me through the crowds, shoving the drunk ones and the stoned ones out of the way to make way for us, until we reach a set of steps leading up to Shinzo's private booth, way up above the dance floor. The apes flanking me break off as we hit the door and take up positions either side of it, leaving me facing the one eyed lunatic.
Shinzo Akemi is in his late forties, what little hair he has left spiked up into a mohican which today he's apparently decided to dye bright blue. His right eye is missing following a knife fight when he was younger, but the other is still bright, and forever following the movements of the almost naked girls he keeps at his side at all times. The man's decadence is astounding. He tends to dress well, but has a penchant for real leather, probably in a bid to display his wealth and power to anyone who sees him. Rumour has it his boots are made of Teladi scales and that under that leather outfit he wears a suit of reinforced Paranid plating like a skin of armour. He's lean and tall like me, and in all fairness carries himself with a sense of authority that often stops would be aggressors from striking out at him.
“Kirlack,” he nods at me as I approach his 'throne', “welcome back. I trust my people showed you more respect than you did my two guards down on the promenade?” Shit, I was hoping that hadn't reached his ears yet. I hope that ain't gonna go against me.
“Just making sure I got here in one piece Shinzo. I didn't want to have to kill them.”
“Fair enough,” he nods at me with a grin, “but next time maybe you could just announce your intentions rather than busting up my guys?”
“Understood. How're your sisters?” I can tell by the threatening look and his narrowed eye that it's a dangerous question, but it's time I took a measure of the man and found out just what chance there is that he wants my head on a pole. The look passes after a moment though, replaced with that all but insane smile that most people find so unnerving.
“They're well. Siobhan's pregnant...” I must've dropped my guard for a moment at that and let him see the shock on my face, “...oh, don't worry my boy, it's not yours. She's just coming up for her first trimester.”
“I see. And what about Marlena and Karel?”
“Marlena's still her typical slutty self. I swear that girl will hump anything with a pulse, regardless of species. Would you believe I caught her in bed with a Paranid cleric a few weeks ago? Disgusting. Naturally I had to make an example of him.”
“Naturally.”
“As for Karel....well, let's just say my youngest sister has finally succumbed to her addictions. I rarely see her outside of her suite these days, and when I do she's so hopped up on hallucinogens she can barely form a coherent sentence.”
“So, the family is still business as usual.” He grins at me, savagely, as though he's considering using his teeth to tear out my throat.
“So. What brings you to me? Work? Drugs?”
“Neither. Word is you've got a price on my head. I wanted to see why.”
“And yet knowing that you might not walk out of here alive you came to see me anyway?”
I nod at him. “You know me Shinzo. Sometimes you just gotta walk into the lions den and poke him to see how hungry he really is.”
“Hah! Well, yes. I'd heard there was a contract out for you. Let me tell you though, that it's not me paying the bounty.” Okay. I wasn't expecting that.
“Then who? Who would bother to set an assassin on my tail if not you?”
“Well, I wouldn't want to offer up that sort of information without appropriate compensation my boy. What say we take a drink and discuss it in detail?”
And just like that I found myself sitting at a table having a drink and a civilized 'chat' with one of the most notorious pirates in this part of the 'verse. I knew today was going to be interesting. Shinzo goes into some detail about the bounty on my head, going so far as to hint at the existence of a pirate cartel known only as the 'Crimson Skulls'. He tells me that the entire clan is opposed to the formation of this so called pirate guild, but more than that they're looking to consolidate their hold on the far eastern clans, the boys around Gaian Star and Maelstrom, and then start pushing west to take over as many clans as they can.
“So what's this got to do with me Shinzo? How does it tie in to the assassin on my tail?”
He squints at me for a moment before setting his drink down and passing me a joint.
“Honestly Kirlack, I don't know. What I do know is the killer that's been hired is a Teladi name of Huritas Galos Yayasois the second, also called 'The Huntress'. She's good Kirlack. Really good. Better than you at any rate. I bet she wouldn't have botched that job on Platinum Ball.”
“Hey!” I protest, almost spilling my drink, “That was not my fault! I told you at the time you'd do better sending one of your own guns down there.” He shrugs at me nonchalantly.
“Doesn't matter now. But I hear this Teladi is more than just skilled, she's crazy enough to have boarded a corvette almost single handed.” Oi. That's a worrying prospect. Even with a whole bunch of training I'd need a crew of five or six meatbags to board an M6. If this 'Huntress' can do that alone then she's at the very least a dangerous, if not lethal, opponent.
“Alright. So what do we do next?” I ask him, taking a long pull on the joint before passing it back to him.
“We?” He asks with a smile. “We don't do anything. I've told you what I can Kirlack. And don't think that just because we've sat down for a drink and a joint I've forgiven you for screwing my sisters.” Alright, I suppose I should have seen that coming.
“So what kind of 'appropriate compensation' are we talking about? What do you want from me that's so important you ain't even tried to kill me yet?” I finish my drink and place my glass down on the table, looking him squarely in his one eye. The son of a bitch is good, I ain't getting nothing.
“You're a rogue element Kirlack. You're chaotic. Unpredictable, to me or anyone else you've run across over the jazura. If the Crimson Skulls are making a push for control of the pirate clans then they'll be coming this way eventually. I'd rather have you out there causing them trouble than not.” I can feel myself about to laugh at him, but I hold it and let him continue. “Don't get me wrong boy, I understand this might come around and bite me on the ass in the end, but I think you're better for me out there than lost in the void.” He grins at me and hands me back the spliff before sitting back and blowing out his smoke. “Besides, who else is going to soak up all the brain damaged lunatics and leave me with the actual skilled pilots for hire?”
Well I'll be a Gunne damned deep fried squid. How about that?
“In that case I reckon it's time I took myself and got back to work. Speaking of pilots though, you know any brain damaged lunatics for hire?”
“You know what?” he smiles at me “I just might.”
A little while later I'm back on the promenade, reunited with my little arsenal and making for one of the bars, thankfully not the one still spewing crappy music all over the place. I didn't take note of the name, there are so many different bars along here. Once I was in I soon spotted the guy I was looking for, a thick necked bald headed human by the name of 'Sark Rossi'. According to Shinzo this guy's a bit of a loose cannon, like me, and he reckons we'd work well together. I'm not sure what chaos plus chaos equals, but my bet would be on 'fun'.
The mistrust is both obvious and familiar when I ask him his name, but it only takes a few moments of measuring each other up before we both seem to realise the same thing: this guy's just like me. I don't know if it was something in the body language or just that look in the eyes that was so familiar, but I knew this guy, right from the first moment. I understood him. Hell, it was almost like seeing myself.
“Yeah, I'm Rossi. Who the frak are you?”
“My name's Kirlack, and I'm looking for pilots. Drink?”
We sat down over a beer and I filled him in the details, namely that he'd be flying a Mamba for now as part of my flight wing. He asked about money and I gave him the same deal as I had O'Leary and Baritone, fifty thousand per day plus a seven percent cut of any job I take. He looks a bit sceptical at first, but when I explain that he's now the fifth pilot on my roster and that I'm providing everything else, ship, ordinance,
food and frakking beer, plus the daily payment and cut, oh...and living quarters to boot, he accepts the deal. He winces slightly when I tell him he's going to be riding shotgun with me for a while until we get his ship up to scratch, but in the end says it's ok. Sweet, that gives me another man on my wing.
So, somewhat worn down from my meeting with Shinzo I decide to hook up with my guys over in Thuruk's Beard and see what mischief we can get up to before we head back to Freedom's and I set Rossi up with his ship. They've spent the last hour or so looking for work in the sector that will help us get the Split on side enough that they'll sell me 25 Mj shields. The only job worth taking though is
a patrol around the sector looking out for Xenon activity. I admit I was dubious about the likelihood of us getting more than the basic fee. I mean, when was the last time anyone saw Xenon this far from X-101?
Oi. I didn't get time to snap any pics during the several waves of fighters that showed up, but we had to work our nuts off to survive that one. I kept Sam on scout duty to let us know where the next wave was after we mopped one up which managed to keep him out of the fighting. Thane took a couple of points hull damage and was vehemently swearing at me across the comm that flying a tin can was going to be the death of him whilst we cleared a few Ms, but I'd not had time to respond before Sam filled us in on another group of Ls winging our way. All told we took down over half of the incoming fighters, the rest being mopped up by the sector defence forces, centred around a mighty Split Tiger. The payout was close to nine hundred thousand, and the Split were now a hairs breadth from selling me the tech I needed. Better than anything else though was the sheer number of bailed ships littering the system for us to claim and send on into Company Pride. The Xenon had done us a favour. We got several freighters, including two XL variants, a pair of almost busted Ms and even a pair of M5s. I think we'll hang on to the freighters for now and maybe set up some more traders. The fighters and scout ships though will get fixed up by the repair crew on the Helix and the sent on to Senator's for sale. In the meantime though, there's no more work for us here, so we blaze north into Family Rhonkar. There's nothing there, or in Rhonkar's Fire but after hitting Rhonkar's Clouds I spot a
Split in need of a taxi. I seem to remember Patriarch's Retreat being a huge sector and I'm not sure if I'll make it in time flying the Cypher, so giving the rest of the guys orders to dock up and sit tight for a while I order Sam to dock at the trading port first and meet up with him on the flight deck.
“I'm gonna have to borrow Problem Solved for a little while mate. Fancy riding shotgun?”
“Sure thing Chief. Oh and ah...don't worry about the smell in the cockpit,” he laughs, “that curry earlier was good!”
Right. Great.
So, I get Sam to usher our fare into the ships cargo hold and we set off. We cross Tharka's Sun and press on into Cho's Defeat before turning north into Patriarch's. Almost as soon as we cross the event horizon into the sector I'm offered two used freighters for sale,
a Caiman Miner and
a basic Caiman. They're both pretty good deals, so I snap them up, and send them to dock at a station until I've got time and resources to collect and refit them. Then I collect the two former pilots to add to my slave roster and drop my fare at the scruffin farm. With that done my rep amongst the Split tips over to 'Family Friend', just enough for them to sell me the shields I need. With that done I bounce the Helix over to Thuruk's Beard and send it to the equipment dock and buy all the 25 Mj shields they have in stock, which gives me just enough to get those two Solano's up and running. I don't have enough spare PRGs to outfit them with six each, so for now they'll be running with two and quad PACs. Should give them enough bite to put some dents in the next fool who takes a shot at me. I thought about giving them mass drivers, but if we're going to be making a living forcing pilots out of their ships I'd rather there was some ship left to salvage.
With that done and the two heavy M4s kitted out I dock them at the Helix and jump it over to Company Pride to grab them some software and upgrades. I'll get Thane and Sam piloting them as we're on our way back down. That should at least stop Thane moaning about flying Dirty Magic with its less than spectacular shields. Sam says he likes the name of his ship, so his Solano will be 'Problem Solved II', whilst Thane will be flying 'The Bad Touch'. Fitting, don't you think?
In the meantime, since we're up this way and in a scout ship I decide to map the sector. It's not long before I spot the west gate leading into Rhonkar's Might. So we take a peek in there and find a shipyard and equipment dock, some missile fabs, including one that produces Hornets, which will come in handy somewhere down the line. The Split won't sell them to me yet though, so it's more missions for me. The only one in sector that catches my eye is
a build mission. I've not done on of these yet, so before I accept it I take a look at the prices at the shipyard. The job gives me a total profit just shy of one point six million, so I call the Split back and agree to the contract. Then Sam and I go and find the local supply Elephant and make arrangements with the Captain to dock at the local shipyard. I fly over to the gate and hop out of Problem Solved, leaving Sam with orders to tail that TL and provide me with a comm link to the sector, before I kickstart my suit thrusters and
EVA through the gate.
Once on the other side I move up above the gate and remote order the Helix to pick up Indie Cypher from Rhonkar's Clouds before jumping up here to meet me. By the time my TM shows up and I beam aboard Sam's yabbering on the comm that the Elephant has docked at the shipyard, so I buy the massom mill and send a request for the TL captain to move into Patriarch's Retreat. While I'm waiting for it I switch over to my Tenjin and go looking for more missions. There's a slightly panicked Split, which is a rare thing to see, on one of the SPPs, looking for somebody to
defend his station, so I take the job and go head to head with a pirate Peregrine and some of his Harrier friends. The bomber goes up in smoke without so much as getting a shot off at the station, and most of the scouts get lost in the stations superstructure and burn up in the shields. One survives long enough for me to catch up with him though, and bails when his hull reaches the nine percent mark. It's of no immediate use, but I can get it fixed up and sold, so I claim it.
By that time the TL has showed up in sector and I send a request to the captain to build the mill at the coordinates I've been given and receive a nice fat payout for my efforts. Now that's the kind of work I like, minimal effort and a big cheque at the end. I think I'm going to have to steal a TL of my own at some point, and Elephants have a hangar for up to fourteen fighters, giving us a serious homebase. With the money I've made so far I can probably afford to start training my mercs ready for operations, but then I still need a missile frigate. Most TL's have incredibly thick hulls, making boarding without the aid of pods unlikely, unless I want to train my mercs into master engineers. That'll cost a fortune though, so we're going to take the discount option, when the time comes.
Did I mention I'm a pirate? Heh.
With my work sheet clear I get Sam to dock up at the Helix and move in myself before jumping us back to Rhonkar's Clouds and meeting up with the rest of the boys. I've left the two Solano's down in CP, so I get Thane and Sam out of their ships and jump the Buster and Disco down to Freedom's Reach before sending the Helix back to Company Pride to collect the M4s. Thane's grinning at the sight of his new ride and Sam....Sam wanted to know what missiles he'd be using.
(sigh)
For now they'll both be topped up with mosquitoes to provide a missile screen to the rest of us, as well as packing a punch when we hit somebody. The high shields and speed will give them plenty of survivability in the thick of things, although they'll be getting to the party later than O'Leary or Baritone. Rossi is getting a bit sick of being stuck aboard the Helix, but I need to source some more shields before I can get his Mamba up to scratch, so I send Swag Bag on a mission to find some. In the meantime, with the new ships and their pilots set up I take my wing and pick up
an assassination job for a target in Rhonkar's Fire.
We've barely cleared the gate when I get a message saying the target has been killed by somebody else and the mission has been aborted, which is kind of annoying. But when I see the sheer amount of firepower in the sector I'm not surprised we didn't get to him first. Three Heavy Dragons, all with escorting fighters and bomber wings were milling about the south gate. Still, since we're here there are some jobs available, including
a transport mission and another
station defence. I take both and call in Puddle Jumper to pick up the passengers whilst O'Leary leads the boys over to the shield complex. They take care of the wing of scouts that fly in ahead of their Hades class bomber, which bailed under fire from Sam's new ship, and we all got paid. Since I didn't partake in this one though I pay them twenty percent each of the total instead of their usual cut. Well, it's only fair. Right?
So I fly on over and
claim the Hades and take a look in it's hold to
see what's left. Not bad, another eleven heavy nukes will go a long way. Well, probably not when I start barraging them at waiting capital ships, but you know what I mean.
I order my new, if slightly dented, bomber down to Company Pride whilst I take my wing south into Thuruk's. We get
another transport mission from the equipment dock and I call Puddle Jumper back in. The Helix in the meantime has been collecting some of my repaired but unwanted ships and jumping them down to Senator's Badlands for
sale at the shipyard. The sales put me up over the ten million mark and I decide it's time to start training my current batch of mercs and engineers. It takes a little juggling as some are aboard the Express and the rest are aboard the Helix doing repairs. Before long though they're all shipped down to the military outpost in Senator's, where I find three Yaki engineers willing to sign on. I put all ten in training and send Puddle Jumper back to Freedom's Reach, ready to collect the various pilots I've captured. With a little luck some of them will make worthwhile marines, after they've been broken.
We head south into Hatikvah's Faith and immediately spot an
abandoned pirate Eclipse which I claim and send on it's way to Company Pride. I like the look of the ship but it's statistics are nothing special. 140m/s top speed and 100 Mj shielding are okay, but it lacks the one thing I'd likely use it for, Ion Disruptors. Once my repair crew are trained up a bit though and I can get them back on active duty I should be able to fetch a decent price for it.
I get a message ping from Puddle Jumper as we're closing on the west gate, saying it's arrived at it's destination and the passengers have paid their fare. This ticks me over to Split 'Family Protector', high enough reputation to allow me to buy those Hornets. I'm going to have to get another remote trader going up in Split turf. In the meantime I spot
another abandoned ship an XL variant of the Vulture super freighter. They're slow ships, but they have massive cargo holds, and this one has some shields left over, so I claim it. I'm just about to cross the event horizon when
I spot this guy. Now, I want that ship. Standard Argon Eclipse is a beast for boarding operations, with it's huge shields and ability to mount up to ten Ion Disruptors. He's heading west into Nopileos', so I let him go first and fall in behind him, giving my guys orders to stay out of this one. I don't want them firing on this ship while I try to scare the pilot out of his skin. And
boy does he jump! At a more than respectable eighty one percent! So I send it over towards the east gate and call in Double Helix to pick up my new fighter. Whilst it' making it's slow but steady progress I spot an OTAS freighter that looks like an easy target. He's got nothing in his hold worth hitting him for, but he's wise enough to realise
I wanted his Mistral. The Mistral's better than the Caiman Tanker in every way, bigger cargo hold, slightly faster, twice as much shielding....and four turrets for MARS cargo retrieval, so I may be retiring Swag Bag to standard trader duties and making the Mistral 'Swag Bag II'.
Speaking of trading duties I've given Foologos the go ahead to get her ship fixed up properly and to outfit it with shields and anything else she needs. She's moving her operation up to the PTNI region, where she'll be jumping around five sectors and bringing me in a tidy profit. I've told her to base out of Profit Centre Alpha and work within a two jump range, keeping all of the Teladi sectors as her playground and keeping her out of Argon territory. With her doing that I don't need my slightly battered Mercury up there remote trading for me, so I get the hull on that fixed up and set it up as my new sector trader down in Weaver's Tempest. My new assistant courier is...bloody lizards. Ahem. Yagosias Trosulis Hurilis the sixth. Did I pronounce that right?
So, with everything looking ship shape we head on through Danna's Chance and into Freedom's Reach. It's getting late again and I'm sure my guys could use some sleep and maybe some more of Sam's excellent cooking....
As soon as we're docked at the trading station I can feel something's not right. The five of us stepped out onto the deckplates and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck prickling.
“We're being watched.” I hissed. “Thane, keep the girls to hand, we might have trouble.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth there was a shot from high above us and I heard O'Leary yelp in pain and stagger back.
“I've been shot in the frakking foot!” He screams and all of us look up, just in time to see a dark shape, roughly the size of....
a Teladi, darting across the steel raftered ceiling above us. I don't need to say anything as O'Leary, Baritone and Thane all draw and start firing. Sam's pulled a knife and is holding it between his teeth as he jumps up on the nearest girder and starts climbing. I've got both pistols on target now and start rolling bolts of superheated phased plasma. She's quicker though, and uses some kind of grappling rope to swing from one side of the ceiling to the other, leaping with no apparent sense of fear whatsoever. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and assume this is the assassin Shinzo swears he didn't set on my ass. What the hell was her name? Huritas somebody somebody the second?
I don't get time to think about it before she drops down, spinning through the hail of fire my guys are throwing her way, almost casually flicking her wrists, firing out ribbons of razor wire. I hear Baritone shout as he takes a glancing blow to the shoulder and then the almighty 'ka-boom' of Thane's hand cannon. For a second I can't hear anything but the ringing in my ears, but I can see that the shot connected, albeit barely. Up close I can see her properly, see the smart, form hugging suit she's wearing, and the damage it's taken from Thane's shot.. She's bleeding from her shoulder, but rushes into Thane before he can either bring Tina up for a swing or line Dorothy up for a shot.
Gunne damn but she's fast!
Her claws swipe across the big man's chest, leaving raking trails of blood and throwing his arms out wide. With her right inside him there's no way any of us can risk a shot, and with his arms wide he's got no defence to the flip kick she delivers to his chin, sending him sprawling. O'Leary takes a shot at her as she's lining up a shot on me with her pistol, forcing her to jink to her left, right into Sam as he comes tumbling out of the dark and slams into her, giving me the chance to jump across the space between us and draw my blade. I land with one knee on her chest, and pin her arms with the other knee and my free hand, bringing my knife to her throat.
“One chance lizard.” I growl at her, so there can no mistaking my intentions. “Who sent you?”
I can see in her eyes a sense of apprehension, or resignation. She has the look of a woman who's seen enough of what she does and doesn't care that she's been caught out. Could that afford me an opportunity? She's certainly skilled. She's not answering my question though, so I push a little harder with my blade, watching as the small scales around her eyes flash green, then purple, then blue.
I've got her.
“Bailey,” she hisses quietly, and I can feel my heart beating faster, “Aaron Bailey.”
Rage overtakes me and I hoist her up off the ground, slamming her against one of the steel girders and pressing my knife tight enough against her throat that she starts bleeding and half choking.
“Aaron Bailey is
DEAD” I howl at her, incensed that she even knows his name, “I know he's dead because I put the frakking knife in the bastards heart and twisted it for good measure!” That look in her eyes though tells me she's telling the truth, but I don't want to believe it. “Try again bitch!”
“You don't like that name?” She spits at me, angrily. “Then how about
Rici Poler?”
No frakking way....
All of a sudden my mind is spinning. How? How can she possibly know who I am? She's not raised her voice enough for my guys to have heard her, but the very fact that she knows my name...Gunne, I should just kill her now and be done with it. I know I should.
“How much is he paying you?” Silence. I shove my forearm tight into her throat, switching my knife to the other hand and sticking it deep into her wounded shoulder. She winces in pain, but to her credit she didn't cry out. “How. Much?” I asked again, voice down low and icy cold.
“Two million.” She gasps as I push the blade deeper, enough to push against bone. “Why? Are you going to pay it off?”
“Would it work?” I grin, pushing just a little harder to try and make her scream. “Would it be enough for you to go back to him with my money on
his head?”
“I don't give a frak about the money you ignorant twit! I sssigned the contract and I intend to make good!” She hisses between gritted fangs.
“Honour? This is about
HONOUR?” I'm outraged now. “You work for
Aaron Bailey and you
DARE suggest you're doing it out of some sense of honour? Frak you! If you're prepared to work for that evil murdering scumfrak you
HAVE NO HONOUR! I scream at her, pushing the blade deeper still, piercing the bone and bursting out the back of her shoulder.
Then I see it. The pain in her eyes. Not just from the wound, but from the
words. The anguish. The recognition of miserable, soul crushing truth. I'll be damned. I swear, I've gotta be going to hell eventually. I just met a lizard who puts her honour before profitsss. Frak me. What the hell am I gonna do with you?
“Thane.” I growl and hear the big man moving up to my side. I haven't taken my eyes off the lizard, but I know he's breathing heavy from his wounds.
“Let me at that bitch boss. I'm gonna make me a frakking lizard skin sheath.” He booms, and I can feel him raging at my side. Oi. This probably isn't going to go down very well.
“No. Bind her and stick her in the brig on the Helix. I want to talk to her later. Then get yourselves to a medic, there should be one on the upper levels. Pay him whatever he needs to get you all patched up, but make sure he does a good job.” He looks like he's about to object, but I just turn my head a little and glare at him for a moment, before he nods ever so slightly with a sigh.
“Understood.”
“I'm fine.” Baritone says as he pulls up on my other side. “Nothing a couple stitches and a stiff drink won't fix.” Heh. He really is a tough old goat.
“Well I bloody well ain't!” I hear O'Leary shout from the floor behind us. “I've got a big damned hole in my foot!”
“Medic. All of you. No arguments. Sam?”
“Chief?”
“Good work mate. Help Thane get our prisoner in the brig and then give him a hand finding the doctor. There's weed and fuel in storage on the Helix. When O'Leary is patched up help him sort out details for arming and equipping that Mamba and make it ready for Rossi. He's still aboard the Helix. When you guys are all done take the rest of the night off.”
“Aye aye Chief.”
Son of a bitch. Aaron Bailey. I need some space. “I'll be back in a while boys. I need to think.” I'm angry now and I need to get away and think clearly. Drinking and smoking with this lot whilst they let their adrenaline high wind down is just going to drive me crazy. Frak it! The only place I'm going to get any peace is in my cockpit.
I hop into Indie Cypher and blaze away from the station before pulling a sharp one-eighty and hitting the turbo, sending me hurtling towards the gate. I've interrogated enough people in my time to know when they're telling the truth. Aaron Bailey is alive.
(sigh)
.....for frak's sake....
I don't know how it's possible. I killed him. I watched the son of a bitch die right in front of me. I stood over him, watching the last light fading out of his eyes for frak's sake! There's no way he could have survived that.
Is there?
What? Oh, I suppose you want to know the
full story huh? Well you're just gonna have to wait. I ain't ready to go there just yet. In fact, ya know what? Frak it. I can't think about this right now. I'm going hunting.
I blaze across Danna's looking for targets, but there's nothing there that grabs my attention, so I push on across Brennan's Triumph and into Olmancketslats, where I come across an
Argon tech trader who willingly parts with his cargo. Now that's a
nice little haul! Beating on him makes me feel instantly and infinitely better, and netting his entire cargo didn't go amiss either. I call in Swag Bag to clean up for me as I push north into Bala Gi's, looking for more hapless idiots to pound on. I think the word might be out that I'm pissed and looking for trouble though, cause I swear there wasn't a single ship in sight. Farnham's Legend was equally quiet, save for a Yaki Fujin, but I'm too pissed off to do any actual work, so I ignore him and head back the way I came. The trade lanes are dead quiet, but when I look at the time and see it's way past midnight I'm not surprised. I spot a nice little bonus though as I'm heading back down through Brennan's, another abandoned Solano and
a busted up Gladiator. I claim them both and order them back to Freedom's before I set the autopilot for the trading station. The flight to Farnham's and back has given me a bit of time to calm down and at least think rationally.
Aaron Bailey. Right now I don't know what to do about that. He's supposed to be dead. But then technically....so am I. Yeah, I know. No, I still ain't going there.
(sigh)
As I'm nearing the trading station I get
a job offer for a few Paranid dignitaries wanting to get back into their own sectors. I consider shooting them as I call in Puddle Jumper to pick them up, but the contract is with a Split noble and I could do with not falling out with them, especially now I've worked to get my reputation with them where I want it. By the time I've docked I'm thinking about Huritas again...and Aaron Bailey. Oh, sod it. I'm going for a ride.
I switch over to Giggity and switch some cargo and software modules to ensure my scout is fit for whatever I might run into and once again blaze away from the station. I don't have a destination in mind and I'm not really thinking about my flight path, I'm just flying, crossing each sector into the next one. The first time I actually stopped and thought about where I was going I'd dropped through the Light of Heart north gate and been ordered out of Argon core space.
Eh?
So I call up my personal log only to discover that my recent spate of piracy against various Argon ships, including several OTAS freighters, has branded me a 'Confirmed Insurgent'. Well, it had to happen sooner or later. If I were in a slower ship I'd be wishing it were later, since there's a Titan battlegroup headed my way and making some pretty serious threats. Since I'm piloting Giggity though, I don't give a toss, and push up high above them before turning for the south gate. When I hit Montalaar though I decide to make a quick exit on account of the fully loaded Colossus I spy inside the asteroid belt, and short jump to the east gate. I know where I'm going now. I need to find someone central who's got their finger....er....tentacle...on the pulse....I think I know just the squid.
I shoot across the shortcut between Argon space and New Income then turn for the NI pirate base. Once I'm docked I arrange for the station's technicians to
install a new module which I think will come in handy. It'll definitely save me a lot of frakking about. Whilst they're doing that, it's time I called in a debt. Namely the one Loli Lu owes me. She's not pleased to see me. Why is nobody ever pleased to see me? I suppose knocking out her guards didn't help, but...well, I had to get her attention somehow. As she cowered behind her quaint little desk with both my pistols lined up on her I could see right to her eyes, so when I growled his name at her there was no mistaking the recognition.
“We both know you know who I mean Loli. Tell me everything you know about Bailey, and I'll walk away, no shots fired.” I tilted the angle of my right hand just enough that the shot would cause her incredible pain without being fatal. “Take a dive Loli. Tell me what I want to know.”
“We....we know only he is Crimson Skull! We swear we know nothing more.” She whined at me.
Shinzo. Crimson Skulls. Bailey. Assassin.
Who the frak
are these people? That's twice in just a few hours the Crimson Skulls have come up. I need to know more. How can this cartel I've never even heard of have so much influence? And
how the frak is he still alive?
“And what do you know about the Skulls Loli? Who else is a 'member'?”
“No,” she whines at me, “do not ask us that, please! They will kill us....”
“Loli,” I growl at her, “
I'm going to kill you, as slowly and painfully as I know how...and I know how Loli...unless you tell me. What. You. Know?” I see the indecision in her eyes, the fear of not knowing what her best chance for survival is.
“Mek, of the Loomankstrat's Legacy clans, he knows! Big Mek they call him, he can tell you far more than we!”
Awww shit. Big Mek's the boss of both the Loomankstrat's anarchy port and Acquisition Repository pirate base. Mek Nedley is his full name, and he's had some sort of long standing deal with the Duke for a long...long time. If he's mixed up with this bloody Crimson Skulls mob I'm going to have a hell of a time finding out any more. I haven't got anything like the sort of resources to handle Big Mek, and he's too smart for me to sneak in. I might be able to get to the pirate base in AR under cover of slave trading....I'll have to look into that.
For now, I clobber Loli hard enough to leave her unconscious for several hours and make my way back to Giggity, with it's dandy new override software. It's been a long night already and I consider my next move for a while. My guys are probably still sleeping, or drinking and I'm going to need to talk to this bloody...'Huntress' at some point. Given her performance in the docking bay I'd rather they were all with me when I do, so that's going to have to wait till morning. I launch and start cruising towards the south gate, then have a change of heart halfway across the sector and turn east. As I'm passing one of the mines I spot a rarity, a
Toucan Hauler for sale, and for a decent price, so I take it and order it the sector trading station. On my approach to the gate I get another offer for a used ship, this one
a Caiman Tanker in really good condition for it's price and part with my credits again before sending it to join the TP.
Then I push on into Ianamus Zura and north into Eighteen Billion before pulling up above the eastern gate. Do I want to run the gauntlet of Xenon space again?
Hell yeah. See those three Qs? They weren't even remotely interested in me. They wanted those Boron, who put up enough of a fight for me to claim an abandoned Medusa by the north gate! I beamed over the jumpdrive and the last of my cells and ordered it to jump to Scale Plate Green before shooting through the gate myself and sending it up to the trading station. With my new heavy fighter making it's slow and steady way to safety I beam the jumpdrive back and blaze through to PTNI. There's a pirate crew operating in the unknown sector east of here, and I want to see if any of them know anything about the Crimson Skulls. The system is dead quiet when I arrive, and I can just about see the three stations in the distance. When I get a little closer I can see there's a pirate base, rehab facility and another PBG forge. Both the rehab station and forge are hostile to me at the moment, but an offer from a hacker as I'm closing on the station nets me access to the rehab facility. I dock at the pirate station and head down to the slave pits. Whilst I'm here I want to see if the local slavemaster can break my prisoners half as effectively as the guy in Bala Gi's Joy. He says he can, so I call in Puddle Jumper, which has all my slaves aboard, and tell him to do his thing. By the time he's finished I have another ten pliable mercs on my roster. They get shipped back to Senator's for training and I hit the bar, making a few discreet enquiries about the Skulls as I drink. These guys though are either good enough to not let on that they know anything, or they genuinely don't have any information. Oh well. Not a completely wasted trip I guess.
I thank the guys at the bar, pay for our drinks and head back down to the docking bay before blazing back down to SPG. When I get there I get another
offer for a used ship which I snag and send on it's way to join the Medusa, before I test my luck again
getting back across X-347. See that Q behind me? It tried to catch me, but it ain't a patch on good old Giggity. About halfway to the west gate I notice a feller in a space suit floating about. Now, my first thought was 'poor bastard, he ain't gonna last long', but when I actually looked closely at him I got the feeling he was
a machine sympathizer. Seriously, who in their right mind tries to EVA to a Xenon station?
Once across 347 I turn south into IZ and then east for Homily of Perpetuity. I've not explored the sector yet and if I'm going to have to check out the pirates in Acquisition this is the quickest route. It certainly beats going the long way through several sectors that I know are under Big Mek's control.
So I'm making my way across Homily when the strangest thing happens. This Teladi calls me up from the heavy shield complex here in the sector, asking me to go
retrieve his Cobra! Now, clearly I'm not going to be returning this one. Let's look at the situation for a moment shall we? Firstly, I'm a pirate. Secondly at some point I'm going to have dire need of a missile frigate and stealing one that I know has no crew aboard and is sitting abandoned in space, requiring no marine intervention to fall into my possession, is just too good an opportunity to pass up. Thirdly he's only offering five hundred and fifty nine thousand credits for it, when the ship itself is worth close to
fifty million. Quite frankly I find that insulting. And there was me thinking the lizards considered me some long lost hatchling.
So, I tell him 'hey, sure, I'll bring back your ship', and he tells me it's over in Scale Plate Green. Didn't I just come from that way? I swear there's something about this region that forces people back on themselves at every opportunity. I don't much fancy crossing 347 again, so I call in the Helix and dock Giggity to it. As I'm passing the crew quarters I check in and see most of the boys are asleep, except O'Leary who is sitting at the dining table.
“Hey,” I nod at him, “how's the foot?”
“Better,” he smiles, “the doc hooked us both up with a regeneration kit. Thane's was ok, but having those nanobots rebuild shattered bones was kinda....painful.”
“Damn man. Sorry, you shouldn't have had to go through that.”
“Don't worry about it. I knew what I was getting into the first time we flew out together. Wasn't expecting a bloody assassin to show up though. What's that all about?”
Uhm...
“Another time mate, I'll tell you all about it. Right now I'm gonna need you and the guys up and on the ball.
We got us a ship to steal.”
“Alright then,” he laughs at me, “keep your secrets. But at some point I'd really like to talk to you about that crazy Teladi.”
So a few minutes later we'd closed on the Cobra in SPG. Thane's grinning and shaking his head whilst Sam is laughing to himself and Rossi is grumbling about some people having all the luck. Baritone is slack jawed and probably still stoned, so I might just send him back to his bunk, and O'Leary is grinning like a damned fool. I transfer the override software module from Giggity to the Helix. I shouldn't need it as the lizard what gave me the job was good enough to supply the command access codes, but if I'm to keep this ship then I want to re-write some of it's core programming. That way there's no chance of the former owner tripping any kind of failsafe to get his ship back. So, control transferred to me, power systems warming up, engines are good if not practically useful, cargo bay is......oh wow.
She's armed.
I beam over to my new ship and start working on the core systems. It's going to take me at least twenty five minutes to get the coding complete, and there's only twenty four minutes left on the clock. I radio the Helix and arrange to have some cells and a jumpdrive transferred and installed to the Cobra, but in the interests of survival I'm going to need some 1 Gj shields. So I send O'Leary and the boys back to the heavy weapons complex where my soon to be ex employer is awaiting his ship and buy one. They bounce back to me and I set up the shield, which slowly starts charging. By the time the fuzz show up to demand my surrender that shield should be fully charged, giving me enough time to complete the code changes and bring the jumpdrive online. In the meantime I send the Helix back to Freedom's Reach. I don't want the boys around if this goes badly. They've already had their asses kicked once tonight.
Oi. What is that, a sense of regret? I swear I'm going soft. But this is the first time I've ever had an actual crew of my own. Heh. What's that old saying? 'With great power comes great responsibility'?
I've finished the coding a couple minutes ahead of schedule, and settle myself into the command chair on the bridge. I've made allowances so the ships automated systems take their cues from my wrist pad. The jumpdrive is taking a little while to power up and come online and I cringe a little as I get a message from my now ex-employer. He's whinging that his ship's now been listed as stolen and the police are on their way. Well, thanks for the heads up mate, but I had this one covered. Moments later a wing of Teladi police ships
point jump right on top of me. I'm not too concerned by most of them, the M4s and M5s don't pack enough of a punch to get through my gigajoule of shielding, but that single Peregrine would be devastating if it's starts lobbing nukes at me. Thankfully the jumpdrive has completed it's pre-jump diagnostic by this point, and ten seconds after I set the coordinates I'm away, leaving the cops to chase me down through X-347 and then halfway across the universe.
Yeah, I jumped myself and my new Cobra down to Senator's Badlands. If the lizards can even make it this far, which I doubt, then my brethren can likely take care of them before I have reason to worry. I should have made a clean get away, and looking at my personal logs there's not even been a dent to my Teladi reputation. Sweet!
So I dock 'Unexpected Perks' at the equipment dock and trick it out with upgrades and software, buy shields to give her maximum coverage and then send her on over to the military outpost. Once my merc crews are trained up some and some aboard they can get her repaired and up to spec...and then we've got a new homebase. Heh.
Funny how days turn out ain't it?
Assets:
'Unexpected Perks' – Cobra 66%
'Indie Cypher' – Tenjin
'Pocket Aces' - Nova Prototype
'Good Intentions' – Ranger
'Double Helix' – Chokaro
'Giggity' – Discoverer Vanguard
'Puddle Jumper' – Express
'Tidal Traveller' – Advanced Express
'Swag Bag' – Caiman Tanker
My Crew:
'Fightin' Irish' – Mamba Vanguard – Stephen O'Leary
'Questionable Content' – Mamba Vanguard – Baritone
'The Bad Touch' - Solano – Thane
'Problem Solved II' - Solano – Sam
'Dark Days' – Mamba – Sark Rossi
Active Freighters:
Mercury Super Freighter – Sector Trader – Weaver's Tempest
Demeter Super Freighter – Local Trader – PTNI
Vulture Super Freighter 60% - Storage
Dolphin Hauler 19% - Storage
Pilot Required:
Blastclaw Prototype
Discoverer Vanguard
Refits:
Hades x 2 – 84% / 48%
Gladiator 7%
Barracuda Vanguard 16%
Eclipse 81%
Pirate Advanced Eclipse 25%
Medusa 20%
Buzzard 21%
Solano 23%
Discoverer Raider 12%
Jaguar
Octopus 19%
N
Caiman x 2 – 63% / 27%
Caiman Miner 67%
Caiman SFXL 18%
Caiman Tanker x 2 – 82% / 41%
Demeter Hauler 33%
Demeter Tanker 42%
Mercury SFXL 59%
Mistral 69%
Vulture 36%
Vulture Miner 40%
Vulture Super Freighter x 2 – 35% / 55%
Vulture SFXL x 3 – 37% / 27% / 60%
Vulture Tanker 12%
Toucan Hauler 60%
Credits: 3,260,078
Time: 768-05-03 05:40
good to see things moving ahead at a nice pace.
Quite sure that between Kirlack and I we can find some explosive way to add her into the story. Right?
The same goes for all the other characters people have come up with 
